Born: September 22 1960 something .

Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois

Husband: John Murphy, Investment Banker, married July 2, 1988 (separated in 2006)

Family:
Father: Bob Hunt, self taught Electrician.
Died when Bonnie was 18.
Mother: Alice Hunt
Brother: Tom Hunt
Brother: Kevin Hunt
Brother: Patrick Hunt
Sister: Carol
Sister: Kathy
Sister: Mary (younger)

Religion: Irish Catholic

Education:
St Ferdinands
Notre Dame High School for Girls ‘ 79
Degree in nursing
Second City Chicago: Improv

Occupation:
Actor, director, writer, producer

Jobs:
Dairy Queen 1977
5636 W. Irving Park Rd
On 11/16/1995 Bonnie went back to the Northwest Side Dairy Queen where she had worked as a teenager as a remote for The Bonnie Hunt Show. (unfortunately the show went unaired)
Dogs and Suds
Washed hair in a salon
Part time Nurses aid in a nursing home after school
Tom Snyder’s radio show In Milwaukee
Oncology nurse at Northwestern University Hospital

I was a nurse for five years – two years in the emergency room and three years on the oncology ward. As an oncology nurse all my patients were terminally ill, and they had the greatest sense of humor of any people I’ve ever known in my life. I used to bring the whole Second City group over to the hospital, and we would do the show right there in the solarium. We’d drag all the beds out and all the patients in the beds. Then the patients started to inspire me. I remember sitting with this patient, Rudy, who had neck cancer and he said, “Bon, you gotta go to California.” I said, “God, Rudy, I’m not going to go there and fail and be humiliated and come back. This is my job. I like doing the shows at night. It’s a nice hobby.” He said, “You have to go and fail. Fail all the time at everything. Go and do it.” I thought, “What am I saying to this man who is dying: I’m afraid to fail?” I left two weeks later.
filmbazaar.com Alan Silverman April 2000.
Classes at Second City’s Players Workshop on Lincoln Avenue
An Impulsive Thing (Improv group)at Bob’s bar, across from Wrigley Field
(Bonnie worked as a nurse while doing Improv.)

“I was always doing both, it was a great outlet. To me it was my energy, my fuel. The patients got so involved with it. I was working at this place across from Wrigley field called Bob’s Bar, and you’d know my tables because there were all these bald people with bandanas on, god love ‘em, drinking their water because they couldn’t have alcohol.”
Second City’s touring company 1986 (within a few weeks she was promoted to the troupe’s first string of performers)
LA ensemble of Second City 1988

(see theatre credits and filmography for the rest)

Trademarks:

Bonnie Hunt Biography

Biting her lower lip
Calling people honey
Saying “oh dear” in really funny situations in movies etc
Her small beauty mark below her left eye.

Shoe Size:
7

Favourite Color:
Green

Pets:
Dogs, Buddy, Lacey and Charlie
(Sadly, Lacey is now deceased)
Lacey was found on the street around the time of Beethoven and Bonnie took the dog in. They got Buddy from a shelter.

Favourite movies:
The Apartment
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Notorious
Tootsie
Goodfellas
The Name of the Father
Witness for the Prosecution
Philadelphia Story
Anything with the Marx Brothers

Favourite directors:
Preston Sturges
Billy Wilder
Alfred Hichcock

Favourite Music:
Big Band era from World War II.
Gershwin, Irving Berlin to a few years after that.
Dean Martin
Jackie Gleason
Ella Fitzgerald

Hobbies:
Gardening
Painting
Being with her dogs

Biggest Inspiration:
“My mother, in all aspects of my life.”

Favorite childhood memory:
Staying home from school when she was sick and her mother making homemade Play-Doh for her.

Prized possession:
A picture of her parents on their honeymoon. Also, pictures of her father, who has sadly been dead many years. Personal hero:
Doris Day. “She could do everything.” She’d give anything to have met:
“My grandfather. I never knew him, but my mother talks about him all the time. He was an inventor and very creative.”

Major Comedic Influence:
Groucho Marx
Claudette Colbert
Jack Benny
Jackie Gleason

Vegetarian

Charities:
Animal rights
Shelters for the homeless and for battered women
Cancer research
(I’m sure there are many more, but these are just the ones I am aware of)

Best friends:
Holly Wortell
Don Lake
David Letterman
George Clooney

Favourite TV shows as a child:
The Honeymooners as a teenager into adulthood. But as a child, H.R. Pufnstuf.

Production Company: Bob and Alice Productions
Because her Mom always said to her “You are a Bob and Alice Production.”

Agency:
PMK

Address:
PMK 955 S. Carrillo Drive #200
Los Angeles California 90048 USA

Filmography

Under the Blitmore Clock TV 1986 Foxtrot dancer
Rain Man 1988
Grand TV 1990
Beethoven 1992
Davis Rules TV 1992
Beethoven’s 2nd 1993
The Building TV 1993
Dave 1993
Only You 1994
Now and Then 1995
The Bonnie Hunt show TV 1995
Jumanji 1995
Getting Away With Murder 1996
Jerry Maguire 1996
Subway Stories 1997
A Bug’s Life 1998
Kissing a Fool 1998
The Green Mile 1999
Random Hearts 1999
Return To Me 2000
Monsters Inc 2001
Stolen Summer 2002
Life With Bonnie TV 2002
Anniversary
Cheaper by the Dozen
Loggerheads 2005
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 2005
Cars 2006 Post Production

]]> http://www.quotesquotations.com/biography/bonnie-hunt-bio/feed/ 0 http://www.quotesquotations.com/biography/nathaniel-hawthorne-biogra/ http://www.quotesquotations.com/biography/nathaniel-hawthorne-biogra/#comments Sun, 07 Feb 2010 09:06:37 +0000 admin http://www.quotesquotations.com/biography/?p=336 Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. Hawthorne went to Bedowin College in Maine. Captain Hawthorne, Nathaniel’s father died when he was four, so he was raised by his mother alone. Hawthorne was very shy, but during college, he made some friends such as the President, Franklin Pierce.

His most famous work is The Scarlet Letter. This novel is about a lade who commits adultery. She is sentenced to wear a scarlet letter “A” for the rest of her life. In this novel, some of the themses are sin, alienation, and redemption. Amother theme of this novel is coping with adversity and rising above it. These themes are what make it a classic.

Hawthorne wrote many other peices of work besides The Scarlet Letter. The House of Seven Gables was one of his most famous pieces of work. Hawthorne’s first novel was Fanshaw. He published the book, but he was dissatisfied with it, so he tried to retrieve all the copies and burn them. Another famous piece is Twice-Told Tales which is a collection of short stories.

Hawthorne was having financial problems, so he went to work for the government. He was the surveyor for the district of Salem and Inspector of the Revenue for the Port of Salem. Working there inspired the “Custom House” part of The Scarlet Letter. He also used the stories from his Puritan past in the novel.

Hawthorne’s life is reflected in his writing. Hawthorne led a very rocky life. All of his experiences led him to write his different pieces. He wrote The Scarlet Letter after working for the Port of Salem. In his novels, he writes about sin, alienation, and redemption. These are particularly shown in The Scarlet Letter.

Mary Shelley’s most noted work was Frankenstein. This story was about a scientist named Victor Frankenstein who created a monster. He rejects the monster because of its deformity, sending the monster on a rampage. This book is popular because of the author’s imaginative and descriptive writing.

Frankenstein wasn’t Shelley’s only piece of work. She also wrote The Last Man and Mathilda. The Last Man is about the destruction of the human race in the 21st century. Mathilda is about a father and daughter’s amoral attraction. These books were not as popular because of awkward plotting, and they contain a number of unnecessary words. Critics also admire Shelley’s non-fiction travel volumes which include notes on her husband’s poems.

Mary Shelley was never formally educated but learned from conversations with her father. She was influenced by many people. Lord Byron was one of them. During a discussion at Lord Byron’s plantation, he remarked that women couldn’t write a decent horror story. Facing a new challenge, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein to prove him wrong.

