Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, on Boundary Islet.

Victoria is Australia's most densely populated state, and has a highly centralised population, with almost 75% of Victorians living in Melbourne, the state capital and largest city.

Etymology

Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, the monarch at the time.

History

After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland, under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney. The first European settlement in the area later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay, Victoria on Port Phillip. It consisted of 308 convicts, 51 marines, 17 free settlers, 12 civil officers, a missionary and his wife. They had been sent from England in HMS ''Calcutta'' under the command of Captain Daniel Woodriff, principally out of fear that the French, who had been exploring the area, might establish their own settlement and thereby challenge British rights to the continent.

Victoria's next settlement was at Portland, on the west coast of what is now Victoria. Melbourne was founded in 1835 by John Batman. From settlement the region around Melbourne was known as the Port Phillip District, a separately administered part of New South Wales. In 1851, the British Government separated the area from New South Wales, proclaiming a new Colony of Victoria.

In 1851 gold was discovered near Ballarat, and subsequently at Bendigo. Later discoveries occurred at many sites across Victoria. This triggered one of the largest gold rushes the world has ever seen. The colony grew rapidly in both population and economic power. In ten years the population of Victoria increased sevenfold from 76,000 to 540,000. All sorts of gold records were produced including the "richest shallow alluvial goldfield in the world" and the largest gold nugget. Victoria produced in the decade 1851–1860 20 million ounces of gold, one third of the world's output.

Immigrants arrived from all over the world to search for gold, especially from Ireland and China. Many Chinese miners worked in Victoria, and their legacy is particularly strong in Bendigo and its environs. Although there was some racism directed at them, there was not the level of anti-Chinese violence that was seen at the Lambing Flat riots in New South Wales. However, there was a riot at Buckland Valley near Bright in 1857. Conditions on the gold fields were cramped and unsanitary; an outbreak of typhoid at Buckland Valley in 1854 killed over 1,000 miners.

In 1854 at Ballarat there was an armed rebellion against the government of Victoria by miners protesting against mining taxes (the "Eureka Stockade"). This was crushed by British troops, but the discontents prompted colonial authorities to reform the administration (particularly reducing the hated mining licence fees) and extend the franchise. Within a short time, the Imperial Parliament granted Victoria responsible government with the passage of the Colony of Victoria Act 1855. Some of the leaders of the Eureka rebellion went on to became members of the Victorian Parliament.

The first foreign military action by the colony of Victoria was to send troops and a warship to New Zealand as part of the Māori Wars. Troops from New South Wales had previously participated in the Crimean War.

In 1901 Victoria became a state in the Commonwealth of Australia. As a result of the gold rush, Melbourne had by then become the financial centre of Australia and New Zealand. Between 1901 and 1927, Melbourne was the capital of Australia while Canberra was under construction. It was also the largest city in Australia at the time. Whilst Melbourne remains an important and influential financial centre, home to many national and international companies, it was slowly overtaken by Sydney in business importance around the 1970s and 1980s.

On Saturday 7 February 2009 ("Black Saturday"), the state was affected by the 2009 Victorian bushfires, resulting in 173 deaths.

Government

Parliament

Victoria has a parliamentary form of government based on the Westminster System. Legislative power resides in the Parliament consisting of the Governor (the representative of the Queen), the executive (the Government), and two legislative chambers. The Parliament of Victoria consists of the lower house Legislative Assembly, the upper house Legislative Council and the Queen of Australia.

Eighty-eight members of the Legislative Assembly are elected to four-year terms from single-member electorates.

In November 2006, the Victorian Legislative Council elections were held under a new multi-proportional representation system. The State of Victoria was divided into eight electorates with each electorate represented by five representatives elected by Single Transferable Vote proportional representation. The total number of upper house members was reduced from 44 to 40 and their term of office is now the same as the lower house members – four years. Elections for the Victorian Parliament are now fixed and occur in November every four years. Prior to the 2006 election, the Legislative Council consisted of 44 members elected to eight-year terms from 22 two-member electorates.

Premier and cabinet

The Premier of Victoria is the leader of the political party or coalition with the most seats in the Legislative Assembly. The Premier is the public face of government and, with cabinet, sets the legislative and political agenda. Cabinet consists of representatives elected to either house of parliament. It is responsible for managing areas of government that are not exclusively the Commonwealth's, by the Australian Constitution, such as education, health and law enforcement. The current Premier of Victoria is Ted Baillieu.

Governor

Executive authority is vested in the Governor of Victoria who represents and is appointed by Queen Elizabeth II. The post is usually filled by a retired prominent Victorian. The governor acts on the advice of the premier and cabinet. The current Governor of Victoria is Alex Chernov.

Constitution

Victoria has a written constitution. Enacted in 1975, but based on the 1855 colonial constitution, it establishes the parliament as the state's law-making body for matters coming under state responsibility. The Victorian Constitution can be amended by the parliament of Victoria. Under new provisions to be enacted, changes to the Victorian Constitution will be subjected to a plebiscite of votes, voting in a referendum.

Politics

Premier Ted Baillieu leads a Liberal/National Coalition that won the November 2010 Victorian state election.

The centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP), the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia and the rural-based National Party of Australia are Victoria's major political parties. Traditionally, Labor is strongest in Melbourne's inner, working class and western and northern suburbs, Morwell, Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong. The Liberals' main support lies in Melbourne's more affluent eastern and outer suburbs, and some rural and regional centres. The Nationals are strongest in Victoria's North Western and Eastern rural regional areas.

Federal government

Victorian voters elect 49 representatives to the Parliament of Australia, including 37 members of the House of Representatives and 12 members of the Senate. Since 2010, the ALP has held 22 Victorian house seats, the Liberals 12, the Nationals two and the Greens one. As of 1 July 2008, the Liberals have held six senate seats, the ALP five and the Family First Party one.

Local government

Victoria is incorporated into 79 municipalities for the purposes of local government, including 39 shires, 32 cities, seven rural cities and one borough. Shire and city councils are responsible for functions delegated by the Victorian parliament, such as city planning, road infrastructure and waste management. Council revenue comes mostly from property taxes and government grants.

{|- | style="font-size:90%;" margin- left="5em"| Source: Victorian Parliamentary Library, Department of Victorian Communities, Australian Electoral Commission |}

Demographics

The 2006 Australian census reported that Victoria had 4,932,422 people resident at the time of the census, an increase of 6.2% on the 1996 figure. The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that in June 2010 the state's population reached 5,547,500, an increase of 1.8% from the previous year and may well reach 7.2 million by 2050.

Victoria's founding Anglo-Celtic population has been supplemented by successive waves of migrants from southern and eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and, most recently, the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. Victoria's population is ageing in proportion with the average of the remainder of the Australian population.

About 72% of Victorians are Australian-born. This figure falls to around 66% in Melbourne but rises to higher than 95% in some rural areas in the north west of the state. Around two-thirds of Victorians claim Australian, Scottish, English or Irish ancestry. Less than 1% of Victorians identify themselves as Aboriginal. The largest groups of people born outside Australia came from the British Isles, China, Italy, Vietnam, Greece and New Zealand.

More than 70% of Victorians live in Melbourne, located in the state's south. The greater Melbourne metropolitan area is home to an estimated 3.9 million people. Leading urban centres include Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mildura, Warrnambool, Wodonga and the Latrobe Valley.

Victoria is Australia's most urbanised state: nearly 90% of residents living in cities and towns. State Government efforts to decentralise population have included an official campaign run since 2003 to encourage Victorians to settle in regional areas, however Melbourne continues to rapidly outpace these areas in terms of population growth.

Age structure and fertility

The government predicts that nearly a quarter of Victorians will be aged over 60 by 2021. The 2006 census reveals that Australian average age has crept upward from 35 to 37 since 2001, which reflects the population growth peak of 1969–72. In 2007, Victoria recorded a TFR of 1.87, the highest after 1978.

Crime

The state of Victoria is divided into four geographical regions; North-West Metropolitan Region, Southern Metropolitan Region, Eastern Region, Western Region. In 2010-2011 there were 152 homicides within the state of Victoria.

Religion

About 60.5% of Victorians describe themselves as Christian. Roman Catholics form the single largest religious group in the state with 27.5% of Victorian population, followed by Anglicans and members of the Uniting Church. Catholics and Protestants (including Anglicans) in Victoria each form around 30% of the population. Buddhism, the state's largest non-Christian religion, is also the fastest growing with 132,634. Victoria is also home of 109,370 Muslims and 41,105 Jews. Around 20% of Victorians claim no religion, and even amongst those who declare a religious affiliation, church attendance is low.

In 2008, the levels of couples choosing to marry in a church had dropped to 36%; the other 64% chose to register their marriage with a civil celebrant.

Education

Primary and secondary

Victoria's state school system dates back to 1872, when the colonial government legislated to make schooling both free and compulsory. The state's public secondary school system began in 1905. Before then, only private secondary schooling was available. Today, a Victorian school education consists of seven years of primary schooling (including one preparatory year) and six years of secondary schooling.

The final years of secondary school are optional for children aged over 17. Victorian children generally begin school at age five or six. On completing secondary school, students earn the Victorian Certificate of Education. Students who successfully complete their secondary education also receive a tertiary entrance ranking, or ATAR score, to determine university admittance.

Victorian schools are either publicly or privately funded. Public schools, also known as state or government schools, are funded and run directly by the Victoria Department of Education . Students do not pay tuition fees, but some extra costs are levied. Private fee-paying schools include parish schools run by the Roman Catholic Church and independent schools similar to English public schools. Independent schools are usually affiliated with Protestant churches. Victoria also has several private Jewish and Islamic primary and secondary schools. Private schools also receive some public funding. All schools must comply with government-set curriculum standards. In addition, Victoria has four government selective schools, Melbourne High School for boys, MacRobertson Girls' High School for girls, the coeducational schools John Monash Science School, Nossal High School and Suzanne Cory High School, and The Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School. Students at these schools are exclusively admitted on the basis of a selective entry test.

