title: Gary Oldman

text: From 1980 to 1981, Oldman appeared in "The Massacre at Paris" (Christopher Marlowe), "Desperado Corner" (Shaun Lawton) and Robert David MacDonald's plays "Chinchilla" and "A Waste of Time". He performed in a 6-month West End run of MacDonald's "Summit Conference", opposite Glenda Jackson, in 1982. Also that year, Oldman made his film debut in Colin Gregg's "Remembrance", and would have starred in Don Boyd's "Gossip" if that film had not collapsed. The following year, he landed a starring role as a skinhead in Mike Leigh's film "Meantime", and moved on to Chesterfield to assume the lead role in "Entertaining Mr Sloane" (Joe Orton). He then went to Westcliffe to star in "Saved" (Edward Bond).


title: Gary Oldman

text: "Saved" proved to be a major breakthrough for Oldman. Max Stafford-Clark, artistic director of the Royal Court Theatre, had seen Oldman's performance and cast him as Scopey, the lead role of Bond's "The Pope's Wedding", in 1984. For his acclaimed performance, he won two of British theatre's top honours: the "Time Out" Fringe Award for Best Newcomer, and the "Drama" Theatre Award for Best Actor—the latter of which was shared with future film co-star Anthony Hopkins for his performance in "Pravda". Oldman's turn in "The Pope's Wedding" led to a run of work with the Royal Court, and from 1984 to 1986 he appeared in "Rat in the Skull" (Ron Hutchinson), "The Desert Air" (Nicholas Wright), "Cain and Abel", "The Danton Affair" (Pam Gems), "Women Beware Women" (Thomas Middleton), "Real Dreams" (Trevor Griffiths) and all three of Bond's "The War Plays": "Red Black and Ignorant", "The Tin Can People" and "Great Peace". Oldman was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1985 to 1986.


title: Gary Oldman

text: The 1984 production of "The Pope's Wedding" had been seen by director Alex Cox, who offered Oldman the part of musician Sid Vicious in the 1986 film "Sid and Nancy". He twice turned down the role before accepting it, because, in his own words: "I wasn't really that interested in Sid Vicious and the punk movement. I'd never followed it. It wasn't something that interested me. The script I felt was banal and 'who cares' and 'why bother' and all of that. And I was a little bit sort-of with my nose in the air and sort-of thinking 'well the theatre—so much more superior' and all of that." He reconsidered based on the salary and the urging of his agent. In 1987, Oldman gained his third starring film role as Joe Orton in "Prick Up Your Ears", for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor. That same year, he appeared in the plays "The Country Wife" (William Wycherley) and "Serious Money" (Caryl Churchill). Film director Luc Besson told how, on the set of "The Fifth Element" (1997), Oldman could recite any scene from "Hamlet" (William Shakespeare), in which he had starred a decade earlier.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman's performances in "Sid and Nancy" and "Prick Up Your Ears" paved the way for work in Hollywood, garnering acclaim from United States film critic Roger Ebert. Ebert wrote, "There is no point of similarity between the two performances; like a few gifted actors, [Oldman] is able to re-invent himself for every role. On the basis of these two movies, he is the best young British actor around." Vicious's former Sex Pistols bandmate, John Lydon, despite criticising "Sid and Nancy", described Oldman as a "bloody good actor". The performance would go on to be ranked No. 62 in "Premiere" magazine's "100 Greatest Performances of All Time" and No. 8 in "Uncut" magazine's "10 Best actors in rockin' roles", the latter describing Oldman's portrayal as a "hugely sympathetic reading of the punk figurehead as a lost and bewildered manchild."


title: Gary Oldman

text: In late 1988, he starred opposite "hero" Alan Bates in "We Think the World of You", and in 1989 alongside Dennis Hopper and Frances McDormand in the "Chattahoochee". Also in 1989, Oldman also starred as football hooligan Clive "Bex" Bissel in controversial British television drama "The Firm", giving a performance that "Total Film" numbered as his best and called "stunning" and "fearless" in 2011. Oldman and other young British actors of the 1980s who were becoming established Hollywood film actors, such as Tim Roth, Bruce Payne, Colin Firth, Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul McGann, were dubbed the "Brit Pack", of which Oldman was de facto leader.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 1990, Oldman costarred with Tim Roth in "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead", Tom Stoppard's film adaptation of his own play of the same name. "Total Film" praised the movie, calling Oldman's character "a blitz of brilliant comedy timing and pitch perfect line delivery." He then starred opposite Sean Penn and Ed Harris in "State of Grace" (1990); Roger Ebert described Oldman's turn as the highlight, and Janet Maslin referred to his work as "phenomenal". He was offered, but turned down, the lead role in that year's "Edward Scissorhands". Oldman moved to the United States in the early 1990s, where he has resided since.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 1991, he began filming "Dylan Thomas", a biopic on Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, with his then-wife Uma Thurman as Caitlin Thomas; production shut down shortly after filming began. Later in 1991, Oldman starred in his first US blockbuster, playing Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone's "JFK". According to Oldman, very little was written about Oswald in the script. Stone gave him several plane tickets, a list of contacts and told him to do his own research. Oldman met with Oswald's wife, Marina, and her two daughters to prepare for the role. He filmed scenes for the 1992 neo-noir thriller "Final Analysis", which were cut.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 1992, he starred as Count Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's romance-horror "Bram Stoker's Dracula". A commercially successful film adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, it was a box office success worldwide. Oldman's performance was recognised as the best male performance of 1992 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, which awarded Oldman its Best Actor award. He served as a member of the Jury at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Oldman became a popular portrayer of villains: he played violent pimp Drexl Spivey in the Tony Scott-directed, Quentin Tarantino-written "True Romance" (1993), a role which MSN Movies described as "one of cinema's most memorable villains"; a sadistic prison warden in "Murder in the First" (1995); futuristic corporate tyrant Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in "The Fifth Element" (1997); and Dr. Zachary Smith/Spider Smith in the commercially successful but critically panned "Lost in Space" (1998). He was considered for two roles in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (1994), but neither were realised. Tarantino contemplated Oldman as gangster Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L. Jackson), while TriStar executives recommended him for drug dealer Lance (portrayed by Eric Stoltz).


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 1994's "", he played corrupt DEA officer Norman Stansfield, which has since been named by multiple publications as one of the best villains, and most corrupt cops, in cinema. Oldman also portrayed various accents; along with the Transylvanian Count Dracula, he gave a critically acclaimed reading of German-born Viennese composer Ludwig van Beethoven in "Immortal Beloved", and played Russian terrorist Egor Korshunov in the 1997 blockbuster "Air Force One". In 1998, MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch" aired a match between claymation representations of Oldman and Christopher Walken to determine the greatest cinematic villain. The following year, Oldman served as executive producer of "Plunkett & Macleane", and portrayed another historical figure, Pontius Pilate, in television film "Jesus". He was also considered for the role of Morpheus in "The Matrix".


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman appeared opposite Jeff Bridges as zealous Republican congressman Sheldon Runyon in "The Contender" (2000), of which he was also executive producer. Oldman received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his performance, although some claimed he was dissatisfied with DreamWorks' supposed editing of the film to reflect pro-Democratic leanings. These reports were declared "sloppy sensationalism" by his manager, Douglas Urbanski, who said that Oldman was "the least political person I know". He stressed that neither he nor Oldman had made the statements attributed to them, that they had "produced this film, every last cut and frame", and that DreamWorks "did not influence the final cut or have anything to do with it." Urbanski asserted that Oldman received "creepy phone calls advising him that he was ruining his chances of an Oscar nomination". The notion of Oldman criticising DreamWorks was dispelled as a "myth" by critic Roger Ebert.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2001, he starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in "Hannibal", as Mason Verger, the only surviving victim of Hannibal Lecter. He spent six hours per day in the make-up room to achieve the character's hideously disfigured appearance, and went uncredited in the film. It marked the second time that Oldman had appeared opposite Hopkins, who was part of the supporting cast of "Bram Stoker's Dracula". He received an Emmy Award nomination for two guest appearances in "Friends" in May 2001, appearing in the two-part episode "The One With Chandler and Monica's Wedding" as Richard Crosby, a pedantic actor who insists that "real" actors spit on one another when they enunciate, leading to tension, then friendship, with Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc). Oldman had previously worked with LeBlanc on "Lost in Space".


title: Gary Oldman

text: Following his "Friends" appearance, Oldman did not appear in any major roles until 2004; it was suggested that he was blacklisted in Hollywood during this time, following the controversy that had surrounded the release of "The Contender". In 2002, he starred in the generally well-received "Interstate 60", and played the Devil in the BMW short film, "". "Guardian" writer Xan Brooks described the early 2000s as Oldman's "low point", recalling "barrel-scraping roles" in the 2003 films "Tiptoes" and "Sin". Although the film failed to impress reviewers, Oldman did garner some praise for his portrayal of a man with dwarfism in "Tiptoes": Lisa Nesselson in "Variety" described his work as "astonishingly fine", and the performance was later mentioned in Mark Kermode's "Great Acting in Bad Films".


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2004, Oldman returned to prominence when he landed a starring role in the "Harry Potter" film series, playing Harry Potter's godfather Sirius Black. The following year, he starred as James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's commercially and critically successful "Batman Begins", a role that he reprised in the even more successful sequel "The Dark Knight" (2008) and once more in the conclusion, "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012). Film critic Mark Kermode, in reviewing "The Dark Knight", downplayed claims that Heath Ledger's Joker was the highlight of the film, saying, "the best performance in the film, "by a mile", is [by] Gary Oldman... it would be lovely to see "him" get a nomination because actually, he's the guy who gets kind of overlooked in all of this." Oldman co-starred with Jim Carrey in the 2009 version of "A Christmas Carol" in which Oldman played three roles. He had a starring role in David Goyer's supernatural thriller "The Unborn", released in 2009.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2010, Oldman co-starred with Denzel Washington in "The Book of Eli". He also played a lead role in Catherine Hardwicke's "Red Riding Hood". Oldman voiced the role of villain Lord Shen and was nominated for an Annie Award for his performance in "Kung Fu Panda 2".