A dedicated wife and mother, mary Shelley was also a very determined writer. She proved colleagues wrong by writing one of the most popular and well-known horror stories of all time. Leading a difficult and unfortunate life, she devoted herself to her work as a successful author, publishing several other novels. An intense thriller, Frankenstein, was her most famous work. Portraying what she learned from others and combining it with her own style, Shelley captures the attention of readers with her powerful words and imagination.

Frankenstein is a novel written by Mary Shelley. It displays the justices and injustices of society. The monster is disliked by his creator, Victor Frankenstein. The monster has no one to love is not loved by anyone either. He is thought of as an outcast. The lack of love the monster is given can only lead to one thing – disaster.

The monster longs for love. Sometimes he finds he loves someone, but they hate him in return. He begs Victor to build a bride for him so he can have someone to love. Without love, the monster turns into a murderer. Now, no one even remotely cares for the monster.

It is an injustice towards the monster that his creator hates him. The creator, Victor Frankenstein, builds a bride for the monster, but then destroys it. The monster feels he has to get justice, and so, begins to kill members of Victor’s family. By doing so, all he does is make Victor hate him more. Victor is not the only one who hates the monster.

This novel indirectly touches on a bit of prejudice. Society hates him because of his difference, his looks. The only member of society who says a word to him is a blind man. When he tries to be nice, he is abused physically and mentally. He becomes an outcast because he is different.

This novel portrays an injustice towards the monster. Society is prejudiced towards the monster because he is not the same in looks as everyone else. No one gives the monster a chance to prove himself. The only justice shown is Victor’s death. The novel illustrates the similarity to society now.

The very definition of a sizzling superstar, the most famous blonde in history, beautiful Marilyn defined Hollywood glamour and tragedy with her dramatic life on and off screen. Perhaps the most famous actress ever, she completed only two ’60s films—Let’s Make Love and The Misfits—but her legacy lives on, built more on her roller-coaster life than on any movie she ever made.

Famous As: Movie Star, Songbird, and Model

BIRTH: She was born in ‘26, so she was 33 at the beginning of the decade. Her exotic birthplace: Los Angeles, California. Her moniker at birth: Norma Jeane Mortenson (Mortenson was her mother’s maiden name), she later used Norma Jeane Baker (Baker was her mom’s married name), and occasionally Zelda Zonk when checking into hotels.

She’s one of the few women known everywhere by a single name — say “Marilyn,” and not only will everybody know whom you mean, they’ll know something about her. Like Liz Taylor, who was probably the only other actress who commanded truly global attention, Marilyn couldn’t go to the mailbox without generating international headlines. She may also be the most imitated actress in history, with everyone from Jayne Mansfield to Madonna to Anna Nicole Smith emulating her. Of her own image she said, “To put it bluntly, I seem to be a whole superstructure with no foundation. But I’m working on the foundation.” She’s remembered now, not just for her beauty and talent, but for her sad vulnerability that made the goddess all too human. In June ‘99 the American Film Institute released its distinguished list of the “50 Greatest Screen Legends,” Marilyn was number six among the actresses, sandwiched between #5 Greta Garbo and #7 Elizabeth Taylor, with Katherine Hepburn as #1 (Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren also made the list). In January ‘99 Playboy released its list of the 100 Sexiest Stars of the Century,” and MM was #1 (among the other two-dozen Swingin’ Chicks of the ’60s who ranked were Jayne Mansfield at #2, Jane Fonda at #28, and Catherine Deneuve at #45. In the summer of 2000 Entertainment Weekly magazine listed the top 100 entertainers of all time, and Marilyn came in third, the first woman on the list (the Beatles and Elvis were #1 and #2). An example of her impact in her own lifetime came at the public appearance when she and Jane Russell put their hand and footprints into the cement in front of Hollywood’s Chinese Theatre. It was one of the most popular of those ceremonies ever held. Johnny Grant, honorary mayor of Hollywood who was on hand, tells the story that Marilyn suggested to Jane how they should immortalize other well-observed parts of their anatomies — Jane should lean forward into the cement, suggested Marilyn, and then Marilyn would sit in it!

marilyn monroe bio

Raised in a series of foster homes after the   father she never knew disappeared and her mother had a nervous breakdown, Norma Jean Mortenson, then Norma Jean Baker, was married in ‘42 at only sixteen years old (and while still in high school) to keep from going to yet another foster home. She was working as a model in the mid-’40s, gracing the covers of hundreds of magazines and winning beauty contests (she was 1947’s Miss California Artichoke Queen). Changing her name to Marilyn Monroe (the first name after ’20s star Marilyn Miller, the second after her grandmother), she was getting small movie parts in the late ’40s, appearing as a centerfold in the first issue of Playboy (she was the magazine’s first-ever “Sweetheart,” the title that would later be changed to Playmate). By ‘53 she was a star. Highlighting her memorable ’50s movie career were such hits as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and How to Marry a Millionaire in ‘53, The Seven Year Itch in ‘55, and the classic Some Like It Hot in ‘59. During this decade, however, she began displaying the signs of the insecurity that plagued her: She began taking prescription drugs, she would be late on movie sets, and she would have trouble remembering her lines. She became notoriously hard to work with, as described by Billy Wilder in Vanity Fair in October ‘99. He said in an interview there that just to get her to say some simple line like “Where’s the bourbon” in Some Like It Hot would take an entire day and eighty takes! Sadly, by the early ’60s she was a heavy drinker and pill-popper (both are often attributed to her depression over her inability to bear children), and she was briefly institutionalized in early ‘61 in a New York psychiatric clinic.

She had a tragically short ’60s career, with only two completed ’60s flicks — Let’s Make Love in ‘60 and The Misfits in ‘61 — when she died suddenly in ‘62. One role she didn’t get was Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which went to Audrey Hepburn even though Marilyn was author Truman Capote’s first choice. Marilyn was fired from a third movie she was making Something’s Got to Give, for being chronically late and working only twelve of 31 scheduled shooting days in the summer of ‘62. This was less than two months before she died (she was rehired and filming would’ve continued in August had she not died). Sadly, after bouts with alcohol and pills, she died in her Brentwood bedroom of an overdose of 47 Nembutal and chloral hydrate pills on August 5, 1962 at the age of 36. L.A.’s Chief Medical Examiner ruled it an accidental suicide, but her death is still shrouded in mystery and myth, with books nominating the Kennedys, the Mafia, accidental suicide, and intentional suicide among the possible causes of her death. Her plain but famous wall crypt, for decades decorated by Joe DiMaggio’s fresh roses, is in Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, California, the same cemetery where Natalie Wood, Dorothy Stratton, and Dean Martin are buried (Hugh Hefner has bought the crypt right next to Marilyn’s). And fifteen months later, the president Marilyn was linked to was also dead, a shocking, violent reminder that an era had definitely ended.

TALENT: This is a controversial topic, in that some people feel she was good at playing herself and was never really challenged as an actress, as validated by all the Oscars she was nominated for — none. However, Marilyn authority Ray Zweidinger counters those opinions with the argument that the Marilyn we saw on and off screen was a character she created, created so well in fact that everybody assumed that’s who she really was, which would be a tribute to her skill. Supporting this notion are comments from her legendary acting teacher Lee Strasberg: “There are only two actors of our time; the first is Marlon Brando and the second is Marilyn Monroe.” Later Strasberg eulogized: “This quality was even more evident when she was on the stage. I am truly sorry that the public who loved her did not have the opportunity to see her as we did, in many of the roles that foreshadowed what she would have become. Without a doubt she would have been one of the really great actresses on the stage.” Even if she didn’t win an Oscar — which Zweidinger says was probably for the Academy’s own political reasons — she did win other acting awards, including the Henrietta Award as 1951’s Most Promising Personality of the Year, Golden Globes as the World’s Film Favorite in ‘53 and ‘62, the Italian version of an Oscar in ‘59, the French version of the Oscar in ‘59, and a Golden Globe as Best Actress in ‘60.

