title: Alyssa Milano

text: In June 2013, she played Savannah Davis in ABC drama series "Mistresses", which is about the scandalous lives of four girlfriends, but she left the show after season two, due to conflict between filming location and family issue. She signed on as host and judge "" beginning with season three. On March 2, 2015, Milano was a guest host on "The Talk". In September 2015, Milano began to make appearances as a brand ambassador for the preschool television channel Sprout, being billed as the network's "mom-bassador".


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In 2017 and 2018, Milano joined the cast of two Netflix comedy series: "" and "Insatiable". In 2018 she was cast in the lead role in "Tempting Fate", based on the best-selling book by Jane Green.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In 2019, she released a children's book "Hope: Project Middle School Book" which is part of her 'Hope' book series which she co-authors with Debbie Rigaud.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: Also in 2019, Milano began hosting the podcast "Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry". The podcast deals with social and political commentary and frequently features actors, activists, and political luminaries.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In 2020, Milano was a recurring star on the Quibi comedy "The Now". In 2021, Milano was cast to star in the Netflix film adaptation of Nora Roberts' novel "Brazen Virtue".


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In October 2021, Milano's book "Sorry Not Sorry" was released. It contains 32 essays describing her activism and thoughts on current political and social issues. On October 29, 2021, she signed a first-look production deal with A&E Studios. She also signed a deal with the United Talent Agency (UTA) more recently, on December 13, 2021.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: She has appeared on the cover of numerous magazines, including "Cosmopolitan", "Stuff", "Seventeen", "Cleo", "Woman's World", "Veronica", "Maxim" and "FHM". She has appeared in television commercials for Wen, Candies, Veet, Hi-C and Atkins diet. She was a spokesmodel for Sheer Cover cosmetics.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In the late 1980s, Milano contacted Ryan White, a preteen boy ostracized for having AIDS, and a fan of hers. She attended a party for him where she sat with him for six hours making friendship bracelets. They appeared together on "The Phil Donahue Show", where Milano kissed White to emphasize that people do not catch the disease through casual contact.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In October 2004, Milano participated in UNICEF's "Trick or Treat" campaign as the national spokesperson. She raised approximately US$50,000 for South African women and children with AIDS by selling her own and schools' photo work.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In support of PETA, she appeared in a 2007 advertisement for them, advocating vegetarianism, in a dress made entirely of vegetables.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In June 2007, The Sabin Vaccine Institute, named Milano a Founding Ambassador for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, an alliance formed to advocate and mobilize resources in the fight to control neglected tropical diseases, to which Milano donated US$250,000. She is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the United States of America, Her field work for the organization has included a 2004 trip to Angola to speak with HIV-positive women and people disfigured by land mines during the country's civil war; a trip to India to meet displaced mothers living in squalor following the 2004 tsunami; and a 2010 trip to the settlement of Kolonia in western Kosovo to witness impoverished living conditions. Milano wrote on her blog that the latter trip was "the hardest experience I've had on a field visit", and described a waste dump close to the settlement where children spent time looking for metal to sell or scavenging for food.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: For her 37th birthday, December 19, 2009, Milano ran an online fundraising campaign for . Her original goal was to raise US$25,000, but a donation from her husband led to a total of over US$75,000 on December 18. The fundraiser ran until December 26. In September 2013, Milano released a parody of a celebrity sex tape on Funny or Die that drew attention to the Syrian civil war.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In 2014, Milano, with the South Korean rescue group," CARE", and "The Fuzzy Pet Foundation" in Santa Monica, helped rescue a South Korean Jindo mix dog, found covered in mange, chained, and raised for dog-meat.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In 2015, Milano endorsed Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. In 2016, after the Democratic Party presidential primaries, she expressed support for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. She was also involved in get-out-the-vote efforts for Rob Quist.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: On October 15, 2017, Milano posted the message that re-launched what is known as the #MeToo movement, which was started in 2006 by Tarana Burke. According to Milano, a friend suggested that she post a message on her Twitter account encouraging survivors of sexual harassment and assault to post #metoo as a status update. This was to gauge the widespread problem of sexual misconduct. She was inspired to bring awareness to the commonality of sex crimes among women in the wake of Harvey Weinstein's expulsion from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for sex crimes against women in the film industry. Milano emphasized that the basis of her hashtag was to create a platform where women had an "opportunity without having to go into detail about their stories if they did not want to".


title: Alyssa Milano

text: Milano phone banked, a political campaign strategy to collect voter data and get out the vote, with Piper Perabo and drove people to the polls for the United States Senate special election in Alabama on December 12, 2017, to vote for Democratic candidate Doug Jones.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: Milano, with actor Christopher Gorham, drove voters to the polls during early voting and on March 27, 2017, for Georgia's 6th congressional district 2017 special election for Jon Ossoff, and she later posted photos of herself with the voters on Instagram. Milano and Gorham had been in the area for the pilot of "Insatiable".


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In 2018, she was announced as a co-chair of the Health Care Voter campaign. She wrote an op-ed in "Time" on why health care would decide her vote in 2018. In July 2018, and again in December 2020, Milano encouraged Twitter users to seek out VoteRiders to help eliminate confusion about voter ID laws.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: Following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting Milano co-Founded #NoRA, a coalition of artists, activist, and survivors of gun violence in an effort to reduce the influence of the National Rifle Association in American government.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: Milano helped raise money for Richard Dien Winfield, a Democrat in Georgia's 2018 10th congressional district race.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: Milano, who spoke at the 2018 Women's March, refused to participate in 2019, citing the failure of 2019 Women's March leaders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour to condemn the homophobia, antisemitism, and transphobia of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. In 2018, she was selected as one of the "Silence Breakers", who were picked as "Time" Person of the Year.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In May 2019, Milano advocated celibacy in the form of a sex strike in retaliation of a recently passed abortion law in the U.S. state of Georgia.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In September 2019, Milano met with Ted Cruz and Fred Guttenberg to discuss gun violence. Guttenberg said this was "a really important day."


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In March 2020, Milano endorsed former US vice president Joe Biden for president of the United States. She declined to withdraw her endorsement of Biden despite a sexual assault allegation against him. On April 27, Milano tweeted that she was "aware of the new developments in Tara Reade's accusation against Joe Biden. I want Tara, like every other survivor, to have the space to be heard and seen without being used as fodder. I hear and see you, Tara." This was after criticism of Milano's support for Biden where she appeared to backtrack on her previous stance for believing women. On April 28, in an op-ed for "Deadline Hollywood", Milano reiterated her support for Biden and considered "Believing women was never about 'Believe all women no matter what they say,' it was about changing the culture of NOT believing women by default."