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman received strong reviews and earned his first Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA Award nomination for his portrayal of British spy George Smiley in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (2011), an adaptation of the John le Carré novel, directed by Tomas Alfredson. To prepare for the role of George Smiley, Oldman gained 15 pounds, watched Alec Guinness' performance in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", and paid a visit to Smiley's creator John le Carré to perfect the character's voice. In 2012, Oldman played Floyd Banner, a big-hitting mobster, in John Hillcoat's "Lawless", alongside Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce and Jessica Chastain. The following year, he portrayed Nicholas Wyatt, a ruthless CEO, in Robert Luketic's "Paranoia", along with Harrison Ford and Liam Hemsworth. In 2014, Oldman starred alongside Joel Kinnaman, Abbie Cornish, Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson in the remake of "RoboCop", as Norton, the scientist who creates the title character.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Also that year, Oldman starred in "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" as one of the leads alongside Jason Clarke and Keri Russell. In a promotional interview published in the July/August issue of "Playboy" magazine, Oldman slammed what he saw as excessive political correctness in American media, alleged discriminating hypocrisy by entertainers who hide "behind comedy and satire to say things we can't ordinarily say", and downplayed the convictions behind offensive slurs said by actors Alec Baldwin and Mel Gibson, attributing their statements to anger and inebriation, respectively. He went on to say that Gibson—who had faced censure for antisemitic remarks—had "bitten the hand that [feeds]", being in "a town that's run by Jews" (referring to Hollywood). Oldman stressed that he is not "a fascist or a racist", but was nevertheless criticised for his comments. He issued multiple apologies, including on 25 June edition of late-night talk show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", where he described the remarks as "offensive, insensitive, pernicious and ill-informed". Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center welcomed Oldman's contrition (the latter inviting him to its Museum of Tolerance to screen 2017's "Darkest Hour"). Director David Fincher told "Playboy", "I know him very well... Gary's not cruel. He's an incredibly thoughtful guy."


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2015, Oldman played the head of police that investigates Tom Hardy's character in "Child 44", alongside Noomi Rapace and Joel Kinnaman, and had a supporting role in the post-apocalyptic American thriller "Man Down", directed by Dito Montiel, and starring alongside Shia LaBeouf and Kate Mara. In 2016, Oldman played a CIA chief in "Criminal", directed by Ariel Vromen, and starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Reynolds, Alice Eve, and Gal Gadot.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2017, Oldman played three film roles: a billionaire entrepreneur in "The Space Between Us", a dictatorial President in "The Hitman's Bodyguard", and former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Joe Wright's war drama "Darkest Hour"—his portrayal of Churchill garnered critical acclaim. Oldman's transformation into the wartime Prime Minister took 200 hours in the makeup chair, 14 pounds of silicone rubber, and $20,000 worth of Cuban cigars, which gave him nicotine poisoning. In 2018, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actor, Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor, and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. His Golden Globe win came despite Oldman having once been a critic of that award; he noted that he was "amazed, flattered and very proud" to be nominated.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2018, in his first post-Oscar role, Oldman voiced an evil artificial intelligence in Netflix's independent film "Tau" and starred in "Hunter Killer" alongside Gerard Butler. In 2019, Oldman starred in horror-thriller "Mary", directed by Michael Goi, and the thriller "The Courier", opposite Olga Kurylenko, and appeared in Steven Soderbergh's "The Laundromat" as Jürgen Mossack, opposite Meryl Streep and Antonio Banderas.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2020, Oldman starred as "Citizen Kane" co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz in David Fincher's biographical drama black-and-white Netflix movie "Mank", which follows Mankiewicz's tumultuous development of the script for "Citizen Kane" alongside director Orson Welles. The film co-stars Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, and Charles Dance. "Mank" had a limited theatrical release on 13 November, and began streaming on Netflix on 4 December. It received positive reviews, earning 88% on Rotten Tomatoes with the critics consensus being, "Sharply written and brilliantly performed, "Mank" peers behind the scenes of "Citizen Kane" to tell an old Hollywood story that could end up being a classic in its own right." In 2021, Oldman starred opposite Armie Hammer in "Crisis" and in Joe Wright's "The Woman in the Window", alongside Amy Adams.


title: Gary Oldman

text: He has been set to play a hitman alongside Dylan O'Brien in "The Bayou". Oldman is also slated to direct a biopic about Eadweard Muybridge entitled "Flying Horse".


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2022, Oldman starred as a cantankerous manager of intelligence agents in the Apple TV+ spy drama television series "Slow Horses", based on the book of the same name. "Slow Horses" marked the first time Oldman played a lead role in a television series. On November 20, 2022, he stated that the series would likely be his last role as he intended to retire from acting once the series ended.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 1997, Oldman directed, produced, and wrote the award-winning "Nil by Mouth", a film partially based on his own childhood. "Nil by Mouth" went on to win the BAFTA Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (shared with Douglas Urbanski and Luc Besson) and also the BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay, the Channel 4 Director's Award, and an "Empire" Award. In 1999, it was adjudged by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts as one of the hundred best British films of the 20th century. "Nil By Mouth" was listed by "Time Out" as number twenty-one of the top 100 best British films ever.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman and producing partner Douglas Urbanski formed the SE8 GROUP to produce "Nil by Mouth". The company also produced "The Contender", which also starred Oldman. He completed a screenplay, "Chang & Eng", co-written with Darin Strauss, based on the author's book of the same name. In September 2006, Nokia Nseries Studio released the Oldman-directed short film "Donut", with music by Tor Hyams. The film was shot with an N93 to promote the phone. Juliet Landau made a 25-minute documentary about the making of the video. In 2011, he directed a music video for then-wife Alex Eden's first single, "Kiss Me Like the Woman You Loved".


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman has had a keen interest in music from an early age. He is a proficient pianist and stated in a 1995 interview with Charlie Rose that he would rather be a musician than an actor. Oldman sang several tracks on the "Sid and Nancy" soundtrack, on which he performed alongside original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, and sang and played live piano in the 1988 movie "Track 29". He traced over Beethoven compositions in 1994's "Immortal Beloved", and tutored "Harry Potter" actor Daniel Radcliffe on bass guitar. Oldman appeared on Reeves Gabrels' album "The Sacred Squall of Now", performing a vocal duet with David Bowie on the track "You've Been Around". He produced a live performance by former White Stripes member Jack White in conjunction with Vevo and YouTube. At the 2016 Brit Awards in London, Oldman paid tribute to Bowie, before receiving the Brits "Icon Award" on behalf of the singer and his family.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman participated in the creation of "The Legend of Spyro" games, produced by Sierra Entertainment. He provided the voice of the Fire Guardian, Ignitus. He voices Sergeant Viktor Reznov and scientist Daniel Clarke in the "Call of Duty" games. He also provides the narration of Sergeant Jack Barnes in the Spearhead expansion for "". In 2015 he voiced Lord Vortech, the evil mastermind who seeks to control the LEGO Multiverse, in the "Lego Dimensions" video game. He will play Admiral Ernst Bishop in the upcoming single-player campaign of the Chris Roberts-designed crowdfunded video game, "Squadron 42".


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2015, Oldman and his manager Douglas Urbanski signed a deal with the Simon & Schuster/Atria Publishing label Emily Bestler Books for "Blood Riders", a vampire book series.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman studied the teachings of Konstantin Stanislavski and Stella Adler while at drama school but went "off-book", drawing much of his inspiration from American cinema. As a screen actor, Oldman was almost typecast as an anti-social personality early in his career. The necessity to express villainous characters in an overtly physical manner led to the cultivation of a "big" acting style that incorporated projection skills acquired during his stage training. He further sought to develop a distinctive approach that would distance him from his "stuffy" and "often interchangeable" British peers.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman has conceded that his performances often involve an element of overacting: "It's my influence on those roles that probably [makes them] feel bigger than life and a little over-the-top. I mean, I do go for it a bit as an actor, I must admit." In another interview, he stated, "If it's coming from a sincere place, then I think the screen can hold the epic and it can hold the very, very small." Stuart Heritage of "The Guardian" wrote, "Finding the definitive Gary Oldman ham performance is like trying to choose which of your children you prefer. The man is a long-term devotee of the art of ham." Conversely, Oldman noted that he enjoys "playing characters where the silence is loud" such as George Smiley in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" (2011).