She had a successful modeling career while struggling to be an actress, and she made the cover of Life magazine August 15, 1960, June 22, 1962, August 17, 1962, August 8, 1964, and December 22, 1969, the most Life covers for any ’60s actress. Just before she died she completed a couple of famous shoots that landed her back in Vogue magazine. Some bios say she had minor plastic surgery on her nose, and electrolysis on her hairline to remove her widow’s peak. Sadly, she appears to be looking older and rundown in The Misfits, though her “older and rundown” was still amazing, and she did revitalize herself in ‘61-’62 to such a degree that many fans consider the months before her death to be her aesthetic peak. Ironically, she once said that “no one ever called me pretty when I was a little girl.” At her peak her measurements were 37-23-35; today some critics might say that she was a little heavy, a claim supported by many photos when she’s wearing tight-fitting dresses. However, keep in mind that such was the style in the early ’60s, and she did it better than anyone. In fact, as fan Brenda Heidrick pointed out to us, no less an expert than Groucho Marx commended Marilyn’s as the “sexiest and most attractive ass in Hollywood,” and if it was good enough for Groucho, it’s good enough for us. One of her most famous gowns was the $12,000 “Happy Birthday” gown she got stitched into on May 19, 1962, so she could sing the sultriest, breathiest version of “Happy Birthday” ever heard to President John F. Kennedy at his Madison Square Garden “Birthday Salute.” Peter Lawford introduced her as she came trotting up to the mike by calling her “the late Marilyn Monroe.” That dress, a handmade Jean Louis created from silk souffle gauze and sparkling with over 6000 rhinestones and sequins, was auctioned off by Christie’s for almost $1,300,000 in October ‘99, setting the world’s record for the highest price ever paid at auction for a woman’s garment (the previous high, by the way, was a quarter-million dollars paid for one of Lady Di’s dresses).

She was married and divorced three times: to factory worker James Dougherty from ‘42 to ‘45 (Marilyn asked for a divorce while he was overseas in the Navy), to baseball star Joe DiMaggio from January to October of ‘54, and to playwright Arthur Miller from ‘56 to ‘61. During her career she had confirmed relationships with Frank and Marlon, and unconfirmed affairs with various studio bigshots and all her leading men, especially Yves Montand. Other names that frequently come up in published discussions of her affairs are — and we mean no disrespect by this, nor do we claim she actually slept with all these men — Dean Martin, Tony Curtis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Laurence Olivier, Yul Brynner, Milton Berle, Robert Mitchum, Mickey Rooney, George Sanders, Mel Torme, Orson Welles, Walter Winchell, Darryl Zanuck, plus a couple of those Kennedy boys. In fact, she was such a regular caller to JFK, some published sources claim she had her own private phone line with the White House. She had a brief, intense, and legendary romance with baseball hero Joe DiMaggio in the mid-’50s. He phoned her publicist and said MM was the one woman in the world he wanted to meet, so the publicist arranged a dinner at the Villa Nova restaurant on the Sunset Strip in L.A. in the summer of ‘52. Joe was there at 6:30, Marilyn showed up at 10 p.m. Supposedly they only said about a dozen words to each other — he was known for being shy and quiet — but at the end of the night he proposed. Unfortunately he wanted her to be a stay-at-home wife out of the spotlight, while she was trying to get her career to take off. According to the L.A. Times after DiMaggio’s death in March ‘99, “she was haunted by agonizing feelings of inadequacy, her every professional moment tortured by the notion that she wasn’t good enough, talented enough or smart enough. He was secure in his celebrity, perhaps even indifferent to it. Marilyn’s celebrity was a fragile thing that needed to be constantly nurtured and reinforced.” On the day they got married, January 14, 1954, she told the S.F. Chronicle that “marriage is my main career now, a woman’s not a woman unless she has children, we’re going to have six, I’m going to make all of Joe’s favorite foods, like steak and spaghetti,” but their interests — his in sports and hangin’ at home with the guys, hers in theatre and nightlife, were too different, and her desire to flaunt herself in public repulsed him, so that within nine months they were divorced. The L.A. Times called it “America’s most famous terrible marriage,” but the Times also wrote that “DiMaggio loved her obsessively, probably more than any man ever had or would. Marilyn knew this intuitively, and she alternately abused and relied upon his constancy for the rest of her life. Her subsequent deterioration and descent into the abyss merely confirmed his worst feelings about the perils of Hollywood. After 1960, after Arthur and Jack and Bobby and all the others, she would turn to him frequently for comfort in her most desperate hours. When she overdrew by $5,000 at Irving Trust, DiMaggio covered her debt. When she was committed to Payne Whitney for psychiatric treatment in 1961, it was Joe who bailed her out and muzzled the press. On Aug. 5, 1962, it was Joe who made all her funeral arrangements. It was Joe who stood guard at the Westwood Village Memorial Park to make sure that the Kennedys and Sinatra and all the others who drove her to despondency would be barred from the service. It was Joe who wept through the ceremony, who whispered ‘I love you’ as he bent over her coffin for a final cold kiss. And it was Joe who, for twenty years, paid to have fresh red roses put on her grave. He never married again.” In fact, according to a September 2000 Vanity Fair interview with DiMaggio’s lawyer and confidant, Morris Engelberg, these were DiMaggio’s last words in March ‘99 just before he died: “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.” Several biographers have said that the couple was planning to wed again at the time of her death.

EXTRAS: Among the many tributes to her is one of Elton John’s most famous songs, “Candle in the Wind” in ‘73, which has these lyrics:

“Goodbye Norma Jean, though I never knew you at all,

You had the grace to hold yourself, while those around you crawled.

They crawled out of the woodwork, and they whispered into your brain,

They set you on the treadmill, and they made you change your name.

And it seems to me you lived your life, like a candle in the wind,

Never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in.

And I would have liked to have known you, but I was just a kid.

Your candle burned out long before your legend ever did.

Loneliness was tough, the toughest role you ever played,

Hollywood created a superstar, and pain was the price you paid.

Even when you died, the press still hounded you,

All the papers had to say was that Marilyn was found in the nude.

Goodbye Norma Jean, from the young man in the 22nd row

Who sees you as something more than sexual, more than just our Marilyn Monroe”

… technically she wasn’t “found in the nude,” she was wearing a bra when her body was found, she believed that sleeping in a bra would help keep her breasts firm … that song was rewritten for Lady Diana after her death in ‘97 … Marilyn’s credited by some as being left-handed, though fan Brenda Heidrick claims this is due to horizontally flopped photos … on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, her star is right next to that of Stefanie Powers … Marilyn once said “I’ve been on a calendar, but never on time” … she admitted that as a young unknown actress she had slept her way to the top, but she wasn’t alone in this practice, back then complying with the “casting couch” was a more common way of advancing your career in the ’40s and ’50s — as Joan Crawford said, the casting couch beat the cold hard floor … she was the only actress of the early ’60s to have her own production company — Marilyn Monroe Productions … she claimed that her idea of a sexy man was Albert Einstein … director Otto Preminger once said about her: “Marilyn had this fantasy of having a child by Albert Einstein, whom she absolutely idolized. Marilyn converted to Judaism, you know, but it’s not widely noted. Anyhow, Marilyn believed that between her and Einstein, they could have the perfect child — one with her looks and his brain,” but cynical, mocking critics wondered what would happen if the baby had his looks and her brain … once when she was asked what she wore to bed, she replied “Chanel No. 5,” and when asked what she had on when she took some provocative photos, she answered “the radio” … actress Lauren Bacall once said about her: “Marilyn was frightened, insecure … she had no meanness in her, no bitchery” … actor Clark Gable once said about her: “Working with Marilyn Monroe in The Misfits nearly gave me a heart attack; I have never been happier when a film ended” … she had a poodle named Jewel, who outlived her … at the time of her death Marilyn owned over 400 books, among them many works of serious literature … she was also said to have been a fan of classical music, especially Beethoven and Mozart (though on the night of her death she had been listening to an album by Frank Sinatra) … Marilyn has many Web sites devoted to her. Very Very many.