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In November 2022, Milano announced via Twitter that she had exchanged her Tesla for a Volkswagen electric vehicle.  She declared, "I gave back my Tesla, I bought the VW ev. I love it. I'm not sure how advertisers can buy space on Twitter. Publicly traded company's products being pushed in alignment with hate and white supremacy doesn't seem to be a winning business model."  Critics were quick to point out Volkswagen’s past relationship with the Nazi Party which founded the then state owned company in 1937.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: Milano was involved with actor Corey Haim from 1987 to 1990. Milano and her parents, together with his manager at the time, unsuccessfully tried to get Haim help for his addiction. In 1993, she became engaged to actor Scott Wolf, but they broke off their engagement the following year. She later revealed in August 2019 that she had undergone two abortions while in a relationship with Wolf.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: On January 1, 1999, Milano married singer Cinjun Tate. They separated on November 20, 1999, and were divorced on December 1, 1999.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In a 2004 interview, Milano explained how she deals with her dyslexia: "I've stumbled over words while reading from teleprompters. Sir John Gielgud, whom I worked with on "The Canterville Ghost" years ago, gave me great advice. When I asked how he memorized his monologues, he said, 'I write them down.' I use that method to this day. It not only familiarizes me with the words, it makes them my own."


title: Alyssa Milano

text: After a year of dating, Milano became engaged to CAA agent David Bugliari in December 2008. They were married at Bugliari's family home in New Jersey on August 15, 2009. They had a son on August 31, 2011, and a daughter on September 4, 2014.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In 2015, Milano sold her condominium in West Hollywood and moved to Bell Canyon, California, where she owns land and has nine horses, eight chickens, two rabbits, and five dogs.


title: Alyssa Milano

text: In 2017, Milano's $10 million lawsuit against her business manager resulted in a cross-complaint. In 2021 she was a passenger in a car crash. The car she was in was being driven by her uncle who had a medical condition. The car veered into another lane and crashed.


title: Gangubai Kothewali

text: Gangubai Harjeevandas, better known as Gangubai Kothewali or Gangubai Kathiawadi, was an Indian social activist, prostitute and madam of a brothel in the Kamathipura area of Mumbai during the 1960s. Gangubai did a lot of work for sex-workers and for the well-being of orphans. She gradually ended up operating her own brothel and is known to also have lobbied for the rights of commercial sex workers.


title: Gangubai Kothewali

text: She was sold into prostitution at an early age by her suitor, Ramnik Lal, after running away from home to Bombay. She came to be known as the "Madam of Kamathipura" for being an influential pimp in the city with underworld connections, peddling drugs. Later in life (presumably between 1947–64), she met Jawaharlal Nehru to discuss the plight of sex workers and improve their living conditions. But we have no solid proof for the story, as the tamil Journalist Pamban Mu Prasanth wrote in his article in BBC Tamil.


title: Gangubai Kothewali

text: "Mafia Queens of Mumbai" (2011) by Hussain Zaidi contains information on the lives of thirteen women who influenced Mumbai. In it, Zaidi also gives information about Gangubai. According to this, Gangubai was from a highly educated family and was obsessed with working in films and was a fan of Dev Anand. Gangubai, 16, and her husband Ramnik Lal, 28, fled to Mumbai and got married. Within a few days of the marriage, her husband sold her in a kuntankhana (brothel) for . Reluctantly, Gangubai started working as a prostitute. In a short time, Gangubai became the head of some kuntankhanas. A goon named Shaukat Khan Pathan started exploiting her financially and physically. Gangubai went to the then underworld don Karim Lala to complain about Pathan. Lala assured her of help and was tied a rakhi in return. After this, Shaukat Khan was warned and roughed-up by Lala.


title: Gangubai Kothewali

text: Since then, Gangubai's repute as Karim Lala's supposed sister grew during the 1960s. St. Anthony's Girls' High School, which was established in Kamathipura in 1922, started a campaign to clean up the area of "bad influence". This led to an order to move the brothel. Gangubai vehemently opposed this and effectively presented her case to the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and as a result, the brothel was not moved.


title: Gangubai Kothewali

text: During this time Gangubai was also working for various issues of orphans and women in the prostitution business. Gangubai counseled and sent back many young women, who had fled their homes for working in films and got stuck in prostitution. For this reason, everyone used to respectfully call Gangubai Ganga "Maa" (mother). After her death, her photographs and statues were erected in brothels of the area.


title: Gangubai Kothewali

text: Her life was documented in the 2011 book, "Mafia Queens of Mumbai", by writer and investigative journalist Hussain Zaidi.


title: Gangubai Kothewali

text: The 2022 Indian Hindi-language film "Gangubai Kathiawadi" is based on the life of Gangubai Kothewali and a chapter of Zaidi's book, and directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali with actress Alia Bhatt playing the titular character.


title: John Belushi

text: John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" ("SNL"). Throughout his career, Belushi had a personal and artistic partnership with his fellow "SNL" star Dan Aykroyd, whom he met while they were both working at Chicago's Second City comedy club.


title: John Belushi

text: Born in Chicago to Albanian-American parents, Belushi started his own comedy troupe with Tino Insana and Steve Beshekas, called "The West Compass Trio". After being discovered by Bernard Sahlins, he performed with The Second City and met Aykroyd, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Harold Ramis. In 1975, Chevy Chase and Michael O'Donoghue recommended Belushi to "SNL" creator and showrunner Lorne Michaels, who accepted him as a new cast member of the show after an audition. Belushi developed a series of characters on the show that reached great success, including his performances as Henry Kissinger and Ludwig van Beethoven. After his breakout film role as Bluto in "National Lampoon's Animal House" (1978), Belushi appeared in films such as "1941", "The Blues Brothers", and "Neighbors". He also pursued interests in music, creating with Aykroyd, Lou Marini, Tom Malone, Steve Cropper, Donald "Duck" Dunn, and Paul Shaffer, The Blues Brothers, which led to the successful film of the same name.


title: John Belushi

text: In his personal life, Belushi struggled with heavy drug abuse that threatened his comedy career; more than once, he was dismissed and rehired at "SNL" due to his behavior. In 1982, Belushi died from combined drug intoxication possibly caused by drug dealer Cathy Smith, who injected him with a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a speedball at the Chateau Marmont hotel in West Hollywood, California. He was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.


title: John Belushi

text: John Adam Belushi was born to Agnes Demetri ( Samaras) Belushi and Adam Anastos Belushi in Humboldt Park, a neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. Agnes, a pharmacy worker, was born in Ohio to Albanian immigrants from Korçë, while Adam was an Albanian immigrant from Qytezë, who owned the Fair Oaks restaurant on North Avenue in Chicago, and later established a restaurant in the Chicago suburb of Wheaton, Illinois.


title: John Belushi

text: Belushi was raised in Wheaton along with his three siblings - younger brothers Billy and Jim, and sister Marian. He was Eastern Orthodox Christian, attending the Albanian Orthodox Church. He was educated at Wheaton Central High School, where he met his future wife, Judith Jacklin.


title: John Belushi

text: In 1965, Belushi formed a band, the Ravens, together with four fellow high-school students (Dick Blasucci, Michael Blasucci, Tony Pavilonis, and Phil Special). They recorded one single, "Listen to Me Now/Jolly Green Giant". Belushi played drums and sang vocals. The record was not successful, and the band broke up when he enrolled at the College of DuPage. He also attended the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater for a year, which inspired the famous "Animal House" scene of D-Day driving a motorcycle up the stairs. Belushi acquired the iconic "College" crewneck, worn by his character in "Animal House", at a print shop when visiting his brother Jim, who attended Southern Illinois University.


title: John Belushi

text: Belushi started his own comedy troupe in Chicago, the West Compass Trio (named after the improvisational cabaret revue Compass Players active from 1955 to 1958 in Chicago), with Tino Insana and Steve Beshekas. Their success piqued the interest of Bernard Sahlins, the founder of The Second City improvised comedy enterprise, who went to see them performing in 1971, and asked Belushi to join the cast. At Second City, Belushi met and began working with Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty and Brian Doyle-Murray.