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman has adopted various accents for roles and portrayed a wide range of characters. He is known for his in-depth research of his roles, as well as his devotion to them, at one point being hospitalized after losing significant weight for "Sid and Nancy", and another time had to hire a dialect coach to relearn his English accent after nearly adopting an "American twang" due to his children being raised American. In a 2017 interview, he differentiated between immersion and impression:


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman has established a cult following among film fans. He is known for playing the primary antagonist in a number of popular motion pictures, which has seen him referenced in popular culture. At the peak of his popularity in the 1990s, Oldman was dubbed by "Empire" magazine Hollywood's "psycho deluxe", and was spoofed on popular television shows such as Fox comedy series "In Living Color" and MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch", as well as drafted in to appear on the first ever cover of "Loaded" magazine. In 1993, he appeared in the music video for Annie Lennox's international hit "Love Song for a Vampire", written for the soundtrack to "Bram Stoker's Dracula", and had a cameo role as the Devil in the video for Guns N' Roses single "Since I Don't Have You"—Oldman also played the Devil in the 2002 BMW short "Beat The Devil", alongside Clive Owen, James Brown and Marilyn Manson. He starred as a sleazy priest in the controversial religious-themed video for David Bowie's 2013 single "The Next Day". In contrast to his often dark on-screen roles, Oldman's affable real-life demeanour has been noted, and he was named as one of "Empire"s "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History" in 2007. In 2011, "Empire" readers voted him the recipient of the Empire Icon Award, which was presented by Colin Firth.


title: Gary Oldman

text: "Washington Post" and "Independent" writers noted that Oldman is regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation. In 2012, "Globe and Mail" journalist Lynn Crosbie wrote, "Critics never fail to single Oldman out... he is one of a few truly great living actors—arguably, even, the best." Of his diversity, Yahoo! Movies noted that he had "gained a well-earned reputation as a brilliant chameleon"; the "Houston Chronicle" dubbed Oldman "the face of versatility". He is noted for his avoidance of the Hollywood celebrity scene, often being referred to as an "actor's actor". His work has been acclaimed by Hollywood figures: Tom Hardy has described Oldman as his "absolute complete and utter hero" and "hands down, the greatest actor that's ever lived"; Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe and Ryan Gosling have also cited Oldman as their favourite actor. Hardy recalled Oldman's influence on students at drama school, stating that "everybody used to quote him in all of his films". Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hiddleston and Chris Pine have also named Oldman as one of their favourite actors.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Other actors such as Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shia LaBeouf, Ben Mendelsohn, Johnny Depp, Jason Isaacs, and Michael Fassbender have cited Oldman as an influence; Bale called him "the reason I'm acting". Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Fiennes, Keanu Reeves and Ray Winstone have used the term "genius" in reference to Oldman. John Hurt called him "the best of the bunch"; Colin Firth hailed him as "a very strong candidate for the world's best living actor" and a "hero" of his; and Alec Baldwin described him as "preternaturally gifted" and "the greatest film actor of his generation". Kristin Scott Thomas referred to Oldman as "the most amazing, generous actor". Christopher Eccleston hailed Oldman's Academy Award win for "Darkest Hour" as "massive" to people from working-class backgrounds. He remarked, "Oldman is as fine an actor as Daniel Day-Lewis, but Gary is not double-barrelled." Collaborating directors Luc Besson, Tony Scott and Christopher Nolan have lauded his work; Besson in 1997 called him "one of the top five actors in the world", while Scott labelled him a "genius". David Cronenberg said that Oldman "really is a fabulous actor" who gave "the best version" of James Gordon (in Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy).


title: Gary Oldman

text: Film critics have also been vocal in their appreciation of Oldman. Roger Ebert hailed him as "one of the great actors, able to play high, low, crass, noble"; while Gene Siskel called him "wonderful" and one of his favourite actors. Peter Travers described Oldman as "one of the best actors on the planet". Prior to his first Academy Award nomination for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", Oldman was regarded as one of the greatest actors never nominated for the award; In 2009, Leigh Singer of the "Guardian" called him "arguably the best actor never Oscar-nominated." Before winning for "Darkest Hour", he also carried the label of the greatest actor never to win the Oscar. In 2018, Stuart McGurk of "GQ" described Oldman as "the master of being brilliant in bad movies".


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 1998, Oldman was honoured at the Camerimage Film Festival, where he was awarded the Krzysztof Kieślowski Award for Acting, the first recipient of the award. In 2011, Oldman received a Tribute Award from the Gotham Awards. In that same year, the Palm Springs International Film Festival announced that Oldman would be receiving its International Star Award, which honours "an actor or actress who has achieved both critical and commercial international recognition throughout their body of work." The PSIFF chairman called Oldman "a performer whose ability to portray the most extreme of characters is a testament to the enormity of his talent." In 2012, "The Hollywood Reporter" named Oldman the highest-grossing actor in history, based on lead and supporting roles. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $4.1 billion in the United States, and over $11 billion worldwide.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2012, Oldman was among the British cultural icons selected by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of his most famous artwork—the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover—to celebrate the British cultural figures of his life that he most admires to mark his 80th birthday. In 2014, he received the Dilys Powell Award For Excellence In Film by the London Film Critics.


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2018, Oldman received the Variety Award at the British Independent Film Awards, which recognises a director, actor, writer or producer who has made a global impact and helped to focus the international spotlight on the U.K. Variety's vice president, Steven Gaydos, remarked that Oldman "has blazed a path as one of international cinema's most versatile and valued actors." In the same year, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival awarded Oldman the Maltin Modern Master Award, the highest accolade awarded by SPIFF that honors an individual who has enriched our culture through accomplishments in the motion picture industry. Leonard Maltin claimed Oldman has "once again proven that he is a force to be reckoned with, and a true master of his craft". Oldman was also awarded his first Career Achievement Award by the Hollywood Film Awards. The Make-up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards as well honored him with the Distinguished Artisan Award, which IATSE President Susan Cabral-Ebert proclaimed him as "a chameleon, an actor who changes his appearance, his voice, everything about himself from film to film".


title: Gary Oldman

text: In 2019, British Airways celebrated its 100th anniversary with a television advertisement featuring key figures from British culture, including Oldman. He was described by BA as "an iconic British legend" who is "regarded as one of the greatest screen actors of his generation".


title: Gary Oldman

text: After establishing himself as an actor, Oldman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1990s. Despite numerous lead and supporting roles in major Hollywood films, he is protective of his private life and is known for his stance on celebrity culture and the ideals of Hollywood: "Being famous, that's a whole other career. And I haven't got any energy for it." In 2014, he described himself as a libertarian.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman's alcoholism was well known during the early 1990s; he was arrested for drunk driving in 1991 and checked himself into rehab in 1994. In subsequent interviews, he acknowledged his problems with alcohol and called himself a recovering alcoholic in a 2001 interview with Charlie Rose. He now lives a teetotal lifestyle (he has been sober since 1997) and attributes his success in beating his addiction to attending meetings with Alcoholics Anonymous, which he has publicly praised.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman has been married five times. He wed English actress Lesley Manville in 1987, and their son, Alfie, was born the following year. Oldman broke up with Manville in 1989, three months after their son was born. She stated in 2018 that they are on good terms, saying, "[H]e's got a new wife, and we all get on... Gary and I are friends." They have two grandchildren, Matilda and Ozzy Oldman, through Alfie.


title: Gary Oldman

text: Oldman met American actress Uma Thurman on the set of "State of Grace"; they were married in 1990, but divorced in 1992. From 1994 to 1996, he was engaged to Italian actress and model Isabella Rossellini, his co-star in "Immortal Beloved", but they never wed.


title: Gary Oldman

text: From 1997 to 2001, Oldman was married to American model Donya Fiorentino, with whom he had two sons: Gulliver (born 1997) and Charlie (born 1999). Oldman was investigated and cleared of a domestic assault allegation made by Fiorentino during the pair's divorce, receiving sole legal and physical child custody; Fiorentino was granted limited, state-supervised contact dependent on her passing drug and alcohol tests. In 2003, a judge reduced her access to the children after dismissing claims that Oldman had drugged and physically abused them. In 2018, Gulliver, whom Fiorentino claimed had witnessed the alleged domestic assault, lamented the "pain and hardship" caused by his mother's "lies" over the years, while specifically condemning the media's "disgusting" perpetuation of the assault allegation.


title: Gary Oldman

text: On 31 December 2008, Oldman married English singer and actress Alexandra Edenborough in Santa Barbara, California. Edenborough filed for divorce on 9 January 2015; the divorce was finalised in September 2015. In August 2017, Oldman married writer and art curator Gisele Schmidt in a private ceremony at the home of his manager, Douglas Urbanski.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Robert George Kardashian (February 22, 1944 – September 30, 2003) was an American attorney and businessman. He gained recognition as O. J. Simpson's friend and defense attorney during Simpson's 1995 murder trial. He had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian: Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob, who appear on their family reality television series, "Keeping Up with the Kardashians", and its spinoffs.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Kardashian was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 22, 1944, one of three children born to Arthur Kardashian (1917–2012) and Helen Jean Arakelian Kardashian (1917–2008), both Armenian Americans. He had a sister, Barbara Kardashian Freeman, and a brother, Thomas "Tom" Kardashian. The Kardashians were Armenian Spiritual Christians originally from Kars Oblast, and known by the surname Kardaschoff, a Russianized form of the Armenian surname Kardashian, as the area, though now part of modern-day Turkey, was then part of the Russian Empire. Once in the United States, Arthur's father, Tatos, changed his name to Thomas, and began a career in garbage collection, founding his own business, and married Hamas Shakarian, also an immigrant of Armenian heritage.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: He grew up in the affluent View Park area of Los Angeles County, where the family lived at 4908 Valley Ridge Avenue. Kardashian attended Susan Miller Dorsey High School and the University of Southern California, from which he graduated in 1966 with a B.S. degree in business administration. He earned a J.D. degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and practiced for about a decade; after that, he went into business. In 1973, Kardashian was one of the co-founders of the trade publication "Radio & Records", which he and his partners sold for a large profit in 1979. Kardashian also pioneered the idea of playing music between movies in theaters. He subsequently parlayed the concept into a business, starting a company called Movie Tunes. He served as president and CEO of the firm and later invested in Juice Inc., a frozen yogurt company, and in a music video business called Concert Cinema.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Kardashian and Simpson first met around 1967 while both of them were at USC and became close friends. Simpson was the best man at Kardashian and Kris Houghton's wedding in 1978. Kardashian was the water boy for the USC Trojans football team which would be ranked No. 1 in the nation in the Associated Press Poll.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Following the June 12, 1994, murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, Simpson stayed in Kardashian's house to avoid the media. Kardashian was the man seen carrying Simpson's garment bag the day that Simpson flew back from Chicago. Prosecutors speculated that the bag may have contained Simpson's bloody clothes or the murder weapon. When Simpson failed to turn himself in at 11 a.m. on June 17, 1994, Kardashian read a letter by Simpson to the assembled media. This letter was interpreted by many as a suicide note.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Simpson was charged with the murders and subsequently acquitted of all criminal charges in a controversial criminal trial. Kardashian had let his license to practice law become inactive before the Simpson case but reactivated it to aid in Simpson's defense as a volunteer assistant on his legal team, alongside Simpson's main defense attorneys, Robert Shapiro and Johnnie Cochran. As one of Simpson's lawyers and a member of the defense "Dream Team", Kardashian could not be compelled or subpoenaed to testify against Simpson in the case, which included Simpson's past history and behavior with his ex-wife Nicole, and as to the contents of Simpson's garment bag. He sat by Simpson throughout the trial.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: "The New York Times" reported that Kardashian said in a 1996 ABC interview with Barbara Walters that he had begun to question Simpson's innocence: "I have doubts. The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side; that causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence." Kardashian and Simpson ultimately stopped speaking to each other.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Kardashian was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in July 2003. He died two months later, on September 30, 2003, at his home in Encino, Los Angeles, at age 59, and was buried at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Kardashian was portrayed by David Schwimmer in the 2016 FX miniseries "". Schwimmer was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance, but lost to Sterling K. Brown, who portrayed Christopher Darden in the same series. In 2016, ESPN Films and their 30 for 30 series produced a five-part miniseries called "", produced by Ezra Edelman, in which Kardashian was featured heavily through archive footage.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: In 2017, Kardashian was the subject of the pilot episode of the TV comedy series "Over My Dead Body" on Amazon Prime.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Kardashian had four children with his first wife, Kris Kardashian ("née" Houghton, later Jenner): Kourtney, Kimberly, Khloé, and Rob.