Click here for Marilyn Monroe Quotes

Girlfriend/Wife, Writer and TV Star, though Jackie really belongs in her own category — there was no other woman during the decade who was such a political, cultural, and social force.

BIRTH: Jacqueline was born July 28, 1929, making her already 31 when JFK won the presidential election in ‘60. Her exotic birthplace: Southampton, New York. Her moniker at birth was Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, she entered the ’60s as a Kennedy, and she died an Onassis (we’ve titled this page Jacqueline Kennedy in honor of her early ’60s life, when she gained her greatest fame).

The world admired her, and America cherished her; a 1964 Gallup Poll showed that she was the most-admired woman in America. So strong was Jackie’s impact, she has been the subject of hundreds of books and thousands of articles, many coming after her death, and at one time she was the most prized photo subject in the world. When she toured India, more people came to see her than came to see Queen Elizabeth. At her eulogy Ted Kennedy praised her part during the awful days in November ‘63 after the JFK assassination in Dallas: “She held us together as a family and a country.” At her eulogy she was remembered as being the idealization of the American woman: “No one else looked like her, spoke like her, wrote like her, or was so original in the way she did things.” Here are just a few of the items that show what an impact she had:

the Franklin Mint memorialized her with a porcelain Jackie doll, wearing the white sleeveless gown from the ‘61 inauguration; Life magazine had so many pictures of her that in ‘94 they published a photo book called Remembering Jackie; Mattel created Jackie-style fashions for Barbie; there was a Broadway play about her called Jackie–”The history, the headlines, the gossip, the auction, and now this” read the ads; in ‘53 the Republic of Niger created a postage stamp honoring her wedding to Jack, while Gambia created nine different stamps devoted to her; in ‘99 there was a beanie bear created in her honor; her image was used for a Kennedy-family set of paper dolls; a ‘62 board game called The Kennedys showed her alongside the Kennedy brothers as busts on Mt. Rushmore; Carlton Cards made a Christmas ornament of her in a ballgown; and when People magazine put out an issue called “Unforgettable Women of the Century,” there was only one photo on the cover — Jackie’s.

She shunned celebrity for most of her life, but somehow she was always in the spotlight. Her most glaring exposure came in November of ‘63, when she and JFK toured the South to raise support for the upcoming presidential campaign. On November 22, 1963, they attended a Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce reception, she in a pink dress and pink hat. In Dallas that afternoon, while riding in an open-top limo, JFK was assassinated by gunshots, allegedly fired by Lee Harvey Oswald from a sixth-floor window of the Texas Schoolbook Depository building. At one point during the melee, Jackie climbed from her seat in the back out on to the trunk, she never remembered doing it but some speculated that she saw skull fragments of JFK lying on the trunk and wanted to retrieve them. He died at 2 p.m. EST that day, sending the world into shock. That night, Jackie solemnly watched the swearing-in ceremony of Vice-President Lyndon Johnson on board a plane. On November 25, 1963, JFK was buried, with the funeral conducted according to Jackie’s wishes. His casket was carried through Washington, D.C. on the same carriage that had carried Abe Lincoln’s body some 100 years earlier. Throughout the televised event, Jackie, wearing a black veil, mourned stoically and silently, helping the nation ease through this crises by always keeping control and maintaining her gallant, proud dignity. Perhaps because of the terrible traumas she endured under the public microscope in late ‘63, Jackie would always try to shy away from cameras and publicity.

Born into an aristocratic, rich family, Jackie was riding horses at age four and winning equestrian championships at age five. After her parents divorced when Jackie was eleven, her mother remarried and moved the family to a Virginia estate called Merrywood. Jackie attended prestigious private schools and vacationed at a huge Rhode Island farm, where she helped care for the animals. She was known as a quiet, private girl. She attended a Connecticut charm school, and in ‘47 her yearbook listed these traits for her: her favorite song was “Limehouse Blues,” she was always saying “play a rhumba next,” she was most known for her “wit,” and her ambition was “not to be a housewife.” After her coming-out party in ‘47, the regal Jackie was named Deb of the Year. She attended Vassar, then after her sophomore year she spent a happy, carefree year at the Sorbonne in Paris. She graduated from George Washington University in ‘51 and got a job as a reporter/photographer at the Washington Times Herald in ‘52 before she met JFK and became his wife. After the ’60s, Jackie worked at Viking, and she devoted her life to raising her kids, Caroline and John. “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do well matters very much,” she once said. In ‘88 she became a joyous grandmother. In early ‘94 she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and on February 28, 1994 she was on the cover of People with the coverline: “She confronts cancer with grace, courage–and the love of her family.” In April of that year, knowing she would soon die, she left the hospital to return to her New York apartment, where she could be surrounded by family and friends. Jackie died on May 19, 1994, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to JFK. “Too young to be a widow in 1963,” eulogized Ted Kennedy, “and too young to die now”; President Clinton also spoke at her final service.

TALENT: One of her best talents was writing: As a young student she was writing and illustrating her own poetry, and throughout her life she was known as a prolific letter writer. In fact, at her funeral, her writing was praised in a speech by her son, John, who commended her “love of words, the bonds of home and family, and her spirit of adventure.” In ‘51 she won a national writing contest held by Vogue magazine, the prize a trip to France; that article was reprinted in Vogue in February, ‘61, to inspire a new generation. Jackie used her talent in ‘61 when she wrote a guidebook called The White House. Appalled at the condition of the White House when she first moved in, she wrote the book to help raise funds for the restoration of the White House. The book sold for $1 and generated $250K in the first three months. She also sold the rights to a documentary, starring her, called “A Tour of the White House,” it was broadcast on February 14, 1962. Her efforts put more emphasis on the arts and culture than had before been seen on a national level. Much later, after the death of her second husband, Aristotle Onassis, Jackie put her writing skills to good use as an associate editor at Viking Press. Taking the job in September ‘75, she worked on special-interest books and helped publish books by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, plus a children’s book by Carly Simon. Jackie’s ability to charm people was legendary, and she used that charm to raise more funds for the White House restoration. She set up a fine arts committee to plan the work, and she charmed contributors and patrons to bring in more cash for the project. She also spoke four languages, a skill that served her husband well when she helped campaign for him in ‘58 for senator and in the early ’60s for president; she spoke in French and Spanish for JFK at various rallies and to different ethnic groups and organizations, helping to boost him to victory each time. Her language skills enabled her to charm foreign dignitaries such as France’s Charles DeGaulle when she toured Europe with JFK in the early ’60s, in fact when they returned he said, “I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris.”

Some people considered her one of America’s gorgeous women in her prime; others don’t put her on quite that high a level but admit that she made a lot out of what she had — wide-set eyes, a big smile, and a glamorous, though not classically beautiful, appearance. Photographers and magazine editors loved her, for her youthful, pleasing looks were quite a contrast to elderly aspects of previous First Ladies such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, and Mamie Eisenhower. Jackie was on countless magazine covers, including such gossipy movie tabloids as Photoplay, which usually covered sizzling movie stars. She made the following Life covers:

in ‘53, an article about the JFK/Jackie courtship, the cover showing them boating; an August 24, 1959 cover showed her in pink and with pearls; on May 26, 1961, wearing bright red and her trademark pillbox hat; in September of that same year, showing off her restoration work at the White House; on December 6, 1963, while showing JFK’s funeral; an April 26, 1963 issue about her childhood; a cover shot of her in Cambodia on November 17, 1967; on November 1, 1968, the coverlines read “Jackie’s Wedding” and the article showed her wedding to Aristotle Onassis; in ‘72, a cover story about her battles with an invasive photographer; in July ‘89, a 60th birthday tribute; in August ‘99, this time with her daughter.