As of August 2005, Victoria had 1,613 public schools, 484 Catholic schools and 208 independent schools. Just under 537,000 students were enrolled in public schools, and 289,000 in private schools. Nearly two-thirds of private students attend Catholic schools. More than 455,000 students were enrolled in primary schools and more than 371,000 in secondary schools. Retention rates for the final two years of secondary school were 77% for public school students and 90% for private school students. Victoria has about 60,200 full-time teachers.

Tertiary education

Victoria has nine universities. The first to offer degrees, the University of Melbourne, enrolled its first student in 1855. The largest, Monash University, has an enrolment of nearly 56,000 students—more than any other Australian university. Both the University of Melbourne and Monash University are purportedly ranked highly among the world's best universities requiring a fairly high entry score, passing of mature age entrance exams or direct payment for student admission into their courses.

The number of students enrolled in Victorian universities was 241,755 at 2004, an increase of 2% on the previous year. International students made up 30% of enrolments and account for the highest percentage of pre-paid university tuition fees. The largest number of enrolments were recorded in the fields of business, administration and economics, with nearly a third of all students, followed by arts, humanities, and social science, with 20% of enrolments.

Victoria has 18 government-run institutions of “technical and further education” (TAFE). The first vocational institution in the state was the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute (established in 1839), which is now the Melbourne Athenaeum. More than 1,000 adult education organisations are registered to provide recognised TAFE programs. In 2004, there were about 480,700 students enrolled in vocational education programs in the state.

{|- | style="font-size:90%;" margin- left="5em"| Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of Education and Training (Victoria), Department of Education, Science and Training (Commonwealth), National Centre for Vocational Education Research |}

Libraries

The State Library of Victoria is the State's research and reference library. It is responsible for collecting and preserving Victoria's documentary heritage and making it available through a range of services and programs. Material in the collection includes books, newspapers, magazines, journals, manuscripts, maps, pictures, objects, sound and video recordings and databases.

In addition, local governments maintain local lending libraries, typically with multiple branches in their respective municipal areas.

Economy

Victorian production andworkers by economic activities
!Economicsector	!GSPproduced	!Number ofworkers	!Percentageof workers
	30.5%	319,109	15.3%
	16.6%	562,783	27.4%
	15.4%	318,218	15.3%
	12.1%	423,328	20.3%
	10.6%	133,752	6.4%
	6.2%	136,454	6.6%
	4%	62,253	3%
	3.3%	72,639	3.5%
	1.3%	4,472	0.2%
	–	49,208	2%

The state of Victoria is the second largest economy in Australia after New South Wales, accounting for a quarter of the nation's gross domestic product. The total gross state product (GSP) at current prices for Victoria was at just over A$222 billion, with a GSP per capita of A$44,443. The economy grew by 3.4% in 2004, less than the Australian average of 5.2%.

Finance, insurance and property services form Victoria's largest income producing sector, while the community, social and personal services sector is the state's biggest employer. Despite the shift towards service industries, the troubled manufacturing sector remains Victoria's single largest employer and income producer. As a result of job losses in declining sectors such as manufacturing, Victoria has the highest unemployment rate in Australia as of September 2009.

Agriculture

During 2003–04, the gross value of Victorian agricultural production increased by 17% to $8.7 billion. This represented 24% of national agricultural production total gross value. As of 2004, an estimated 32,463 farms occupied around 136,000 square kilometres (52,500 sq mi) of Victorian land. This comprises more than 60% of the state's total land surface. Victorian farms range from small horticultural outfits to large-scale livestock and grain productions. A quarter of farmland is used to grow consumable crops.

More than 26,000 square kilometres (10,000 sq mi) of Victorian farmland are sown for grain, mostly in the state's west. More than 50% of this area is sown for wheat, 33% for barley and 7% for oats. A further 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) is sown for hay. In 2003–04, Victorian farmers produced more than 3 million tonnes of wheat and 2 million tonnes of barley. Victorian farms produce nearly 90% of Australian pears and third of apples. It is also a leader in stone fruit production. The main vegetable crops include asparagus, broccoli, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes. Last year, 121,200 tonnes of pears and 270,000 tonnes of tomatoes were produced.

More than 14 million sheep and 5 million lambs graze over 10% of Victorian farms, mostly in the state's north and west. In 2004, nearly 10 million lambs and sheep were slaughtered for local consumption and export. Victoria also exports live sheep to the Middle East for meat and to the rest of the world for breeding. More than 108,000 tonnes of wool clip was also produced—one-fifth of the Australian total.

Victoria is the centre of dairy farming in Australia. It is home to 60% of Australia's 3 million dairy cattle and produces nearly two-thirds of the nation's milk, almost 6.4 million litres. The state also has 2.4 million beef cattle, with more than 2.2 million cattle and calves slaughtered each year. In 2003–04, Victorian commercial fishing crews and aquaculture industry produced 11,634 tonnes of seafood valued at nearly A$109 million. Blacklipped abalone is the mainstay of the catch, bringing in A$46 million, followed by southern rock lobster worth A$13.7 million. Most abalone and rock lobster is exported to Asia.

Manufacturing

Machinery and equipment manufacturing is the state's most valuable manufacturing activity, followed by food and beverage manufacturing and petroleum, coal and chemical manufacturing. More than 15% Victorian workers are employed in manufacturing industries. Victoria has 318,000 manufacturing workers. The state is marginally behind New South Wales in the value of manufacturing output.

Major industrial plants belong to the car manufacturers Ford, Toyota and Holden; Alcoa's Portland and Point Henry aluminium smelters; oil refineries at Geelong and Altona; and a major petrochemical facility at Laverton.

Victoria also plays an important role in providing goods for the defence industry. Melbourne is the centre of manufacturing in Victoria, followed by Geelong. Energy production has aided industrial growth in the Latrobe Valley.

Mining

Mining in Victoria contributes around A$3 billion to the gross state product (~1%) but employs less than 1% of workers. The Victorian mining industry is concentrated on energy producing minerals, with brown coal, petroleum and gas accounting for nearly 90% of local production. The oil and gas industries are centred off the coast of Gippsland in the state's east, while brown coal mining and power generation is based in the Latrobe Valley.

In the 2005/2006 fiscal year, the average gas production was over per day (M cuft/d) and represented 18% of the total national gas sales, with demand growing at 2% per year.

In 1985, oil production from the offshore Gippsland Basin peaked to an annual average of 450,000 barrels per day. In 2005–2006, the average daily oil production declined to 83,000 bbls/d, but despite the decline Victoria still produces almost 19.5% of crude oil in Australia.

Brown coal is Victoria's leading mineral, with 66 million tonnes mined each year for electricity generation in the Latrobe Valley, Gippsland. The region is home to the world's largest known reserves of brown coal.

Despite being the historic centre of Australia's gold rush, Victoria today contributes a mere 1% of national gold production. Victoria also produces limited amounts of gypsum and kaolin.

Service industry

The service industries sector is the fastest growing component of the Victorian economy. It includes the wide range of activities generally classified as community, social and personal services; finances, insurance and property services, government services, transportation and communication, and wholesale and retail trade. Most service industries are located in Melbourne and the state's larger regional centres.

As of 2004–05, service industries employed nearly three-quarters of Victorian workers and generated three-quarters of the state's GSP. Finance, insurance and property services, as a group, provide a larger share of GSP than any other economic activity in Victoria. More than a quarter of Victorian workers are employed by the community, social and personal services sector.

Geology and geography

Victoria's northern border is the southern bank of the Murray River. It also rests at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range, which stretches along the east coast and terminates west of Ballarat. It is bordered by South Australia to the west and shares Australian's shortest land border with Tasmania. The official border between Victoria and Tasmania is at 39°12' S, which passes through Boundary Islet in the Bass Strait for 85 metres. Victoria contains many topographically, geologically and climatically diverse areas, ranging from the wet, temperate climate of Gippsland in the southeast to the snow-covered Victorian alpine areas which rise to almost 2,000 metres (6,500 ft), with Mount Bogong the highest peak at 1,986 m; (6,516 ft). There are extensive semi-arid plains to the west and northwest.

There is an extensive series of river systems in Victoria. Most notable is the Murray River system. Other rivers include: Ovens River, Goulburn River, Patterson River, King River, Campaspe River, Loddon River, Wimmera River, Elgin River, Barwon River, Thomson River, Snowy River, Latrobe River, Yarra River, Maribyrnong River, Mitta River, Hopkins River, Merri River and Kiewa River.

The state symbols include the Pink Heath (state flower), Leadbeater's Possum (state animal) and the Helmeted Honeyeater (state bird).

The state's capital, Melbourne, contains approximately 70% of the state's population and dominates its economy, media, and culture. For other cities and towns, see List of localities (Victoria) and Local Government Areas of Victoria.

Transport

Victoria has the highest population density in any state in Australia, with population centres spread out over most of the state; only the far northwest and the Victorian Alps lack permanent settlement.

The Victorian road network services the population centres, with highways generally radiating from Melbourne and other major cities and rural centres with secondary roads interconnecting the highways to each other. Many of the highways are built to freeway standard ("M" freeways), while most are generally sealed and of reasonable quality.

Rail transport in Victoria is provided by several private and public railway operators who operate over government-owned lines. Major operators include: Metro Trains Melbourne which runs an extensive, electrified, passenger system throughout Melbourne and suburbs; V/Line which is now owned by the Victorian Government, operates a concentrated service to major regional centres, as well as long distance services on other lines; Pacific National, CFCLA, El Zorro which operate freight services; Great Southern Railway which operates The Overland Melbourne—Adelaide; and CountryLink which operates XPTs Melbourne—Sydney.

There are also several smaller freight operators and numerous tourist railways operating over lines which were once parts of a state-owned system. Victorian lines mainly use the broad gauge. However, the interstate trunk routes, as well as a number of branch lines in the west of the state have been converted to standard gauge. Two tourist railways operate over narrow gauge lines, which are the remnants of five formerly government-owned lines which were built in mountainous areas.