title: Robert Kardashian

text: Shortly after separating from his first wife in 1991, Kardashian became engaged to Denice Shakarian Halicki, his third cousin and the widow of movie producer H.B. Halicki. The couple never married. In 1998, Kardashian married Jan Ashley; however, the marriage ended in annulment 30 days later. Ashley later claimed frequent upset and turmoil related to Kardashian's ex-wife, Kris, and their children "were instrumental" in the demise of the relationship. After dating for three years and proposing in 2001, Kardashian married his third wife, Ellen Pierson ("née" Markowitz), six weeks prior to his death.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell ( ; born 25 December 1961) is a British convicted sex offender and former socialite. In 2021, she was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In June 2022, she was sentenced in a New York court to 20 years imprisonment.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Born in France, Maxwell was raised in Oxford. In the 1980s she attended Balliol College, Oxford, and then became a prominent member of London's social scene. Maxwell worked for her father, Robert Maxwell, until his death in 1991; she then moved to New York City, where she continued living as a socialite and had a relationship with Epstein. In 2012, Maxwell founded a non-profit group for the protection of oceans. Following sex trafficking allegations being brought by prosecutors against Epstein in July 2019, the organisation announced cessation of operations the same month. Maxwell is a naturalised US citizen and retains both French and British citizenship.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In July 2020, Maxwell was arrested and charged by the federal government of the United States with the crimes of enticement of minors and sex trafficking of underage girls, related to her association with Epstein. She was denied bail as a flight risk, with the judge expressing concerns regarding her "completely opaque" finances, her skill at living in hiding, and the fact that France does not extradite its citizens. In December 2021, she was convicted on five out of six counts, including one of sex trafficking of a minor. She faces a second criminal trial for two charges of lying under oath about Epstein's abuse of underage girls.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Ghislaine Maxwell was born in 1961, in Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines, France, the ninth and youngest child of Elisabeth ("née" Meynard), a French-born scholar, and Robert Maxwell, a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor. Her father was from a Jewish family, and her mother was of Huguenot (French Protestant) descent. Maxwell was born two days before a car accident that left her fifteen-year-old brother Michael in a prolonged coma until his death in 1967. Her mother later reflected that the accident had an effect on the entire family, and surmised that Ghislaine had shown signs of anorexia while still a toddler. Throughout childhood, Ghislaine lived with her family in Oxford at Headington Hill Hall, a 53-room mansion, where the offices of Pergamon Press, a publishing company run by Robert Maxwell, were also located. Her mother said that all her children were brought up as Anglicans. She studied first at Oxford High School for Girls in North Oxford and then, aged nine, was enrolled at Edgarley Hall boarding preparatory school in Somerset, followed by Headington School at age thirteen. Maxwell attended Marlborough College to study for A-Levels, before going on to earn a degree in Modern History with Languages from Balliol College, Oxford in 1985.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell had a close relationship with her father and was reportedly his favourite. According to "Tatler", Maxwell recalled that her father installed computers at Headington in 1973 and her first job was training to use a Wang 2200 and later programming code. "The Times" reported that he did not permit Ghislaine to bring her boyfriends home or to be seen with them publicly, after she started attending Oxford University.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Ghislaine Maxwell was a prominent member of the London social scene in the 1980s. She founded a women's club named after the original Kit-Cat Club and was a director of Oxford United Football Club during her father's ownership. She also worked at "The European", a publication Robert Maxwell had established. According to Tom Bower, writing for "The Sunday Times", in 1986 Robert Maxwell invited her to the naming in her honour of his new yacht the "Lady Ghislaine", at a shipyard in the Netherlands. Maxwell spent a large amount of time in the late 1980s aboard the yacht, which was equipped with a Jacuzzi, sauna, gym and disco. "The Scotsman" said Robert Maxwell had also "tailor-made a New York company for her". The company, which dealt in corporate gifts, was not profitable.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: "The Sunday Times" reported that Ghislaine Maxwell flew to New York on 5November 1990 to deliver an envelope on her father's behalf that, unknown to her, was part of "a plot initiated by her father to steal $200m" from Berlitz shareholders.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: After Robert Maxwell purchased the "New York Daily News" in January 1991, he sent Ghislaine to New York City to act as his emissary. In May 1991, Maxwell and her father took Concorde on business to New York, from where he soon departed for Moscow and left her to represent his interests at an event honouring Simon Wiesenthal.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In November 1991, Robert Maxwell's body was found floating in the sea near the Canary Islands and the "Lady Ghislaine". Soon afterwards, Ghislaine flew to Tenerife, where the yacht was berthed, to attend to his business paperwork. Ghislaine attended her father's funeral in Jerusalem alongside Israeli intelligence figures, president Chaim Herzog, and prime minister Yitzhak Shamir, who gave his eulogy. Although a verdict of death by accidental drowning was recorded, Maxwell has since said she believes her father was murdered, commenting in 1997: "He did not commit suicide. That was just not consistent with his character. I think he was murdered." After his death, Robert Maxwell was found to have fraudulently appropriated the pension assets of Mirror Group Newspapers, a company that he ran and in which he held a large share of ownership, to support its share price. Pension funds in excess of £400m were said to be missing, and 32,000 people were affected. Two of Maxwell's brothers, Ian and Kevin, who were the most involved with their father in daily business dealings, were arrested on 19 June 1992 and charged with fraud related to the Mirror Group pension scandal. The brothers were acquitted three and a half years later in January 1996.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Ghislaine Maxwell moved to the United States in 1991, shortly after her father's death. Maxwell was provided with an annual income of £80,000 from a trust fund established in Liechtenstein by her father. By 1992, she had moved to an apartment of an Iranian friend overlooking Central Park. At the time, Maxwell worked at a real estate office on Madison Avenue and was reported to be socialising with celebrities. She quickly rose to wider prominence as a New York City socialite.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Accounts differ on when Maxwell first met American financier Jeffrey Epstein. According to Epstein's former business partner, Steven Hoffenberg, Robert Maxwell introduced his daughter to Epstein in the late 1980s. "The Times" reported that Maxwell met Epstein in the early 1990s at a New York party following "a difficult break-up with Count Gianfranco Cicogna Mozzoni" (1962–2012) of the CIGA Hotels clan.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell had a romantic relationship with Epstein for several years in the early 1990s and remained closely associated with him for more than 25 years until his death in 2019. The nature of their relationship remains unclear. In a 2009 deposition, several of Epstein's household employees testified that Epstein referred to her as his "main girlfriend" who also hired, fired, and supervised his staff, starting around 1992. She has also been referred to as the "Lady of the House" by Epstein's staff and as his "aggressive assistant". In a 2003 "Vanity Fair" profile on Epstein, author Vicky Ward said Epstein referred to Maxwell as "my best friend". Ward also observed that Maxwell seemed "to organize much of his life".


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: "Politico" reported that Maxwell and Epstein had friendships with several prominent individuals in elite circles of politics, academia, business and law, including former Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, attorney Alan Dershowitz, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell is known for her longstanding friendship with Prince Andrew, and for having escorted him to a "hookers and pimps" social function in New York. In a November 2019 interview with the BBC, Andrew said that the two had known each other since Maxwell was an undergraduate at Oxford. She introduced Epstein to Prince Andrew, and the three often socialised together. In 2000, Maxwell and Epstein attended a party thrown by Prince Andrew at the Queen's Sandringham House estate in Norfolk, England, reportedly for Maxwell's 39th birthday. In his November 2019 interview with the BBC, Prince Andrew confirmed that Maxwell and Epstein had attended an event at his invitation, but he denied that it was anything more than a "straightforward shooting weekend".


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In 1995, Epstein renamed one of his companies the Ghislaine Corporation; based in Palm Beach, Florida, the company was dissolved in 1998. As a trained helicopter pilot, Maxwell also transported Epstein to his private Caribbean island.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In 2008, Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months of an 18-month jail sentence. Following Epstein's release, although Maxwell continued to attend prominent social functions, she and Epstein were no longer seen together publicly.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Details of a civil lawsuit, made public in January 2015, contained a deposition from "Jane Doe3" that accused Maxwell of recruiting her in 1999, when she was a minor, and grooming her to provide sexual services for Epstein. A 2018 exposé by Julie K. Brown in the "Miami Herald" revealed Jane Doe3 to be Virginia Giuffre, who was previously known as Virginia Roberts. Giuffre met Maxwell at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, when Giuffre was a 16-year-old spa attendant. She asserted that Maxwell had introduced her to Epstein, after which she was "groomed by the two [of them] for his pleasure, including lessons in Epstein's preferences during oral sex".