title: John Belushi

text: In 1972, Belushi was offered a role, together with Chevy Chase and Christopher Guest, in "National Lampoon Lemmings", a parody of Woodstock, which played off-Broadway in 1972. Belushi and Jacklin moved to New York City]. There, Belushi started working as a writer, director, and actor for "The National Lampoon Radio Hour", a comedy radio show which was created, produced, and written by staff from "National Lampoon" magazine. Cast members on the shows produced by Belushi included Ramis, Flaherty, Guest, Brian Doyle Murray, his brother Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, and Richard Belzer. During a trip to Toronto to check out the local Second City cast in 1974, he met Dan Aykroyd. Jacklin became an associate producer for the show, and Belushi and she were married on December 31, 1976. "The National Lampoon Show" toured the country in 1974; it was produced by Ivan Reitman. "Lampoon" owner Matty Simmons was offered a TV show on NBC at this time, but passed.


title: John Belushi

text: In 1975, Chase and writer Michael O'Donoghue recommended Belushi to Lorne Michaels as a potential member for a television show Michaels was about to produce for NBC called "NBC's Saturday Night", later "Saturday Night Live" ("SNL"). Michaels was initially undecided, as he was not sure if Belushi's physical humor would fit with what he was envisioning, but he changed his mind after giving Belushi an audition.


title: John Belushi

text: Over his four-year tenure at "SNL", Belushi developed a series of successful characters, including the belligerent Samurai Futaba; Henry Kissinger; Ludwig van Beethoven; the Greek owner (Pete Dionisopoulos) of the Olympia Café; Captain James T. Kirk; and a contributor of furious opinion pieces on "Weekend Update", during which he coined his catchphrase, "But N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!" With Aykroyd, Belushi created Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers. Originally intended to warm up the studio audience before broadcasts of "SNL", the Blues Brothers were eventually featured as musical guests. Belushi also reprised his Lemmings imitation of Joe Cocker. Cocker himself joined Belushi in 1976 to sing "Feelin' Alright?" together.


title: John Belushi

text: Like many other "SNL" cast members and writers, Belushi began experimenting heavily with drugs and attended concerts with many of the popular artists of the era including Fleetwood Mac, Meat Loaf, KISS, The Dead Boys, Warren Zevon, The Grateful Dead, and The Allman Brothers. In 1990, Michaels remembered him as loyal to the writers and a team player, but he was fired and rehired at "SNL" more than once owing to behavior stemming from his drug abuse.


title: John Belushi

text: In "Rolling Stone"s February 2015 appraisal of all 141 "SNL" cast members to that time, Belushi received the top ranking. "Belushi was the 'live' in "Saturday Night Live"", they wrote, "the one who made the show happen on the edge ... Nobody embodied the highs and lows of "SNL" like Belushi."


title: John Belushi

text: In 1978, Belushi performed in the films "Old Boyfriends" (directed by Joan Tewkesbury), "Goin' South" (directed by Jack Nicholson), and "National Lampoon's Animal House" (directed by John Landis). Upon its initial release, "Animal House" received generally mixed reviews from critics, but "Time" magazine and Roger Ebert proclaimed it one of the year's best movies. Filmed for $2.8 million, it is one of the most profitable movies of all time, garnering an estimated gross of more than $141 million in the form of theatrical rentals and home video, not including merchandising. "Animal House", written by Doug Kenney, Harold Ramis, and Chris Miller, followed in the tradition of the Marx Brothers films that featured subversive and satirical plots that took on traditional institutions. Hollywood studios tried to copy the film's success without the satire, creating a string of "nerds vs. jocks" films in the 1980s with cheap sight gags involving nudity and gross-out humor. "Stripes" and "Meatballs", starring Bill Murray, followed the formula, as well, and even included a motivational speech in the last act, "a la" Belushi's character Bluto. Ivan Reitman produced both, as well as "Animal House".


title: John Belushi

text: Following the success of the Blues Brothers on "SNL", Belushi and Aykroyd, with the help of pianist-arranger Paul Shaffer, started assembling studio talents to form a proper band. These included "SNL" saxophonist "Blue" Lou Marini and trombonist-saxophonist Tom Malone, who had previously played in Blood, Sweat & Tears. At Shaffer's suggestion, guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, the powerhouse combo from Booker T and the M.G.'s, who played on dozens of hits from Memphis's Stax Records during the 1960s, were signed as well. In 1978, the Blues Brothers released their debut album, "Briefcase Full of Blues", with Atlantic Records. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and went double platinum. Two singles were released: "Rubber Biscuit", which reached number 37 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and "Soul Man", which reached number 14.


title: John Belushi

text: In 1979, Belushi left "SNL" with Aykroyd to film "The Blues Brothers", which conflicted with the shooting schedule of the show. Michaels also decided to leave at the end of his contract. NBC's pressure to use recurring characters was also a factor in their decision. Belushi and Aykroyd made two movies together after leaving: "Neighbors" (directed by John Avildsen), and most notably "The Blues Brothers" (directed by John Landis). Released in the U.S. on June 20, 1980, "The Blues Brothers" received generally positive reviews. It earned just under $5 million in its opening weekend, and went on to gross $115.2 million in theaters worldwide before its release on home video. The Blues Brothers band toured to promote the film, which led to a third album (and second live album), "Made in America", recorded at the Universal Amphitheatre in 1980. The track "Who's Making Love" peaked at number 39.


title: John Belushi

text: The only film Belushi made without Aykroyd following his departure from "SNL" was the romantic comedy "Continental Divide" (directed by Michael Apted). Released in September 1981, it starred Belushi as Chicago hometown hero writer Ernie Souchack (loosely based on newspaper columnist and long-time family friend Mike Royko), who gets an assignment researching a scientist (played by Blair Brown) who studies birds of prey in the remote Rocky Mountains.


title: John Belushi

text: By 1981, Belushi had become a fan and advocate of the punk rock band Fear after seeing them perform in several after-hours New York City bars, and brought them to Cherokee Studios to record songs for the soundtrack of "Neighbors". Blues Brother band member Tom Scott, along with producing partner and Cherokee owner Bruce Robb, initially helped with the session, but later pulled out due to conflicts with Belushi. The session was eventually produced by Cropper. The producers of "Neighbors" refused to use the song in the movie. Belushi, along with O'Donoghue and "SNL" writer Nelson Lyon, booked Fear to play "SNL"s Halloween broadcast on October 31, 1981; the telecast of the performance featured then-novel moshing and stage diving, and was cut short by NBC due to the band's profanity. The "New York Post" published an account of these and other sensationalistic details of the event the following day.


title: John Belushi

text: At the time of his death, Belushi was pursuing several movie projects, including an ABSCAM-related caper called "Moon Over Miami", to be directed by Louis Malle; and a diamond-smuggling caper called "Noble Rot" with Jay Sandrich, based on a script he adapted and rewrote with former "SNL" writer Don Novello. However, Paramount Studios offered to produce "Noble Rot" only if Belushi starred in "The Joy of Sex", which would have featured him in a diaper. Aykroyd advised him to turn down "The Joy of Sex" and return to the East Coast, where Aykroyd was writing "Ghostbusters". Belushi also talked about producing a drug trafficking film in a "High Times" tribute article from 1982: "Belushi wanted to give these daring captains courageous of consciousness the credit they deserved, he told me. He wanted to star in a major marijuana movie to be called "Kingpin". He wanted to play the title role."


title: John Belushi

text: Belushi filmed a "guest-star appearance" on an episode of the television series "Police Squad!" (1982) by the creators of "Airplane!". The opening of the show featured a running joke that featured a sight gag with the guest star dying right away. Belushi died shortly before the episode was to air, so the scene was cut and replaced by a segment with William Conrad.