Melbourne has the world's largest tram network, currently operated by Yarra Trams. As well as being a popular form of public transport, over the last few decades trams have become one of Melbourne's major tourist attractions. There are also tourist trams operating over portions of the former Ballarat and Bendigo systems. There are also tramway museums at Bylands and Haddon.

Melbourne Airport is the major domestic and international gateway for the state. Avalon Airport is the state's second busiest airport, which is complements Essendon and Moorabbin Airports to see the remainder of Melbourne's air traffic. Hamilton Airport, Mildura Airport, Mount Hotham and Portland Airport are the remaining airports with scheduled domestic flights. There are no fewer than 27 other airports in the state with no scheduled flights.

The Port of Melbourne is the largest port for containerised and general cargo in Australia, and is located in Melbourne on the mouth of the Yarra River, which is at the head of Port Phillip. Additional seaports are at Westernport, Geelong, and Portland.

Utilities

Energy

Victoria's major utilities include a collection of brown-coal-fired power stations, particularly in the LaTrobe Valley. One of these is Hazelwood Power Station, which is number 1 in the worldwide List of least carbon efficient power stations.

Water

Victoria's water infrastructure includes a series of dams and reservoirs, predominantly in Central Victoria, that hold and collect water for much of the state. The water collected is of a very high quality and requires little chlorination treatment, giving the water a taste more like water collected in a rainwater tank. In regional areas however, such as in the west of the state, chlorination levels are much higher.

The Victorian Water Grid consists of a number of new connections and pipelines being built across the State. This allows water to be moved around Victoria to where it is needed most and reduces the impact of localised droughts in an era thought to be influenced by climate change. Major projects already completed as part of the Grid include the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline and the Goldfields Superpipe.

Climate

Victoria has a varied climate despite its small size. It ranges from semi-arid and hot in the north-west, to temperate and cool along the coast. Victoria's main land feature, the Great Dividing Range, produces a cooler, mountain climate in the centre of the state.

Victoria's southernmost position on the Australian mainland means it is cooler and wetter than other mainland states and territories. The coastal plain south of the Great Dividing Range has Victoria's mildest climate. Air from the Southern Ocean helps reduce the heat of summer and the cold of winter. Melbourne and other large cities are located in this temperate region.

The Mallee and upper Wimmera are Victoria's warmest regions with hot winds blowing from nearby deserts. Average temperatures top 30 °C (86 °F) during summer and 15 °C (59 °F) in winter. Victoria's highest maximum temperature of 48.8 °C (119.9 °F) was recorded in Hopetoun on 7 February 2009, during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave.

The Victorian Alps in the northeast are the coldest part of Victoria. The Alps are part of the Great Dividing Range mountain system extending east-west through the centre of Victoria. Average temperatures are less than 9 °C (48 °F) in winter and below 0 °C (32 °F) in the highest parts of the ranges. The state's lowest minimum temperature of −11.7 °C (10.9 °F) was recorded at Omeo on 13 June 1965, and again at Falls Creek on 3 July 1970.

Rainfall

Victoria is the wettest Australian state after Tasmania. Rainfall in Victoria increases from north to south, with higher averages in areas of high altitude. Median annual rainfall exceeds 1,800 millimetres (71 in) in some parts of the northeast but is less than 250 millimetres (10 in) in the Mallee.

Rain is heaviest in the Otway Ranges and Gippsland in southern Victoria and in the mountainous northeast. Snow generally falls only in the mountains and hills in the centre of the state. Rain falls most frequently in winter, but summer precipitation is heavier. Rainfall is most reliable in Gippsland and the Western District, making them both leading farming areas. Victoria's highest recorded daily rainfall was 375 millimetres (14.7 in) at Tanybryn in the Otway Ranges on 22 March 1983.

{|- | style="font-size:90%;" margin- left="5em"| Source: Bureau of Meteorology, Department of Primary Industries, Australian Natural Resources Atlas |}

Tourism

Some major tourist destinations in Victoria are:

The metropolis of Melbourne, particular its inner city suburbs (known also for shopping tourism) and the attractions of the city centre such as Crown Casino, Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne Museum, the Melbourne Aquarium, ScienceWorks, Healesville Sanctuary, Werribee Open Range Zoo, tourism precincts such as Melbourne Docklands, Southbank and St Kilda as well as cultural and sporting tourist icons such as The Arts Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, also known as the MCG, and the Eureka Tower, tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, with its Skydeck 88.

Victoria has more than 2000 kilometres of coastline with hundreds of beaches.

The Goldfields region featuring the historic cities of Ballarat, Beechworth, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon and Daylesford.

Natural attractions, such as The Twelve Apostles, Wilsons Promontory, The Grampians, the Fairy Penguins (particularly at Phillip Island and St Kilda), the Buchan Caves and the Gippsland Lakes.

The Dandenong Ranges (in particular the Puffing Billy Railway).

Towns along the Murray River and Riverina including Echuca and Mildura including waterskiing.

Geelong and the Australian International Airshow

The Bellarine Peninsula which features historic resort towns such as Queenscliff.

The Surf Coast which features famous beaches such as Bells Beach, Torquay and Lorne

Mornington Peninsula, particularly for its wineries and secluded beaches, Arthur's Seat and the coastal attractions of Portsea and Sorrento.

Yarra Valley (in particular Healesville Sanctuary and wineries).

Great Ocean Road, which features The Twelve Apostles, historic towns of Port Fairy and Portland, cliffs and whale watching and resort towns such as Lorne.

The Victorian Alpine Region, part of the Australian Alps, particularly for skiing

The Central Victorian Highlands, 'Highcountry' are very well known for winter sports and bushwalking

Wine regions across the entire state.

Other popular tourism activities are gliding, hang-gliding, hot air ballooning and scuba diving.

Major events also play a big part in tourism in Victoria, particularly cultural tourism and sports tourism. Most of these events are centred around Melbourne, but others occur in regional cities, such as the V8 Supercars and Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island, the Grand Annual Steeplechase at Warrnambool and the Australian International Airshow at Geelong and numerous local festivals such as the popular Port Fairy Folk Festival, Queenscliff Music Festival, Bells Beach SurfClassic and the Bright Autumn Festival.

Sport

Victoria is the home of Australian rules football, with ten of the seventeen clubs of the Australian Football League based in Victoria, and the traditional Grand Final held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground usually on the last Saturday in September.

Victoria's cricket team, the Victorian Bushrangers play in the national Sheffield Shield cricket competition. Victoria is represented in the National Rugby League by the Melbourne Storm and in Super Rugby by the Melbourne Rebels. It is also represented in Football (soccer) by Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Heart in the A-League.

Melbourne has held the 1956 Summer Olympics, 2006 Commonwealth Games, FINA World Swimming Championship, and is home to the Australian Open tennis tournament in January each year, the first of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Victoria is also home to Bells Beach, which is the home of the world's longest-running surfing competition, the Bells Beach SurfClassic, which is part of The ASP World Tour.

Netball is a big part of sport in Victoria. The Melbourne Vixens represent Victoria in the ANZ Championship. Some of the worlds best netballers such as Sharelle McMahon, Renae Hallinan, Madison Browne, Julie Corletto and Bianca Chatfield come from Victoria.

Possibly Victoria's most famous island, Phillip Island, is home of the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit which hosts the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix which features MotoGP (the world's premier motorcycling class), as well as the Australian round of the World Superbike Championship and the domestic V8 Supercar racing, which also visits Sandown Raceway and the rural Winton Motor Raceway circuit.

Australia's most prestigious footrace, the Stawell Gift, is an annual event.

Victoria is also home to the Aussie Millions poker tournament, the richest in the Southern hemisphere.

The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival is one of the biggest horse racing events in the world and is one of the world's largest sporting events. The main race is for the $6 million Melbourne Cup, and crowds for the carnival exceed 700,000.

See also

2003 Melbourne thunderstorm

Atlas of Victorian Birds

Geography:

Goombala Road

Victorian Alps

Vicmap Topographic Map Series

Lists:

List of highways in Victoria

List of localities (Victoria)

Protected areas of Victoria (Australia)

References

External links

State Government of Victoria website

Official Government tourism website

Tourism Victoria's Online Image Library

Category:Former British colonies Category:States and territories of Australia Category:States and territories established in 1851

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Name	The Old Vic
Address	The Cut
City	Lambeth, London
Country	United Kingdom
Designation	Grade II* listed
Latitude	51.5022
Longitude	-0.1096
Architect	Rudolph Cabanel of Aachen
Opened	1818
Owner	Old Vic Theatre TrustChief Executive Sally Greene
Capacity	1,067
Type	Non-profit Producing TheatreArtistic Director Kevin Spacey
Rebuilt	1871 J T Robinson1880/1902 Elijah Hoole1922/1927 by Frank Matcham1933-8 F Green and Co1950 Pierre Sonrel1960 Sean Kenny1983 Renton, Howard, Wood and Levine.
Othernames	Royal Coburg TheatreRoyal Victorian TheatreRoyal Victoria Hall and Coffee Tavern
Production	A Flea In Her Earstarring Tom Hollander(4 Dec 2010 – 5 Mar 2011)Cause Célèbrestarring Anne-Marie Duff(17 Mar – 11 Jun 2011)Richard IIIstarring Kevin Spacey(18 Jun – 11 Sep 2011)
Website	www.oldvictheatre.com }}

The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the ''Royal Coburg Theatre'', it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the ''Royal Victoria Hall''. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian Baylis assumed management and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids and it became a Grade II* listed building in 1951 after it reopened.

It was also the name of a repertory company that was based at the theatre. The company formed the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963, under Laurence Olivier. The National Theatre remained at the Old Vic until new premises were constructed on the South Bank, opening in 1976. It underwent complete refurbishment in 1985 and in 2003, American actor Kevin Spacey was appointed as new artistic director of the ''Old Vic Theatre Company'' which received considerable media attention.

