title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 11 October 2015, Lukashenko was elected for his fifth term as the president of Belarus. Just over three weeks later, he was inaugurated in the Independence Palace in the presence of attendees such as former president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, Chairman of the Russian Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov and Belarusian biathlete Darya Domracheva. On mid-September 2017, Lukashenko oversaw the advancement of joint Russian and Belarusian military relations during the military drills that were part of the Zapad 2017 exercise.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In August 2018, Lukashenko fired his prime minister Andrei Kobyakov and various other officials due to a corruption scandal. Sergei Rumas was appointed to take his place as prime minister. In May 2017, Lukashenko signed a decree on the Foundation of the Directorate of the 2019 European Games in Minsk.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In April 2019, Lukashenko announced that the games were on budget and on time and eventually he opened the 2nd edition of the event on 21 June. Between 1–3 July 2019, he oversaw the country's celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Minsk Offensive, which culminated in an evening military parade of the Armed Forces of Belarus on the last day, which is the country's Independence Day.In August 2019, Lukashenko met with former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who has lived in exile in Minsk since 2010, in the Palace of Independence to mark Bakiyev's 70th birthday, which he had marked several days earlier. The meeting, which included the presentation of traditional flowers and symbolic gifts, angered the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry which stated that the meeting "fundamentally does not meet the principles of friendship and cooperation between the two countries". In November 2019, Lukashenko visited the Austrian capital of Vienna on a state visit, which was his first in three years to an EU country. During the visit, he met with President Alexander Van der Bellen, Chancellor Brigitte Bierlein, and National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka. He also paid his respects at the Soviet War Memorial at the Schwarzenbergplatz.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, he undertook two working visits to Russia, one of the few European leaders to undertake foreign visits during the pandemic. He also received Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán during his state visit to Minsk. Orbán called for an end to EU sanctions on Belarus during this visit. His first visit to Russia was to attend the rescheduled Moscow Victory Day Parade on Red Square together with his son.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 9 August 2020, according to the preliminary count, Lukashenko was re-elected for his sixth term as the President of Belarus. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned that the election was "not free [or] fair".


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Mass protests erupted across Belarus following the 2020 Belarusian presidential election which was marred by allegations of widespread electoral fraud. Subsequently, opposition presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya claimed she had received between 60 and 70% of the vote and formed a Coordination council to facilitate the peaceful and orderly transfer of power in Belarus.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 15 August 2020, Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Linkevičius referred to Lukashenko as the "former president" of Belarus. It was reported that President Lukashenko's authorities asked Kremlin representatives about the possibility of Lukashenko escaping to Russia. Furthermore, it was reported that Russia admits that Lukashenko's resignation from the post of head of state is likely.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 17 August 2020, the members of the European Parliament issued a joint statement which stated that they do not recognise Alexander Lukashenko as the president of Belarus, considering him to be "persona non grata" in the European Union. On 19 August, the member states of the European Union agreed to not recognise the results and issued a statement saying "The 9 August elections were neither free nor fair, therefore we do not recognise the results". The governments of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada have also refused to recognise the results. In an interview on 22 August, Josep Borrell explicitly stated that the European Union does not recognise Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus in the same manner that it does not recognise Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 23 August 2020, footage emerged showing Lukashenko at the Independence Palace in Minsk. In the first two videos, he is seen walking near a helicopter, wearing a bullet proof vest and holding an assault rifle (possibly an AK-47) and then walking around the palace grounds. In the latter footage, Lukashenko was heard to say "Leave me alone," and "There is no one left there, right?". His 15-year-old son, Nikolai, was seen with him dressed in military uniform and holding a gun.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In a third video, he is seen surveying protestors from a helicopter and is heard saying "How the rats ran away" in an apparent reference to the protesters. In a fourth video, Lukashenko was seen removing the former flag of Belarus from a flower bed, waving at security personnel and in reference to protesters, saying "we will deal with them". On 30 August, the Independence Palace became again a scene of protests. When questioned about the whereabouts of Alexander Lukashenko on this day, his publicity team released an undated photograph of him walking around the grounds of the Independence Palace holding a gun.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 23 September 2020, Lukashenko was formally inaugurated president for a sixth term in a ceremony at the Palace of Independence attended by an invited group of 700 guests.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 27 November 2020, Lukashenko announced that he would resign once Belarus' new constitution was adopted.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In December, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to exclude until further notice all members of the Belarusian Olympic Committee from all IOC events, specifically targeting Lukashenko who was elected as its chairman in 1997.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 17 April 2021, Russia's FSB security service exposed an alleged military coup and assassination attempt of Lukashenko. Russia also stated that it prevented Lukashenko's murder. Two suspects, who were detained at Lukashenko's request, were and . Both are critics of Lukashenko, with the latter being a dual American-Belarusian citizen, despite Belarus not recognizing dual citizenship.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 24 April 2021, Lukashenko announced that he would sign a decree to amend emergency transfer of power. "I will sign a decree about how the power in Belarus will be set up. If the President is shot the security council will get the power." Lukashenko is the head of the Security Council himself; however, his eldest son, Victor Lukashenko, is regarded as its informal leader. Under current law, the prime minister assumes the presidential powers if the presidency becomes vacant, but Lukashenko said that the prime minister will only become the nominal leader and all decisions would be taken by the 20-person security council, by secret ballot.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: The president is yet to sign the decree and it would also be unconstitutional as Article 89 states how emergency transition of power is set up. This move was seen to empower his son, to be in the perfect position to succeed him in the next elections, to also prevent the opposition gaining power and as insurance against a "bad" prime minister. It is to note that all Security Council members are Lukashenko's most loyal allies.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 5 May 2021, Belarusians in Germany filed a legal complaint against Lukashenko for 'state torture' and 'crimes against humanity.' If he enters Germany he risks trial or if convicted and enters Germany faces punishment given by court. Lukashenko responded that Germany was not in a position to criticize him, referring to the German Government as the "Heirs of Fascism". At the same time, he said that he will not resign, a reversal from his statement in November, but said he will call early presidential elections if and only if the United States does so as well.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 9 May 2021, Lukashenko signed a presidential decree titled "On the Protection of sovereignty and constitutional order". The contingency decree states that in the event that the President is unable to perform his duties, martial law will be immediately imposed and presidential power will be transferred to the Security Council, which is widely believed to be made up of strong allies of Lukashenko. It also states that it is the responsibility of the Security Council to organise new presidential elections. Despite clearly contradicting Article 89 of the constitution, Belarusian authorities praised the decree and declared it fully complies with legislation and is constitutional.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: A deputy from the House of Representatives told state media, 1 Беларусь, "The decree is very necessary and timely. It fully complies with the legislation and is aimed at strengthening the sovereignty, independence and security of our citizens. Why? It's no secret that a hybrid war is now actually waged against Belarus. Moreover, we are at a point where an armed coup d'etat was made. So when someone says, how is it possible? But look at post-Soviet countries, look at the Middle East, look at events all over the world. Presidents are assassinated and countries taken over. Yugoslavia was bombed in the centre of Europe, look at what happened in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Georgia. All these so-called revolutions are illegal coup d'etat, behind which there is always Western Money and work of Western money and the work of special services. Naturally, we must strengthen our national security and remove these risks. This is exactly what the decree aims at. It aims at making sure that only Belarusians should decide the future of the country."


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko promotes himself as a "man of the people." Lukashenko wanted to rebuild Belarus when he took office; the economy was in freefall due to declining industry and lack of demand for Belarusian goods. Lukashenko kept many industries under the control of the government. In 2001, he stated his intention to improve the social welfare of his citizens and to make Belarus "powerful and prosperous."


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: With the ascent to power of Lukashenko in 1994, the Russification policy of Russian Imperial and Soviet era was renewed.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Since the November 1996 referendum, Lukashenko has effectively held all governing power in the nation. Under the Constitution, if the House of Representatives rejects his choice for prime minister twice, he has the right to dissolve it. His decrees have greater weight than ordinary legislation. He also has near-absolute control over government spending; parliament can only increase or decrease spending with his permission. However, the legislature is dominated by his supporters in any event, and there is no substantive opposition to presidential decisions. Indeed, every seat in the lower house has been held by pro-Lukashenko MPs for all but one term since 2004. He also appoints eight members of the upper house, the Council of the Republic, as well as nearly all judges.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko's early economic policies aimed to prevent issues that occurred in other post-Soviet states, such as the establishment of oligarchic structures and mass unemployment. The unemployment rate for the country at the end of 2011 was at 0.6% of the population (of 6.86 million eligible workers), a decrease from 1995, when unemployment was 2.9% with a working-eligible population of 5.24 million. The per-capita gross national income rose from US$1,423 in 1993 to US$5,830 at the end of 2011.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: One major economic issue Lukashenko faced throughout his presidency was the value of the Belarusian rubel. For a time it was pegged to major foreign currencies, such as the euro, US dollar and the Russian rouble in order to maintain the stability of the rubel. Yet, the currency has experienced several periods of devaluation. A major devaluation took place in 2011 after the government announced that average salaries would increase to US$500. The 2011 devaluation was the largest on record for the past twenty years according to the World Bank.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Belarus also had to seek a bailout from international sources and, although it has received loans from China, loans from the IMF and other agencies depend on how Belarus reforms its economy.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Some critics of Lukashenko, including the opposition group Zubr, use the term "Lukashism" to refer to the political and economic system Lukashenko has implemented in Belarus. The term is also used more broadly to refer to an authoritarian ideology based on a cult of his personality and nostalgia for Soviet times among certain groups in Belarus. The US Congress sought to aid the opposition groups by passing the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 to introduce sanctions against Lukashenko's government and provide financial and other support to the opposition.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko supporters argue that his rule spared Belarus the turmoil that beset many other former Soviet countries. Lukashenko commented on the criticism of him by saying: "I've been hearing these accusations for over 10 years and we have got used to it. We are not going to answer them. I want to come from the premise that the elections in Belarus are held for ourselves. I am sure that it is the Belarusian people who are the masters in our state."