title: John Belushi

text: Belushi had managed to refrain from drug use for a brief period during the production of "Continental Divide", but severely relapsed during the production of "Neighbors". Less than four months after the shoot, on March 4, 1982, Belushi visited the Los Angeles office of his long-time manager Bernie Brillstein and asked him for money. Brillstein declined, strongly suspecting that Belushi wanted money for drugs. Later that day, Belushi returned and again asked for money while Brillstein was in a meeting with someone. Brillstein was reluctant to rebuke Belushi in front of the other person and gave him the money. In the early morning hours of March 5, Belushi was visited separately by friends Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, as well as drug dealer Cathy Smith.


title: John Belushi

text: Around 12:00 pm PDT on Friday, March 5, 1982, Belushi's fitness trainer and occasional bodyguard Bill Wallace arrived at Belushi's bungalow at the Chateau Marmont hotel to deliver a typewriter and audiocassette recorder because Belushi had requested them the previous day. Wallace found Belushi dead, with no one else present in the bungalow. Neither law enforcement nor a representative of the coroner's office revealed any details for five days. On March 11, Los Angeles County coroner Thomas Noguchi announced that the cause of death was combined drug intoxication involving cocaine and heroin, a drug combination known as a speedball.


title: John Belushi

text: Belushi's death eventually was investigated by forensic pathologist Michael Baden, among others, and while the findings were disputed, it was officially ruled a drug-related accident.


title: John Belushi

text: Smith was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on March 5, 1982, because she was under suspicion for possession of narcotics, not because of Belushi's death. Later in 1982, "Rolling Stone" magazine described the circumstances of her arrest as follows: "On the afternoon of March 5th, Cathy Evelyn Smith had appeared driving the wrong way into the one-way exit of the Chateau Marmont Hotel on Sunset Strip behind the wheel of John Belushi's rented red Mercedes. ... At that moment, a hundred feet away, Belushi lay naked and dead on the floor of his $200-a-day bungalow. The police who had cordoned off the area were reflexively insisting it had been 'death from natural causes. The LAPD released Smith after questioning.


title: John Belushi

text: According to the transcript of Smith's police questioning on March 5, they did not ask where she got her drugs, leading to speculation that she was a confidential informant, that the police gave them to her, or that she was let go because her arrest had been the result of an LAPD sting operation gone bad.


title: John Belushi

text: In an interview with the "National Enquirer" in May 1982, Smith admitted that she had been with Belushi at the Chateau Marmont on the night of his death and had given him the fatal speedball shot. After the appearance of the "Enquirer" article, the case was reopened. Smith was arrested, extradited from Canada, and charged with first-degree murder. Her case was delayed by lawyers' negotiations for four years while she remained free, then she was convicted and incarcerated. A plea bargain reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter, and she served 15 months in prison.


title: John Belushi

text: In 1982, Belushi's widow Judith arranged for a traditional Orthodox Christian funeral that was conducted by an Albanian Orthodox priest. He was interred at Abel's Hill Cemetery in Chilmark, Massachusetts, on Martha's Vineyard. Belushi's tombstone has a skull and crossbones with the inscription, "I may be gone but Rock and Roll lives on." His body was removed and reburied in an unmarked grave nearby due to fans littering on his original grave. Belushi's mother's tombstone at Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois, has Belushi's name inscribed on it and thus serves as a cenotaph.


title: John Belushi

text: For years after his death, many people in the entertainment industry commented publicly on revelations about his substance abuse. Barbara Stanwyck, a much-older actress who had not worked with him, said in 1987, she did not feel sorry for him because he had chosen the lifestyle that led to his death. When author Boze Hadleigh asked Stanwyck to elaborate later in 1987, she replied, "What I said is on record. I stand by it." In 1988, a book by actress Elizabeth Taylor was published in which she referred to a 1978 "Weekend Update" segment in which Belushi had appeared in drag to ridicule her obesity in light of a then-current (1978) news report of her almost choking to death on a chicken bone at a public event: "How sad that that man went to such great lengths to satirize my excesses and then died of his own."


title: John Belushi

text: During the first live "SNL" episode following Belushi's death with host Robert Urich and musical guest Mink DeVille, airing live on March 20, 1982, cast member Brian Doyle-Murray gave a tribute to him. During the preproduction of "Ghostbusters", Reitman remarked that Slimer bore a resemblance to Belushi's character Bluto from "Animal House". Since then, Slimer has been described as "the ghost of John Belushi" by Aykroyd in many interviews.


title: John Belushi

text: Belushi's life was detailed in two books - the 1984 biography "Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi" by Bob Woodward, the accuracy of which has been questioned by journalists and by people close to Belushi, and the 1990 memoir "Samurai Widow" by his widow Judith. Woodward's book was adapted into a film of the same name in 1989, which was denounced by Aykroyd and Judith, and was given poor reviews by critics. Belushi's career and death were prominently featured in the 1999 memoir of his manager Bernie Brillstein, who wrote that he was haunted by the comedian's overdose and had since learned how to better deal with clients who abuse drugs or alcohol.


title: John Belushi

text: Eddie Money wrote "Passing by the Graveyard (Song for John B.)", from his 1982 album "No Control", in tribute to Belushi. The two became friends after Money was a musical guest on "SNL" during the show's third season. The thrash metal group Anthrax penned a song about Belushi on their 1987 album "Among the Living", titled "Efilnikufesin (N.F.L.)." Polish rock band Lady Pank recorded a song "John Belushi" for their 1988 album "Tacy sami", with references to his Albanian ancestry.


title: John Belushi

text: Belushi has been portrayed by actors Eric Siegel in "Gilda Radner: It's Always Something", Tyler Labine in "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy" (which also features his friendship with Robin Williams), Michael Chiklis in "Wired", and John Gemberling in "A Futile and Stupid Gesture". Chris Farley, who was heavily influenced by Belushi, died in 1997 at age 33 due to a drug overdose, which has fueled many comparisons between Belushi and Farley.


title: John Belushi

text: In 2004, Belushi was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star located at 6355 Hollywood Boulevard. In 2006, Biography Channel aired an episode of "Final 24", a documentary following Belushi during the last 24 hours leading to his death. Four years later, Biography aired a full biography documentation of Belushi's life. In 2015, Belushi was ranked by "Rolling Stone" as the greatest "SNL" cast member of all time.


title: John Belushi

text: Belushi's widow later remarried and is now Judith Jacklin Belushi Pisano. Co-biographer Tanner Colby and she produced "", a collection of first-person interviews and photographs of Belushi's life that was published in 2005.


title: John Belushi

text: According to "SNL" castmate Jane Curtin, who appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2011, Belushi was a misogynist who would deliberately sabotage the work of female writers and comics while working on the show: "So you'd go to a table read, and if a woman writer had written a piece for John, he would not read it in his full voice. He felt as though it was his duty to sabotage pieces written by women." "SNL" writer Anne Beatts suggested that because she was writing a book with his wife at the time, Belushi was frustrated with them spending more time on the book than with him. He complained to Michaels about Beatts and Rosie Shuster. Judith claims that Belushi was a "Women's Libber" and did not hate women.


title: Emma Mackey

text: Emma Margaret Marie Tachard-Mackey (born 4 January 1996) is a French-British actress. She had her breakthrough playing Maeve Wiley, a sardonic teenager, in the Netflix comedy-drama series "Sex Education" (2019–present), which earned her a British Academy Television Award nomination. She has since starred in the mystery film "Death on the Nile" (2022) and in the drama film "Emily" (2022). Her portrayal of writer Emily Brontë in the latter earned her a British Independent Film Award nomination.