History

Origins

The theatre was founded in 1818 by James King and Daniel Dunn (formerly managers of the Surrey Theatre in Bermondsey), and John Thomas Serres, then Marine painter to the King who managed to secure the formal patronage of Princess Charlotte and her husband Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg naming the theatre the ''Royal Coburg Theatre''. The theatre was a "minor" theatre (as opposed to one of the two patent theatres) and was thus technically forbidden to show serious drama. Nevertheless, when the theatre passed to George Bolwell Davidge in 1824 he succeeded in bringing legendary actor Edmund Kean south of the river to play six Shakespeare plays in six nights. The theatre's role in bringing high art to the masses was confirmed when Kean addressed the audience during his curtain call saying "I have never acted to such a set of ignorant, unmitigated brutes as I see before me." More popular staples in the repertoire were "sensational and violent" melodramas demonstrating the evils of drink, "churned out by the house dramatist", confirmed teetotaller Douglas Jerrold.

When Davidge left to take over the Surrey Theatre in 1833 it was bought by Daniel Egerton and William Abbot who tried to capitalise on the abolition of the legal distinction between patent and minor theatres, enacted in Parliament earlier that year. On 1 July 1834 the theatre was renamed the ''Royal Victoria Theatre'', under the "protection and patronage" of Victoria, Duchess of Kent, mother to Princess Victoria, the 14-year-old heir presumptive. The duchess and the princess visited only once, on 14 November of that year, but enjoyed the performance, of light opera and dance, in the "pretty...clean and comfortable" theatre. The single visit scarcely justified the "Old Vic" its later billing as "Queen Victoria's Own Theayter". In 1880, under the ownership of Emma Cons to whom there are plaques outside & inside the theatre, it became ''The Royal Victoria Hall And Coffee Tavern'' and was run on "strict temperance lines"; by this time it was already known as the ''"Old Vic"''. The ''penny lectures'' given in the hall led to the foundation of Morley College, an adult education college, that moved to its own premises nearby, in the 1920s.

Old Vic company

With Emma Cons's death in 1912 the theatre passed to her niece Lilian Baylis, who emphasised the Shakespearean repertoire. The ''Old Vic Company'' was established in 1929, led by Sir John Gielgud. Between 1925 and 1931, Lilian Baylis championed the re-building of the then-derelict Sadler's Wells Theatre, and established a ballet company under the direction of Ninette de Valois. For a few years the drama and ballet companies rotated between the two theatres, with the ballet becoming permanently based at Sadler's Wells in 1935.

Wartime exile

The Old Vic was damaged badly during the Blitz, and the war-depleted company spent all its time touring, based in Burnley, Lancashire at the Victoria Theatre during the years 1940 to 1943. In 1944, the company was re-established in London with Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier as its stars, performing mainly at the New Theatre (now the Noël Coward Theatre) until the Old Vic was ready to re-open in 1950. In 1946, an offshoot of the company was established in Bristol as the Bristol Old Vic.

National Theatre company

In 1963, the Old Vic company was dissolved and the new National Theatre Company, under the artistic direction of Lord Olivier, was based at the Old Vic until its own building was opened on the South Bank near Waterloo Bridge in 1976.

In July 1974 the Old Vic presented a rock concert for the first time. National Theatre director Sir Peter Hall arranged for the progressive folk-rock band Gryphon to première ''Midnight Mushrumps'', the fantasia inspired by Hall's own 1974 Old Vic production of ''The Tempest'' starring John Gielgud for which Gryphon had supplied the music.

Reopening

After the departure of the NT, the Old Vic continued as a home for classic and new drama, and was significantly restored under the ownership of Toronto department-store entrepreneur 'Honest Ed' Mirvish in 1985. In 1998, the building was bought by a new charitable trust, ''The Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000''. In 2000, the production company Criterion Productions was renamed ''Old Vic Productions plc'', though relatively few of its productions are at the Old Vic theatre.

Current developments

In 2003, actor Kevin Spacey was appointed as new artistic director of the ''Old Vic Theatre Company'' receiving considerable media attention. Spacey said he wanted to inject new life into the British theatre industry, and bring British and American theatrical talent to the stage. He appears in one or two shows per season, and performs some directorial duties on other shows.

The Old Vic Tunnels

In February 2010, The Old Vic acquired a new sister performance space beneath London Waterloo station; a series of cavernous tunnels formerly owned by British Rail. Now operating under the artistic direction of Hamish Jenkinson, this venue plays host to productions, performances and installations. The Old Vic Tunnels was presented the Big Society Award by David Cameron in 2011.

References

Further reading

''Guide to British Theatres 1750–1950'', John Earl and Michael Sell pp. 128–9 (Theatres Trust, 2000) ISBN 0-7136-5688-3

External links

Old Vic Theatre official website

Old Vic archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol

Lilian Baylis archive at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol

Pictures and early history of Vic-Wells

Guide to events at the Old Vic Theatre

Old Vic Theatre History

Category:Grade II* listed buildings in London Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1818 Category:Theatres in Lambeth Category:Theatres in Southwark Category:Producing house theatres in London

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birth name	Kevin Spacey Fowler
birth date	July 26, 1959
birth place	South Orange, New Jersey, United States
occupation	Actor, director, producer, screenwriter
years active	1981–present }}

Kevin Spacey, CBE (born Kevin Spacey Fowler; July 26, 1959) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s, culminating in his first Academy Award for ''The Usual Suspects'' (Best Supporting Actor), followed by a Best Actor Academy Award win for ''American Beauty'' (1999). His other starring roles in Hollywood include ''Seven'', ''L.A. Confidential'', ''Pay It Forward'', and ''Superman Returns'' in a career which has earned him several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Since 2003, he has been artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.

Early life

Spacey was born in South Orange, New Jersey, the younger son of Kathleen Ann (née Knutson; December 5, 1931 – March 19, 2003), a secretary, and Thomas Geoffrey Fowler (June 4, 1924 – December 24, 1992), a technical writer and data consultant. He has two older siblings: a sister, Julie, and a brother, Randy. He attended Northridge Military Academy, Canoga Park High School (in tenth and eleventh grades), and then Chatsworth High School in Chatsworth, Los Angeles, where he graduated valedictorian of his class. At Chatsworth High, he starred in the school's senior production of ''The Sound of Music'', playing the part of Captain Georg von Trapp, opposite Mare Winningham's character, Maria.

While in high school, he took on his paternal grandmother's maiden name, "Spacey", originally a Yorkshire name, as his acting surname. Several reports have incorrectly suggested that he took his name in tribute to actor Spencer Tracy, combining Tracy's first and last names. He had tried to succeed as a stand-up comedian for several years, before attending the Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied drama, between 1979 and 1981. During this time period, Spacey performed stand-up comedy in bowling alley talent contests.

Career

Spacey's first professional stage appearance was as a spear-carrier in a New York Shakespeare Festival performance of ''Henry VI, part 1'' in 1981. The following year, he made his first Broadway appearance as Oswald in a production of Henrik Ibsen's ''Ghosts'', starring Liv Ullmann. Then he portrayed Philinte in Molière's ''The Misanthrope''. In 1984, it was David Rabe's ''Hurlyburly'' where he rotated through each of the male parts (he would later play Mickey in the screen version too). Next came Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull'' and a period, in 1986, performing ''Sleuth'' in a New Jersey dinner theatre.

But his prominence as a stage actor really began in 1986, when he was cast opposite Jack Lemmon, Peter Gallagher and Bethel Leslie as Jamie, the eldest Tyrone son in Jonathan Miller's lauded production of Eugene O'Neill's ''Long Day's Journey into Night''. Lemmon in particular would become a mentor to Spacey. He made his first major television appearance in the second season premiere of ''Crime Story'', playing a Kennedy-esque American senator. Although his interest soon turned to film, Spacey remained actively involved in the live theater community. In 1991, he won a Tony Award for his portrayal of "Uncle Louie" in Neil Simon's Broadway hit ''Lost in Yonkers''. Spacey's father was unconvinced that Spacey could make a career for himself as an actor, and did not change his mind until Spacey became well-known.

Some of Spacey's earlier roles include a widowed eccentric millionaire on ''L.A. Law'', the made-for-television film ''The Murder of Mary Phagan'' (1988), opposite Jack Lemmon, and the Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder–starring comedy ''See No Evil, Hear No Evil'' (1989). Spacey earned an avid fan base following, after playing the criminally insane arms dealer Mel Profitt on the television series ''Wiseguy''. He quickly developed a reputation as a character actor, and was cast in bigger roles, including one-half of the bickering Connecticut couple in the dark comedy ''The Ref'' (1994), a malicious Hollywood studio boss in the satire ''Swimming with Sharks'', and the malevolent office manager in the all-star ensemble film ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1992), gaining him positive notices by critics. His performance as the enigmatic criminal Verbal Kint in ''The Usual Suspects'' launched him to A-list status and won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Spacey appeared in the 1995 thriller film ''Seven'', with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, making a sudden and unexpected entrance late in the film as the serial killer John Doe, after going unmentioned in the film's advertisements and opening credits. His work in ''Seven'', ''The Usual Suspects'', and ''Outbreak'' earned him Best Supporting Actor honors at the 1995 Society of Texas Film Critics Awards.

Spacey played an egomaniacal district attorney in ''A Time to Kill'' (1996), and founded Trigger Street Productions in 1997, with the purpose of producing and developing entertainment across various media. He made his directorial debut with the film ''Albino Alligator'' (1996). The film was a failure at the box office, grossing $339,379 with a budget of $6 million, but critics praised Spacey's direction. He also did voice work in Pixar's ''A Bug's Life'' (1998) voicing the main antagonist Hopper, the leader of a vicious gang of grasshoppers.