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lukashenko stated that concerns about the pandemic were a "frenzy and a psychosis" and that working the tractors, drinking vodka and going to saunas could prevent people from infection from the virus. "People are working in tractors. No one is talking about the virus", Lukashenko said on 16 March 2020. "There, the tractor will heal everyone. The fields heal everyone". He also said: "I don't drink, but recently I've been saying that people should not only wash their hands with vodka, but also poison the virus with it. You should drink the equivalent of 40–50 milliliters of rectified spirit daily", but he advised against doing so while at work. Lukashenko described these comments as a joke. By early May, Belarus was reported to have 15,000 diagnosed cases, one of the highest per capita rates of infection in Eastern Europe.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On July 28, 2020, Lukashenko announced he had asymptomatic COVID-19. Neither the Presidential Administration nor the country's health service have commented on this statement.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On August 12, 2021, Lukashenko stated that he is strongly opposed to making vaccination mandatory. "There will be no mandatory vaccination in Belarus. I am strongly against it. Vaccination will remain voluntary. If a person wants to be vaccinated it is good, if not, let it be".


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On September 1, 2020, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) declared that its experts received reports of 450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of people who were arrested during the protests following the presidential election. The experts also received reports of violence against women and children, including sexual abuse and rape with rubber batons. According to the OHCHR, both male and female detainees were subjected to rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Medical records reviewed by OHCHR indicate lesions and other injuries to the male genitalia associated with forcible twisting and rape. Psychological violence, including threats of rape, was also used against detainees.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: At least three detainees suffered injuries indicative of sexual violence in Okrestino prison in Minsk or on the way there. The victims were hospitalized with intramuscular bleeding of the rectum, anal fissure and bleeding, and damage to the mucous membrane of the rectum.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In an interview from September 2020 Lukashenko claimed that detainees faked their bruises, saying, "Some of the girls there had their butts painted in blue". In November 2021, however, Lukashenko confirmed in an interview to the British Broadcasting Corporation that people were beaten in Okrestino, saying: "OK, OK, I admit it, I admit it. People were beaten in the Okrestina Detention Centre. But there were police beaten up too and you didn't show this."


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In January 2021, an audio recording was released in which the commander of internal troops and deputy interior minister of Belarus Mikalai Karpiankou tells security forces that they can cripple, maim and kill protesters in order to make them understand their actions. This, he says, is justified because anyone who takes to the streets is participating in a kind of guerrilla warfare. In addition, he discussed the establishment of camps, surrounded by barbed wire, where protesters will be detained until the situation calms down. A spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry stamped the audio file as a fake.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: However, a phonoscopic examination of the audio recording confirmed that the voice on the recording belongs to Karpiankou. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed its concern about the remarks. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, such a camp was indeed used near the town of Slutsk in the days from 13 to 15 August 2020. Many of those detained there are said to have been brought from the Okrestina prison in Minsk.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In 1999 opposition leaders Yury Zacharanka and Viktar Hanchar together with his business associate Anatol Krasouski disappeared. Hanchar and Krasouski disappeared the same day of a broadcast on state television in which President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the chiefs of his security services to crack down on "opposition scum." Although the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB) had them under constant surveillance, the official investigation announced that the case could not be solved. The investigation of the disappearance of journalist Dzmitry Zavadski in 2000 has also yielded no results. Copies of a report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which linked senior Belarusian officials to the cases of disappearances, were confiscated.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In September 2004, the European Union and the United States issued travel bans for five Belarusian officials suspected in being involved in the kidnapping of Zacharanka: Interior Affairs Minister Vladimir Naumov, Prosecutor General Viktor Sheiman, Minister for Sports and Tourism Yuri Sivakov, and Colonel Dmitri Pavlichenko from the Belarus Interior Ministry.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In December 2019, Deutsche Welle published a documentary film in which Yury Garavski, a former member of a special unit of the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, confirmed that it was his unit which had arrested, taken away and murdered Zecharanka and that they later did the same with Viktar Hanchar and Anatol Krassouski.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On January 4, 2021, the EU Observer reported that new evidence, including documents and audio recordings, provide that Belarusian secret services planned to murder dissidents abroad. An audio file, allegedly being a recording from a bugged meeting in 2012, reveals Vadim Zaitsev, the KGB chairman at the time, discussing the murder plot with two officers from the KGB's Alpha Group, an elite counter-terrorism unit. Translated from Russian, one of the voices in the recording says, "We should be working with Sheremet, who is a massive pain in the arse [inaudible]. We'll plant [a bomb] and so on and this fucking rat will be taken down in fucking pieces, legs in one direction, arms in the other direction. If everything [looks like] natural causes, it won't get into people's minds the same way." In addition to planting a bomb, they also discuss poisoning Sheremet.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 23 May 2021, Lukashenko personally ordered Ryanair Flight 4978 en route from Athens to Vilnius, carrying the opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, to land in Belarus. The flight was forced to land at Minsk International Airport shortly before it reached the Lithuanian border after Belarusian air traffic control conveyed a report of explosives on board the plane. The flight was escorted by a Belarusian Air Force MiG-29 fighter jet. Belarusian authorities said no explosives were found and arrested Protasevich, who was placed in a list of "individuals involved in terrorist activity" the previous year for his role in the anti-government protests and incitement to Public disorder. The move was condemned by opposition figures, with Tsikhanouskaya saying that Protasevich "faces the death penalty" in Belarus.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko's relationship with Russia, once his powerful ally and vocal supporter, has significantly deteriorated. The run-up to the 2010 Belarusian presidential election was marked by a series of Russian media attacks on Lukashenko. Throughout July state-controlled channel NTV broadcast a multi-part documentary entitled "The Godfather" highlighting the suspicious disappearance of the opposition leaders Yury Zacharanka and Viktar Hanchar, businessman Anatol Krasouski and journalist Dzmitry Zavadski during the late 1990s. Lukashenko called the media attack "dirty propaganda".


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Despite a historically good relationship with Russia, tensions between Lukashenko and the Russian government started showing in 2020. On 24 January 2020, Lukashenko publicly accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of trying to make Belarus a part of Russia. This led to Russia cutting economic subsidies for Belarus. In July 2020, the relationship between Belarus and Russia was described as "strained" after 33 Russian military contractors were arrested in Minsk.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko afterwards accused Russia of collaborating with opposition activist Siarhei Tsikhanouski and trying to cover up an attempt to send 200 fighters from a private Russian military firm known as the Wagner Group into Belarus on a mission to destabilize the country ahead of its 9 August presidential election. On 5 August 2020, Russia's security chief Dmitry Medvedev warned Belarus to release the contractors. Lukashenko also claimed Russia was lying about its attempts to use the Wagner Group to influence the upcoming election.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 11 November 2021, Lukashenko raised the possibility of interrupting the Yamal–Europe pipeline carrying Russian gas to the European Union if the bloc imposes further sanctions on Belarus. Russian president Vladimir Putin said that Lukashenko had not consulted him before raising the possibility of stopping gas deliveries coming from Russia to the EU via a pipeline through Belarus, adding that such a move would risk harming ties between Belarus and Russia.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In February 2022, Lukashenko permitted Russian forces to stage part of the invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian territory. Commenting on the war in Ukraine the President of Belarus has said that he didn't expect the conflict “drag on this way.”


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko's relationship with the EU has been strained, in part by choice and in part by his policies towards domestic opponents. Lukashenko's repression of opponents caused him to be called "Europe's last dictator" and resulted in the EU imposing visa sanctions on him and a range of Belarusian officials. At times, the EU has lifted sanctions as a way to encourage dialogue or gain concessions from Lukashenko. Since the EU adopted this policy of "change through engagement", it has supported economic and political reforms to help integrate the Belarusian state.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 29 August 2019, John Bolton, the National Security Advisor of the United States, was received by Lukashenko during his visit to Minsk, which was the first of its kind in 18 years.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Following the 2014 Syrian presidential election, President Lukashenko congratulated President Bashar al-Assad. His cable "expressed keenness to strengthen and develop bilateral relations between Belarus and Syria in all fields for the benefit of the two peoples."