title: Emma Mackey

text: Emma Margaret Marie Tachard-Mackey was born in Le Mans, the daughter of a French father and an English mother. Her father is a school headmaster. She grew up in Sablé-sur-Sarthe and received her "baccalauréat" in 2013 with High Honours in l'académie de Nantes, a French school district, subsequently moving to England to study English language and literature at the University of Leeds. She graduated in 2016. Mackey lives in London as a dual French-British citizen.


title: Emma Mackey

text: Mackey was cast in her first professional role with the Netflix comedy-drama series "Sex Education" as Maeve Wiley, an intelligent, quick-witted, business-savvy "bad girl" who convinces fellow student Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) to start an underground sex therapy business at their school. She stated that "For me, this is my first piece of work. ... It was—and still is—a really happy time." Mackey's work on the series has earned her acclaim. "The Hindustan Times" wrote "Emma Mackey, as Maeve, is a revelation; perhaps the best performance by a young British actress I’ve seen since I discovered Florence Pugh. She’s alluring yet distant, pragmatic yet emotional, whip-smart yet foolishly in love." For the role, she received a British Academy Television Award nomination in 2021, and won a National Comedy Award in 2022.


title: Emma Mackey

text: In 2021, Mackey led the independent romantic drama film "Eiffel", which premiered at the Alliance Française French Film Festival and has earned numerous international theatrical releases; it has grossed over $13 million worldwide. Review site DoItInParis stated that Mackey "radiates mischief in the boots of a rebellious and entire provincial bourgeoisie, a bit capricious but madly endearing." The following year, she starred in the mystery thriller film "Death on the Nile", a sequel to 2017's "Murder on the Orient Express". She was cast in 2019 in the supporting role of Jacqueline de Bellefort. The film earned generally positive reviews, and was one of the highest-grossing films of 2022.


title: Emma Mackey

text: Mackey had her first lead film role as the novelist Emily Brontë in the partly fictional 2022 film "Emily", focusing on Brontë's early life. She will next appear in "Barbie" (2023).


title: Claire Foy

text: Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix series "The Crown" (2016–2017) for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.


title: Claire Foy

text: Foy studied drama at Liverpool John Moores University and the Oxford School of Drama, then made her screen debut in the pilot episode of the supernatural comedy series "Being Human" (2008). Following her professional stage debut at the Royal National Theatre, she played the title role in the BBC One miniseries "Little Dorrit" (2008) and made her film debut in the American historical fantasy drama "Season of the Witch" (2011). Following leading roles in the television series "The Promise" (2011) and "Crossbones" (2014), Foy earned praise for portraying the ill-fated queen Anne Boleyn in the BBC miniseries "Wolf Hall" (2015), receiving a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress nomination.


title: Claire Foy

text: In 2018, she starred in Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller "Unsane" and portrayed Janet Shearon, wife of astronaut Neil Armstrong, in Damien Chazelle's biopic "First Man". For the latter she received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2021, she portrayed Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll in the Amazon Prime series "A Very British Scandal", and in 2022, she starred in the drama film "Women Talking".


title: Claire Foy

text: Claire Elizabeth Foy was born in Stockport on 16 April 1984, the youngest of three children. She has an older brother, Robert, and an older sister, Gemma. She has said that her mother, Caroline, comes from a "massive" Irish family; her maternal grandparents are from Dublin and Kildare. She grew up in Manchester and Leeds, and the family later moved to Longwick for her father's job as a Rank Xerox salesman. Her parents divorced when she was eight. She has a younger half-sister through her father's second marriage.


title: Claire Foy

text: Foy was educated at Aylesbury High School from the age of 12 and later studied drama at Liverpool John Moores University. She also took a one-year course at the Oxford School of Drama, graduating in 2007 and moving to the Peckham area of south London to share a house with five friends from drama school.


title: Claire Foy

text: While at the Oxford School of Drama, Foy appeared in the plays "Top Girls", "Watership Down", "Easy Virtue", and "Touched". After appearing on television, she made her professional stage debut in "DNA" and "The Miracle", two of a trio of single acts directed by Paul Miller at the Royal National Theatre in London (the third was "Baby Girl").


title: Claire Foy

text: Foy starred as the protagonist, Amy Dorrit, in the BBC series "Little Dorrit". She was nominated for an RTS Award. She went on to appear in the TV film "Going Postal" and the horror adventure film "Season of the Witch". Foy also starred in the BBC revival of "Upstairs Downstairs" as Lady Persephone, and co-starred in the Channel 4 serial "The Promise", broadcast in February 2011.


title: Claire Foy

text: Foy played a lead role, Helen, in the TV movie "The Night Watch", which was based on a Sarah Waters novel. She returned to the stage in February 2013 as Lady Macbeth, alongside James McAvoy in the title role, in "Macbeth" at the Trafalgar Studios.


title: Claire Foy

text: In 2015, Foy played the English queen Anne Boleyn in the six-part drama serial "Wolf Hall". Her performance was met with critical praise and compared to Geneviève Bujold's performance in "Anne of the Thousand Days". Foy was subsequently nominated for the 2016 British Academy Television Award for Best Actress.


title: Claire Foy

text: In 2016, Foy portrayed the young Queen Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's Netflix biographical drama series "The Crown". Her performance earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series twice, and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She was also nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress. In 2017, she reprised the role in the second season, before the role passed to actress Olivia Colman, who would portray the Queen in middle age, beginning in the third season. Also in 2017, Foy starred as Diana Cavendish in the biographical drama film "Breathe".


title: Claire Foy

text: In 2018, Foy starred in Steven Soderbergh's psychological thriller "Unsane", portrayed the vigilante Lisbeth Salander in the action-thriller "The Girl in the Spider's Web", and played Janet Shearon, wife of American astronaut Neil Armstrong, in Damien Chazelle's biopic "First Man". For the latter, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2020, Foy reprised the role of the young Queen Elizabeth II in the eighth episode of "The Crown"s fourth season. Her performance earned her the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.


title: Claire Foy

text: In 2021, Foy starred as Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll in the BBC production "A Very British Scandal".


title: Claire Foy

text: In October 2021, Foy was cast as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in the drama series "Doomsday Machine", based on the book "Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination" by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang.


title: Claire Foy

text: The limited series has landed at HBO for development with the network closing a deal on 8 February 2022, following a multiple-outlet bidding war. In November 2022, Foy reprised the role of the young Queen Elizabeth in the season five premiere of "The Crown".


title: Claire Foy

text: Foy married actor Stephen Campbell Moore in 2014. They have one child. They announced their separation in February 2018.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria ( ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With over 13 million inhabitants, it is second in population only to North Rhine-Westphalia, but due to its large size its population density is below the German average. Bavaria's main cities are Munich (its capital and largest city and also the third largest city in Germany), Nuremberg, and Augsburg.


title: Bavaria

text: The history of Bavaria includes its earliest settlement by Iron Age Celtic tribes, followed by the conquests of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC, when the territory was incorporated into the provinces of Raetia and Noricum. It became the Duchy of Bavaria (a stem duchy) in the 6th century AD following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. It was later incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, became an independent kingdom after 1806, joined the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 while retaining its title of kingdom, and finally became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the state's Catholic heritage and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes a language, cuisine, architecture, festivals and elements of Alpine symbolism. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, giving it a status as a wealthy German region.


title: Bavaria

text: The Bavarians emerged in a region north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts, which had been part of the Roman provinces of Raetia and Noricum.


title: Bavaria

text: The Bavarians spoke a Germanic dialect which developed into Old High German during the early Middle Ages, however, unlike other Germanic groups, they probably did not migrate from elsewhere when Western Roman influence collapsed.


