Iconic Loner, Pirate, and a Creepy Guy with Scissor Hands
By Natalie Wininger
Interesting doesn’t even begin to describe Johnny Depp’s life. Recent blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean has made him the ultimate celebrity tabloids love to gush details about. But his acting career began much earlier than the popular film Neverland and Depp definitely didn’t gain his fame from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. To understand this mysterious and well-loved man, let’s go back to the beginning to what shaped the man he would become.
"My body is a journal in a way. It's like what sailors used to do..."
John Christopher Depp II was born June 9, 1963 in a town called Owensboro, Kentucky where his parents made a living as a waitress and civil engineer. He has one brother and two sisters all of which are a part of his life today. His family moved frequently growing up, but eventually settled in Florida. About eight years later Johnny’s parents divorced leaving him upset and without an outlet for his emotions. He resorted to self-mutilation, leaving multiple scars on his body. He explains, “My body is a journal in a way. It's like what sailors used to do, where every tattoo meant something, a specific time in your life when you make a mark on yourself, whether you do it yourself with a knife or with a professional tattoo artist”1.
At age 12, Johnny’s mother gave him a guitar and from then on his passion for music expressed itself in his desire to be a musician. His first band was short lived, probably not unlike the girlfriend he named it for. He decided to drop out of school a year after his parent’s split in order to pursue a musical career. Depp claims to have tried to return, but his principal told him to follow his dream. Following his good old principal’s advice, Johnny joined a band called The Kids becoming very successful in their local area. In pursuit of “the big time” Johnny and his fellow band mates set up shop in Los Angeles hoping to get signed. But they were not destined for success, despite their name change and perseverance. The band broke up before any deals could be made and Johnny was out of a job again.
During The Kids’ successful years, Lori Anne Allison, sister of the bass player and singer, married Johnny on December 24, 1983, Johnny being 20 and Lori 25. She would be the catalyst that jumpstarts his career. In the early years of their marriage Johnny was constantly searching for work, taking on positions like selling pens over the phone to make ends meet. As a makeup artist, Lori was able to meet many influential actors and introduced Johnny to Nicolas Cage who encouraged him to pursue acting as a career. That’s when Johnny put down his guitar and headed for Hollywood.
As with many, it was difficult to break into the industry at first but a few small roles in A Nightmare on Elm Street and Platoon drew attention to the budding young actor and he was then cast in the television series 21 Jump Street. He was embraced by young adults becoming the teenage idol he never wanted to be. He stated it was “a very uncomfortable situation and [he] didn’t get a handle on it”. From then on he vowed to himself that all the roles he took on would be something he was interested in and felt right. In 1990 he played the starring role in Edward Scissor Hands breaking from his teeny bobber persona. The film was successful and was not only a boost for his career but also lead to more opportunities in Tim Burton films. He went on to play in films such as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Benny & Joon, The Brave, Sleepy Hollow, Chocolat, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. All of these lead up to his arguably biggest role thus far in his career: Pirates of the Caribbean. His role as Captain Jack Sparrow gained high popularity and kept movie goers coming back for more in the following two movies. He modeled the character after Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, but co-stars from the movie claim the role to be very similar to his own personality. Johnny went on to make several more hits such as Finding Neverland, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, and Secret Window.
As with many, it was difficult to break into the industry at first but a few small roles in A Nightmare on Elm Street and Platoon drew attention to the budding young actor and he was then cast in the television series 21 Jump Street. He was embraced by young adults becoming the teenage idol he never wanted to be. He stated it was “a very uncomfortable situation and [he] didn’t get a handle on it”. From then on he vowed to himself that all the roles he took on would be something he was interested in and felt right. In 1990 he played the starring role in Edward Scissor Hands breaking from his teeny bobber persona. The film was successful and was not only a boost for his career but also lead to more opportunities in Tim Burton films. He went on to play in films such as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Benny & Joon, The Brave, Sleepy Hollow, Chocolat, and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. All of these lead up to his arguably biggest role thus far in his career: Pirates of the Caribbean. His role as Captain Jack Sparrow gained high popularity and kept movie goers coming back for more in the following two movies. He modeled the character after Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, but co-stars from the movie claim the role to be very similar to his own personality. Johnny went on to make several more hits such as Finding Neverland, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, and Secret Window.