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Belarus condemned the NATO-led military intervention in Libya, and the foreign ministry stated that "The missile strikes and bombings on the territory of Libya go beyond Resolution 1973 of the UN Security Council and are in breach of its principal goal, ensuring safety of the civilian population. The Republic of Belarus calls on the states involved with the military operation to cease, with immediate effect, the military operations which lead to human casualties. The settlement of the conflict is an internal affair of Libya and should be carried out by the Libyan people alone without military intervention from outside." They have not recognized the National Transitional Council.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Upon hearing the news regarding the death of Muammar Gaddafi, President Alexander Lukashenko said "Aggression has been committed, and the country's leadership, not only Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed. And how was it killed? Well, if they had shot him in a battle, it's one thing, but they humiliated and tormented him, they shot at him, they violated him when he was wounded, they twisted his neck and arms, and then they tortured him to death. It's worse than the Nazis once did." He also condemned the current situation of Libya and was critical regarding the future of the country.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: His policies have been praised by some other world leaders. In response to a question about Belarus's domestic policies, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela said "We see here a model social state like the one we are beginning to create." The Chairman of the Chinese Standing Committee of National People's Congress Wu Bangguo noted that Belarus has been rapidly developing under Lukashenko.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In March 2022, Australia sanctioned Lukashenko for giving "strategic support to Russia and its military forces" in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko has made several controversial statements during his presidency which have been regarded as anti-semitic, homophobic and misogynistic.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In 1995, Lukashenko made a remark in which he named Adolf Hitler as a role model for his presidential system in Belarus: "The history of Germany is a copy of the history of Belarus. Germany was raised from ruins thanks to firm authority and not everything connected with that well-known figure Hitler was bad. German order evolved over the centuries and attained its peak under Hitler. This corresponds with our understanding of a presidential republic and the role of a president in it." Lukashenko refused to take the quote back, but stated that the consequences of Hitler's leadership style in foreign policy had been bad.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In October 2007, Lukashenko was accused of making antisemitic comments; addressing the "miserable state of the city of Babruysk" on a live broadcast on state radio, he stated: "This is a Jewish city, and the Jews are not concerned for the place they live in. They have turned Babruysk into a pigsty. Look at Israel—I was there and saw it myself ... I call on Jews who have money to come back to Babruysk." Members of the US House of Representatives sent a letter to the Belarusian ambassador to the US, Mikhail Khvostov, addressing Lukashenko's comments with a strong request to retract them, and the comments also caused a negative reaction from Israel.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Consequently, Pavel Yakubovich, editor of "Belarus Today", was sent to Israel, and in a meeting with the Israel Foreign Ministry said that Lukashenko's comment was "a mistake that was said jokingly, and does not represent his positions regarding the Jewish people" and that he was "anything but anti-Semitic," and had been "insulted by the mere accusation." The Belarusian Ambassador to Israel, Igor Leshchenya, stated that the president had a "kind attitude toward the Jewish people", and Sergei Rychenko, the press secretary at the Belarusian Embassy in Tel Aviv, said parts of Lukashenko's comments had been mistranslated.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: On 4 March 2012, two days after EU leaders (including openly gay German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle) had called for new measures to pressure Lukashenko over alleged human rights abuses in Belarus at a summit in Brussels, Lukashenko provoked diplomatic rebuke from Germany after commenting that it was "better to be a dictator than gay" in response to Westerwelle having referred to him as "Europe's last dictator" during the meeting.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: After some of the initial candidates for the 2020 Belarusian presidential election were imprisoned, three women involved with the candidates, led by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya emerged as leading opposition against him and contested the results of the election. Lukashenko has spoken dismissively about the role of women in Belarusian society, saying that "society is not mature enough to vote for a woman" and, referring specifically to Tsikanouskaya, that "she just cooked a tasty cutlet, maybe fed the children, and the cutlet smelled nice [...] And now there's supposed to be a debate about some issues" and that the burden of the presidency would cause her to "collapse, poor thing".


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: In July 2021, Lukashenko was accused of making antisemitic comments during his Independence Day speech to the armed forces; saying "the Jews managed to force the world to remember the Holocaust. The entire world grovels before them and gives in to them. They are afraid to say a single word out of place,". and adding "We are tolerant and likeable. We left things alone until it got to the point where others started attacking us and the memory of our efforts,". The Israeli government said the comments were "unacceptable" and summoned the chargé d'affaires at the Belarus embassy in Israel.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Independent polling is tightly restricted in Belarus. Surveys are monopolized by the government, which either does not publish its surveys or uses them for propagandistic purposes.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: According to a leaked internal poll, a third of the population had trust in Lukashenko. The last credible public poll in Belarus was a 2016 poll showing approximately 30% approval for Lukashensko.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: During the 2020–21 Belarusian protests, opponents of Lukashenko began to refer to him as "Sasha 3%" on the basis that they believed that he was only supported by three percent of the Belarusian population. The term has subsequently become a popular meme within the Belarusian opposition appearing on T-shirts and posters. Lukashenko has also been referred to as "Tarakanishche" ("Cockroach") by his opponents in reference to the poem The Monster Cockroach, in which a moustached cockroach inflicts a reign of terror on the other animals before being eaten by a sparrow.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: A film produced by NEXTA, an opposition group based in Poland, accuses Lukashenko of misappropriating EU funds on residences and automobiles. The film was uploaded to Telegram and YouTube, where it had over 6 million views. Lukashenko did not comment on the film directly, but on a factory visit in March 2021 claimed that opponents were creating a fake story to destabilize the country. Lukashenko states "I want you to understand: I have been working as president for a quarter of a century, and if there were already some billions, as they say, or palaces, I would have already been torn to pieces from all sides." EU officials also dismissed the accusations as "speculation".


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko married Galina Zhelnerovich, his high school sweetheart, in 1975. Later that year, his oldest son, Viktor, was born. Their second son, Dmitry, was born in 1980. Galina lives separately in a house in the village Shklow. Though they are still legally married, Galina Lukashenko has been estranged from her husband since shortly after he became president. In a 2014 interview, Lukashenko said that they had not lived together for 30 years and the only reason they had not divorced was that he did not want to traumatize his adult sons. Lukashenko has been seen on public occasions with various women; when asked about this in the same 2014 interview he explained that he did not want to sit with an official with a "sour face", preferring "My son on one side, and a girl on the other".


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko fathered a son, Nikolai, who was born in 2004. Though never confirmed by the government, it is widely believed that the child's mother is Irina Abelskaya—the two had an extramarital affair when she was Lukashenko's personal doctor. There has never been any public statement about who Nikolai's mother is; Nikolai was raised solely by his father. It has been reported by Western observers and media that Nikolai, nicknamed "Kolya", is being groomed as Lukashenko's successor. According to Belarusian state media, these speculations were dismissed by Lukashenko, who also denied that he would remain in office for a further thirty years—the time Nikolai will become eligible to stand for election and succeed him. Lukashenko has a pet dog, a spitz named Umka.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: Lukashenko used to play football, but stopped playing during his presidency. His two elder sons also play ice hockey, sometimes alongside their father. Lukashenko started training in cross-country running as a child, and in the 2000s still competed at the national level. He is a keen skier and ice hockey forward. In an interview he said that he plays ice hockey three times a week. He has established the "Belarus President's team", an amateur team which he sometimes plays for. Numerous ice rinks intended to enable competitive ice hockey games to be played, have been built all over Belarus at Lukashenko's behest. Lukashenko was instrumental in getting the 2014 IIHF World Championship in ice hockey to be hosted by Belarus which was considered controversial due to Lukashenko's repressive regime. Belarus was supposed to host the 2021 IIHF World Championship in May 2021, but that was cancelled after international condemnation and threats by sponsors to withdraw.


title: Alexander Lukashenko

text: and has said that he believes that the president should be a conservative person and avoid using modern electronic technology such as a tablet or smartphone. He used to play the bayan, a musical instrument similar to an accordion


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portrayal of Helen Kane in the 1950 film "Three Little Words". Her breakout role was her first leading role, as Kathy Selden in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952). Her other successes include "The Affairs of Dobie Gillis" (1953), "Susan Slept Here" (1954), "Bundle of Joy" (1956 Golden Globe nomination), "The Catered Affair" (1956 National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress Winner), and "Tammy and the Bachelor" (1957), in which her performance of the song "Tammy" reached number one on the "Billboard" music charts. In 1959, she released her first pop music album, titled "Debbie".


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: She starred in "Singin' in the Rain" (1952), "How the West Was Won" (1962), and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" (1964), a biographical film about the famously boisterous Molly Brown. Her performance as Brown earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other films include "The Singing Nun" (1966), "Divorce American Style" (1967), "What's the Matter with Helen?" (1971), "Charlotte's Web" (1973), "Mother" (1996) (Golden Globe nomination), and "In & Out" (1997). Reynolds was also a cabaret performer. In 1979, she founded the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in North Hollywood, which was demolished in 2019 after being sold at auction, despite efforts to turn it into a museum.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: In 1969, she starred on television in "The Debbie Reynolds Show", for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. In 1973, Reynolds starred in a Broadway revival of the musical "Irene" and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance in "A Gift of Love" (1999) and an Emmy Award for playing Grace's mother Bobbi on "Will & Grace". At the turn of the millennium, Reynolds reached a new, younger generation with her role as Aggie Cromwell in Disney's "Halloweentown" series. In 1988, she released her autobiography, titled "Debbie: My Life". In 2013, she released a second autobiography, "Unsinkable: A Memoir".