title: Bavaria

text: Rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by the Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, Heruli. The name "Bavarian" ("Baiuvarii") means "Men of Baia" which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520.


title: Bavaria

text: A 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BC.


title: Bavaria

text: From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria, ending with Tassilo III who was deposed by Charlemagne.


title: Bavaria

text: Three early dukes are named in Frankish sources: Garibald I may have been appointed to the office by the Merovingian kings and married the Lombard princess Walderada when the church forbade her to King Chlothar I in 555. Their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords.


title: Bavaria

text: Garibald's successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the eastern frontier against the expansion of Slavs and Avars around 600. Tassilo's son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616.


title: Bavaria

text: After Garibald II, little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onward, he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and strengthen Christianity in his duchy. (It is unclear what Bavarian religious life consisted of before this time.)


title: Bavaria

text: His son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodo's death the duchy was divided among his sons, but reunited under his grandson Hugbert.


title: Bavaria

text: At Hugbert's death (735) the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighboring Alemannia (modern southwest Germany and northern Switzerland). Odilo issued a law code for Bavaria, completed the process of church organization in partnership with St. Boniface (739), and tried to intervene in Frankish succession disputes by fighting for the claims of the Carolingian Grifo. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748.


title: Bavaria

text: Tassilo III (b. 741 – d. after 796) succeeded his father at the age of eight after an unsuccessful attempt by Grifo to rule Bavaria. He initially ruled under Frankish oversight but began to function independently from 763 onward. He was particularly noted for founding new monasteries and for expanding eastwards, fighting Slavs in the eastern Alps and along the Danube and colonizing these lands.


title: Bavaria

text: After 781, however, his cousin Charlemagne began to pressure Tassilo to submit and finally deposed him in 788. The deposition was not entirely legitimate.


title: Bavaria

text: Dissenters attempted a coup against Charlemagne at Tassilo's old capital of Regensburg in 792, led by his own son Pépin the Hunchback. The king had to drag Tassilo out of imprisonment to formally renounce his rights and titles at the Assembly of Frankfurt in 794. This is the last appearance of Tassilo in the sources, and he probably died a monk. As all of his family were also forced into monasteries, this was the end of the Agilolfing dynasty.


title: Bavaria

text: For the next 400 years numerous families held the duchy, rarely for more than three generations. With the revolt of duke Henry the Quarrelsome in 976, Bavaria lost large territories in the south and south east.


title: Bavaria

text: The territory of "Ostarrichi" was elevated to a duchy in its own right and given to the Babenberger family. This event marks the founding of Austria. Later the counts of Tyrol next to other princes began to act more independently from the dukes of Bavaria, and the new Duchy of Merania was created from lordships once under the jurisdiction of the Duchy of Bavaria.


title: Bavaria

text: The last, and one of the most important, of the dukes of Bavaria was Henry the Lion of the house of Welf, founder of Munich, and "de facto" the second most powerful man in the empire as the ruler of two duchies. When in 1180, Henry the Lion was deposed as Duke of Saxony and Bavaria by his cousin, Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (a.k.a. "Barbarossa" for his red beard), Bavaria was awarded as fief to the Wittelsbach family, counts palatinate of Schyren ("Scheyern" in modern German). They ruled for 738 years, from 1180 to 1918. In 1180 however also Styria was separated from Bavaria. The Electorate of the Palatinate by Rhine ("Kurpfalz" in German) was also acquired by the House of Wittelsbach in 1214, which they would subsequently hold for six centuries.


title: Bavaria

text: The first of several divisions of the duchy of Bavaria occurred in 1255. With the extinction of the Hohenstaufen in 1268, Swabian territories were acquired by the Wittelsbach dukes. Emperor Louis the Bavarian acquired Brandenburg, Tyrol, Holland and Hainaut for his House but released the Upper Palatinate for the Palatinate branch of the Wittelsbach in 1329. That time also Salzburg finally became independent from the Duchy of Bavaria.


title: Bavaria

text: In the 14th and 15th centuries, upper and lower Bavaria were repeatedly subdivided. Four Duchies existed after the division of 1392: Bavaria-Straubing, Bavaria-Landshut, Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Bavaria-Munich. In 1506 with the Landshut War of Succession, the other parts of Bavaria were reunited, and Munich became the sole capital. The country became a center of the Jesuit-inspired Counter-Reformation.


title: Bavaria

text: In 1623 the Bavarian duke replaced his relative of the Palatinate branch, the Electorate of the Palatinate in the early days of the Thirty Years' War and acquired the powerful prince-electoral dignity in the Holy Roman Empire, determining its Emperor thence forward, as well as special legal status under the empire's laws.


title: Bavaria

text: During the early and mid-18th century the ambitions of the Bavarian prince electors led to several wars with Austria as well as occupations by Austria (War of the Spanish Succession, War of the Austrian Succession with the election of a Wittelsbach emperor instead of a Habsburg).


title: Bavaria

text: From 1777 onward, and after the younger Bavarian branch of the family had died out with elector Max III Joseph, Bavaria and the Electorate of the Palatinate were governed once again in personal union, now by the Palatinian lines.


title: Bavaria

text: The new state also comprised the Duchies of Jülich and Berg as these on their part were in personal union with the Palatinate.


title: Bavaria

text: When Napoleon abolished the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria became – by grace of Napoleon – a kingdom in 1806 due, in part, to the Confederation of the Rhine.


title: Bavaria

text: Its area doubled after the Duchy of Jülich was ceded to France, as the Electoral Palatinate was divided between France and the Grand Duchy of Baden. The Duchy of Berg was given to Jerome Bonaparte. Tyrol and Salzburg were temporarily reunited with Bavaria but finally ceded to Austria by the Congress of Vienna.


title: Bavaria

text: In return Bavaria was allowed to annex the modern-day region of Palatinate to the west of the Rhine and Franconia in 1815. Between 1799 and 1817, the leading minister, Count Montgelas, followed a strict policy of modernisation copying Napoleonic France; he laid the foundations of centralized administrative structures that survived the monarchy and, in part, have retained core validity through the 20st century.


title: Bavaria

text: In May 1808, a first constitution was passed by Maximilian I, being modernized in 1818. This second version established a bicameral Parliament with a House of Lords ("Kammer der Reichsräte") and a House of Commons ("Kammer der Abgeordneten"). That constitution was followed until the collapse of the monarchy at the end of World War I.


title: Bavaria

text: After the rise of Prussia to power in the early 18th century, Bavaria preserved its independence by playing off the rivalry of Prussia and Austria. Allied to Austria, it was defeated along with Austria in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War and was not incorporated into the North German Confederation of 1867, but the question of German unity was still alive. When France declared war on Prussia in 1870, all the south German states (Baden, Württemberg, Hessen-Darmstadt and Bavaria) aside from Austria, joined the Prussian forces and ultimately joined the Federation, which was renamed "Deutsches Reich" (German Empire) in 1871.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria continued formally as a monarchy, and it had some special rights within the federation (such as an army, railways, postal service and a diplomatic body of its own) but the diplomatic body were later undone by Wilhelm II who declared them illegal and got rid of the diplomatic service.


title: Bavaria

text: When Bavaria became part of the newly formed German Empire, this action was considered controversial by Bavarian nationalists who had wanted to retain independence from the rest of Germany, as had Austria.


title: Bavaria

text: As Bavaria had a heavily Catholic majority population, many people resented being ruled by the mostly Protestant northerners of Prussia. As a direct result of the Bavarian-Prussian feud, political parties formed to encourage Bavaria to break away and regain its independence.