Tall and lean, Jackie had impeccable, aristocratic, cultivated style and brought a new youthful beauty to the White House. For the inauguration in ‘61, she hired designer Oleg Cassini to create her wardrobe, telling him she wanted to dress as if “Jack were President of France.” Her glamorous clothes dazzled the nation and inspired a whole look, making her a role model for American women. Women even copied her hat style when Jackie accidentally dented a pillbox hat — similar hats with similar dents suddenly became fashionable. According to the book Wild Women in the White House, a maid once pulled some sexy black lingerie from JFK’s bed and handed them to Jackie, thinking the lingerie was hers. Jackie handed them to Jack with the quip, “Not my size.” The same book also claims that Jackie told a reporter that she wore “sable underwear.”

LIFESTYLE: Before she married JFK, Jackie was engaged to a New York broker named John Houston when she was 23. However, while engaged she met Senator JFK at a society dinner in Washington, and once they began dating she broke off her engagement. She also switched political allegiance, because up till then she was a Republican. Even back then, in ‘52, JFK had a rep as a womanizer and a playboy, but he was also seen as the future hope of the Democratic Party and so was considered quite a catch for Jackie. He proposed to her while she was in London for Queen Elizabeth’s investiture, and on September 12, 1953 they married in St. Mary’s Roman Catholic church in Newport, Rhode Island. It was the social event of the year, but she was given away by her stepfather because her real father wasn’t invited, at the request of Jackie’s mother. Jackie and JFK moved into a Georgetown home in early ‘54. He was having chronic back pains from his fall on the deck of the sinking PT-109 during World War II, and he had surgery to try to heal his back though he was never pain-free again. She had a miscarriage in ‘55 and a still-born baby in ‘56. In November ‘57 she gave birth to daughter Caroline. On November 25, 1960 she gave birth to JFK, Jr. JFK continued to have health problems all through his presidency, even being diagnosed with Addison’s Disease, but that didn’t preclude him from having extra-marital affairs. Among those he was linked to were Angie Dickinson, Marilyn Monroe, and Jayne Mansfield. Jackie never addressed these rumors in public, preferring to keep them a family matter, which was a pretty cool attitude to have, and pretty fortunate for JFK. The closest she ever got to discussing his infidelities was this quote: “I don’t think there are any men who are faithful to their wives.” During this time Secret Service agents pegged a possible affair Jackie might have had with Sinatra, though others deny that it ever happened. Frank did escort her to the January ‘61 inauguration ball he planned as the celebration of JFK’s triumph. Kitty Kelley’s book His Way said that in the ’60s Jackie hated Frank and was “unattainable” by him, and she wasn’t even friendly to him until the ’70s. Meanwhile, in August ‘63 Jackie gave birth to another son, Patrick, but he died after only 39 hours. Jackie then went on a Mediterranean cruise with her sister to recuperate, and there she met shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, the world’s richest man. After JFK’s death, she moved to New York City for some privacy and to get away from the Washington memories. In Manhattan she tried to raise her kids as normally, and with as little press attention, as possible. Though she wanted a low-profile, she was still written and talked about, and in the mid-60s stories started to circulate that she was having a romance with her escort while on a diplomatic trip to Asia. In ‘68 she announced plans to marry Aristotle Onassis, hoping she’d be able to start her life over as something other than the wife of a dead president. They married on October 20, 1968 on the Greek island of Skorpios. The public, unfortunately, condemned the marriage, seeing her as a golddigger and him as an opportunist trying to gain power and prestige. On January 23, 1973 Ari’s son Alexander died in a plane crash, and Ari was never the same again. He drank, became morose, and basically lost the will to live. Jackie had security and was out of the limelight, going on spending sprees and traveling. In March ‘75 Ari died of pneumonia. The last rumored romance she had was with diamond merchant Maurice Templeton.

EXTRAS: Jackie was born to “Black Jack” Bouvier, a successful banker, and a mother, Janet Lee, who was a talented equestrian … the family could trace its background into French aristocracy … her younger sister Lee, who grew up to become the jet-setting Lee Radziwell, was born four years after Jackie … Maria Shriver, who is married to Arnold Schwarzenegger, is her niece … of the title First Lady, Jackie once said, “it sounds like a saddle horse,” and she asked her staff not to call her that … though Jackie was a chain smoker, there are almost no photos of her actually smoking, as per her requests … after JFK’s death, a week later Jackie gave an interview to Life magazine about the tragedy, and in it she told how he loved the show Camelot with its song that reminded, “don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for happy-ever-aftering, that was known as Camelot” … Jackie and JFK’s years at the White House have since come to be known as the “Camelot era” or the “Camelot years” … not only was she interested in preserving the White House, Jackie also helped save Grand Central Station in ‘78 by lending her name to a fund-raising drive that restored the magnificent terminal to its former glory … she made the cover of Vanity Fair twice: first in August ‘89 with the coverline “Jackie, Yo! You’re Rich, You’re Gorgeous, and Along Came Maurice,” and then in July ‘94, after death, with a coverline that read “Forever Jackie” and also called her “Camelot’s Queen” … she was the subject of a ‘62 documentary called Jacqueline Kennedy’s Asian Journey, showing her trip to India and Pakistan … the ‘78 movie The Greek Tycoon was loosely based on her romance with Aristotle Onassis, Anthony Quinn played an Ari-styled character named Theo and Jackie’s character, Liz Cassidy, was played by Jacqueline Bisset … the ‘81 TV movie Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy starred Jaclyn Smith from “Charlie’s Angels” as Jackie and James Franciscus as JFK … the book The Kennedy Women claimed that a famous topless photo of Jackie was actually set up by an angry Aristotle Onassis, supposedly mad at her spending sprees and her distance from him … Jackie once said that she used to have interior dialogues with Abe Lincoln when she sat and concentrated in the Lincoln Room of the White House, “I’d sort of be talking with him, I could really feel his strength, she said … one of the recommendations in her will was that her children could auction off some of her possessions if they wanted — when they did, the Sotheby’s auction of 5,500 pieces of jewelry, art, and books from her estate on April 23-26 in ‘96 drew widespread attention and raised over $34 million, an amazing $29 million more than was predicted … among the items sold were thirteen pairs of salt and pepper shakers for $11,500, a monogrammed tape measure for $49,000, a monogrammed lighter for $85,000, a triple strand of faux pearls for $211,000, and the 40-carat engagement diamond she got from Onassis for $2.6 million.

HER SWINGIN’ ’60s CREDENTIALS:This red-headed hour-glassed knockout blazed across the big screen in lightweight comedy, adventure and thriller flix alongside some of the decade’s most famous leading men.

CATEGORIES OF SWINGIN’ CHICK: Movie Star and TV Star

BIRTH: She was born in 1940, so she was a perfect 20-29 through the decade. Her moniker at birth: Jill Oppenheim. Her exotic birthplace: Los Angeles, California.

IMPACT ON THE ’60s: Jill St. John lived, looked, and played like a big star, but she was probably more show than substance (this explains all her guest-star appearances on those Bob Hope specials, even though she didn’t have a heavyweight movie career). One person who knew Jill in the early days was Grace Slick, who became friends one summer back in their early twenties. Wrote Grace in her book, Somebody to Love?: “She was extremely intelligent and remarkably beautiful, and when we went shopping at Bullock’s, she demonstrated the rich-and-famous ability to seek, find, spend, and acquire.” Jill later attended Grace’s bachelorette party before Grace got married.