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds also had several business ventures, including ownership of a dance studio and a Las Vegas hotel and casino, and she was an avid collector of film memorabilia, beginning with items purchased at the landmark 1970 MGM auction. She served as president of The Thalians, an organization dedicated to mental-health causes. Reynolds continued to perform successfully on stage, television, and film into her 80s. In January 2015, Reynolds received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In 2016, she received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. In the same year, a documentary about her life was released titled "", which turned out to be her final film appearance; the film premiered on HBO on January 7, 2017.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds died following a hemorrhagic stroke on December 28, 2016, one day after the death of her daughter, fellow actress Carrie Fisher.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds was born on April 1, 1932, in El Paso, Texas, to Maxene N. "Minnie" Harman and Raymond Francis "Ray" Reynolds, a carpenter who worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad. She was of Scotch-Irish and English ancestry and was raised in a strict Nazarene church of her domineering mother. She had an older brother, William, who was two years her senior. Reynolds was a Girl Scout, once saying that she wanted to die as the world's oldest living Girl Scout. Reynolds was also a member of The International Order of Job's Daughters.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Her mother took in laundry for income, while they lived in a shack on Magnolia Street in El Paso. "We may have been poor," she said in a 1963 interview, "but we always had something to eat, even if Dad had to go out in the desert and shoot jackrabbits."


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Her family moved to Burbank, California, in 1939. When Reynolds was a 16-year-old student at Burbank High School in 1948, she won the Miss Burbank beauty contest. Soon after, she was offered a contract with Warner Brothers and was given the stage name "Debbie" by studio head Jack L. Warner.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: One of her closest high school friends said that she rarely dated during her teenaged years in Burbank.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds agreed, saying, "when I started, I didn't even know how to dress. I wore dungarees and a shirt. I had no money, no taste, and no training." Her friend adds:


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds was discovered by talent scouts from Warner Bros. and MGM, who were at the 1948 Miss Burbank contest. Both companies wanted her to sign up with their studio, and had to flip a coin to see which one got her. Warner Bros. won the coin toss, and she was with the studio for two years. When Warner Bros. stopped producing musicals, she moved to MGM.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: With MGM, Reynolds regularly appeared in movie musicals during the 1950s, and had several hit records during the period. Her song "Aba Daba Honeymoon" (featured in the film "Two Weeks with Love" (1950) and sung as a duet with co-star Carleton Carpenter) was the first soundtrack recording to become a top-of-the-chart gold record, reaching number three on the "Billboard" charts.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Her performance in the film greatly impressed the studio, which then gave her a co-starring role in what became her highest-profile film, "Singin' in the Rain" (1952), a satire on movie-making in Hollywood during the transition from silent to sound pictures. It co-starred Gene Kelly, whom she called a "great dancer and cinematic genius," adding, "He made me a star. I was 18 and he taught me how to dance and how to work hard and be dedicated." In 1956, she appeared in the musical "Bundle of Joy" with her then-husband, Eddie Fisher.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds was one of 14 top-billed names in "How the West Was Won" (1962) but she was the only one who appeared throughout, the story largely following the life and times of her character Lilith Prescott. In the film, she sang three songs: "What Was Your Name in the States?", as her pioneering family begin their westward journey; "Raise a Ruckus Tonight", starting a party around a wagon train camp fire; and, three times, "Home in the Meadow" – to the tune of "Greensleeves" with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Her starring role in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" (1964) led to a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Reynolds noted that she initially had issues with its director, Charles Walters. "He didn't want me," she said. "He wanted Shirley MacLaine," who at the time was unable to take the role. "He said, 'You are totally wrong for the part." But six weeks into production, he reversed his opinion. "He came to me and said, "I have to admit that I was wrong. You are playing the role really well. I'm pleased." Reynolds also played in "Goodbye Charlie", a 1964 comedy film about a callous womanizer who gets his just reward. It was adapted from George Axelrod's play "Goodbye, Charlie" and also starred Tony Curtis and Pat Boone.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: She next portrayed Jeanine Deckers in "The Singing Nun" (1966). In what Reynolds once called the "stupidest mistake of my entire career", she made headlines in 1970 after instigating a fight with the NBC television network over cigarette advertising on her weekly television show. Although she was television's highest-paid female performer at the time, she quit the show for breaking its contract:


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: When NBC explained to Reynolds that banning cigarette commercials from her show would be impossible, she kept her resolve. The show drew mixed reviews, but according to NBC, it captured about 42% of the nation's viewing audience. She said later she was especially concerned about the commercials because of the number of children watching the show. She did quit doing the show after about a year, which she said had cost her about $2 million of lost income: "Maybe I was a fool to quit the show, but at least I was an honest fool. I'm not a phony or pretender. With me, it wasn't a question of money, but integrity. I'm the one who has to live with myself." The dispute would have been rendered moot and in Reynolds' favor anyway had she not resigned; by 1971, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act (which had been passed into law before she left the show) would ban all radio and television advertising for tobacco products.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds played the title role in the Hanna-Barbera animated musical "Charlotte's Web" (1973), in which she originated the song "Mother Earth and Father Time". Reynolds continued to make other appearances in film and television. She played Helen Chappel Hackett's mother, Deedee Chappel, on an episode of "Wings" titled, "If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother", which originally aired on November 22, 1994.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: From 1999 to 2006, she played Grace Adler's theatrical mother, Bobbi Adler, on the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace", which earned Reynolds her only Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2000. She played a recurring role in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Halloweentown" film series as Aggie Cromwell. Reynolds made a guest appearance as a presenter at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: In 2000, Reynolds took up a recurring voice role on the children's television program "Rugrats," playing the grandmother of two of the characters. In 2001, she co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley MacLaine, and Joan Collins in the comedy "These Old Broads," a television movie written for her by her daughter, Carrie Fisher. She had a cameo role as herself in the 2004 film "Connie and Carla." In 2013, she appeared in "Behind the Candelabra," as the mother of Liberace.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds appears with her daughter in "," a 2016 documentary about the very close relationship between the two. It premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. The television premiere was January 7, 2017, on HBO. According to "USA Today", the film is "an intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty ... [it] loosely chronicles their lives through interviews, photos, footage, and vintage home movies... It culminates in a moving scene, just as Reynolds is preparing to receive the 2015 Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, which Fisher presented to her mom."


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Her recording of the song "Tammy" (1957; from "Tammy and the Bachelor"), earned her a gold record. It was a number one single on the "Billboard" pop charts in 1957. In the movie (the first of the "Tammy" film series), she co-starred with Leslie Nielsen.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds also scored two other top-25 "Billboard" hits with "A Very Special Love" (number 20 in January 1958) and "Am I That Easy to Forget" (number 25 in March 1960)—a pop-music version of a country-music hit made famous by Carl Belew (in 1959), Skeeter Davis (in 1960), and several years later by singer Engelbert Humperdinck.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: For 10 years, she headlined for about three months a year in Las Vegas's Riviera Hotel. She enjoyed live shows, though that type of performing "was extremely strenuous," she said in 1966:


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: With a performing schedule of two shows a night, seven nights a week, it's probably the toughest kind of show business, but in my opinion, the most rewarding. I like the feeling of being able to change stage bits and business when I want. You can't do that in motion pictures or TV.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: As part of her nightclub act, Reynolds was noted for doing impressions of celebrities such as Eva and Zsa Zsa Gabor, Mae West, Barbra Streisand, Phyllis Diller, and Bette Davis. Her impersonation of Davis was inspired following their co-starring roles in the 1956 film, "The Catered Affair". Reynolds had started doing stage impersonations as a teenager; her impersonation of Betty Hutton was performed as a singing number during the Miss Burbank contest in 1948.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds' last recording was a 1992 Christmas album with Donald O'Connor entitled "Christmas with Donald and Debbie", arranged and conducted by Angelo DiPippo.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds was also a French horn player. Gene Kelly, reflecting on Reynolds's sudden fame, recalled, "There were times when Debbie was more interested in playing the French horn somewhere in the San Fernando Valley or attending a Girl Scout meeting...She didn’t realize she was a movie star all of a sudden."


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: With limited film and television opportunities coming her way, Reynolds accepted an opportunity to make her Broadway debut. She starred in the 1973 revival of "Irene", a musical first produced 60 years before. When asked why she waited so long to appear in a Broadway play, she explained:


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds and her daughter Carrie both made their Broadway debuts in the play. Per reports, the production broke records for the highest weekly gross of any musical. For that production, she received a Tony nomination. Reynolds also starred in a self-titled Broadway revue, "Debbie", in 1976. She toured with Harve Presnell in "Annie Get Your Gun", then wrapped up the Broadway run of "Woman of the Year" in 1983. In the late 1980s, Reynolds repeated her role as Molly Brown in the stage version of "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", first opposite Presnell (repeating his original Broadway and movie role) and later with Ron Raines.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds amassed a large collection of movie memorabilia, beginning with items from the landmark 1970 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer auction, and she displayed them, first in a museum at her Las Vegas hotel and casino during the 1990s and later in a museum close to the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: The museum was to relocate to be the centerpiece of the Belle Island Village tourist attraction in the resort city of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, but the developer went bankrupt. The museum filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2009. The most valuable asset of the museum was Reynolds' collection. Todd Fisher, Reynolds' son, announced that his mother was "heartbroken" to have to auction off the collection. It was valued at $10.79 million in the bankruptcy filing. Los Angeles auction firm Profiles in History was given the responsibility of conducting a series of auctions. Among the "more than 3500 costumes, 20,000 photographs, and thousands of movie posters, costume sketches, and props" included in the sales were Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat and Marilyn Monroe's white "subway dress", whose skirt is lifted up by the breeze from a passing subway train in the film "The Seven Year Itch" (1955). The dress sold for $4.6 million in 2011; the final auction was held in May 2014.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: In 1979, Reynolds opened her own dance studio in North Hollywood. In 1983, she released an exercise video, "Do It Debbie's Way!". She purchased the Clarion Hotel and Casino, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, in 1992. She renamed it the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel. It was not a success. In 1997, Reynolds was forced to declare bankruptcy. In June 2010, she replaced Ivana Trump answering reader queries for the weekly paper "Globe".