Spacey won universal praise and a Best Actor Oscar for his role as a depressed suburban father who re-evaluates his life in 1999's ''American Beauty''; the same year, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Spacey also earned another Tony nomination the same year for his work in a Broadway production of ''The Iceman Cometh''. During the several years following ''American Beauty'''s release, Spacey appeared in films that he believes hadn't done as well critically or in terms of box office. In 2001, Spacey co-hosted with Judi Dench ''Unite for the Future Gala'', the UK's fundraiser for the British Victims of 9/11 and Médecins Sans Frontières at London's Old Vic Theatre, produced by Harvey Goldsmith and Dominic Madden.

He played a physically and emotionally scarred grade school teacher in ''Pay It Forward'' (2000), a patient in a mental institution, who may or may not be an alien in ''K-Pax'' (2001), and singer Bobby Darin in ''Beyond the Sea'' (2004). ''Beyond The Sea'' was a lifelong dream project for Spacey, who took on co-writing, directing, co-producing and starring duties in the biography/musical about Darin's life, career, and relationship with actress Sandra Dee. Facing little interest for backing in the States, Spacey went to the UK and Germany for funding. Almost all of the movie was filmed in Berlin. Spacey provided his own vocals on the ''Beyond the Sea'' soundtrack and appeared in several tribute concerts around the time of the film's release. He received mostly positive reviews for his singing, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. However, reviewers criticized the age disparity between Spacey and Darin, noting that Spacey was too old to convincingly portray Darin, particularly during the early stages of the singer's life depicted in the film. Spacey has said that despite criticism, he is still proud of the film.

Spacey hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' twice: first in 1997 with musical guest Beck and special guests Michael Palin and John Cleese from ''Monty Python's Flying Circus''. In this episode, Spacey parodied Christopher Walken, Walter Matthau, and Jack Lemmon in a three-part pre-taped sketch about actors who auditioned for ''Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope''; and again in the last episode of season 31 with musical guest Nelly Furtado where Spacey played a detective in the sketch "Two A-Holes At A Crime Scene," one of the Falconer's past selves in Will Forte's sketch, "The Falconer," a parody of Neil Young, and as himself in a parody of ''The Usual Suspects''.

In 2006, Spacey played Lex Luthor in the Bryan Singer–directed superhero film, ''Superman Returns''. He was to return for its 2009 sequel, but it was recently revealed that there won't be a chronological sequel; it is currently unknown if he has been asked to resume the role in any future films. Spacey also appeared in ''Edison'', co-starring Morgan Freeman and Justin Timberlake; ''Edison'' received a direct-to-video release on July 18, 2006. In 2008, he played an MIT lecturer in the film ''21'', along with Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, and Jim Sturgess. The film is based on Ben Mezrich's best seller, ''Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions'', a story of student MIT card-counters who used mathematical probability to aid them in card games such as blackjack.

Spacey is well known in Hollywood for his impressions as when he appeared on ''Inside the Actors Studio'' he imitated, at host James Lipton's request: James Stewart, Johnny Carson, Katharine Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, John Gielgud, Marlon Brando, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino and Jack Lemmon.

Capitol/EMI's album ''Forever Cool'' (2007) features two duets with Spacey and the voice of the late Dean Martin: "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" and "King of the Road."

Spacey sits on the Board of Directors of the Motion Picture and Television Fund.

The Old Vic

In February 2003, Spacey announced that he was returning to London to become the artistic director of the Old Vic, one of the city's oldest theatres. Appearing at a press conference with Judi Dench and Elton John, he promised both to appear on stage and to bring in big-name talent. Spacey undertook to remain in the post for a full ten years. The Old Vic Theatre Company, in its current form, stages shows eight months out of the year. Spacey's first season started in September 2004, and opened with the British premiere of the play ''Cloaca'' by Maria Goos, directed by Spacey, which opened to mixed reviews. In the 2005 season, Spacey made his UK Shakespearean debut, to good notices, in the title role of ''Richard II'' directed by Trevor Nunn.

In mid-2006, Spacey felt he was having the time of his life working at the Old Vic. At this point in his career, he was "trying to do things now that are much bigger and outside himself". He performed in productions of ''National Anthems'' by Dennis McIntyre, and ''The Philadelphia Story'' by Philip Barry in which he played C. K. Dexter Haven, the Cary Grant role in the film version. Critics applauded Spacey's daring for taking on the management of a theatre, but noted that while his acting was impressive, his skills and judgment as a producer/manager had yet to develop.

In the 2006 season, Spacey suffered a major setback with a production of Arthur Miller's ''Resurrection Blues'', directed by Robert Altman. Despite an all-star cast (including Neve Campbell and Matthew Modine) and the pedigree of Miller's script, Spacey's decision to lure Altman to the stage proved disastrous: after a fraught rehearsal period, the play opened to a critical panning, and closed after only a few weeks. Later in the year, Spacey starred in Eugene O'Neill's ''A Moon for the Misbegotten'', along with Colm Meaney and Eve Best. The play received excellent reviews for Spacey and Best, and was transferred to Broadway in 2007. For the spring part of the 2007–08 season, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Michelle Kelly joined Spacey as the three characters in David Mamet's 1988 play ''Speed-the-Plow''.

In January 2009, he directed the premiere of Joe Sutton's ''Complicit'', with Richard Dreyfuss, David Suchet and Elizabeth McGovern.

In June 2009 it was announced that Trevor Nunn will return to direct Spacey in a revival of ''Inherit The Wind''. Previews were scheduled to begin in September 2009. Based on a true story of a teacher arrested for teaching his students evolution also known as the "Scopes Monkey Trial," Spacey plays defense lawyer Henry Drummond, a role that was made famous by actor Spencer Tracy in the 1960 film of the same name.

Other honors

Spacey was awarded an Doctor of Letters, ''honoris causa'' from the London South Bank University in November 2005.

In June 2008, he was appointed as Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at St Catherine's College, Oxford, succeeding Patrick Stewart in the post. He was officially welcomed on October 13, 2008.

On November 3, 2010 he was invested as an honorary CBE by Prince Charles at Clarence House, on behalf of the Queen, for services to drama.

Personal life

In September 2006, Spacey announced his intention to stay on at the Old Vic for at least another nine years, and that due to his continuing UK residency he intends to take up British citizenship when it becomes available to him.

Spacey is a staunch Democrat and a friend of former US President Bill Clinton, having met Clinton before his presidency began. Spacey has described Clinton as "one of the shining lights" of the political process. According to Federal Election Commission data, Spacey has contributed US$42,000 to Democratic candidates and committees. He additionally made a cameo appearance in ''President Clinton: Final Days'', a light-hearted political satire produced by the Clinton administration for the White House Correspondents Dinner.

In September 2007, Spacey met Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Neither spoke to the press about their encounter but hours later the actor visited the government-funded movie studio, Villa del Cine (''Cinema City''). In December of that year he co-hosted the Nobel Peace Prize Concert with Uma Thurman.

Spacey has never married and staunchly protects his private life. This has generated rumors regarding his sexual orientation. He has stated that he is not gay in the October 1999 issue of ''Playboy'', in ''The Sunday Times'' Magazine (December 19, 1999) and in the May 2007 issue of ''Gotham Magazine''.

Voice actress April Winchell revealed in broadcasts of her KFI show, on her web diary and several other websites that she and Spacey dated for a while after high school during a run of the musical ''Gypsy'' and later went to New York together. Between 1992 and 2000, Spacey reportedly discreetly dated Dianne Dreyer, script supervisor to Anthony Minghella, M. Night Shyamalan and Sydney Pollack.

In March 2011, following Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko's crackdown on the Belarusian democracy movement, Spacey, along with Jude Law and others, joined street protests against Lukashenko. Spacey's films and those of Law were subsequently banned in Belarus. Spacey stated: "They can ban as many films as they want but they will never be able to ban the Belarus people's right to fight for their freedom and their voices to be heard, and that's what this protest is about."

Filmography

! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1986		Subway Thief	First Motion Picture
1988	''Working Girl''	Bob Speck
1988	''Rocket Gibraltar''	Dwayne Hanson
1988	''Wiseguy''	Mel Profitt	television series
1989		Mario
1989	''See No Evil, Hear No Evil''	Kirgo
1991	''Henry & June''	Richard Osborn
1991	''Darrow (film)''	Clarence Darrow	Released in UK only
1991	''''	Frank Curtin
1992	''Consenting Adults''	Eddy Otis
1992		John Williamson
1994	''''	Lloyd Chasseur
1994	''Iron Will''	Harry Kingsley
1994	''Doomsday Gun''	Jim Price	HBO
1995		John Doe
1995	''''	Roger 'Verbal' Kint	|Seattle International Film Festival Award for Best Actor|Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor |Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture|Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role - Motion Picture}}
1995	''Swimming with Sharks''	Buddy Ackerman
1995		Maj. Casey Schuler
1996	''Looking for Richard''	Himself, Duke of Buckingham
1996	''''	D.A. Rufus Buckley
1997		James 'Jim' Williams	Society of Texas Film Critics Award for Best Actor
1997		Det. Sgt. Jack Vincennes
1997	''Albino Alligator''		director only
1998		Mickey
1998	''''	Lt. Chris Sabian
1998	''''		(voice)
1999		Lester Burnham
2000	''Ordinary Decent Criminal''	Michael Lynch	also producer
2000	''Pay It Forward''	Eugene Simonet
2000	''''	Larry Mann	also producer
2001	''''	Quoyle
2001		prot/Robert Porter
2001	''Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure''	Narrator	(voice)
2002	''Austin Powers in Goldmember''	Himself	playing Doctor Evil in a film
2003	''The Life of David Gale''	David Gale
2004		Bobby Darin
2004	''''	Albert T. Fitzgerald	also producer
2006		Wallace	Direct-to-video
2006	''Superman Returns''	Lex Luthor
2007	''Fred Claus''	Clyde Northcut
2008		Mickey Rosa
2008		Ron Klain
2009		Henry Carter
2009		Major Banks
2009		Robot, 'Gerty'	(voice)
2009	''''	Larry Hooper
2010	''Casino Jack''	Jack Abramoff	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
2010	''Father of Invention''	Robert Axle
2010	''Margin Call''	Sam Rogers
2011	''Horrible Bosses''	Dave Harken
2011			post-production

Discography

Albums

+List of albums
! Year	! Title	! Notes
2004		Nominated—Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Mediawith Phil Ramone

Singles

+List of singles
! Year	! Title	! Notes
1997

Live performances

"Mind Games" — ''Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words and Music'' — October 2, 2001 — Radio City Music Hall

References

External links

Interview with Kevin Spacey from April 2007

Kevin Spacey interview in the UK Independent on Sunday

Category:1959 births Category:Actors from California Category:Actors Studio alumni Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American stage actors Category:American theatre directors Category:American voice actors Category:Artistic directors Category:Actor-managers Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Best Actor Academy Award winners Category:Best Actor BAFTA Award winners Category:Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winners Category:California Democrats Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Golden Orange Honorary Award winners Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:Living people Category:Olivier Award winners Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People associated with London South Bank University Category:People from Los Angeles County, California Category:People from South Orange, New Jersey Category:Tony Award winners

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name	Sam Mendes
birth name	Samuel Alexander Mendes
birth date	August 01, 1965
birth place	Reading, Berkshire, England
occupation	Director
spouse	Kate Winslet (2003–2010) (separated)
years active	1993–present }}

Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film ''American Beauty'' (1999) and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals ''Cabaret'' (1994), ''Oliver!'' (1994), ''Company'' (1996) and ''Gypsy'' (2003).