CAREER IN THE ’60s: She was a consistent star with the looks to steal scenes all decade long, foreshadowing her sparkling appearance as the first major Bond Beauty of the ’70s, Tiffany Case in ’71’s Diamonds Are Forever.  She was only twenty years old when she starred in Irwin Allen’s The Lost World (’60). High-profile movies filled her 60s, including Jerry Lewis’s Who’s Minding the Store? (’63), The Liquidator with Rod Taylor (’65), Tony Rome with Frank (’67), and Eight on the Lam with Bob Hope (’67). Unappreciated by film critics, these credits and more (including a couple of TV movies, numerous TV specials, and “Batman” in ‘66) still didn’t add up to Jill getting much respect as an actress. In fact, some sources say she was only brought into Tony Rome because she was Frank’s girl (he did get parts for all his gang in that movie, including his lawyer Mickey Rudin, pals Shecky Greene, Jilly Rizzo, and Mike Romanoff, plus a couple of other playmates, Deana Lund and Tiffany Bolling.

CAREER OUTSIDE THE ’60s: She got off to a good start in the late ’50s as a sweet star in four flicks, including Summer Love in ‘58. After she got all glamorous and stunning, she was a major Bond Chick in the penultimate Connery Bond flick, Diamonds Are Forever in ‘71. By the way, that name, Tiffany Case, is explained as being the result of the character having being born on the first floor of Tiffany’s jewelry store while her mom shopped for a wedding ring; upon hearing this, Bond quips, “I’m glad for your sake it wasn’t Van Cleef & Arpels.” Her many TV appearances include a half-dozen TV movies, regular cooking demos on “Good Morning America,” plus  “Magnum, P.I.” in ‘81 and “Seinfeld” in ‘97. She’s also written a column for the USA Weekend newspaper, and her Jill St. John Cookbook was published in ‘87.

TALENT: Great set decoration, she was never really taken seriously as an actress; supposedly she was only brought into Tony Rome because she was Frank’s girl; in fact, he got parts for all his gang in that movie, including his lawyer Mickey Rudin, pals Shecky Greene, Jilly Rizzo, and Mike Romanoff, plus a couple of other playmates, Deana Lund and Tiffany Bolling.

HER ’60s LOOK: With that stunning face and hair, she was one of those actresses so darned attractive it doesn’t matter if they’re great actresses or not, a la Raquel Welch and Ursula Andress. In ’63’s Movie Life Yearbook Jill’s stats were given as 5′ 6,” plus 36 and 1/4″-23-36. Hers was a figure that resonated long after any movie was forgotten: a slender bikini stuffed with big scoops of firm vanilla ice cream, or a long lean glamour girl decked in jewels, she was always the center of attention, no matter what else was happening. She’s still got it, too, as evidenced by her appearance with other Bond girls in the November ‘99 issue of Vanity Fair — most of the other ’60s actresses are refined and covered up, but not Jill, she’s flashing plenty of seductive leg, as sexy as ever.

LIFESTYLE: She once said that “the longest period of celibacy for Jill St. John is the shortest distance between two lovers.” In laymen’s terms that translates into lots of husbands and lots of boyfriends. Of her four husbands, one was Lance Reventlow, son of Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton, and another was singer Jack Jones, that was ‘67-’69. She had some hey-hey with Frank Sinatra, and something undefined with Henry Kissinger. Of the latter, Jill found his intellect to be his most admirable feature and a good match for her own high I.Q. (see EXTRAS below). Since 1990 she’s been married to Natalie Wood’s ex-husband, Robert Wagner (as kids, Jill and Natalie were in the same ballet class). Jill and Wagner worked together on the TV movie How I Spent My Summer Vacation in ‘66; they were reintroduced in ‘82, two months after Natalie tragically drowned off Catalina Island. Friends first, they graduated to dating and within a few years shared homes in Colorado and California; they married on May 25th of ‘90. They now have homes in Aspen and L.A.’s Pacific Palisades where Jill keeps a number of horses. Jill and RJ (his nickname) have been in several recent screen projects together, including the Around the World in 80 Days miniseries (’89), The Player (’92), and Something to Believe In (’98); they’ve also toured together with A.R. Gurney’s play Love Letters. Wagner has found a whole new career playing a bad guy in the Austin Powers movies. Devoted to her husband, Jill said in a TV interview: “We’re kindred souls … it’s a great life … you can’t look in those eyes and see that smile and not smile yourself.”

EXTRAS: Some sources credit her with an I.Q. of 162, (about equal to Jayne Mansfield’s supposed 163) which makes Jill a terrific actress because she plays such a convincing dingaling … just before Valentine’s Day in 2002 Jill and her husband did a romantic interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, excerpted below:
“Q: When was the last time you spent a night apart?

RW: We don’t spend time apart too often.

Jill: We try not to. … I did not marry my husband so I can be away from him.

Q: Is that why you started doing Love Letters together?

RW: Yeah. The producer asked me if Jill would be interested in doing it, and I said, ‘I don’t know, why don’t you ask her?’ He asked her and she said, ‘I don’t know.’ So he told her to just try it and see how she liked it. So we went into Bally’s in Las Vegas. There was no publicity for the piece, and the room was filled with about 1,200 people. She went onstage and we did the performance. It came to the end, and she said to me, ‘Is that it?’

Jill: I was like a deer trapped in the headlights. I hadn’t been onstage since I was 11 years old in “Annie Get Your Gun.” I couldn’t believe it. But I loved doing the play.

Q: Does it feel different doing it with your wife?

RW: I tell you, I love doing it with her. It’s something we enjoy doing together. Every night it’s different. We rehearse it, we talk about it, we don’t just leave it alone.

Jill: There’s a shorthand between us because we really do love each other. The reality of that makes the performance all the more believable. And because we know each other so well, we are able to get some values out of it that are very particular to us.

Q: How is it that you don’t get fat with all the cooking Jill does?

RW: Well, I’ll tell you what it is. She watches what she feeds me. It’s all very pure food.

Jill: I mainly shop the organic food markets. Why I started cooking is because I love eating so much.

Q: Do you pig out after the show?

Jill: No. Sometimes we’ll eat lightly after the performance. But usually when the performance is over, you won’t be hungry because you’ve been through this odyssey. As many times as we have done Love Letters, we get carried away by it.

Q: No wonder you look so fit.

Jill: Well, we also ski, ride horses, play golf, work out.

Q: Didn’t Jill go to school with both Stefanie Powers, your co-star from “Hart to Hart,” and Natalie Wood, your late wife?

Jill: No, that is not true. We were all in the same ballet class. We didn’t go to school, but we did go to ballet class every day.

RW: There is that famous picture of the three of them graduating together.

Q: What is it with you and girls from that class?

RW: I don’t know.

Jill: Yeah, were you hanging around that ballet class?

RW: No, I was cruising another place at that time, I think. I was cruising a nightclub, probably, while you little kids were dancing away.

Q: So when is the autobiography coming?

Jill: The only books I write are cookbooks.

RW: They’re kind of after me to do one. I’ve worked with so many amazing people. I always wanted to be in the industry. I always wanted to be in the movies. I was so excited when I first started, and I still am. It’s been so good to me, and it’s taken me so many places. It’s been a miraculous career. It’s been 54 years, and I’m getting ready to go to work on Wednesday.

Jill: He’s doing the new Austin Powers.

RW: It’s really wonderful. People ask me when I’m going to retire, and I don’t even think about that.

Jill: We don’t believe in retirement.”

Born on January 19^th 1809

Died on October 7^th 1949

Born in Boston. Low family. Both parents were actors. When he was born, Dad left the family. His sister went insane. His brother died of horrible disease. His mother died when he was 4. (1813). of Tuberculosis.

Adopted to John and Francis Allan. Richmond, Virginia.John Allen – plantation owner, merchant. High Standard. Early Life – gain father’s respect

(Grades Outstanding, Athletics, was popular, good looking)

Bob Stanner – a school mate who idealized Poe

Spends Christmas with Bob because he couldn’t go to Scotland with adopted parents. Bob’s mom said nice things about his mom.

Fell in love with Helen Stanner(Bob’s mom)

When Poe was found in bed with Helen her husband became upset and shot at Poe as he kicked him out of the house.

Edgar Allan Poe

Kicked out of school and was forced to go to a public school.