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds was married three times. Her first marriage was to singer Eddie Fisher in 1955. They became the parents of Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher. The couple divorced in 1959 when it was revealed shortly after the death of Elizabeth Taylor's husband Mike Todd that Fisher had been having an affair with her; Taylor and Reynolds were good friends at the time. The Eddie FisherElizabeth Taylor affair was a great public scandal, which led to the cancellation of Eddie Fisher's television show.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: In 2011, Reynolds was on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" just weeks before Elizabeth Taylor's death. She explained that Taylor and she happened to be traveling at the same time on the ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth" some time in the late 1960s or early 1970s, when they reconciled. Reynolds sent a note to Taylor's room, and Taylor sent a note in reply asking to have dinner with Reynolds and end their feud. As Reynolds described it, "we had a wonderful evening with a lot of laughs." In 1972, she noted the bright side of the divorce and her remarriage:


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds' second marriage, to millionaire businessman Harry Karl, lasted from 1960 to 1973. For a period during the 1960s, she stopped working at the studio on Friday afternoons to attend Girl Scout meetings, since she was the leader of the Girl Scout Troop of which her 13-year-old daughter Carrie and her stepdaughter Tina Karl, also 13, were members. Reynolds later found herself in financial difficulty because of Karl's gambling and bad investments. Reynolds' third marriage was to real estate developer Richard Hamlett from 1984 to 1996.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: In 2011, Reynolds stepped down after 56 years of involvement in The Thalians, a charitable organization devoted to children and adults with mental-health issues.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds was hospitalized in October 2012 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to an adverse reaction to medication. She cancelled appearances and concert engagements for the next three months.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: On December 23, 2016, Reynolds' daughter, actress and writer Carrie Fisher, suffered a medical emergency on a transatlantic flight from London to Los Angeles, and died on December 27, 2016, at the age of 60 at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. The following day, December 28, Reynolds was taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after suffering a "severe stroke", according to her son. Later that afternoon, Reynolds was pronounced dead in the hospital; she was 84 years old. On January 9, 2017, her cause of death was determined to be an intracerebral hemorrhage, with hypertension a contributing factor.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Todd Fisher later said that Reynolds had been seriously affected by her daughter's death, and that her grief was partially responsible for her stroke, noting that his mother had stated, "I want to be with Carrie", shortly before she died. During an interview for the December 30, 2016 airing of the ABC-TV program "20/20", Todd Fisher elaborated on this, saying that his mother had joined his sister in death because Reynolds "didn't want to leave Carrie and did not want her to be alone". He added, "she didn't die of a broken heart" as some news reports had implied, but rather "just left to be with Carrie".


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds was entombed, while her daughter was cremated. A portion of Carrie Fisher's ashes was laid to rest beside Reynolds' crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills during a larger joint memorial service held on March 25, while the remainder of Fisher's ashes are held in a giant, novelty Prozac pill.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: Reynolds was the 1955 Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year. Her footprints and handprints are preserved at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6654 Hollywood Boulevard, for live performance and a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars dedicated to her. In keeping with the celebrity tradition of the Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival of Winchester, Virginia, Reynolds was honored as the Grand Marshal of the 2011 ABF that took place from April 26 to May 1, 2011.


title: Debbie Reynolds

text: On November 4, 2006, Reynolds received the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award from Chapman University (Orange, California). On May 17, 2007, she was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she had contributed for many years to the film studies program.


title: Andie MacDowell

text: Rosalie Anderson MacDowell (born April 21, 1958) is an American actress and former fashion model. MacDowell's known for her starring film roles in romantic comedies and dramas. MacDowell has modeled for Calvin Klein and has been a spokeswoman for L'Oréal since 1986.


title: Andie MacDowell

text: Her early films include "" (1984) and the Brat Pack vehicle film "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985). Her breakout role was in "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" (1989) which earned her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead and a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. She then starred in a series of films including "Green Card" (1990), "Groundhog Day" (1993), "Short Cuts" (1993), "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994), "Michael" (1996), "Multiplicity" (1996), and "The Muse" (1999).


title: Andie MacDowell

text: She's also known for her supporting film roles in "Beauty Shop" (2005), "Footloose" (2011), "Magic Mike XXL" (2015), "Love After Love" (2017), and "Ready or Not" (2019). She co-starred and opposite her daughter Margaret Qualley in the Netflix miniseries "Maid" (2021) for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.


title: Andie MacDowell

text: MacDowell was born on April 21, 1958, in Gaffney, South Carolina, to Pauline "Paula" Johnston (née Oswald), a music teacher, and Marion St. Pierre MacDowell, a lumber executive. Her ancestry includes English, French, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh. Her mother was an alcoholic, and her parents divorced when she was six. MacDowell's mother died of a heart attack at age 53 after living sober for a year. When MacDowell was eight, her father remarried, this time to the former Mary Frances Stone; this union lasted until his death. MacDowell graduated from Gaffney High School in 1976, then went on to attend Winthrop University for two years before moving briefly to Columbia, South Carolina. After having been spotted by a representative from Wilhelmina Models while she was on a trip to Los Angeles, MacDowell signed a modeling contract with Elite Model Management in New York City in 1978.


title: Andie MacDowell

text: In the early 1980s, MacDowell modeled for "Vogue" magazine and appeared in ad campaigns for Yves Saint Laurent, Vassarette, Armani perfume, Sabeth-Row, Mink International, Anne Klein, and Bill Blass. A series of billboards in Times Square and national television commercials for Calvin Klein won attention and led to her 1984 film debut in "". In this role, MacDowell's lines were dubbed by Glenn Close because her Southern accent was considered too pronounced for her role as Jane. In 1985, MacDowell filled a supporting role as a doctor in "St. Elmo's Fire".


title: Andie MacDowell

text: MacDowell studied method acting with teachers from the Actors Studio in addition to working privately with the renowned coaches Harold Guskin and Warren Robertson. Four years later, director Steven Soderbergh cast her in the independent film "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" (1989). Her performance earned her an Independent Spirit Award, a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, and a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, among others award nominations, which led to a series of starring roles in films such as "Green Card", "The Object of Beauty", and "Short Cuts". In the 1990s, MacDowell achieved stardom due to the box office success of director Harold Ramis's 1993 comedy, "Groundhog Day", and "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (1994), opposite Hugh Grant.


title: Andie MacDowell

text: Since 1986, MacDowell has appeared in print and television advertisements for cosmetic and haircare company L'Oréal. In 2000 she starred in "Harrison's Flowers". In later years, she has acted primarily on television and in independent films. In 2012, she co-starred in the short-lived ABC Family series "Jane by Design". From 2013 to 2015, she starred in the Hallmark Channel family series "Cedar Cove". In 2018 MacDowell starred in and produced the Hallmark Hall of Fame film directed by Roger Spottiswoode based on the novel by Mary Alice Monroe, "The Beach House". Also in 2018, she was cast in the horror comedy film "Ready or Not", which was shot over 26 days. The film was released in 2019, and was a critical and commercial success. In 2019, she starred in the BBC sitcom "Cuckoo". In an episode of NBC's "Mr. Mayor" that aired January 2021, MacDowell plays a fictionalized version of herself. In the same year MacDowell stars alongside her daughter, Margaret Qualley, in the Netflix show "Maid".


title: Andie MacDowell

text: In 1986, MacDowell married Paul Qualley, a rancher and fellow former model. The two met while posing for Gap ads. They had a son, Justin, and two daughters, Rainey, named Miss Golden Globe 2012, and Margaret, an actress.


title: Andie MacDowell

text: MacDowell and Qualley divorced in 1999. Following her divorce from Qualley, MacDowell entered a year-long relationship with actor Dennis Quaid. In 1999, through her sister Julia, MacDowell reconnected with her former high school classmate, Rhett Hartzog, a businessman whom she married on November 10, 2001. The couple subsequently divorced in October 2004. As of 2013, she has resided in Marina del Rey, California.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 films, in roles covering a wide range of genres. In his later years, Curtis made numerous television appearances.


title: Tony Curtis

text: He achieved his first major recognition as a dramatic actor in "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957) with co-star Burt Lancaster. The following year he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for "The Defiant Ones" (1958) alongside Sidney Poitier (who was also nominated in the same category). This was followed by the comedies "Some Like It Hot" and "Operation Petticoat" in 1959. In 1960, Curtis played a supporting role in the epic historical drama "Spartacus".


title: Tony Curtis

text: His stardom and film career declined considerably after 1960. His most significant dramatic part came in 1968 when he starred in the true-life drama "The Boston Strangler". Curtis also took on the role of the Ukrainian Cossack Andrei in the historical action romance epic "Taras Bulba" in 1962 and starred in the ITC TV series "The Persuaders!", with Curtis playing American millionaire Danny Wilde. The series ran for twenty-four episodes.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis is the father of actresses Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis by his first wife, actress Janet Leigh, and actresses Allegra Curtis and Alexandra Curtis by his second wife Christine Kaufmann.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz on June 3, 1925, at the Fifth Avenue Hospital corner of East 105th Street in Manhattan, New York City, the first of three boys born to Helen (née Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz.