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes. In a 2015 statement, Maxwell rejected allegations that she has acted as a procurer for Epstein and denied that she had "facilitated Prince Andrew's [alleged] acts of sexual abuse". Her spokesperson said "the allegations made against Ghislaine Maxwell are untrue" and she "strongly denies allegations of an unsavoury nature, which have appeared in the British press and elsewhere, and reserves her right to seek redress at the repetition of such old defamatory claims".


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Giuffre asserted that Maxwell and Epstein had trafficked her and other underage girls, often at sex parties hosted by Epstein at his homes in New York, New Mexico, Palm Beach, and the United States Virgin Islands. Maxwell called her a liar. Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in federal court in the Southern District of New York in 2015. While details of the settlement have not been made public, in May 2017 the case was settled in Giuffre's favour, with Maxwell paying Giuffre "millions".


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In 2017, Sarah Ransome filed a suit, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, against Epstein and Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell hired her to give massages to Epstein and later threatened to physically harm her or destroy her career prospects if she did not comply with their sexual demands at his mansion in New York and on his private Caribbean island, Little Saint James. The suit was settled in 2018 under undisclosed terms.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 16 April 2019, Maria Farmer went public and filed a sworn affidavit in federal court in New York, alleging that she and her 15-year-old sister, Annie, had been sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell in separate locations in 1996. Farmer's affidavit was filed in support of a defamation suit by Virginia Giuffre against Alan Dershowitz. According to the affidavit, Farmer had met Maxwell and Epstein at a New York art gallery reception in 1995. The affidavit says that in the summer of the following year, they hired her to work on an art project in billionaire businessman Leslie Wexner's Ohio mansion, where she was then sexually assaulted by both Maxwell and Epstein. Farmer reported the incident to the New York Police Department and the FBI. Her affidavit also stated that during the same summer, Epstein flew her then 15-year-old sister, Annie, to his New Mexico property where he and Maxwell molested her on a massage table.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Farmer was interviewed for "CBS This Morning" in November 2019 where she detailed the 1996 assault and alleged that Maxwell had threatened both her career and her life after the assault.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 14 August 2019, Jennifer Araoz filed a lawsuit in New York County Supreme Court against Epstein's estate, Maxwell, and three unnamed members of his staff; the lawsuit was made possible under New York state's new Child Victims Act, which took effect on the same date. Araoz later amended her complaint on 8 October 2019 with the names of the previously unidentified women enablers to include Lesley Groff, Cimberly Espinosa, and the late Rosalyn Fontanilla.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Ghislaine Maxwell was named in one of three lawsuits filed in New York on 20 August 2019 against the estate of Jeffrey Epstein. The woman filing the suit, identified as "Priscilla Doe", claimed that she was recruited in 2006 and trained by Maxwell with step-by-step instructions on how to provide sexual services for Epstein.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Annie Farmer, represented by David Boies, sued Maxwell and Epstein's estate in Federal District Court in Manhattan in November 2019, accusing them of rape, battery and false imprisonment and seeking unspecified damages.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In January 2020, a lawsuit was filed against Maxwell and Epstein alleging that they recruited a 13-year-old music student at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in the summer of 1994 and subjected her to sexual abuse. The suit states that Jane Doe was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Epstein over a four-year period and that Maxwell played a key role both in her recruitment and by participating in the assaults. According to the lawsuit, Jane Doe was targeted by Epstein and Maxwell for being fatherless and from a struggling family, in much the same manner as many of the other alleged victims.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 12 March 2020, Maxwell filed a lawsuit in Superior Court in the US Virgin Islands seeking compensation from Epstein's estate for her legal costs. Maxwell claimed she had been a longtime employee of Epstein (from 1998 to 2006) who had served to manage his property holdings in the US Virgin Islands, New York, New Mexico, Florida and Paris while continuing to deny any knowledge or involvement in his criminal activities. According to the lawsuit, Maxwell was seeking damages for the legal fees associated with defending herself against her accusers, expenses that she claims Epstein had promised to cover for her.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell was named in a civil suit filed against Epstein's estate in March 2021 by a Broward County woman who accused Epstein and Maxwell of trafficking her after repeatedly raping her in Florida in 2008.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 2 July 2019, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered the unsealing of documents from the earlier civil suit against Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre. Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on 6 July 2019 at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and charged with sex trafficking and sex trafficking conspiracy.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell requested a rehearing in a federal appeals court on 17 July 2019, in an effort to keep documents sealed that were part of a suit by Giuffre. On 9 August 2019, the first batch of documents was unsealed and released from the earlier defamation suit by Giuffre against Maxwell. Epstein was found dead on 10 August 2019, after reportedly hanging himself in his Manhattan prison cell.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell and her lawyers continued to argue against the further release of court documents in December 2019. Reuters confirmed on 27 December 2019 that Maxwell was under investigation by the FBI for facilitating Epstein's criminal activities.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Additional documents from the "Giuffre v Maxwell" defamation suit were released on 30 July 2020. The documents included a deposition given by Giuffre and more recent email exchanges between Maxwell and Epstein, with some of the correspondence from 2015.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 27 December 2019, Reuters reported that Maxwell was among those under FBI investigation for facilitating Epstein. After his arrest, Maxwell was in hiding, communicating with the courts only through her lawyers who, as of 30 January 2020, had refused to accept on her behalf service of three lawsuits against her. "The New York Times" reported that by 2016, Maxwell was no longer being photographed at events. By 2017, her lawyers claimed before a judge that they did not know her address; they further stated that she was in London but they did not believe she had a permanent residence.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell has a history of being unreachable during legal proceedings. During the lawsuit filed in 2017 from Ransome against Maxwell, District Judge John G. Koeltl granted a motion for "alternative service" on the grounds that the plaintiff's efforts to reach Maxwell were persistently thwarted; these included hiring a private investigation firm that attempted service at three physical addresses, sending information to several email addresses, and reaching out to the lawyers actively representing Maxwell in another lawsuit who refused to become a "general agent of process" to relay the information to her.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: According to court documents from a lawsuit filed by Epstein against Bradley Edwards (a representative for several of his accusers), in 2010 Maxwell had agreed to provide a deposition in the case but reportedly left the country one day before Edwards was scheduled to fly to New York to take her deposition, "claiming she needed to return to the United Kingdom to be with her deathly ill mother" with no intention of returning to the United States. However, Maxwell returned within a month to attend Chelsea Clinton's wedding.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In January 2020, it was reported that Maxwell had refused to allow her lawyers to be served with several lawsuits in which she has been directly named in 2019 and 2020, including one by Farmer and from Araoz. While Maxwell's lawyers continued to argue on her behalf against the release of additional court documents from the "Giuffre v Maxwell" lawsuit, they claimed to not know where she was or to have permission to accept the lawsuits filed against her.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Authorities in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) were unsuccessful in locating Maxwell during the three and a half months they were seeking to serve her with a subpoena. USVI prosecutors consider Maxwell to be a "critical fact witness" in their lawsuit against Epstein's estate. A court filing from the USVI Department of Justice, released on 10 July 2020, stated that Maxwell was also under investigation for her alleged participation in Epstein's sex trafficking operation in the US Virgin Islands.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell faced persistent allegations of procuring and sexually trafficking underage girls for Epstein and others, charges she denied. Maxwell was arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire by the FBI on 2 July 2020, through the use of an IMSI-catcher ("stingray") mobile phone tracking device on a phone used by her to call one of her lawyers, her husband Scott Borgerson, and her sister Isabel.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Prosecutors, led by United States District Attorney Audrey Strauss, charged Maxwell with six federal crimes, including enticement of minors, sex trafficking of children, and perjury. The indictment charged that between 1994 and 1997, she "assisted, facilitated, and contributed" to the abuse of minor girls despite knowing that one of three unnamed victims was 14 years old.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: , Maxwell was held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn, New York. Lawyers requested that Judge Nathan release her on $5 million bond with monitored home confinement while awaiting trial. Maxwell appeared by video link before a court in Manhattan on 14 July 2020 and pleaded not guilty to the charges. A naturalised US citizen since 2002 who also holds passports from France and the United Kingdom, Maxwell was denied bail as a flight risk amid concerns regarding her "completely opaque" finances, her skill at living in hiding, and the fact that France does not extradite its citizens. The judge set a trial date of 12 July 2021.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell's attorney reiterated her request for bail on 18 December 2020, and proposed that Maxwell reside with a friend in New York City while under 24-hour surveillance as she awaited trial. Her husband, Scott Borgerson, made a secured offer of US$22 million to guarantee her presence at future appearances. On 28 December 2020, a further request for bail was again rejected by the judge. Maxwell's bail request was opposed by alleged victim Annie Farmer.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 19 January 2021, a court hearing was disrupted by believers in QAnon – who believe Maxwell to be working in cohort with a cabal of child-sacrificing Satanist liberal elites who traffic children for sex – as the proceedings were illegally livestreamed to YouTube.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 26 January 2021, a motion by Maxwell's attorneys challenged her grand jury indictment, claiming that it did not reflect the ethnic diversity of the jurisdiction in which the violations of the law were alleged to have occurred.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 29 March 2021, US prosecutors added new charges of sex trafficking a minor and sex trafficking conspiracy, alleging that Maxwell was involved in grooming a fourth girl, aged 14, to engage in sexual acts with Epstein between 2001 and 2004 at his residence in Palm Beach. Maxwell pleaded not guilty to the additional charges; she faced six counts that included sex trafficking of a minor and sex trafficking conspiracy, in addition to two counts of perjury.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell's attorneys regularly protested about the conditions of her confinement, which included being kept awake by a light shone in her eyes every fifteen minutes to deter the chances of her committing suicide, and being denied a sleep mask. One, David Marcus, protested, "There's no evidence she's suicidal. They're doing it because Jeffrey Epstein died on their watch", and that, "She's not Jeffrey Epstein, this isn't right".