As a senior he met a girl, Elmyra Royster.

Went to the University of Virginia for college

Becomes alcoholic

Put on probation, then kicked out of school.

Joins the army and at Westpoint he learns discipline

Tries to get thrown out and eventually succeeds

Now his father disowns him. Poe has lost everything by early 20’s

Moved to Baltimore, lived with aunt, Maria Clemm. She lets him live in a room in her attic.

Started developing writing reputation

He wrote alot and was getting published, but was paid very little.

1835 – Got a job as editor of a magazine, The Southern Literary Messenger

Publishes stories by Herman Melville and James Cooper

He was considered a good editor, and writes his own stuff

1836 – Marries his cousin, Virginia Clemm

She was able the make him happy

1837 – Poe was fired, he became to unreliable

Wide contracted Tuberculosis

Depression sets in and he turns tward alcohol

Took his wife’s medication

During this time he wrote “The Raven” it was published in 1845 for $10

1847 – wife died

Wrote hundreds of stories, poems to stay alive

Poe is suicidal

Goes back to Richmond in 1849

Meets Elmyra Downs, Dwight her exhusband, just died

They get engaged again

He said he had to go to New York

Found in Baltimore behind bar in critical condion so they took him to a room above the bar

Died – October 7, 1846 (still influential today)

Enlisted under Edgar Allan Perry

1829 – mom died

1834 – John Allan died

1842 – request government job with President Tyler, intoxicated, 2^nd time, sober, tried to solicit magazines

needed order & logic in his life

lost mother, step mother, brother, wife(cousin) to tuberculosis

1845 – The Raven – New York Evening Mirror

nickname – Raven

$14.00 for Raven

1846 – moved to Ferdhan, NY

Hellen Whitman – rejected her too

Elmyra Shelton – engaged again

Poe disappeared for several days

found semi-conscious on Baltimore Street…carried in tavern

rushed in carriage to Washington Hospital

5 am, regained consciousness

last thing he said was “Can I help my poor soul?”

Of the Earl of Lincoln, and young Anne enjoyed the aristocratic mansion nestled in the English countryside. Her early years were spent benefiting from a superior education, which was provided at home by her father. Anne’s childhood reading list included the classical literature of Virgil, Homer, and Thucydides, and the works of Milton and Spenser, among others (12: 29). The privileges experienced by Anne as a young girl would contrast sharply with the harsh realities of married life. She suffered from smallpox at sixteen, and her marriage to Simon Bradstreet followed soon after her recovery (Hensley 22). Two years after their marriage, the newlyweds, along with Anne’s parents, immigrated to America. The colonists set sail on the Arbella, which of the four departing ships held the more prominent members of English society (Ellis 27).

The colonists arrived at Salem, Massachusetts on the 22 of July 1630. The journey itself was an act of faith for the group of Puritans, who sought a new life in the American wilderness. Anne herself wrote concerning this expedition that “she submitted to it and joined the church at Boston”, a statement which exemplifies her stalwart dedication to the Puritanism (12:29). After their arrival in the Massachusetts Bay colony, both the Bradstreets and Dudleys would relocate frequently, mainly in an attempt to achieve political status for the male members of the family (Martin 16). Both Anne’s father and husband would serve as colonial governors, and the former succeeded John Winthrop as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

After residing in Salem, the family moved to Charlestown, then Cambridge, followed by Ipswich, and eventually settled in Andover. Between the years of 1633 and 1652, Anne gave birth to eight children. Her commitment to her family was unwavering, as was her sense of responsibility towards God and society.

Puritanism was an overwhelming component of Anne’s life, and this emphasis on religion was extended to her writing. Anne’s first known poem entitled “Upon a Fit of Sickness, Anno. 1632″ reflects her Puritan values, as they existed at the young age of 19.

The patriarchal society to which she belonged, as well as her personal relationships with Father and husband affected Anne’s perception of God. According to literary critic Jeannine Hensley, Anne’s “rejection of vanity appeared partly as she set forth the truth and the glory of God while she maintained her own humility through simplicity of poetic style” (Hensley 24). The first edition of her poetry was published in London in 1650, and was entitled The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America….

The primary theme of this collection of poems relates to the issue of power, which may be a reflection of Anne’s existence as a female in a male dominated society.

The poems are extensive in length, and the first section contains “The Four Elements”, “The Four Humors of Man,” “The Four Ages of Man,” and “The Four Seasons.”

The quaternion format is duplicated in the second section, which is termed “The Four Monarchies”. The poems in this particular section possess historical content, and are situated among classical civilizations.

The poems included in this first edition were written while the Bradstreets were residing in Ipswich. Anne sought to express her appreciation for her father’s dedication to her early education, by dedicating the second edition to Governor Thomas Dudley.

It was her father who encouraged her avid reading, and exposed Anne to a wide selection of literary masterpieces. The publication of Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning, Full of Delight indicated Anne’s lack of satisfaction with the initial edition, although the revised book was not actually published until six years after her death (Hensley 26). The Tenth Muse in its posthumous form offers poems which indicate both Anne’s familial loyalties and love of nature, as well as her difficulty resolving the grace of God with the reward of eternal life (Martin 17). This willingness to share her own religious insecurity, coupled with an evolved mastery of poetic style, serves to insure Anne’s position as a highly competent writer. The publication in 1867 of The Works of Anne Bradstreet in Prose and Verse offers an extensive compilation of Anne’s works. The publication of From the Manuscripts, Meditations Divine and Morall Together with Letters and Occasional Pieces by Anne Bradstreet presents a Puritanical perspective of salvation, and relates a subjective interpretation of suffering as a means of sharing God’s grace (12:33). It is known that Anne was particularly admiring of writers Sir Phillip Sidney and Guillaume Du Bartas, and she pays tribute to the latter in The

Tenth Muse. Her inability to adopt a female muse was dependent on its existence as a male literary tool, thus Anne was forced to pay homage to the male figure. Critic Wendy Martin addresses Anne’s utilization of the male in her poetry, “In order not to appear presumptuous or competitive, Bradstreet had to solicit their protection, defer to their superior abilities, and assume a deferential pose” (39). This willingness to defer to the Patriarchy typifies female subservience during the colonial period, and demonstrates the impact of religious ideology on literature.

Anne Bradstreet died September 16, 1672 in Andover, Massachusetts. Her contribution to literature is only paralleled by her devotion to her faith and family. The willingness to journey to a strange land was mirrored by a desire to explore the soul, and readers are privileged to read the details of Anne Bradstreet’s expedition.

Primary Works

The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America…, as “a Gentlewoman in those parts” (London: Printed for Stephen Botwell, 1650): revised and enlarged as Several Poems Compiled With Great Variety of Wit and Learning, Full of Delight, as a “Gentlewoman in New England: (Boston: Printed by John Foster, 1678):

The Works of Anne Bradstreet in Prose and Verse, edited by John Harvard Ellis (Charlestown, Mass.: Abram E. Cutter, 1867);

The Tenth Muse (1650) and, From the Manuscripts, Meditations Divine and Morall Together With Letters and Occasional Pieces by Anne Bradstreet, edited by Josephine K. Piercy (Gainesville, Fla,: Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reprints, 1965);

The Complete Works of Anne Bradstreet, edited by Joseph R. McElrath, Jr., and Allan P. Robb (Boston: Twayne, 1981).

Works Cited

Ellis, John Harvard. The Works of Anne Bradstreet in Prose and Verse. Gloucester: Peter Smith, 1962.

Hensley, Jeannine, ed., The Works of Anne Bradstreet. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967.

Martin, Wendy. “Anne Bradstreet.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: American Colonial Writers. 12 vols. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1982.

Martin, Wendy. An American Triptych: Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, Adrienne Rich. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1984.

Selected Bibliography: Books

Beales, Ross W. Anne Bradstreet and her Children. New York: Psychohistory Press, 1979.