title: Bavaria

text: In the early 20th century, Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Henrik Ibsen, and other artists were drawn to Bavaria, especially to the Schwabing district of Munich, a center of international artistic activity.


title: Bavaria

text: "Free State" has been an adopted designation after the abolition of monarchy in the aftermath of World War I in several German states.


title: Bavaria

text: On 12 November 1918, Ludwig III signed a document, the Anif declaration, releasing both civil and military officers from their oaths; the newly formed republican government, or "People's State" of Socialist premier Kurt Eisner, interpreted this as an abdication. To date, however, no member of the House of Wittelsbach has ever formally declared renunciation of the throne.


title: Bavaria

text: On the other hand, none has ever since officially called upon their Bavarian or Stuart claims. Family members are active in cultural and social life, including the head of the house, Franz, Duke of Bavaria. They step back from any announcements on public affairs, showing approval or disapproval solely by Franz's presence or absence.


title: Bavaria

text: Eisner was assassinated in February 1919, ultimately leading to a Communist revolt and the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic being proclaimed 6 April 1919. After violent suppression by elements of the German Army and notably the Freikorps, the Bavarian Soviet Republic fell in May 1919. The Bamberg Constitution ("") was enacted on 12 or 14 August 1919 and came into force on 15 September 1919 creating the Free State of Bavaria within the Weimar Republic.


title: Bavaria

text: Extremist activity further increased, notably the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch led by the National Socialists, and Munich and Nuremberg became seen as Nazi strongholds during the Weimar Republic and Nazi dictatorship. However, in the crucial German federal election, March 1933, the Nazis received less than 50% of the votes cast in Bavaria.


title: Bavaria

text: As a manufacturing centre, Munich was heavily bombed during World War II and was occupied by U.S. troops, becoming a major part of the American Zone of Allied-occupied Germany (1945–47) and then of "Bizonia".


title: Bavaria

text: The Rhenish Palatinate was detached from Bavaria in 1946 and made part of the new state Rhineland-Palatinate. During the Cold War, Bavaria was part of West Germany. In 1949, the Free State of Bavaria chose not to sign the Founding Treaty ("Gründungsvertrag") for the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany, opposing the division of Germany into two countries after World War II.


title: Bavaria

text: The Bavarian Parliament did not sign the Basic Law of Germany, mainly because it was seen as not granting sufficient powers to the individual "Länder" (states), but at the same time decided that it would still come into force in Bavaria if two-thirds of the other "Länder" ratified it.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavarians have often emphasized a separate national identity and considered themselves as "Bavarians" first, "Germans" second.


title: Bavaria

text: In the 19th-century sense, an independent Bavarian State only existed from 1806–71. This feeling started to come about more strongly among Bavarians when the Kingdom of Bavaria was forced by Bismarck to join the Protestant Prussian-dominated German Empire in 1871, while the Bavarian nationalists wanted to keep Bavaria as Catholic and an independent state. Aside from the minority Bavaria Party, most Bavarians now accept Bavaria is part of Germany.


title: Bavaria

text: Another consideration is that Bavarians foster different cultural identities: Franconia in the north, speaking East Franconian German; Bavarian Swabia in the south west, speaking Swabian German; and Altbayern (so-called "Old Bavaria", the regions forming the "historic", pentagon-shaped Bavaria before the acquisitions through the Vienna Congress, at present the districts of the Upper Palatinate, Lower and Upper Bavaria) speaking Austro-Bavarian.


title: Bavaria

text: In Munich, the Old Bavarian dialect was widely spread, but nowadays High German is predominantly spoken there.


title: Bavaria

text: Uniquely among German states, Bavaria has two official flags of equal status, one with a white and blue stripe, the other with white and blue lozenges. Either may be used by civilians and government offices, who are free to choose between them. Unofficial versions of the flag, especially a lozenge style with coat of arms, are sometimes used by civilians.


title: Bavaria

text: The modern coat of arms of Bavaria was designed by Eduard Ege in 1946, following heraldic traditions.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria shares international borders with Austria (Salzburg, Tyrol, Upper Austria and Vorarlberg) and the Czech Republic (Karlovy Vary, Plzeň and South Bohemian Regions), as well as with Switzerland (across Lake Constance to the Canton of St. Gallen).


title: Bavaria

text: All of these countries are part of the Schengen Area, so the borders are completely open (except during COVID-19).


title: Bavaria

text: Neighboring states within Germany are Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Thuringia, and Saxony. Two major rivers flow through the state: the Danube ("Donau") and the Main. The Bavarian Alps define the border with Austria (including the Austrian federal-states of Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Salzburg), and within the range is the highest peak in Germany: the Zugspitze.


title: Bavaria

text: The Bavarian Forest and the Bohemian Forest form the vast majority of the frontier with the Czech Republic and Bohemia.


title: Bavaria

text: The major cities in Bavaria are Munich ("München"), Nuremberg ("Nürnberg"), Augsburg, Regensburg, Würzburg, Ingolstadt, Fürth, and Erlangen.


title: Bavaria

text: At lower elevations the climate is classified according to Köppen’s guide as “Cfb” or “Dfb” at lower altitudes, then at higher altitudes the climate becomes “Dfc” and “ET”.


title: Bavaria

text: The summer months have been getting hotter in recent years. For example, June 2019 was the warmest June in Bavaria since weather observations have been recorded and the winter 2019/2020 was 3 degrees Celsius warmer than the average temperature for many years all over Bavaria. On 20 December 2019 a record temperature of was recorded in Piding. In general winter months are seeing more precipitation which is taking the form of rain more often than that of snow compared to the past. Extreme weather like the 2013 European floods or the 2019 European heavy snowfalls is occurring more and more often. One effect of the continuing warming is the melting of almost all Bavarian Alpine glaciers: Of the five glaciers of Bavaria only the Höllentalferner is predicted to exist over a longer time perspective. The Südliche Schneeferner has almost vanished since the 1980s.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria is divided into seven administrative regions called ' (singular '). Each of these regions has a state agency called the " (district government).


title: Bavaria

text: ' (districts) are the third communal layer in Bavaria; the others are the ' and the ' or '. The ' in Bavaria are territorially identical with the ', but they are self-governing regional corporation, having their own parliaments. In the other larger states of Germany, there are only ' as administrative divisions and no self-governing entities at the level of the ' as the "" in Bavaria.


title: Bavaria

text: The second communal layer is made up of 71 rural districts (called ', singular ') that are comparable to counties, as well as the 25 independent cities (', singular '), both of which share the same administrative responsibilities.


title: Bavaria

text: The 71 rural districts are on the lowest level divided into 2,031 regular municipalities (called ', singular '). Together with the 25 independent cities (', which are in effect municipalities independent of ' administrations), there are a total of 2,056 municipalities in Bavaria.


title: Bavaria

text: In 44 of the 71 rural districts, there are a total of 215 unincorporated areas (as of 1 January 2005, called ', singular '), not belonging to any municipality, all uninhabited, mostly forested areas, but also four lakes (-without islands, -without island , , which are the three largest lakes of Bavaria, and ).