Early years

Mendes was born in Reading, Berkshire to Valerie Helene (née Barnett), an author of children's books, and Jameson Peter Mendes, a university professor. His father is from Trinidad's ethnic Portuguese community, and his mother an English Jew. His grandfather is the Trinidadian writer Alfred Mendes. He attended Magdalen College School, Oxford and later he graduated from Cambridge with a BA in English.

Mendes first attracted attention for his production of Chekhov's ''The Cherry Orchard'' in the West End which starred Judi Dench before he was twenty-five years old. Soon he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company where his productions, many of them featuring Simon Russell Beale, included ''Troilus and Cressida'', ''Richard III'' and ''The Tempest''.

He has also worked at the Royal National Theatre, directing Edward Bond's ''The Sea'', Jim Cartwright's ''The Rise and Fall of Little Voice'', Harold Pinter's ''The Birthday Party'', and ''Othello'' with Simon Russell Beale as Iago.

Career

Stage

In 1992 Mendes was appointed artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, an intimate studio space in London's Covent Garden which he quickly transformed into one of the most exciting venues in the city. His opening production was Stephen Sondheim's ''Assassins'' which reveled in the show's dark, comic brilliance and rescued it from the critical disfavor it had suffered on its American opening. He followed this with a series of excellent classic revivals, many of which attracted some of the finest actors and biggest stars of the decade.

In 1993, Mendes staged a highly acclaimed revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb's ''Cabaret'' starring Jane Horrocks as Sally Bowles, Alan Cumming as Emcee, Adam Godley as Cliff Bradshaw and Sara Kestelman as Frau Schneider. The production was approached with a fresh concept, differing greatly from both the original 1966 production directed by Harold Prince and the famed film version, directed by Bob Fosse. This production opened at the Donmar and received four Olivier Award nominations including Best Musical Revival, before transferring promptly to Broadway where it played for several years at the Kit Kat Club (i.e. the Stephen Sondheim Theater). The Broadway cast included Cumming once again as Emcee, with Natasha Richardson as Sally, Mary Louise Wilson as Frau Schneider and John Benjamin Hickey as Cliff. Cumming and Richardson won Tony Awards for their performances.

1994 saw Mendes stage a new production of Lionel Bart's ''Oliver!'', produced by Cameron Mackintosh. Mendes, a long time fan of the work, worked in close collaboration with Bart and other production team members, William David Brohn, Martin Koch and Anthony Ward, to create a fresh staging of the well-known classic. Bart added new musical material and Mendes updated the book slightly, while the orchestrations were radically rewritten to suit the show's cinematic feel. The cast included Jonathan Pryce (after much persuasion) as Fagin, Sally Dexter as Nancy, and Miles Anderson as Bill Sikes. Mendes, Pryce and Dexter received Olivier Award nominations for their work on ''Oliver!''. This production is the longest-running show ever to play at the London Palladium, closing in 1998. Mackintosh revived Mendes' production recently at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane where it was re-staged by Rupert Goold.

He has also directed productions of Tennessee Williams's ''The Glass Menagerie'', Stephen Sondheim's ''Company'' (which had the first ever African American "Bobby"), Alan Bennett's ''Habeas Corpus'' and his farewell duo of Chekhov's ''Uncle Vanya'' and ''Twelfth Night'', which transferred to the Brooklyn Academy of Music. As artistic director Mendes also gave some of the country's finest younger directors the opportunity to do some of their best work: Matthew Warchus's production of Sam Shepard's ''True West'', Katie Mitchell's of Beckett's ''Endgame'', David Leveaux's of Sophocles's ''Elektra'' and Tom Stoppard's ''The Real Thing'' were amongst the most critically acclaimed of the decade. The Donmar's present artistic director, Michael Grandage, directed some of the key productions of the later part of Mendes's tenure, including Peter Nichols's ''Passion'' and ''Privates on Parade'' and Sondheim's ''Merrily We Roll Along''.

In 2003, Mendes directed a revival of the musical ''Gypsy''. Originally, he planned to stage this production in London's West End with an eventual Broadway transfer, but when negotiations fell through, he decided to bring it straight to New York. The cast included Bernadette Peters as Rose, Tammy Blanchard as Louise and John Dossett as Herbie.

Film

Mendes made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed and box-office success ''American Beauty'', starring Kevin Spacey. The film grossed $356.3 million worldwide and had a 2373% ROI. The film won the Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Picture. Mendes won a Directors Guild of America Award, a Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for directing ''American Beauty''.

Mendes's second film, in 2002, was ''Road to Perdition'', which grossed US$181 million. The aggregate review score on Rotten Tomatoes was 82%; critics praised Paul Newman for his performance. The film was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor, and won one for Best Cinematography.

In 2005, Mendes directed the war film ''Jarhead''. The film received mixed reviews, receiving a Rotten Tomatoes aggregate of 60%, and a gross revenue of US$96.9 million worldwide. The film focused on the boredom and other psychological challenges of wartime, instead of being a traditional combat-action film.

In 2008, Mendes directed ''Revolutionary Road'', starring his wife, Academy Award–winner Kate Winslet, along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kathy Bates. In a January 2009 interview, Mendes opened up about directing his wife for the first time:

Mendes completed work on a comedy-drama called ''Away We Go'', which opened the 2009 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film follows a couple searching across North America for the perfect community in which to settle down and start a family. The film stars John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Catherine O'Hara, and Melanie Lynskey.

Mendes is starting pre-production on a film adaptation of the acclaimed 1971 Tony-winning Broadway musical Follies and has announced his intentions to film an adaptation of the novel ''Middlemarch'' in the near future.

According to ComingSoon.net, Columbia Pictures has purchased the rights to the ''Preacher'' graphic novel series and have hired Sam Mendes to direct it. He will also be an executive producer for the American movie remake of the British mini series Lost in Austen.

On 5 January 2010, news broke that Mendes was in negotiations to direct the 23rd installment of the ''James Bond'' franchise. He pulled out of negotiations to direct futuristic thriller ''The Hunger Games'' after MGM is ready to move forward with production on ''Bond 23'', scheduled to be released on 9 November 2012.

Personal life

Mendes married British actress Kate Winslet on 24 May 2003 in Anguilla in the Caribbean. They met in 2001, when Mendes approached Winslet about appearing in a play at the Donmar Warehouse Theater, where he was then artistic director. Their son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born on 22 December 2003. Mendes also has a stepdaughter, Mia Honey Threapleton (b. 12 October 2000), from Winslet's first marriage to assistant director Jim Threapleton. The couple announced their separation on 15 March 2010.

Mendes was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2000.

Work

Stage productions

1990: Began directing for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

1992: became artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse theatre

1992: directed ''Assassins'' at the Donmar

1994: directed revival of ''Oliver!'' (with score specially revised and augmented by original composer and lyricist Lionel Bart) at the London Palladium; the show ran for four years, becoming on 8 July 1997 the longest-running show at the venue.

1994: directed revival of ''Cabaret''

1995: directed ''Company''

1997: directed ''The Fix'' in the West End

1997: directed ''The Front Page'' starring Griff Rhys Jones and Alun Armstrong.

1998: alongside Rob Marshall, directed Broadway revival of ''Cabaret'', closely based on his previous production

1998: directed David Hare's ''The Blue Room'', starring Nicole Kidman (and Iain Glen).

1999: directed ''Wise Guys'' in New York

2002: directed ''Uncle Vanya'' and ''Twelfth Night''.

2003: directed a Broadway revival of ''Gypsy'', starring Bernadette Peters.

2003: started film and theatre production company, Neal Street Productions, with Pippa Harris and Caro Newling.

2006: directed ''The Vertical Hour'' on Broadway, with Julianne Moore and Bill Nighy

2009: directed ''The Winter's Tale'' and ''The Cherry Orchard'' for BAM and the Old Vic, with Simon Russell Beale, Sinéad Cusack, Rebecca Hall and Ethan Hawke.

2010: directed ''As You Like It'' and ''The Tempest'' for BAM and the Old Vic, starring Stephen Dillane.