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In April 2021, US District Judge Alison Nathan ruled that Maxwell would face two separate trials, one for the sex trafficking charges and another for perjury. Nathan delayed the first trial to 29 November 2021 after Maxwell's defence lawyers successfully argued that the new charges added in March 2021 did not give them enough time to prepare for trial. Maxwell appeared in court on 15 November 2021. The trial commenced on 29 November with opening statements. Twelve jurors had been picked, plus six alternates, from a pool of forty to sixty people.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Psychology professor Elizabeth Loftus was called as an expert witness for the defence and provided testimony on false memory syndrome. Maxwell chose not to testify, telling the judge "Your honour, the government has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. So there is no need for me to testify." A spokesperson for Maxwell's family had previously said she was "too fragile" to testify.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In early December 2021, Twitter censored “@TrackerTrial”, an account monitoring Maxwell's trial. The account was two weeks old and had 525,000 followers before its suspension.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 28 December, as the jury completed its fourth full day of deliberations, judge Nathan said she feared jurors and trial participants might become infected with COVID-19 and forced to quarantine, raising the possibility of a mistrial. She later said that she had extended the jury's hours to 6 pm and would also have deliberations continue through the holiday weekend until the jury reached a verdict.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 29 December 2021, Maxwell was found guilty and convicted by a jury in US federal court on five sex trafficking-related counts carrying a potential custodial sentence of up to 65 years' imprisonment: one of sex trafficking of a minor (maximum: 40 years), one of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity (10 years) and three of conspiracy to commit choate felonies (15 years total).


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell was acquitted on the charge of enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts. Maxwell's family said the appeal process had begun.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: The only witness to use her real name during her testimony, Annie Farmer, spoke out after the trial saying, "I hope that this verdict brings solace to all who need it... Even those with great power and privilege will be held accountable when they sexually abuse and exploit the young."


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: A retrial was sought on the grounds that a juror did not disclose during jury selection that he had been sexually abused as a child. He had shared a narrative of that abuse with other jurors during the proceedings. On 1 April 2022, the judge found that the juror's failure to disclose his abuse as a child did not warrant a new trial and dismissed Maxwell's request to set aside the verdict.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 28 June 2022, Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison; prosecutors were seeking a sentence of at least 30 years. She complained of threats coming from jail staff in the days prior to sentencing, but gave no details about the nature of the threats. Although she had been placed on suicide watch on 24 June, she told the psychiatric team that she was not suicidal. A related request by her lawyers for a sentencing delay was denied. She appealed the conviction on 7 July. In August 2022, her former lawyers sued Maxwell, alleging that she failed to pay $878,000 in legal fees.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell faces a second criminal trial for perjury on two charges that she lied under oath during a civil suit in 2015 about Epstein's abuse of underage girls. Each count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Prosecutors have said that perjury charges will be dropped if she is sentenced on schedule. Following a petition for a new trial, submitted under seal, prosecutors told the judge on 4 February that Maxwell's arguments for a retrial must be "publicly docketed"; the judge said that the reasons for making the submission under seal must be made public.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: In 2012, Maxwell founded the TerraMar Project, a nonprofit organisation that advocated the protection of oceans. She gave a lecture for TerraMar at the University of Texas at Dallas and a TED talk, at TEDx Charlottesville in 2014. Maxwell accompanied Stuart Beck, a 2013 TerraMar board member, to two United Nations meetings to discuss the project.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: The TerraMar Project announced its closure on 12 July 2019, less than a week after the charges of sex trafficking brought by New York federal prosecutors against Epstein became public. An associated, UK-based company, Terramar (UK), listed Maxwell as a director. An application for the United Kingdom organisation to be closed was made on 4 September 2019, with the first notice in "The London Gazette" made on 17 September 2019. The company Terramar (UK) was listed as officially dissolved on 3 December 2019.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Since at least 1997, Maxwell has maintained a residence in Belgravia, London. In 2000, Maxwell moved into a townhouse on East 65th Street, New York City, fewer than 10 blocks from Epstein's mansion. Maxwell's townhouse was purchased for US$4.95 million by an anonymous limited liability company, with an address that matches the office of J. Epstein & Co. Representing the buyer was Darren Indyke, Epstein's longtime lawyer. In April 2016, the property was sold for US$15 million.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Following her personal and professional involvement with Epstein, Maxwell was romantically linked for several years to Ted Waitt, founder of Gateway Computers. She attended the wedding of Chelsea Clinton in 2010 as Waitt's guest. Maxwell helped Waitt obtain and renovate a luxury yacht, the "Plan B", and used it for travel to France and Croatia before their relationship ended, in late 2010 or early 2011.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: On 15 August 2019, reports surfaced that Maxwell had been living in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, in the home of Scott G. Borgerson, a Council on Foreign Relations fellow in residence, since 2007, who, in October 2020, due to the publicity surrounding Maxwell, stepped down as CEO of CargoMetrics, a hedge fund he had founded. Maxwell and Borgerson were described as having been in a romantic relationship for several years. Locals in the town of Manchester-by-the-Sea said Maxwell had kept a low profile, went by "G" instead of her full first name, and had been seen on several occasions walking a Vizsla dog along the beach.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Borgerson and Maxwell filed documents in Massachusetts Land Court about Borgerson's residence, known as Phippin House, during a civil dispute with neighbours regarding rescinded access rights to the larger Sharksmouth Estate in 2019. A neighbouring property manager attested that Maxwell and Borgerson were living together at the property in question. Others have said they had been seen repeatedly running together in the mornings.


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Borgerson stated in August 2019 that Maxwell was not currently living at the home and that he did not know where she was. On 15 August 2019, the "New York Post" published photographs of Maxwell dining at a fast-food restaurant in Los Angeles, claiming that ""The Post" found the socialite hiding in plain sight in the least likely place imaginable — a fast-food joint in Los Angeles". The photos were later proven to have been taken at a meeting with Maxwell's friend and attorney Leah Saffian, who also gave other pictures to the "Daily Mail".