Cowell, Pattie. Critical Essays on Anne Bradstreet. Ed. Pattie Cowell and Ann Stanford. Boston: Hall, 1983.

Eberwein, Jane Donahue. ‘Art, Natures Ape’: The Challenge to the American Poet. Poetics in the Poem: Critical Essays on American Self-Reflexive Poetry. Ed.

Dorothy Z. Baker. New York: Peter Lang, 1987.

Elrod, Eileen Razarri. ‘ Mouth Put in the Dust’: Personal Authority and Biblical Resonance in Anne Bradstreet’s Grief Poems. Early Protestantism and American Culture. Ed. Michael Schuldiner. New York: Mellen, 1985.

Eur, Do seon. Reading Anne Bradstreet’s ‘Contemplations’ in the Light of the Emblematic Structure. Literary Calvinism and Nineteenth Century American Women. Ed. Michael Schuldiner. New York: Mellen, 1987.

Hughes, Walter. ‘Meat Out of the Eater’: Panic and Desire in American Puritan Poetry. Engendering Men: The Question of Male Feminist Criticism. Eds. Joseph A. Boone and Michael Cadden. New York: Routledge, 1980.

Meany, Birgit. The Contemplative Art of Anne Bradstreet’s ‘Contemplations’. Puritanism in America: The Seventeenth through the Nineteenth Centuries. New York: Mellen, 1983.

McElrath, Joseph R. and Allan P. Robb, eds. The Complete works of Anne Bradstreet. Boston: Twayne, 1981.

Murphy, Francis. Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor. The Columbia History of American Poetry. Jat Parini and Brett Millier, eds. New York: Columbia UP,,1983.

Rosenmaier, Rosamond R. The Wounds upon Bathsheeba: Anne Bradstreet’s Prophetic Art. Puritan Poets and Poetics: Seventeenth-Century American Poetry In Theory and Practice. Peter White and Harrison T. Meserole, eds. University Park: Pennsylvania State Up, 1985.

White, Roberta. John Berryman’s Anne. The Anna Book: Searching for Anna In Literary History. Mickey Pearlman, ed. Westport: Greenwood, 1982.

Selected Bibliography: Articles

Blackstock, Carrie Galloway. ” Anne Bradstreet and Performativity: Self-Cultivation, Self-Deployment.” Early American Literature 32. 3 (1987): 222-48.

Bush, Sargent, Jr. “American Poetry Begins: The Confident Modesty of The Tenth Muse.” Wisconsin Academy Review: A Journal of Wisconsin Culture 38. 1 (Winter 1981-1982): 8-12.

Caldwell, Patricia. “Why Our First Poet Was a Woman: Bradstreet and the Birth Of an American Poetic Voice.” Prospects: An Annual Journal of American Cultural Studies 13 (1978): 1-35.

Craig, Raymond A. “Singing With Grace: Allusive Strategies in Anne Bradstreet’s “New Psalms’.” Studies in Puritan American Spirituality 1(1980): 148-69.

Doriani, Beth M. ” ‘Then have I…Said with David’: Anne Bradstreet’s Andover Manuscript Poems and the Influence of the Psalm Tradition.” Early American Literature 24:1 (1979): 52-69.

Dorsey, Peter. “Women’s Autobiography and the Hermeneutics of Conversion.” A-B: Autobiography Studies 8:1 (spring 1983): 72-90.

Eberwein, “Anne Bradstreet (c.1612-1672).” Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers 11:2 (1984): 161-69.

Hammond, Jeffrey A. “The Puritan Elegaic Ritual: From Sinful Silence to Apostolic Voice.” Studies in Puritan American Spirituality 2 (1981): 77-106.

Hesford, Walter. “The Creative Fall of Bradstreet and Dickinson.” Essays In Literature 14:1 (spring 1987): 81-91.

Kopacz, Paula. ” ‘To Finish what’s Begun’: Anne Bradstreet’s Last Words.” Early American Literature 23:2 (1978): 175-187.

Maragou, Helena. “The Portrait of Alexander the Great in Anne Bradstreet’s ‘The Third Monarchy’.” Early American Literature 23:1 (spring 1978): 70-81.

Margerum, Eileen. “Anne Bradstreet’s Public Poetry and the Tradition of Humility.” Early American Literature 17:2 (fall 1982): 152-60.

Salska, Agnieska. “Puritan Poetry: Its Public and Private Strain.” Early American Literature 19:2 (Fall 1984): 107-121.

Schilling, Carol. “Corresponding Figures: Embodying Sacred and Secular Commonplaces in Anne Bradstreet’s Letters to Simon.” Literature And Belief 15 (1985): 139-59.

Schweitzer, Ivy. “Anne Bradstreet Wrestles with the Renaissance.” Early American Literature 23:2 (1978): 291-312.

Spencer, Luke. “Mistress Bradstreet and Mr. Berryman: The Ultimate Seduction.” American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography 66:2 (June 1984): 353-66.

Sweet, Timothy. “Gender, Genre, and Subjectivity in Anne Bradstreet’s Early Elegies.” Early American Literature 23:2 (1978); 152-174.

Biography
Thornton Wilder

American writer and playwright, best known for the Pulizer Prize awarded play OUR TOWN (1938), which was seen by the critic Brendan Gill as “a nightmare of passive awareness felt through all eternity”, misinterpreted as a slice of Normann Rockwell-like Americana. Wilder’s breakthrough novel was THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY (1927), an examination of justice and altruism in the fates of five travelers in the 18-century Peru, who happen to be crossing the finest bridge in the land when it breaks and throws them into the gulf below. A priest interprets the story of each victim in an attempt to explain the working of divine providence.

Thomas Wilder

Thornton Wilder was born in Madison, Wisconsin, as one of five children of Amos Parker Wilder, a newspaper editor and diplomat, and Isabella (Niven) Wilder. In 1906 the family moved to Hong Kong, where his father had been appointed American Consul General. After six months his mother returned with the children to the United States, but the family rejoined again in 1911 in Shanghai, where his father had been transferred. Wilder stayded in China for a year.

During WW I Wilder served for eight months in the Coast Guard. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1920 and went to Rome, where he studied archaelogy. By 1926 he had received an M.A. degree in French literature from Princeton University. In the same year appeared his first novel, THE CABALA. From 1930 to 1937 he taught literature and classics at the University of Chicago.

Early in WW II Wilder enlisted in the army, and eventually became a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. His responsibilities included the interrogation of prisoners and the preparation of reports for the aMediterranean Air Headquarters. After his discharge Wilder managed to complete THE IDES OF MARCH (1948), a historical novel about Julius Caesar, with which he had been long struggling. In the 1950s Wilder wrote among others such plays as THE WRECK OF THE 5:25 (1957), BERNICE (1957), and ALCESTIAD, based on Euripide’s Alcestis, and played at the Edinburgh Festival under the title of Life in the Sun.

In 1962 Wilder received the first National Medal for Literature at a special White House ceremony. He died on December 7, 1975, Hamden, Connecticut, where he had lived off and on for many years with his devoted sister, secretary, business manager, and literary adviser, Isabel Wilder. Though Wilder had one or two affairs with younger men, he nevr allowed a sexual relationship to stand in the way of a friendship – from Gertrude Stein to Montgomery Clift amiable Wilder seemed to know everybody.

The Wilder Family

The Wilder family did not produce only one writer, or only one brilliant thinker. The entire family was, by any measure, filled with successful and highly accomplished, educated people. Begin with Thornton Wilder’s father, Amos Parker Wilder, who was a newspaper owner & editor and U.S. Consul General to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Continue to all of the Wilder children: the eldest, Amos Niven Wilder, a highly acclaimed professor of New Testament scholarship and a noted poet; Isabel Wilder, author of three popular novels and curator of Yale’s theatre archive; Charlotte Wilder, professor of English and an award-winning poet; and the youngest Wilder sibling, Janet Wilder Dakin — a professor of biology and noted environmentalist — the Wilder family made its mark across generations and in many different fields.