2011: to direct ''Richard III'', starring Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic (to run from June – September 2011)

Feature films

Year	Film	Credited as			Oscar	Nominations	Oscar	Wins	BAFTA	Nominations	BAFTA	Wins	Golden Globe	Nominations	Golden Globe	Wins
		Director	Producer	ExecutiveProducer
1999	style="text-align: left;"	Yes			8	5	14	6	6	3
2002		Yes	Yes		6	1	3	2	1
2005	style="text-align: left;"	Yes
2006	style="text-align: left;"			Yes
2007			Yes
2007	style="text-align: left;"			Yes	1		3		2
2008	style="text-align: left;"	Yes	Yes		3		4		4	1
2009		Yes
2012		Yes
Total	9	6	3	2	18	6	24	8	13	4

Awards and nominations

! Year	! Award	! Film or Stage Play	! Result
1989	Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Most Promising Newcomer	''The Cherry Orchard''	Won
1995	Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Director		Won
1995	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director	Won
1996	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director		Won
1998	Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical		Nominated
	Academy Award for Best Director		Won
Golden Globe Award for Best Director	''American Beauty''	Won
2002	Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Director		Won
	Laurence Olivier Award for Best Director	Won
Society of London Theatre Special Award	N/A	Won
2008	Golden Globe Award for Best Director – Motion Picture		Nominated

References

External links

The Observer Interview 14 December 2008

Charlie Rose interview 5 June 2009

Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:People from Reading, Berkshire Category:English expatriates in the United States Category:Old Waynfletes Category:Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Category:English Jews Category:English people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Category:English people of Portuguese descent Category:English theatre directors Category:English film directors Category:Drama Desk Award winners Category:Olivier Award winners Category:Tony Award winners Category:Best Director Academy Award winners Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

an:Sam Mendes ca:Sam Mendes cy:Sam Mendes da:Sam Mendes de:Sam Mendes et:Sam Mendes es:Sam Mendes eu:Sam Mendes fa:سام مندس fr:Sam Mendes gl:Sam Mendes hr:Sam Mendes id:Sam Mendes it:Sam Mendes he:סם מנדס hu:Sam Mendes mr:सॅम मेंडेस nl:Sam Mendes ja:サム・メンデス no:Sam Mendes pl:Sam Mendes pt:Sam Mendes ro:Sam Mendes ru:Мендес, Сэм fi:Sam Mendes sv:Sam Mendes tr:Sam Mendes zh:山姆·曼德斯

name	Bela Lugosi
birth name	Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó
birth date	October 20, 1882
birth place	Lugos, Austria–Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania)
death date	August 16, 1956
death place	Los Angeles, California, United States
death cause	Heart Attack
occupation	Actor
years active	1917–1956
website	http://www.lugosi.com
spouse	Ilona Szmick(1917–1920)Ilona von Montagh (1921–1924) (divorced)Beatrice Weeks (1929–1929) (divorced)Lillian Arch (1933–1953) (divorced) 1 childHope Lininger (1955–1956) (his death) }}

Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó (20 October 188216 August 1956), commonly known as Béla Lugosi, was a Hungarian actor of stage and screen. He was best known for playing Count Dracula in the Broadway play and subsequent film version, as well as starring in several of Ed Wood's low budget films in the last years of his career.

Early life

Lugosi, the youngest of four children, was born as Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó in Lugos (at the time part of Austria–Hungary, now Lugoj in Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blasko, a banker. He later based his last name on his hometown. He and his sister Vilma were raised in a Roman Catholic family. At the age of 12, Lugosi dropped out of school. He began his acting career probably in 1901 or 1902. His earliest known performances are from provincial theaters in the 1903–1904 season, playing small roles in several plays and operettas. He went on to Shakespeare plays and other major roles. Moving to Budapest in 1911, he played dozens of roles with the National Theater of Hungary in the period 1913–1919. Although Lugosi would later claim that he "became the leading actor of Hungary's Royal National Theater", almost all his roles there were small or supporting parts.

During World War I, he served as an infantry lieutenant in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914 to 1916. There he rose to the rank of captain in the ski patrol and was awarded a medal for being wounded at the Russian front.

Due to his activism in the actors union in Hungary during the time of the Hungarian Revolution of 1919, he was forced to flee his homeland. He first went to Vienna, Austria, and then settled in Germany, where he continued acting. Eventually, he traveled to New Orleans as a crewman aboard a merchant ship.

Career

Early films

Lugosi's first film appearance was in the 1917 movie ''Az ezredes'' (known in English as ''The Colonel''). When appearing in Hungarian silent films he used the stage name Arisztid Olt. Lugosi made 12 films in Hungary between 1917 and 1918 before leaving for Germany. Following the collapse of Béla Kun's Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919, leftists and trade unionists became vulnerable. Lugosi was proscribed from acting due to his participation in the formation of an actor's union. In exile in Germany, he began appearing in a small number of well received films, including adaptations of the Karl May novels, ''Auf den Trümmern des Paradieses'' (''On the Brink of Paradise''), and ''Die Todeskarawane'' (''The Caravan of Death''), opposite the ill-fated Jewish actress Dora Gerson. Lugosi left Germany in October 1920, intending to emigrate to the United States, and entered the country at New Orleans in December 1920. He made his way to New York and was legally inspected for immigration at Ellis Island in March 1921. He declared his intention to become a U.S. citizen in 1928, and on June 26, 1931, he was naturalized.

On his arrival in America, the 6 foot 1 inch (1.85 m), 180 lb. (82 kg) Béla worked for some time as a laborer, then entered the theater in New York City's Hungarian immigrant colony. With fellow Hungarian actors he formed a small stock company that toured Eastern cities, playing for immigrant audiences. He acted in his first Broadway play, ''The Red Poppy'', in 1922. Three more parts came in 1925–1926, including a five-month run in the comedy-fantasy ''The Devil in the Cheese''. His first American film role came in the 1923 melodrama ''The Silent Command''. Several more silent roles followed, as villains or continental types, all in productions made in the New York area.

''Dracula''

Lugosi was approached in the summer of 1927 to star in a Broadway production of ''Dracula'' adapted by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from Bram Stoker's novel. The Horace Liveright production was successful, running 261 performances before touring. He was soon called to Hollywood for character parts in early talkies.

Despite his critically acclaimed performance on stage, Lugosi was not the Universal Pictures first choice for the role of Dracula when the company optioned the rights to the Deane play and began production in 1930. A persistent rumor asserts that director Tod Browning's long-time collaborator Lon Chaney was Universal's first choice for the role, and that Lugosi was chosen only due to Chaney's death shortly before production. This is questionable, because Chaney had been under long-term contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer since 1925, and had negotiated a lucrative new contract just before his death.

Chaney and Browning had worked together on several projects (including four of Chaney's final five releases), but Browning was only a last-minute choice to direct the movie version of ''Dracula'' after the death of director Paul Leni, who was originally slated to direct.

Typecasting

Through his association with Dracula (in which he appeared with minimal makeup, using his natural, heavily accented voice), Lugosi found himself typecast as a horror villain in such movies as ''Murders in the Rue Morgue'', ''The Raven'', and ''Son of Frankenstein'' for Universal, and the independent ''White Zombie''. His accent, while a part of his image, limited the roles he could play.

Lugosi did attempt to break type by auditioning for other roles. He lost out to Lionel Barrymore for the role of Rasputin in ''Rasputin and the Empress''; C. Henry Gordon for the role of Surat Khan in ''Charge of the Light Brigade''; Basil Rathbone for the role of Commissar Dimitri Gorotchenko in ''Tovarich'' (a role Lugosi had played on stage). He did play the elegant, somewhat hot-tempered Gen. Nicholas Strenovsky-Petronovich in ''International House''.

Regardless of controversy, five films at Universal — ''The Black Cat'', ''The Raven'', ''The Invisible Ray'', ''Son of Frankenstein'', ''Black Friday'' (plus minor cameo performances in 1934's ''Gift of Gab'') and two at RKO Pictures, ''You'll Find Out'' and ''The Body Snatcher'' — paired Lugosi with Boris Karloff. Despite the relative size of their roles, Lugosi inevitably got second billing, below Karloff. Lugosi's attitude toward Karloff is the subject of contradictory reports, some claiming that he was openly resentful of Karloff's long-term success and ability to get good roles beyond the horror arena, while others suggested the two actors were — for a time, at least — good friends. Karloff himself in interviews suggested that Lugosi was initially mistrustful of him when they acted together, believing that the Englishman would attempt to upstage him. When this proved not to be the case, according to Karloff, Lugosi settled down and they worked together amicably (though some have further commented that Karloff's on-set demand to break from filming for mid-afternoon tea annoyed Lugosi).

Universal tried to give Lugosi more heroic roles, as in ''The Black Cat'', ''The Invisible Ray'', and a romantic role in the adventure serial ''The Return of Chandu'', but his typecasting problem was too entrenched for those roles to help.

Lugosi addressed his plea to be cast in non-horror roles directly to casting directors through his listing in the 1937 Players Directory, published by the Motion Picture Academy, in which he (or his agent) calls the idea that he is only fit for horror films "an error."

Career path

A number of factors worked against Lugosi's career in the mid-1930s. Universal changed management in 1936, and because of a British ban on horror films, dropped them from their production schedule; Lugosi found himself consigned to Universal's non-horror B-film unit, at times in small roles where he was obviously used for "name value" only. Throughout the 1930s Lugosi, experiencing a severe career decline despite popularity with audiences (Universal executives always preferred his rival Karloff), accepted many leading roles from independent producers like Nat Levine, Sol Lesser, and Sam Katzman. These low-budget thrillers indicate that Lugosi was less discriminating than Karloff in selecting screen vehicles, but the exposure helped Lugosi financially if not artistically. Lugosi tried to keep busy with stage work, but had to borrow money from the Actors' Fund to pay hospital bills when his only child, Bela George Lugosi, was born in 1938. His career was given a second chance by Universal's ''Son of Frankenstein'' in 1939, when he played the character role of Ygor, who uses the Monster for his own revenge, in heavy makeup and beard. The same year saw Lugosi playing a straight character role in a major motion picture: he was a stern commissar in MGM's comedy ''Ninotchka'', starring Greta Garbo. This small but prestigious role could have been a turning point for the actor, but within the year he was back on Hollywood's Poverty Row, playing leads for Sam Katzman. These horror, comedy and mystery B-films were released by Monogram Pictures. At Universal, he often received star billing for what amounted to a supporting part. ''The Gorilla'' (1939) had him playing straight man to Patsy Kelly, in a role she told author Boze Hadleigh was her finest role.