title: Tony Curtis

text: His parents were Hungarian-Jewish emigrants from Hungary: his father was born in Ópályi, near Mátészalka, and his mother was a native of Nagymihály (now Michalovce, Slovakia); she later said she arrived in the U.S. from Válykó (now Vaľkovo, Slovakia). He spoke only Hungarian until the age of six, delaying his schooling. His father was a tailor and the family lived in the back of the shop. His mother was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. His youngest brother Robert was institutionalized with the same mental illness.


title: Tony Curtis

text: When Curtis was eight, he and his brother Julius were placed in an orphanage for a month because their parents could not afford to feed them. Four years later, Julius was struck and killed by a truck. Curtis joined a neighborhood gang whose main crimes were playing truant from school and minor pilfering at the local dime store. When Curtis was 11, a friendly neighbor saved him from what he felt would have led to a life of delinquency by sending him to a Boy Scout camp, where he was able to work off his energy and settle down. He attended Seward Park High School. At 16, he had his first small acting part in a school stage play.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis enlisted in the United States Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Inspired by Cary Grant's role in "Destination Tokyo" and Tyrone Power's in "Crash Dive" (1943), he joined the Pacific submarine force. Curtis served aboard a submarine tender, the USS "Proteus""," until the end of the Second World War. On September 2, 1945, Curtis witnessed the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay from his ship's signal bridge about a mile away.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Following his discharge from the Navy, Curtis attended City College of New York on the G.I. Bill. He then studied acting at The New School in Greenwich Village under the influential German stage director Erwin Piscator. His contemporaries included Elaine Stritch, Harry Belafonte, Walter Matthau, Beatrice Arthur, and Rod Steiger. While still at college, Curtis was discovered by Joyce Selznick, the notable talent agent, casting director, and niece of film producer David O. Selznick.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 1948, Curtis arrived in Hollywood at age 23. In his autobiography, Curtis described how by chance he met Jack Warner on the plane to California, and also how he briefly dated Marilyn Monroe before either was famous.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Under contract at Universal Pictures, he changed his name from Bernard Schwartz to Anthony Curtis and met unknown actors Rock Hudson, James Best, Julie Adams and Piper Laurie. The first name was from the novel "Anthony Adverse" and "Curtis" was from Kurtz, a surname in his mother's family. Although Universal Pictures taught him fencing and riding, Curtis admitted he was initially only interested in girls and money- adding that he was pessimistic regarding his chances of becoming a major star. Curtis's biggest fear was having to return home to the Bronx as a failure:


title: Tony Curtis

text: I was a million-to-one shot, the "least" likely to succeed. I wasn't low man on the totem pole, I was "under" the totem pole, in a sewer, tied to a sack.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis's uncredited screen debut came in the crime drama "Criss Cross" (1949) playing a rumba dancer, dancing with Yvonne de Carlo. The male star was Burt Lancaster who would make a number of films with Curtis.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In his second film, "City Across the River" (also in 1949), he was credited as "Anthony Curtis". He had four lines in "The Lady Gambles" (1949) and a bigger part in "Johnny Stool Pigeon" (1949). He was also in "Francis" (1950), "Woman in Hiding" (1950), and "I Was a Shoplifter" (1950).


title: Tony Curtis

text: He was additionally in three Westerns, "Sierra" (1950), "Winchester '73" (1950) and "Kansas Raiders" (1951), in which he was billed as "Tony Curtis."


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis was receiving numerous fan letters, so Universal gave him the starring role in "The Prince Who Was a Thief" (1951), a swashbuckler set in the Middle East with Piper Laurie. It was a hit at the box office and Curtis was now established.


title: Tony Curtis

text: He followed it up with "Flesh and Fury" (1952), a boxing movie; "No Room for the Groom" (1952), a comedy with Laurie directed by Douglas Sirk; and "Son of Ali Baba" (1952), another film set in the Middle East with Laurie.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis then starred with then-wife Janet Leigh in "Houdini" (1953), in which Curtis played the title role. His next movies were more "B" fare: "All American" (1953), as a footballer; "Forbidden" (1953), as a criminal; "Beachhead" (1954), a war film; "Johnny Dark" (1954) as a racing car driver; and "The Black Shield of Falworth" (1954), a medieval swashbuckler with Leigh. They were moderately successful financially, and Curtis was growing in popularity.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis then starred in the musical "So This Is Paris" in (1955), before appearing in "Six Bridges to Cross" (1955), as a bank robber; "The Purple Mask" (1955) as a swashbuckler; and the boxing film "The Square Jungle" (1955).


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis graduated to more prestigious projects when he was cast as a co-star of Burt Lancaster and Gina Lollobrigida in Hecht-Lancaster Productions' "Trapeze" (1956). It was one of the biggest hits of the year. Curtis and Leigh formed their own independent film production company, Curtleigh Productions, in early 1955.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis made a Western, "The Rawhide Years" (1957), was a gambler in "Mister Cory" (1957) and a cop in "The Midnight Story" (1957). Lancaster asked for him again, to play scheming press agent Sidney Falco in "Sweet Smell of Success" (1957), starring and co-produced by Lancaster. The film was a box office disappointment, but Curtis, for the first time in his career, received sensational reviews.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis starred alongside Kirk Douglas and Janet Leigh in "The Vikings" (1958), which was a box office hit. Curtis then co-starred with Frank Sinatra and Natalie Wood in the war movie "Kings Go Forth" (1958), before starring in "The Defiant Ones" the following year as a bigoted white escaped convict chained to a black man (played by Sidney Poitier). At the 31st Academy Awards, Curtis was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance - losing to David Niven in Separate Tables.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis and Janet Leigh then starred in Blake Edwards' "The Perfect Furlough" (1958). He subsequently co-starred with Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot" as well as Cary Grant in "Operation Petticoat" (1959).


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis and Leigh made one more film together "Who Was That Lady?" (1960), a comedy with Dean Martin. He and Debbie Reynolds then starred in "The Rat Race" (1960). He then started in a supporting role in "Spartacus" (1960), before making two biopics: "The Great Impostor" (1961), directed by Robert Mulligan, playing Ferdinand Waldo Demara; and "The Outsider" (1961), in which he played war hero Ira Hayes. He returned to epics with "Taras Bulba" (1962), co starring Yul Brynner and Christine Kaufmann, who became Curtis's second wife.


title: Tony Curtis

text: On October 6, 1961, Curtis formed a new film production company, Curtis Enterprises, Incorporated. The company would make "40 Pounds of Trouble", which co-starred Curtis, Suzanne Pleshette and Phil Silvers; it was the first motion picture ever filmed at Disneyland. On August 3, 1962, Curtis formed another new film production company, Reynard Productions, Incorporated.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis was one of many stars who had small roles in "The List of Adrian Messenger" (1963). He supported Gregory Peck in "Captain Newman, M.D." (1963) and had an uncredited dual role in "Paris When It Sizzles" (1964). He and Kaufmann made their third movie together, the comedy "Wild and Wonderful" (1964). His focus remained on comedies: "Goodbye Charlie" (1964), with Debbie Reynolds; "Sex and the Single Girl" (1964), with Natalie Wood; "The Great Race" (1965), with Wood and Lemmon for Blake Edwards — the most expensive comedy film up till that time, but popular; "Boeing Boeing" (1965) a sex farce with Jerry Lewis; "Not with My Wife, You Don't!" (1966) with George C. Scott; "Drop Dead Darling" (1966), a British comedy with Rosanna Schiaffino; "Don't Make Waves" (1967), a satire of beach life from director Alexander Mackendrick, with Claudia Cardinale; and "On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who..." (1967), an Italian comedy with Monica Vitti. In the early 1960s, he was a voice-over guest star on "The Flintstones" as "Stoney Curtis".


title: Tony Curtis

text: Because of the poor performance of a series of comedies, Curtis fired his agent and took a pay cut to $100,000 to play the title role in "The Boston Strangler" (1968), his first dramatic film in several years. Response from the critics and public was excellent. He returned to comedy for "Monte Carlo or Bust!" (1969), an all-star car race film in the vein of "The Great Race".


title: Tony Curtis

text: He made some comic adventure tales: "You Can't Win 'Em All" (1970) with Charles Bronson and "Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came" (1970).


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis decided it was time to turn to television and co-starred with Roger Moore in the TV series "The Persuaders!" (1971).


title: Tony Curtis

text: He was one of the villains in "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1975) and had the title role in the gangster film "Lepke" (1975). Curtis had the lead in a TV series that did not last, "McCoy" (1975–76). He was one of many names in "The Last Tycoon" (1976) and had the title role in an Italian comedy "Casanova & Co." (1977). Later, Curtis co-starred as a casino owner in the Robert Urich 1978-1981 ABC series "Vega$" and was in "The Users" (1978).