title: Ghislaine Maxwell

text: Maxwell moved to a remote property in Bradford, New Hampshire in late 2019, where she used former British military personnel as personal security until her arrest in July 2020. At the time of her arraignment, federal prosecutors stated that Maxwell was married; she did not disclose the identity of her spouse, or their respective finances. In December 2020, it emerged that she had married Borgerson in 2016.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,600 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976. Although no longer being purchased by the U.S. Air Force, improved versions are being built for export customers. In 1993, General Dynamics sold its aircraft manufacturing business to the Lockheed Corporation, which in turn became part of Lockheed Martin after a 1995 merger with Martin Marietta.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The Fighting Falcon's key features include a frameless bubble canopy for good visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while maneuvering, an ejection seat reclined 30 degrees from vertical to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire flight control system that helps to make it an agile aircraft. The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and 11 locations for mounting weapons and other mission equipment. The F-16's official name is "Fighting Falcon", but "Viper" is commonly used by its pilots and crews, because of a perceived resemblance to a viper snake as well as to the fictional Colonial Viper starfighter from the television program "Battlestar Galactica" which aired at the time the F-16 entered service.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: In addition to active duty in the U.S. Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air National Guard units, the aircraft is also used by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team, and as an adversary/aggressor aircraft by the United States Navy. The F-16 has also been procured to serve in the air forces of 25 other nations. As of 2015, it was the world's most numerous fixed-wing aircraft in military service.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Experiences in the Vietnam War revealed the need for air superiority fighters and better air-to-air training for fighter pilots. Based on his experiences in the Korean War and as a fighter tactics instructor in the early 1960s, Colonel John Boyd with mathematician Thomas Christie developed the energy–maneuverability theory to model a fighter aircraft's performance in combat. Boyd's work called for a small, lightweight aircraft that could maneuver with the minimum possible energy loss and which also incorporated an increased thrust-to-weight ratio. In the late 1960s, Boyd gathered a group of like-minded innovators who became known as the Fighter Mafia, and in 1969, they secured Department of Defense funding for General Dynamics and Northrop to study design concepts based on the theory.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Air Force F-X proponents remained hostile to the concept because they perceived it as a threat to the F-15 program, but the USAF's leadership understood that its budget would not allow it to purchase enough F-15 aircraft to satisfy all of its missions. The Advanced Day Fighter concept, renamed "F-XX", gained civilian political support under the reform-minded Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard, who favored the idea of competitive prototyping. As a result, in May 1971, the Air Force Prototype Study Group was established, with Boyd a key member, and two of its six proposals would be funded, one being the Lightweight Fighter (LWF). The request for proposals issued on 6 January 1972 called for a class air-to-air day fighter with a good turn rate, acceleration, and range, and optimized for combat at speeds of Mach 0.6–1.6 and altitudes of . This was the region where USAF studies predicted most future air combat would occur. The anticipated average flyaway cost of a production version was $3 million. This production plan, though, was only notional, as the USAF had no firm plans to procure the winner.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Five companies responded, and in 1972, the Air Staff selected General Dynamics' Model 401 and Northrop's P-600 for the follow-on prototype development and testing phase. GD and Northrop were awarded contracts worth $37.9 million and $39.8 million to produce the YF-16 and YF-17, respectively, with the first flights of both prototypes planned for early 1974. To overcome resistance in the Air Force hierarchy, the Fighter Mafia and other LWF proponents successfully advocated the idea of complementary fighters in a high-cost/low-cost force mix. The "high/low mix" would allow the USAF to be able to afford sufficient fighters for its overall fighter force structure requirements. The mix gained broad acceptance by the time of the prototypes' flyoff, defining the relationship of the LWF and the F-15.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The YF-16 was developed by a team of General Dynamics engineers led by Robert H. Widmer. The first YF-16 was rolled out on 13 December 1973. Its 90-minute maiden flight was made at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, California, on 2 February 1974. Its actual first flight occurred accidentally during a high-speed taxi test on 20 January 1974. While gathering speed, a roll-control oscillation caused a fin of the port-side wingtip-mounted missile and then the starboard stabilator to scrape the ground, and the aircraft then began to veer off the runway. The test pilot, Phil Oestricher, decided to lift off to avoid a potential crash, safely landing six minutes later. The slight damage was quickly repaired and the official first flight occurred on time. The YF-16's first supersonic flight was accomplished on 5 February 1974, and the second YF-16 prototype first flew on 9 May 1974. This was followed by the first flights of Northrop's YF-17 prototypes on 9 June and 21 August 1974, respectively. During the fly off, the YF-16s completed 330 sorties for a total of 417 flight hours; the YF-17s flew 288 sorties, covering 345 hours.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Increased interest turned the LWF into a serious acquisition program. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway were seeking to replace their F-104G Starfighter fighter-bombers. In early 1974, they reached an agreement with the U.S. that if the USAF ordered the LWF winner, they would consider ordering it as well. The USAF also needed to replace its F-105 Thunderchief and F-4 Phantom II fighter-bombers. The U.S. Congress sought greater commonality in fighter procurements by the Air Force and Navy, and in August 1974 redirected Navy funds to a new Navy Air Combat Fighter program that would be a navalized fighter-bomber variant of the LWF. The four NATO allies had formed the Multinational Fighter Program Group (MFPG) and pressed for a U.S. decision by December 1974; thus, the USAF accelerated testing.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: To reflect this serious intent to procure a new fighter-bomber, the LWF program was rolled into a new Air Combat Fighter (ACF) competition in an announcement by U.S. Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger in April 1974. The ACF would not be a pure fighter, but multi-role, and Schlesinger made it clear that any ACF order would be in addition to the F-15, which extinguished opposition to the LWF. ACF also raised the stakes for GD and Northrop because it brought in competitors intent on securing what was touted at the time as "the arms deal of the century". These were Dassault-Breguet's proposed Mirage F1M-53, the Anglo-French SEPECAT Jaguar, and the proposed Saab 37E "Eurofighter". Northrop offered the P-530 Cobra, which was similar to the YF-17. The Jaguar and Cobra were dropped by the MFPG early on, leaving two European and two U.S. candidates. On 11 September 1974, the U.S. Air Force confirmed plans to order the winning ACF design to equip five tactical fighter wings. Though computer modeling predicted a close contest, the YF-16 proved significantly quicker going from one maneuver to the next and was the unanimous choice of those pilots that flew both aircraft.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: On 13 January 1975, Secretary of the Air Force John L. McLucas announced the YF-16 as the winner of the ACF competition. The chief reasons given by the secretary were the YF-16's lower operating costs, greater range, and maneuver performance that was "significantly better" than that of the YF-17, especially at supersonic speeds. Another advantage of the YF-16 – unlike the YF-17 – was its use of the Pratt & Whitney F100 turbofan engine, the same powerplant used by the F-15; such commonality would lower the cost of engines for both programs. Secretary McLucas announced that the USAF planned to order at least 650, possibly up to 1,400 production F-16s. In the Navy Air Combat Fighter competition, on 2 May 1975 the Navy selected the YF-17 as the basis for what would become the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The U.S. Air Force initially ordered 15 full-scale development (FSD) aircraft (11 single-seat and four two-seat models) for its flight test program, but was reduced to eight (six F-16A single-seaters and two F-16B two-seaters). The YF-16 design was altered for the production F-16. The fuselage was lengthened by , a larger nose radome was fitted for the AN/APG-66 radar, wing area was increased from to , the tailfin height was decreased, the ventral fins were enlarged, two more stores stations were added, and a single door replaced the original nosewheel double doors. The F-16's weight was increased by 25% over the YF-16 by these modifications.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The FSD F-16s were manufactured by General Dynamics in Fort Worth, Texas, at United States Air Force Plant 4 in late 1975; the first F-16A rolled out on 20 October 1976 and first flew on 8 December. The initial two-seat model achieved its first flight on 8 August 1977. The initial production-standard F-16A flew for the first time on 7 August 1978 and its delivery was accepted by the USAF on 6 January 1979. The F-16 was given its name of "Fighting Falcon" on 21 July 1980, entering USAF operational service with the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing, at Hill AFB in Utah, on 1 October 1980.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: On 7 June 1975, the four European partners, now known as the European Participation Group, signed up for 348 aircraft at the Paris Air Show. This was split among the European Participation Air Forces (EPAF) as 116 for Belgium, 58 for Denmark, 102 for the Netherlands, and 72 for Norway. Two European production lines, one in the Netherlands at Fokker's Schiphol-Oost facility and the other at SABCA's Gosselies plant in Belgium, would produce 184 and 164 units respectively. Norway's Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk and Denmark's Terma A/S also manufactured parts and subassemblies for EPAF aircraft. European co-production was officially launched on 1 July 1977 at the Fokker factory. Beginning in November 1977, Fokker-produced components were sent to Fort Worth for fuselage assembly, then shipped back to Europe for final assembly of EPAF aircraft at the Belgian plant on 15 February 1978; deliveries to the Belgian Air Force began in January 1979. The first Royal Netherlands Air Force aircraft was delivered in June 1979. In 1980, the first aircraft were delivered to the Royal Norwegian Air Force by SABCA and to the Royal Danish Air Force by Fokker.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: During the late 1980s and 1990s, Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) produced 232 Block 30/40/50 F-16s on a production line in Ankara under license for the Turkish Air Force. TAI also produced 46 Block 40s for Egypt in the mid-1990s and 30 Block 50s from 2010. Korean Aerospace Industries opened a production line for the KF-16 program, producing 140 Block 52s from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s (decade). If India had selected the F-16IN for its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft procurement, a sixth F-16 production line would have been built in India. In May 2013, Lockheed Martin stated there were currently enough orders to keep producing the F-16 until 2017.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: One change made during production was augmented pitch control to avoid deep stall conditions at high angles of attack. The stall issue had been raised during development but had originally been discounted. Model tests of the YF-16 conducted by the Langley Research Center revealed a potential problem, but no other laboratory was able to duplicate it. YF-16 flight tests were not sufficient to expose the issue; later flight testing on the FSD aircraft demonstrated a real concern. In response, the area of each horizontal stabilizer was increased by 25% on the Block 15 aircraft in 1981 and later retrofitted to earlier aircraft. In addition, a manual override switch to disable the horizontal stabilizer flight limiter was prominently placed on the control console, allowing the pilot to regain control of the horizontal stabilizers (which the flight limiters otherwise lock in place) and recover. Besides reducing the risk of deep stalls, the larger horizontal tail also improved stability and permitted faster takeoff rotation.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: In the 1980s, the Multinational Staged Improvement Program (MSIP) was conducted to evolve the F-16's capabilities, mitigate risks during technology development, and ensure the aircraft's worth. The program upgraded the F-16 in three stages. The MSIP process permitted the quick introduction of new capabilities, at lower costs and with reduced risks compared to traditional independent upgrade programs. In 2012, the USAF had allocated $2.8 billion to upgrade 350 F-16s while waiting for the F-35 to enter service. One key upgrade has been an auto-GCAS (Ground collision avoidance system) to reduce instances of controlled flight into terrain. Onboard power and cooling capacities limit the scope of upgrades, which often involve the addition of more power-hungry avionics.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Lockheed won many contracts to upgrade foreign operators' F-16s. BAE Systems also offers various F-16 upgrades, receiving orders from South Korea, Oman, Turkey, and the US Air National Guard; BAE lost the South Korean contract because of a price breach in November 2014. In 2012, the USAF assigned the total upgrade contract to Lockheed Martin. Upgrades include Raytheon's Center Display Unit, which replaces several analog flight instruments with a single digital display.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: In 2013, sequestration budget cuts cast doubt on the USAF's ability to complete the Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite (CAPES), a part of secondary programs such as Taiwan's F-16 upgrade. Air Combat Command's General Mike Hostage stated that if he only had money for a service life extension program (SLEP) or CAPES, he would fund SLEP to keep the aircraft flying. Lockheed Martin responded to talk of CAPES cancellation with a fixed-price upgrade package for foreign users. CAPES was not included in the Pentagon's 2015 budget request. The USAF said that the upgrade package will still be offered to Taiwan's Republic of China Air Force, and Lockheed said that some common elements with the F-35 will keep the radar's unit costs down. In 2014, the USAF issued a RFI to SLEP 300 F-16 C/Ds.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: To make more room for assembly of its newer F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft, Lockheed Martin moved the F-16 production from Fort Worth, Texas to its plant in Greenville, South Carolina. Lockheed delivered the last F-16 from Fort Worth to the Iraqi Air Force on 14 November 2017, ending 40 years of F-16 production there. The company resumed production in 2019, though engineering and modernization work will remain in Fort Worth. A gap in orders made it possible to stop production during the move; after completing orders for the last Iraqi purchase, the company was negotiating an F-16 sale to Bahrain that would be produced in Greenville. This contract was signed in June 2018.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The F-16 is a single-engine, highly maneuverable, supersonic, multi-role tactical fighter aircraft. It is much smaller and lighter than its predecessors but uses advanced aerodynamics and avionics, including the first use of a relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire (RSS/FBW) flight control system, to achieve enhanced maneuver performance. Highly agile, the F-16 was the first fighter aircraft purpose-built to pull 9-"g" maneuvers and can reach a maximum speed of over Mach 2. Innovations include a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, a side-mounted control stick, and a reclined seat to reduce g-force effects on the pilot. It is armed with an internal M61 Vulcan cannon in the left wing root and has multiple locations for mounting various missiles, bombs and pods. It has a thrust-to-weight ratio greater than one, providing power to climb and vertical acceleration.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The F-16 was designed to be relatively inexpensive to build and simpler to maintain than earlier-generation fighters. The airframe is built with about 80% aviation-grade aluminum alloys, 8% steel, 3% composites, and 1.5% titanium. The leading-edge flaps, stabilators, and ventral fins make use of bonded aluminum honeycomb structures and graphite epoxy lamination coatings. The number of lubrication points, fuel line connections, and replaceable modules is significantly lower than preceding fighters; 80% of the access panels can be accessed without stands. The air intake was placed so it was rearward of the nose but forward enough to minimize air flow losses and reduce aerodynamic drag.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Although the LWF program called for a structural life of 4,000 flight hours, capable of achieving 7.33 "g" with 80% internal fuel; GD's engineers decided to design the F-16's airframe life for 8,000 hours and for 9-"g" maneuvers on full internal fuel. This proved advantageous when the aircraft's mission changed from solely air-to-air combat to multi-role operations. Changes in operational use and additional systems have increased weight, necessitating multiple structural strengthening programs.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The F-16 has a cropped-delta wing incorporating wing-fuselage blending and forebody vortex-control strakes; a fixed-geometry, underslung air intake (with splitter plate) to the single turbofan jet engine; a conventional tri-plane empennage arrangement with all-moving horizontal "stabilator" tailplanes; a pair of ventral fins beneath the fuselage aft of the wing's trailing edge; and a tricycle landing gear configuration with the aft-retracting, steerable nose gear deploying a short distance behind the inlet lip. There is a boom-style aerial refueling receptacle located behind the single-piece "bubble" canopy of the cockpit. Split-flap speedbrakes are located at the aft end of the wing-body fairing, and a tailhook is mounted underneath the fuselage. A fairing beneath the rudder often houses ECM equipment or a drag chute. Later F-16 models feature a long dorsal fairing along the fuselage's "spine", housing additional equipment or fuel.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Aerodynamic studies in the 1960s demonstrated that the "vortex lift" phenomenon could be harnessed by highly swept wing configurations to reach higher angles of attack, using leading edge vortex flow off a slender lifting surface. As the F-16 was being optimized for high combat agility, GD's designers chose a slender cropped-delta wing with a leading-edge sweep of 40° and a straight trailing edge. To improve maneuverability, a variable-camber wing with a NACA 64A-204 airfoil was selected; the camber is adjusted by leading-edge and trailing edge flaperons linked to a digital flight control system regulating the flight envelope. The F-16 has a moderate wing loading, reduced by fuselage lift. The vortex lift effect is increased by leading-edge extensions, known as strakes. Strakes act as additional short-span, triangular wings running from the wing root (the junction with fuselage) to a point further forward on the fuselage. Blended into the fuselage and along the wing root, the strake generates a high-speed vortex that remains attached to the top of the wing as the angle of attack increases, generating additional lift and allowing greater angles of attack without stalling. Strakes allow a smaller, lower-aspect-ratio wing, which increases roll rates and directional stability while decreasing weight. Deeper wing roots also increase structural strength and internal fuel volume.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Early F-16s could be armed with up to six AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking short-range air-to-air missiles (AAM) by employing rail launchers on each wingtip, as well as radar-guided AIM-7 Sparrow medium-range AAMs in a weapons mix. More recent versions support the AIM-120 AMRAAM, and US aircraft often mount that missile on their wingtips to reduce wing flutter. The aircraft can carry various other AAMs, a wide variety of air-to-ground missiles, rockets or bombs; electronic countermeasures (ECM), navigation, targeting or weapons pods; and fuel tanks on 9 hardpoints – six under the wings, two on wingtips, and one under the fuselage. Two other locations under the fuselage are available for sensor or radar pods. The F-16 carries a 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan cannon, which is mounted inside the fuselage to the left of the cockpit.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The F-16 is the first production fighter aircraft intentionally designed to be slightly aerodynamically unstable, also known as relaxed static stability (RSS), to improve maneuverability. Most aircraft are designed with positive static stability, which induces aircraft to return to straight and level flight attitude if the pilot releases the controls; this reduces maneuverability as the inherent stability has to be overcome. Aircraft with "negative" stability are designed to deviate from controlled flight and are thus more maneuverable. At supersonic speeds the F-16 gains stability (eventually positive) because of aerodynamic changes.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: To counter the tendency to depart from controlled flight and avoid the need for constant trim inputs by the pilot, the F-16 has a quadruplex (four-channel) fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system (FLCS). The flight control computer (FLCC) accepts pilot input from the stick and rudder controls and manipulates the control surfaces in such a way as to produce the desired result without inducing control loss. The FLCC conducts thousands of measurements per second on the aircraft's flight attitude to automatically counter deviations from the pilot-set flight path; leading to a common aphorism among pilots: "You don't fly an F-16; it flies you."


