Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) De Palma, Brian, 1940–, American film director, b. Newark, N.J. Heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, he is especially known for bloody, shocking, and suspenseful thrillers. Sometimes accused of v...

(Encyclopedia) Capra, Frank kăpˈrə [key], 1897–1991, American film director, b. Bisaquino, Sicily. One of the preeminent Hollywood directors of the 1930s and 40s, he produced idealistic populist movies that, so...

(Encyclopedia) Close, Glenn, 1947–, American actress, b. Greenwich, Conn. She began her career in the theater, debuting on Broadway in Love for Love (1974), winning an Obie for the off-Broadway The Singular Life o...

(Encyclopedia) House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a committee (1938–75) of the U.S. House of Representatives, created to investigate disloyalty and subversive organizations. Its first chairman, Martin ...

(Encyclopedia) hula, traditional Hawaiian dance usually performed standing with symbolically descriptive arm and hand movements and gracefully sensual undulations of the hips; it is also done in a sitting position. ...

(Encyclopedia) Foster, Jodie (Alicia Christian Foster), 1962–, American actress and film director, b. Los Angeles, Yale Univ. (B.A., 1985). A child model, she began ...

(Encyclopedia) Kubrick, Stanley ko͞oˈbrĭk, kyo͞oˈ– [key], 1928–99, American film director, writer, and producer, b. New York City. His visually stunning, thematically daring, boldly idiosyncratic, and darkl...

(Encyclopedia) Quayle, Dan (James Danforth Quayle), 1947–, Vice President of the United States (1989–93), b. Indianapolis. He graduated from DePauw Univ. (1969) and served in the Indiana National Guard (1969–7...

(Encyclopedia) Beatty, Warren (Henry Warren Beaty) bāˈtē, bēˈ– [key], 1937–, motion picture act...

(Encyclopedia)  Plummer, Christopher (Arthur Christopher Orme), 1929-2021, Canadian-American actor, b. Toronto, Canada. Raised by his mother, Plummer first aspire...