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis supported Mae West in "Sextette" (1978) and starred in "The Manitou" (1978), a horror film, and "The Bad News Bears Go to Japan" (1978), a comedy. He had good roles in "It Rained All Night the Day I Left" (1980), "Little Miss Marker" (1980) and "The Scarlett O'Hara War" (1980) and was one of many stars in "The Mirror Crack'd" (1980). On ABC, he co starred from 1978 to 1981 in prime time, as Las Vegas Desert Inn casino owner Philip (Slick) Roth, in 17 episodes of the Aaron Spelling produced series hit series, Vega$. After Vega$, on television, Curtis continued to make occasional guest appearances (sometimes playing fictional versions of himself) into the mid-2000s. His final TV series was as host of the documentary-retrospective series "Hollywood Babylon"


title: Tony Curtis

text: (adapting Kenneth Anger's book series) in 1992–1993; each episode would include Curtis recalling some anecdotes from his own career.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 2002, Curtis was in the national tour of Some Like it Hot, a modified revival of the 1972 musical Sugar (musical), itself based on the film in which he starred. Curtis played the supporting role of Osgood Fielding.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Throughout his life, Curtis enjoyed painting and, beginning in the early 1980s, painted as a second career. His work commands more than $25,000 a canvas now. In the last years of his life, he concentrated on painting rather than movies. A surrealist, Curtis claimed Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Magritte as influences. "I still make movies but I'm not that interested in them any more. But I paint all the time." In 2007, his painting "The Red Table" was on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His paintings can also be seen at the Tony Vanderploeg Gallery in Carmel, California.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis spoke of his disappointment at never being awarded an Oscar. In March 2006, Curtis received the Sony Ericsson Empire Lifetime Achievement Award. He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame inducted in 1960, and received the "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" from France in 1995.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis was married six times. His first wife was actress Janet Leigh, to whom he was married from 1951 to 1962, and with whom he fathered actresses Kelly and Jamie Lee. "For a while, we were Hollywood's golden couple," he said. "I was very dedicated and devoted to Janet, and on top of my trade, but in her eyes that goldenness started to wear off. I realized that whatever I was, I wasn't enough for Janet. That hurt me a lot and broke my heart."


title: Tony Curtis

text: The studio he was under contract with, Universal-International, generally stayed out of their stars' love lives. However, when they chose to get married, studio executives spent three days trying to talk him out of it, telling him he would be "poisoning himself at the box office." They threatened "banishment" back to the Bronx and the end of his budding career. In response, Curtis and Leigh decided to defy the studio heads and instead eloped and were married by a local judge in Greenwich, Connecticut. Comedian and close friend Jerry Lewis was present as a witness.


title: Tony Curtis

text: The couple divorced in 1962, and the following year Curtis married Christine Kaufmann, the 18-year-old German co-star of his latest film, "Taras Bulba." He stated that his marriage with Leigh had effectively ended "a year earlier". Curtis and Kaufmann had two daughters, Alexandra (born July 19, 1964) and Allegra (born July 11, 1966). They divorced in 1968. Kaufmann resumed her career, which she had interrupted during her marriage.


title: Tony Curtis

text: On April 20, 1968, Curtis married Leslie Allen, with whom he had two sons: Nicholas Bernard (December 31, 1970 – July 2, 1994) and Benjamin Curtis (born May 2, 1973). The couple divorced in 1982.


title: Tony Curtis

text: The following year, on February 28, 1993, he married Lisa Deutsch. They divorced only a year later in 1994.


title: Tony Curtis

text: His sixth and last wife, Jill Vandenberg, was 45 years his junior. They met in a restaurant in 1993 and married on November 6, 1998. "The age gap doesn't bother us. We laugh a lot. My body is functioning and everything is good. She's the sexiest woman I've ever known. We don't think about time. I don't use Viagra either. There are 50 ways to please your lover."


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 1994, his son Nicholas died of a heroin overdose at the age of 23. After his son's death, Curtis remarked that it was "a terrible thing when a father loses his son."


title: Tony Curtis

text: According to the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette", Curtis, who had a problem with alcoholism and drug abuse, went through the treatment center of the Betty Ford Clinic in the mid-1980s, which was successful for him.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Beginning in 1990, Curtis and his daughter Jamie Lee Curtis took a renewed interest in their family's Hungarian Jewish heritage, and helped finance the rebuilding of the Great Synagogue in Budapest, Hungary. The largest synagogue in Europe today, it was originally built in 1859 and suffered damage during World War II. In 1998, he also founded the Emanuel Foundation for Hungarian Culture, and served as honorary chairman. The organization works for the restoration and preservation of synagogues and the 1300 Jewish cemeteries in Hungary and is dedicated to the 600,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust in Hungary and lands occupied by the Hungarian Army. Curtis also helped promote Hungary's national image in commercials.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 1965, Tony Curtis was animated in an episode of "The Flintstones"; he also voiced his character Stoney Curtis.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 1994, a mural featuring his likeness, painted by the artist George Sportelli, was unveiled on the Sunset Boulevard overpass of the Hollywood Freeway Highway 101 in Los Angeles. The mural was relocated to Hollywood Boulevard and Bronson Avenue in September 2011. His face is featured among the celebrities on the cover of the "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" album by The Beatles.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Also in 1994, the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation awarded its Lone Sailor Award for his naval service and his subsequent acting career.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 2004, he was inducted into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Hall of Fame. A street is named after him in the Sun City Anthem development of his adopted hometown, Henderson, Nevada.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 2005, Curtis was criticized after he stated that he would refuse to watch Brokeback Mountain. He additionally stated that John Wayne would not have approved of a film about gay cowboys.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 2008, he was featured in the documentary "The Jill & Tony Curtis Story" about his efforts with his wife to rescue horses from slaughterhouses.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In October 2008, Curtis's autobiography "American Prince: A Memoir", was published. In it, he describes his encounters with other Hollywood legends of the time including Frank Sinatra and James Dean, as well as his hard-knock childhood and path to success. It was followed by the publication of his next book, "The Making of Some Like it Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie" (2009). Curtis shared his memories of the making of the movie, in particular about Marilyn Monroe, whose antics and attitude on the set made everyone miserable.


title: Tony Curtis

text: On May 22, 2009, Curtis apologized to the BBC radio audience after he used three profanities in a six-minute interview with BBC presenter William Crawley. The presenter also apologized to the audience for Curtis's "Hollywood realism." Curtis explained that he thought the interview was being taped, when it was in fact live.


title: Tony Curtis

text: In 1974, Curtis developed a heavy cocaine addiction while filming "Lepke", at a time when his stardom had declined considerably and he was being offered few film roles. In 1984, Curtis was rushed to the hospital suffering from advanced cirrhosis as a result of his alcoholism and cocaine addiction. He then entered the Betty Ford Clinic and vowed to overcome his various illnesses. He underwent heart bypass surgery in 1994, after suffering a heart attack.


title: Tony Curtis

text: On July 8, 2010, Curtis, who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was hospitalized in Las Vegas after suffering an asthma attack during a book-signing engagement in Henderson, Nevada, where he lived.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Curtis died at his Henderson home on September 29, 2010, of cardiac arrest. A few days beforehand he had met photographer Andy Gotts for a photo-shoot at his home, saying: "I'm not in a good way at the moment but can I ask you one thing? Can you make me look like an icon just one more time?" He left behind five children and seven grandchildren. His widow Jill told the press that Curtis had suffered from various lung problems for years as a result of cigarette smoking, although he had quit smoking about 30 years earlier. In fact, during the 1960s Curtis served as the president of the American 'I Quit Smoking' Club. In a release to the Associated Press, his daughter, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, said:


title: Tony Curtis

text: My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages. He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and in-laws who were devoted to him. He also leaves behind fans all over the world. He will be greatly missed.


title: Tony Curtis

text: His remains were interred at Palm Memorial Park Cemetery in Henderson, Nevada, on October 4, 2010. The service was attended by daughters Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis; as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rich Little and Vera Goulet. Investor Kirk Kerkorian, actor Kirk Douglas, and singer Phyllis McGuire were among the honorary pallbearers.