Ostensibly due to injuries received during military service, Lugosi developed severe, chronic sciatica. Though at first he was treated with pain remedies such as asparagus juice, doctors increased the medication to opiates. The growth of his dependence on pain-killers, particularly morphine and methadone, was directly proportional to the dwindling of screen offers. In 1943, he finally played the role of Frankenstein's monster in Universal's ''Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman'', which this time contained dialogue (Lugosi's voice had been dubbed over that of Lon Chaney, Jr., from line readings at the end of 1942's ''The Ghost of Frankenstein'' because Ygor's brain had been transplanted into the Monster). Lugosi continued to play the Monster with Ygor's consciousness but with groping gestures because the Monster was now blind. Ultimately, all of the Monster's dialogue and all references to his sightlessness were edited out of the released film, leaving a strange, maimed performance characterized by unexplained gestures and lip movements with no words coming out. He also came to recreate the role of Dracula a second and last time on film in ''Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'' in 1948. By this time, Lugosi's drug use was so notorious that the producers were not even aware that Lugosi was still alive, and had penciled in actor Ian Keith for the role.

''Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein'' was Bela Lugosi's last "A" movie. For the remainder of his life he appeared — less and less frequently — in obscure, low-budget features. From 1947 to 1950 he performed in summer stock, often in productions of ''Dracula'' or ''Arsenic and Old Lace'', and during the rest of the year made personal appearances in a touring "spook show" and on television. While in England to play a six-month tour of ''Dracula'' in 1951, he co-starred in a lowbrow movie comedy, ''Mother Riley Meets the Vampire'' (also known as ''Vampire over London'' and ''My Son, the Vampire''). Upon his return to America, Lugosi was interviewed for television, and revealed his ambition to play more comedy, though wistfully noting, "Now I am the boogie man." Independent producer Jack Broder took Lugosi at his word, casting him in a jungle-themed comedy, ''Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla''. Another opportunity for comedy came in September 1949 when Milton Berle invited Lugosi to appear in a sketch on ''Texaco Star Theater''. Lugosi memorized the script for the skit, but became confused on the air when Berle began to ad lib. This was depicted in the Tim Burton film ''Ed Wood'', with Martin Landau as Lugosi. Though Burton did not actually identify the comedian in the biopic, the events depicted were correct.

Working with Ed Wood

Late in his life, Bela Lugosi again received star billing in movies when filmmaker Ed Wood, a fan of Lugosi, found him living in obscurity and near-poverty and offered him roles in his films, such as ''Glen or Glenda'' and as a Dr. Frankenstein-like mad scientist in ''Bride of the Monster''. During post-production of the latter, Lugosi decided to seek treatment for his drug addiction, and the premiere of the film was said to be intended to help pay for his hospital expenses. According to Kitty Kelley's biography of Frank Sinatra, when the entertainer heard of Lugosi's problems, he helped with expenses and visited at the hospital. Lugosi would recall his amazement, since he didn't even know Sinatra.

The extras on an early DVD release of ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' include an impromptu interview with Lugosi upon his exit from the treatment center in 1955, which provide some rare personal insights into the man. During the interview, Lugosi states that he is about to go to work on a new Ed Wood film, ''The Ghoul Goes West''. This was one of several projects proposed by Wood, including ''The Phantom Ghoul'' and ''Dr. Acula''. With Lugosi in his famed Dracula cape, Wood shot impromptu test footage, with no storyline in mind, in front of Tor Johnson's home, a suburban graveyard and in front of Lugosi's apartment building on Carlton Way. This footage ended up in ''Plan 9 from Outer Space''.

Following his treatment, Lugosi made one final film, in late 1955, ''The Black Sleep'', for Bel-Air Pictures, which was released in the summer of 1956 through United Artists with a promotional campaign that included several personal appearances. To his disappointment, however, his role in this film was of a mute, with no dialogue.

Personal life

In 1917, Lugosi married Ilona Szmick. The couple divorced in 1920, reputedly over political differences with her parents.

In 1929, Lugosi took his place in Hollywood society and scandal when he married wealthy San Francisco widow Beatrice Weeks, but she filed for divorce four months later. Weeks cited actress Clara Bow as the "other woman".

In 1933 he married 19-year-old Lillian Arch, the daughter of Hungarian immigrants. They had a child, Bela G. Lugosi, in 1938.

Lillian and Béla divorced in 1953, at least partially because of Béla's jealousy over Lillian taking a full-time job as an assistant to Brian Donlevy on the sets and studios for Donlevy's radio and television series ''Dangerous Assignment'' — Lillian eventually did marry Brian Donlevy, in 1966.

Lugosi married Hope Lininger, his fifth wife, in 1955. She had been a fan of his, writing letters to him when he was in hospital recovering from addiction to Demerol. She would sign her letters 'A dash of Hope'.

Death

Lugosi died of a heart attack on August 16, 1956 while lying on a couch in his Los Angeles home. He was 73. The rumor that Lugosi was clutching the script for ''The Final Curtain'', a planned Ed Wood project, at the time of his death is not true.

Lugosi was buried wearing one of the ''Dracula'' Cape costumes, per the request of his son and fourth wife, in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Contrary to popular belief, Lugosi never requested to be buried in his cloak; Bela G. Lugosi confirmed on numerous occasions that he and his mother, Lillian, actually made the decision but believed that it is what his father would have wanted.

''Plan 9 from Outer Space''

One of Lugosi's roles was released posthumously. Ed Wood's ''Plan 9 from Outer Space'' (Originally titled Grave Robbers From Outer Space) features footage of Lugosi interspersed with a double. Wood had taken a few minutes of silent footage of Lugosi, in his Dracula cape, for a planned vampire picture but was unable to find financing for the project. When he later conceived ''Plan 9'', Wood wrote the script to incorporate the Lugosi footage and hired Tom Mason, his wife's chiropractor, to double for Lugosi in additional shots. The double is thinner than Lugosi, and in every shot covers the lower half of his face with his cape, as Lugosi sometimes did in ''Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.'' As Leonard Maltin put it in early editions of his movies guide book, "Lugosi died during production, and it shows."

Legacy

In 1979, the ''Lugosi v. Universal Pictures'' decision by the California Supreme Court held that Bela Lugosi's personality rights could not pass to his heirs, as a copyright would have. The court ruled that under California law any rights of publicity, including the right to his image, terminated with Lugosi's death. In Tim Burton's 1994 ''Ed Wood'', Lugosi is played by Martin Landau in an interpretation for which Landau received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. According to Bela G. Lugosi (his son), Forrest Ackerman, Dolores Fuller and Richard Sheffield, Lugosi never used profanity, owned small dogs, or slept in coffins. The film fabricated much about the Hungarian actor.

Three Lugosi projects were featured on the television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''. ''The Corpse Vanishes'' appeared in episode 105, the serial ''The Phantom Creeps'' throughout season two and the Ed Wood production ''Bride of the Monster'' in episode 423.

An episode of ''Sledge Hammer'' titled "Last of the Red Hot Vampires" was a homage to Bela Lugosi; at the end of the episode, it was dedicated to "Mr. Blaskó".

In 2001, BBC Radio 4 broadcast ''There Are Such Things'' by Steven McNicoll and Mark McDonnell. Focusing on Lugosi and his well documented struggle to escape from the role that had typecast him, the play went on to receive The Hamilton Dean award for best dramatic presentation from the Dracula Society in 2002.

A statue of Lugosi can be seen today on one of the corners of the Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest.

The Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York City features a live, 30-minute play that focuses on Lugosi's illegal entry into the country and then his arrival at Ellis Island to enter the country legally.

The cape Lugosi wore in the 1931 film ''Dracula'' still survives today in the ownership of Universal Studios.

The theatrical play ''Lugosi - a vámpír árnyéka'' (''Lugosi - the Shadow of the Vampire'', in Hungarian) is based on Lugosi's life, telling the story of his life as he becomes typecast as Dracula and as his drug addiction worsens. He was played by one of Hungary's most renowned actors, Ivan Darvas.

Andy Warhol's 1963 silkscreen ''The Kiss'' depicts Lugosi from ''Dracula'' about to bite into the neck of co-star Helen Chandler, who played Mina Harker. A copy sold for $798,000 at Christie's in May 2000.

Lugosi was also the subject of "Bela Lugosi's Dead", the first single by English rock band Bauhaus. It was released in August 1979 and it is often considered to be the first gothic rock record.

Filmography

References

Further reading

''Bela Lugosi: Dreams and Nightmares'' by Gary D. Rhodes, with Richard Sheffield, (2007) Collectables/Alpha Video Publishers, ISBN 0977379817 (hardcover)

''The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi'' by Arthur Lennig (2003), ISBN 0813122732 (hardcover)

''Bela Lugosi (Midnight Marquee Actors Series)'' by Gary Svehla and Susan Svehla (1995) ISBN 1887664017 (paperback)

''Bela Lugosi: Master of the Macabre'' by Larry Edwards (1997), ISBN 188111709X (paperback)

''Films of Bela Lugosi'' by Richard Bojarski (1980) ISBN 0806507160 (hardcover)

''Sinister Serials of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr.'' by Leonard J. Kohl (2000) ISBN 1887664319 (paperback)

''Vampire over London: Bela Lugosi in Britain'' by Frank J. Dello Stritto (2000) ISBN 0970426909 (hardcover)

''Lugosi: The Man Behind the Cape'' by Robert Cremer (1976) ISBN 0809281376 (hardcover)

''Bela Lugosi: Biografia di una metamorfosi'' by Edgardo Franzosini (1998) ISBN 8845913708

External links

Category:1882 births Category:1956 deaths Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United States Category:Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Category:Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Lugosi Bela Lugosi Bela Lugosi Bela Lugosi Bela Category:American people of Hungarian descent Category:American people of Romanian descent Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Lugosi Bela Category:People from Lugoj

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