Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia)  Reiner, Carl, 1922-2020, American comedian, television producer, actor, and film director, b. Bronx, N.Y. The son of a watchmaker, Reiner initially wo...

(Encyclopedia) Wajda, Andrzej änˈjā vīˈdä [key], 1926–2016, Polish film director, leading member of the Polish Film School, which began in the 1950s. His films are typically studies of Poland's modern histor...

(Encyclopedia) Zhang Yimou, 1951–, Chinese film director. Sentenced to forced labor during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) because his father had been an officer in Chiang Kai-shek's army, he then studied at t...

(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) Hitchcock, Sir Alfred, 1899–1980, English-American film director, writer, and producer, b. London. Hitchcock began his career as a director in 1925 and became prominent with The 39 Steps (1935) and ...

(Encyclopedia) Bethabara bĕthăbˈərə [key], place, on the Jordan, traditionally located at a ford just above the Dead Sea, where in the New Testament John was baptizing when Jesus came to him. RSV: Bethany, foll...

(Encyclopedia) Nichols, Mike, 1931–2014, American actor and director, b. Berlin, Germany, as Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky. His family immigrated to the United States in ...

(Encyclopedia) Truffaut, François fräNswäˈ trüfōˈ [key], 1932–84, French film director and critic. Known in his early 20s as a writer for the influential French film journal Cahiers du Cinéma, he was noted...

(Encyclopedia) Fries, John, c.1750–1818, American rebel, b. Montgomery co., Pa. After serving in the American Revolution, Fries became a traveling auctioneer. Strongly opposed to the federal property taxes levied ...

(Encyclopedia) Copley, John Singleton kŏpˈlē [key], 1738–1815, American portrait painter, b. Boston. Copley is considered the greatest of the American old masters. He studied with his stepfather, Peter Pelham, ...