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The FLCC further incorporates limiters governing movement in the three main axes based on attitude, airspeed and angle of attack (AOA); these prevent control surfaces from inducing instability such as slips or skids, or a high AOA inducing a stall. The limiters also prevent maneuvers that would exert more than a 9 "g" load. Flight testing has revealed that "assaulting" multiple limiters at high AOA and low speed can result in an AOA far exceeding the 25° limit, colloquially referred to as "departing"; this causes a deep stall; a near-freefall at 50° to 60° AOA, either upright or inverted. While at a very high AOA, the aircraft's attitude is stable but control surfaces are ineffective. The pitch limiter locks the stabilators at an extreme pitch-up or pitch-down attempting to recover. This can be overridden so the pilot can "rock" the nose via pitch control to recover.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: Unlike the YF-17, which had hydromechanical controls serving as a backup to the FBW, General Dynamics took the innovative step of eliminating mechanical linkages from the control stick and rudder pedals to the flight control surfaces. The F-16 is entirely reliant on its electrical systems to relay flight commands, instead of traditional mechanically linked controls, leading to the early moniker of "the electric jet". The quadruplex design permits "graceful degradation" in flight control response in that the loss of one channel renders the FLCS a "triplex" system. The FLCC began as an analog system on the A/B variants but has been supplanted by a digital computer system beginning with the F-16C/D Block 40. The F-16's controls suffered from a sensitivity to static electricity or electrostatic discharge (ESD). Up to 70–80% of the C/D models' electronics were vulnerable to ESD.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: A key feature of the F-16's cockpit is the exceptional field of view. The single-piece, bird-proof polycarbonate bubble canopy provides 360° all-round visibility, with a 40° look-down angle over the side of the aircraft, and 15° down over the nose (compared to the common 12–13° of preceding aircraft); the pilot's seat is elevated for this purpose. Furthermore, the F-16's canopy lacks the forward bow frame found on many fighters, which is an obstruction to a pilot's forward vision. The F-16's ACES II zero/zero ejection seat is reclined at an unusual tilt-back angle of 30°; most fighters have a tilted seat at 13–15°. The tilted seat can accommodate taller pilots and increases "g"-force tolerance; however, it has been associated with reports of neck ache, possibly caused by incorrect head-rest usage. Subsequent U.S. fighters have adopted more modest tilt-back angles of 20°. Because of the seat angle and the canopy's thickness, the ejection seat lacks canopy-breakers for emergency egress; instead the entire canopy is jettisoned prior to the seat's rocket firing.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The pilot flies primarily by means of an armrest-mounted side-stick controller (instead of a traditional center-mounted stick) and an engine throttle; conventional rudder pedals are also employed. To enhance the pilot's degree of control of the aircraft during high-"g" combat maneuvers, various switches and function controls were moved to centralized hands on throttle-and-stick (HOTAS) controls upon both the controllers and the throttle. Hand pressure on the side-stick controller is transmitted by electrical signals via the FBW system to adjust various flight control surfaces to maneuver the F-16. Originally, the side-stick controller was non-moving, but this proved uncomfortable and difficult for pilots to adjust to, sometimes resulting in a tendency to "over-rotate" during takeoffs, so the control stick was given a small amount of "play". Since the introduction of the F-16, HOTAS controls have become a standard feature on modern fighters.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The F-16 has a head-up display (HUD), which projects visual flight and combat information in front of the pilot without obstructing the view; being able to keep their head "out of the cockpit" improves the pilot's situation awareness. Further flight and systems information are displayed on multi-function displays (MFD). The left-hand MFD is the primary flight display (PFD), typically showing radar and moving-maps; the right-hand MFD is the system display (SD), presenting information about the engine, landing gear, slat and flap settings, and fuel and weapons status. Initially, the F-16A/B had monochrome cathode ray tube (CRT) displays; replaced by color liquid-crystal displays on the Block 50/52. The Mid-life Update (MLU) introduced compatibility with night-vision goggles (NVG). The Boeing Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) is available from Block 40 onwards, for targeting based on where the pilot's head faces, unrestricted by the HUD, using high-off-boresight missiles like the AIM-9X.


title: General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

text: The F-16A/B was originally equipped with the Westinghouse AN/APG-66 fire-control radar. Its slotted planar array antenna was designed to be compact to fit into the F-16's relatively small nose. In uplook mode, the APG-66 uses a low pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) for medium- and high-altitude target detection in a low-clutter environment, and in look-down/shoot-down employs a medium PRF for heavy clutter environments. It has four operating frequencies within the X band, and provides four air-to-air and seven air-to-ground operating modes for combat, even at night or in bad weather. The Block 15's APG-66(V)2 model added a more powerful signal processing, higher output power, improved reliability and increased range in cluttered or jamming environments. The Mid-Life Update (MLU) program introduced a new model, APG-66(V)2A, which features higher speed and more memory.