title: Tony Curtis

text: Five months before his death he rewrote his will, naming all his children and intentionally disinheriting them with no explanation, then leaving his entire estate to his wife.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical drama film produced and directed by Robert Wise, and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, with Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr, and Eleanor Parker. The film is an adaptation of the 1959 stage musical of the same name, composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. The film's screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, adapted from the stage musical's book by Lindsay and Crouse. Based on the 1949 memoir "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers" by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young Austrian postulant in Salzburg, Austria, in 1938 who is sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. After bringing love and music into the lives of the family, she marries the officer and, together with the children, finds a way to survive the loss of their homeland to the Nazis.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: Filming took place from March to September 1964 in Los Angeles and Salzburg. "The Sound of Music" was released on March 2, 1965, in the United States, initially as a limited roadshow theatrical release. Although initial critical response to the film was mixed, it was a major commercial success, becoming the number one box office film after four weeks, and the highest-grossing film of 1965. By November 1966, "The Sound of Music" had become the highest-grossing film of all-time—surpassing "Gone with the Wind"—and held that distinction for five years. The film was just as popular throughout the world, breaking previous box-office records in twenty-nine countries. Following an initial theatrical release that lasted four and a half years, and two successful re-releases, the film sold 283 million admissions worldwide and earned a total worldwide gross of $286million.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: "The Sound of Music" received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, Wise's second pair of both awards, the first being from the 1961 film "West Side Story". The film also received two Golden Globe Awards, for Best Motion Picture and Best Actress, the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical. In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) listed "The Sound of Music" as the fifty-fifth greatest American film of all time, and the fourth greatest film musical. In 2001, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: Maria is a free-spirited young Austrian woman studying to become a nun at Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg in 1938. Her youthful enthusiasm and lack of discipline cause some concern. Mother Abbess sends Maria to the villa of retired naval officer Captain Georg von Trapp to be governess to his seven children—Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. The Captain has been raising his children alone using strict military discipline following the death of his wife. Although the children misbehave at first, Maria responds with kindness and patience, and soon the children come to trust and respect her.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: While the Captain is away in Vienna, Maria makes play clothes for the children from drapes that are to be changed. She takes them around Salzburg and the mountains while teaching them how to sing. When the Captain returns to the villa with Baroness Elsa Schraeder, a wealthy socialite, and their mutual friend Max Detweiler, they are greeted by Maria and the children returning from a boat ride on the lake that concludes when their boat overturns. Displeased by his children's clothes and activities and Maria's impassioned appeal that he get closer to his children, the Captain attempts to fire Maria. However, he hears singing coming from inside the house and is astonished to see his children singing for the Baroness. Filled with emotion, the Captain joins his children, singing for the first time in years. The Captain apologizes to Maria and asks her to stay.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: Impressed by the children's singing, Max proposes he enter them in the upcoming Salzburg Festival, but the Captain disapproves of letting his children to sing in public. During a grand party at the villa, where guests in formal attire waltz in the ballroom, Maria and the children look on from the garden terrace. When the Captain notices Maria teaching Kurt the traditional "Ländler" folk dance, he steps in and partners Maria in a graceful performance, culminating in a close embrace. Confused about her feelings, Maria blushes and breaks away. Later, the Baroness, who noticed the Captain's attraction to Maria, hides her jealousy by indirectly convincing Maria that she must return to the abbey.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: However, Mother Abbess learns that Maria has stayed in seclusion to avoid her feelings for the Captain, so she encourages her to return to the villa to look for her purpose in life. When Maria returns to the villa, she learns about the Captain's engagement to the Baroness and agrees to stay until they find a replacement governess. However, the Baroness learns that that Captain's feelings for Maria haven't changed, so she peacefully calls off the engagement and returns to Vienna while encouraging the Captain to express his feelings for Maria, who marries him.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: While the couple are on their honeymoon, Max enters the children in the Salzburg Festival against their father's wishes. Having learned that Austria has been annexed by the Third Reich, the couple return to their home, where Captain receives a telegram, ordering him to report to the German Naval base at Bremerhaven to accept a commission in the Kriegsmarine. Strongly opposed to the Nazis, the Captain tells his family they must leave Austria immediately.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: That night, the von Trapp family attempt to flee to Switzerland, but they are stopped by a group of Brownshirts, led by the "Gauleiter" Hans Zeller, waiting outside the villa. To cover his family's tracks, the Captain maintains they are headed to the Salzburg Festival to perform. Zeller insists on escorting them to the festival, after which his men will accompany the Captain to Bremerhaven.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: Later that night at the festival, during their final number, the von Trapp family slips away and seeks shelter at the abbey, where Mother Abbess hides them in the cemetery crypt. Zeller and his men soon arrive and search the abbey, but the family is able to escape using the caretaker's car. When they attempt to pursue, they discover their cars will not start, as two of the nuns have sabotaged their engines. The next morning, after driving to the Swiss border, the von Trapp family make their way on foot across the frontier into Switzerland to safety and freedom.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: The real Maria von Trapp has a brief uncredited cameo as a passerby, alongside her children Rosmarie and Werner von Trapp during "I Have Confidence".


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: "The Sound of Music" story is based on Maria von Trapp's memoir, "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers", published in 1949 to help promote her family's singing group following the death of her husband Georg in 1947. Hollywood producers expressed interest in purchasing the title only, but Maria refused, wanting her entire story to be told. In 1956, German producer Wolfgang Liebeneiner purchased the film rights for $9,000 (), hired George Hurdalek and Herbert Reinecker to write the screenplay, and Franz Grothe to supervise the soundtrack, which consisted of traditional Austrian folk songs. "The Trapp Family" was released in West Germany on October 9, 1956, and became a major success. Two years later, Liebeneiner directed a sequel, "The Trapp Family in America", and the two pictures became the most successful films in West Germany during the post-war years. Their popularity extended throughout Europe and South America.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: In 1956, Paramount Pictures purchased the United States film rights, intending to produce an English-language version with Audrey Hepburn as Maria. The studio eventually dropped its option, but one of its directors, Vincent J. Donehue, proposed the story as a stage musical for Mary Martin. Producers Richard Halliday and Leland Heyward secured the rights and hired playwrights Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, who had won the Pulitzer Prize for "State of the Union". They approached Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to compose one song for the musical, but the composers felt the two styles—traditional Austrian folk songs and their composition—would not work together. They offered to write a completely new score for the entire production if the producers were willing to wait while they completed work on "Flower Drum Song". The producers quickly responded that they would wait as long as necessary. "The Sound of Music" stage musical opened on November 16, 1959, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City and ran on Broadway for 1,443 performances, winning six Tony Awards, including Best Musical. In June 1960, Twentieth Century-Fox purchased the film adaptation rights to the stage musical for $1.25 million () against ten percent of the gross.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: In December 1962, 20th Century Fox president Richard D. Zanuck hired Ernest Lehman to write the screenplay for the film adaptation of the stage musical. Lehman reviewed the original script for the stage musical, rearranged the sequence of songs, and began transforming a work designed for the stage into a film that could use the camera to emphasize action and mood and open the story up to the beautiful locations of Salzburg and the Austrian Alps. The "Do-Re-Mi" sequence in the play, for example, was originally a stagnant number; Lehman transformed it into a lively montage showing some of the beautiful sites of Salzburg, as well as showing Maria and the children growing closer over time. Lehman also eliminated two songs, "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way to Stop It", sung by the characters of Elsa and Max. In January 1963, he saw the Fox English-dubbed version of the two German films. Not especially impressed, he decided to use the stage musical and Maria's memoir for most of his source material. While Lehman was developing the screenplay, he and Zanuck began looking for a director. Their first choice was Robert Wise, with whom Lehman had worked on the film adaptation of "West Side Story", but Wise was busy preparing work for another film, "The Sand Pebbles". Other directors were approached and turned down the offer, including Stanley Donen, Vincent J. Donehue, George Roy Hill, and Gene Kelly.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: In January 1963, Lehman invited one of his favorite directors, William Wyler, to travel to New York City with him to see the Broadway musical. After seeing the show, Wyler said he hated it, but after two weeks of Lehman's persuasion, Wyler reluctantly agreed to direct and produce the film. After hiring musical supervisor Roger Edens, Wyler, Lehman, and Edens traveled to Salzburg to scout filming locations. In two weeks they managed to see approximately seventy-five locations—an experience that helped Lehman conceptualize several important sequences. During that trip, Lehman began to have reservations about Wyler's commitment to the project and communicated this to Zanuck, who instructed the writer to finalize the first draft of the screenplay as quickly as possible. Lehman completed the first draft on September 10, 1963, and sent it to Wyler, who had no suggestions or changes to add. At that time, Lehman also secretly gave a copy of the script to the agent of Robert Wise, whom Lehman still wanted as the director. Later that month, Wyler's agent approached Zanuck asking that production on the film be delayed so Wyler could direct "The Collector". Zanuck told him to tell Wyler to make the other film, and that they would move ahead on schedule with another director, ending Wyler's participation.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: Meanwhile, Wise, whose film "The Sand Pebbles" had been postponed, read Lehman's first draft, was impressed by what he read, and agreed to direct the film, joining the picture in October 1963, and flew to Salzburg with associate producer Saul Chaplin and members of his production team to scout filming locations, including many that Wyler had identified. When he returned, Wise began working on the script. Wise shared Lehman's vision of the film being centered on the music, and the changes he made were consistent with the writer's approach—mainly reducing the amount of sweetness and sentimentality found in the stage musical. He had reservations about Lehman's opening aerial sequence because "West Side Story," whose screenplay Lehman had also written, had used a similar opening sequence, but he was unable to think of a better one and decided to keep Lehman's. Other changes included replacing "An Ordinary Couple" with a more romantic number, and a new song for Maria's departure from the abbey—Rodgers provided "Something Good" and "I Have Confidence", especially for the film. Lehman completed the second draft on December 20, 1963, but additional changes would be made based on input from Maria von Trapp and Christopher Plummer about the character of the Captain. Plummer especially helped change a character lacking substance into a stronger, more forceful complex figure with a wry sense of humor and a darker edge. Lehman completed his final draft on March 20, 1964.


title: The Sound of Music (film)

text: Lehman's first and only choice for Maria was Julie Andrews. When Wise joined the project, he made a list of his choices for the role, which included Andrews as his first choice, Grace Kelly, and Shirley Jones. Wise and Lehman went to Disney Studios to view footage from "Mary Poppins", which was not yet released. A few minutes into the film, Wise told Lehman, "Let's go sign this girl before somebody else sees this film and grabs her!" Andrews had some reservations—mainly about the amount of sweetness in the theatrical version—but when she learned that her concerns were shared by Wise and Lehman and what their vision was, she signed a contract with Fox to star in "The Sound of Music" and one other film for $225,000 (). Wise had a more difficult time casting the role of the Captain. A number of actors were considered for the part, including Bing Crosby, Yul Brynner, Sean Connery, and Richard Burton. Wise had seen Christopher Plummer on Broadway and wanted him for the role, but the stage actor turned down the offer several times. Wise flew to London to meet with Plummer and explained his concept of the film; the actor accepted after being assured that he could work with Lehman to improve the character.