"He vowed to himself that all the roles he took on would be something he was interested in and felt right..."
Johnny’s career has not only inspired individuality but encouraged artistic value in film making. His success revolutionizes the industry by allowing aspiring actors to see the worth of a good film rather than a popular throw away movie. Well done Johnny!
1 Ayoub, Chuck. "Johnny Depp Biography." The Planets.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. <http://www.the-planets.com/star-biography/Johnny-Depp-Biography.htm>.
Audrey Hepburn--A True Lady of Grace
By Betsy Matheson
"She was the best that we could possibly be. She was perfectly charming and perfectly loving. She was a dream; and she was the dream that you remember when you wake up smiling." Richard Dreyfus
Richard Dreyfus describes one of the most influential female actresses of the time. Audrey Hepburn was a considered an icon; a woman of elegance and grace. She was charming and kind on and off the screen. It was said of her that she never spoke ill of her fellow actors. "What I’ve always had, and maybe that I was born with, was an enormous love of people" (Harris, 16). For a woman of such poise and grace, it is hard to imagine that this rare motion picture beauty came from such a rough background. Three weeks after her birth on May 4, 1929, she developed whooping cough and it nearly killed her. She survived through World War II malnourished and greatly affected by the horrors of war.
"What I’ve always had, and maybe that I was born with, was an enormous love of people"
After she moved on to happier times, she was involved in ballet for a short time, but because of her height, she did not match well with other dancers and decided to move on to others things. She eventually found her way into acting. Her first big role was the lead in the Broadway show Gigi. From there she moved onto Roman Holiday playing opposite Gregory Peck. The movie’s producer, William Wyler, thought Hepburn was perfect for the role of a princess "You could believe Audrey was a princess." he stated, "Even if you had never seen her before, and she walked into a room, you would have assumed she was one" (Harris, 94).
Hepburn married twice. Her first marriage was to Mel Ferrer, and actor and director who played opposite Hepburn in the Broadway play Ondine. They married in Switzerland on September 24, 1954 and had one son together whom they named Sean Hepburn Ferrer. They divorced in 1968, which devastated Hepburn, because of her devotion to her husband and her marriage. Her second marriage was to an Italian psychiatrist-neurologist Andrea Mario Dotti on January 18, 1969. They also had a son named Luca. Her second marriage also ended in divorce after thirteen years.
Hepburn married twice. Her first marriage was to Mel Ferrer, and actor and director who played opposite Hepburn in the Broadway play Ondine. They married in Switzerland on September 24, 1954 and had one son together whom they named Sean Hepburn Ferrer. They divorced in 1968, which devastated Hepburn, because of her devotion to her husband and her marriage. Her second marriage was to an Italian psychiatrist-neurologist Andrea Mario Dotti on January 18, 1969. They also had a son named Luca. Her second marriage also ended in divorce after thirteen years.
Right from the start of her career, she won the hearts of movie lovers everywhere. She went on to film several other hit movies such as Sabrina,The Nun's Story, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Charade, and Wait Until Dark.
"You could believe Audrey was a princess. Even if you had never seen her before, and she walked into a room..."
Hepburn was a dedicated and loving mother. Her son Sean said of her "She believed love could heal, fix, mend, and make everything fine and good in the end. And it did" (Harris, 202). In her later years when she was no longer involved in her films, Hepburn decided to devote her time to the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) as an ambassador and helped to raise funds for children in need. Drawing from her own struggles as a child growing up in war torn Europe, Hepburn used her fame in hopes that she would draw attention to the organization and receive the much needed aid for the less fortunate children she met in places such as Africa and Central America.
"Audrey had grace and manners—things you cannot take a course in…What is needed to really become a star is an extra element that God gives or doesn’t give you. You cannot learn it. She just was blessed. God kissed her on the cheek, and there she was." Billy Wilder
Audrey Hepburn was considered a gem not only in film, but in her humanitarian efforts. Even after her death on January 20, 1993, Hepburn is quite possibly one of the most famous female actors of all time.
Works Cited
A Tribute to Audrey Hepburn.
Harris, Warren G. Audrey Hepburn.
Paris, Barry. Audrey Hepburn.
A Tribute to Audrey Hepburn.
Harris, Warren G. Audrey Hepburn.
Paris, Barry. Audrey Hepburn.
A True Auteur
-Susannah Crookston
After his oscar wins for Schindler's List
A household name across America, Steven Spielberg is credited as being the most influential and dynamic director of the Twentieth Century.
Born December 18, 1946 to Leah Adler and Arnold Spielberg, he was raised in a conservative Jewish family between Ohio, New Jersey and Arizona. The family often moved making Spielberg a somewhat lonely and shy child. His favorite hobby as a teenager was making short films with friends, and by the time he was 16, Spielberg directed his first full length independent film, earning him a small profit and generating the basis for some of his future work.
In 1965, Spielberg faced a major turning point after the separation of his parents. And about his religion he later said, “It isn’t something I enjoy admitting, God forgive me, I was embarrassed because we were Orthodox Jews. I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times. Spielberg also said he suffered from acts of anti-Semitic prejudice, "In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses. It was horrible."
Despite the emotional setbacks, Spielberg graduated high school intending to enroll at the University of Southern California. He would apply on three separate occasions; however, he was rejected every time, finally settling on California State University, Long Beach. His education would subsequently fall to the back burner when we became a full-time intern at Universal Studios.
Spielberg would cut his teeth on short films and as a TV show director, but all this would be stepping stones to his first major work The Sugarland Express (1974). It was not a commercial success but the film became a paradigm of the director’s signature style. The following year Hollywood would be introduced to the world’s first blockbuster, thanks to Spielberg’s shark thriller Jaws (1975). Not only did this send Spielberg to almost overnight fame, not to mention making him one of the youngest millionaires in Hollywood, it also proved he was a very capable director after countless mishaps in the production process. The film would later become one of the most iconic films of last 50 years.
Now that he established himself, Spielberg would dabble between his childhood fascination of space and new epic adventure stories. He would find success with the films Close Encounters of the Third Kind E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982) causing one reviewer to remark, “[They] revealed the first flowering of his cinematic obsession with the magical world of childhood innocence, as well as the outside forces that inevitably threaten it.”
Steven Spielberg
After a few missteps, Spielberg would rely on good friend and producer George Lucas for his next big project, the Indiana Jones series. Once again the director would shatter box office records, earn more Oscar nominations, but more importantly set the standard for all action adventure movies. These films would also introduce the first PG-13 rating. The films were successful and Spielberg even met his future wife Kate Capshaw.
In the 1980s and 90s Spielberg would divide his time between commercial and artistic projects, garnering critical success for The Color Purple (1985) while reasserting himself as the Hollywood Golden boy with the CGI extravaganza Jurassic Park (1993). This would represent a change in the director’s style, especially a transition to more adult themes, setting the stage for his most important film to date.
Schindler’s List (1993), a bleak portrayal of the holocaust earned Spielberg his first Best Director honor and demonstrated to the world he was not simply a commercial entertainer, but a serious historian and passionate storyteller. The film is now ranked on almost every “Best Films” list of the last century. Several years later, Spielberg would accomplish the same feat with Saving Private Ryan (1998).
Since then Spielberg has slowly stepped away from the director’s chair, filling responsibilities as producer and creator, forming DreamWorks SKG in 1994. Spielberg still remains the passionate director, keeping with his sci-fi roots but tuning them to fit the new audiences. And he is never tied down by one genre, continually working on what he loves and serving in any position that suits him. Steven Spielberg forever changed the way people go the movies, whether they recognize that or not, and he will continue to astound audiences as long as he has stories to tell.