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria has a multiparty system dominated by the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), which has won every election since 1945 with the exception of the 1950 ballot. Other important parties are The Greens, which became the second biggest political party in the 2018 local parliament elections and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who have dominated the city of Munich until 2020. Hitherto, Wilhelm Hoegner has been the only SPD candidate to ever become Minister-President; notable successors in office include multi-term Federal Minister Franz Josef Strauss, a key figure among West German conservatives during the Cold War years, and Edmund Stoiber, who both failed with their bids for Chancellorship.


title: Bavaria

text: The German Greens and the center-right Free Voters have been represented in the state parliament since 1986 and 2008 respectively.


title: Bavaria

text: In the 2003 elections the CSU won a ⅔ supermajority – something no party had ever achieved in postwar Germany. However, in the subsequent 2008 elections the CSU lost the absolute majority for the first time in 46 years.


title: Bavaria

text: The losses were partly attributed by some to the CSU's stance for an anti-smoking bill. (A first anti-smoking law had been proposed by the CSU and passed but was watered down after the election, after which a referendum enforced a strict antismoking bill with a large majority).


title: Bavaria

text: The last state elections were held on 14 October 2018 in which the CSU lost its absolute majority in the state parliament in part due to the party's stances as part of the federal government, winning 37.2% of the vote; the party's second worst local election outcome in its history after 1950. The Greens who had surged in the polls leading up to the election have replaced the social-democratic SPD as the second biggest force in the Landtag with 17.6% of the vote. The SPD lost over half of its previous share compared to 2013 with a mere 9.7% in 2018. The liberals of the FDP were again able to reach the five-percent-threshold in order to receive mandates in parliament after they were not part of the "Landtag" after the 2013 elections. Also entering the new parliament were the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), with 10.2% of the vote.


title: Bavaria

text: The center-right Free Voters party gained 11.6% of the vote and formed a government coalition with the CSU which led to the subsequent reelection of Markus Söder as Minister-President of Bavaria.


title: Bavaria

text: The Constitution of Bavaria of the Free State of Bavaria was enacted on 8 December 1946. The new Bavarian Constitution became the basis for the Bavarian State after the Second World War.


title: Bavaria

text: Political processes also take place in the seven regions (' or ') in Bavaria, in the 71 rural districts (') and the 25 towns and cities forming their own districts ('), and in the 2,031 local authorities (").


title: Bavaria

text: In 1995 Bavaria introduced direct democracy on the local level in a referendum. This was initiated bottom-up by an association called "Mehr Demokratie" (English: More Democracy). This is a grass-roots organization which campaigns for the right to citizen-initiated referendums. In 1997 the Bavarian Supreme Court tightened the regulations considerably (including by introducing a turn-out quorum). Nevertheless, Bavaria has the most advanced regulations on local direct democracy in Germany. This has led to a spirited citizens' participation in communal and municipal affairs—835 referendums took place from 1995 through 2005.


title: Bavaria

text: Unlike most German states ("Länder"), which simply designate themselves as "State of" ("Land [...]"), Bavaria uses the style of "Free State of Bavaria" ("Freistaat Bayern"). The difference from other states is purely terminological, as German constitutional law does not draw a distinction between "States" and "Free States". The situation is thus analogous to the United States, where some states use the style "Commonwealth" rather than "State". The term "Free State", a creation of the 19th century and intended to be a German alternative to (or translation of) the Latin-derived "republic" was common among the states of the Weimar Republic, after German monarchies had been abolished. Unlike most other states – many of which were new creations – Bavaria has resumed this terminology after World War II. Two other states, Saxony and Thuringia, also call themselves "Free State".


title: Bavaria

text: In July 2017, Bavaria's parliament enacted a new revision of the "Gefährdergesetz", allowing the authorities to imprison a person for a three months term, renewable indefinitely, when they haven't committed a crime but it is assumed that they might commit a crime "in the near future". Critics like the prominent journalist Heribert Prantl have called the law "shameful" and compared it to Guantanamo Bay detention camp, assessed it to be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and also compared it to the legal situation in Russia, where a similar law allows for imprisonment for a maximum term of two years (i.e., not indefinitely).


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria has long had one of the largest economies of any region in Germany, and in Europe. Its gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007 exceeded €434 billion (about U.S. $600 billion). This makes Bavaria itself one of the largest economies in Europe, and only 20 countries in the world have a higher GDP. The GDP of the region increased to €617.1 billion in 2018, accounting for 18.5% of German economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €43,500 or 145% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 114% of the EU average. This makes Bavaria one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. Bavaria has strong economic ties with Austria, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Northern Italy.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria has the best developed industry in Germany and the lowest unemployment rate with 2.9% as of October 2021.


title: Bavaria

text: Many large companies are headquartered in Bavaria, including Adidas, Allianz, Airbus, Audi, BMW, Brose, BSH Hausgeräte, HypoVereinsbank, Infineon, KUKA, Traton, MTU Aero Engines, Munich Re, Osram, Puma, Rohde & Schwarz, Schaeffler, Siemens, Wacker Chemie, Linde, Vitesco Technologies, Webasto, Grob, Heidenhain, Koenig & Bauer, Kaeser Compressors, Krones, Knorr-Bremse, Wacker Neuson, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Siltronic, Leoni, Fielmann, MediaMarkt, Conrad Electronic, BayWa, ProSiebenSat.1 Media, Telefónica Germany, Knauf, Rehau, Giesecke+Devrient.


title: Bavaria

text: Also American companies open a lot of research and development centers in Munich region: Apple (chip design), Google (data security), IBM (Watson technology), Intel (drones and telecommunication chips), General Electric (3D-printers and additive manufacturing), Gleason (gears manufacturing), Texas Instruments (chip design and manufacturing), Coherent (lasers).


title: Bavaria

text: With 40 million tourists in 2019, Bavaria is the most visited German state and one of Europe's leading tourist destinations.


title: Bavaria

text: The unemployment rate stood at 2.6% in October 2018, the lowest in Germany and one of the lowest in the European Union.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria has a population of approximately 13.1 million inhabitants (2020). 8 of the 80 largest cities in Germany are located within Bavaria with Munich being the largest (1,484,226 inhabitants, approximately 6.1 million when including the broader metropolitan area), followed by Nuremberg (518,370 inhabitants, approximately 3.6 million when including the broader metropolitan area), Augsburg (296,582 inhabitants) and Regensburg (153,094 inhabitants). All other cities in Bavaria had less than 150,000 inhabitants each in 2020. Population density in Bavaria was , below the national average of . Foreign nationals resident in Bavaria (both immigrants and refugees/asylum seekers) were principally from other EU countries and Turkey.


title: Bavaria

text: Some features of the Bavarian culture and mentality are remarkably distinct from the rest of Germany. Noteworthy differences (especially in rural areas, less significant in the major cities) can be found with respect to religion, traditions, and language.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavarian culture ("Altbayern") has a long and predominant tradition of Roman Catholic faith. Pope emeritus Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger) was born in Marktl am Inn in Upper Bavaria and was Cardinal-Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Otherwise, the culturally Franconian and Swabian regions of the modern State of Bavaria are historically more diverse in religiosity, with both Catholic and Protestant traditions. In 1925, 70.0% of the Bavarian population was Catholic, 28.8% was Protestant, 0.7% was Jewish, and 0.5% was placed in other religious categories.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavarians commonly emphasize pride in their traditions. Traditional costumes collectively known as Tracht are worn on special occasions and include in Altbayern Lederhosen for males and Dirndl for females. Centuries-old folk music is performed. The Maibaum, or Maypole (which in the Middle Ages served as the community's business directory, as figures on the pole represented the trades of the village), and the bagpipes of the Upper Palatinate region bear witness to the ancient Celtic and Germanic remnants of cultural heritage of the region. There are many traditional Bavarian sports disciplines, e.g. the Aperschnalzen, competitive whipcracking.


title: Bavaria

text: Whether in Bavaria, overseas or with citizens from other nations Bavarians continue to cultivate their traditions. They hold festivals and dances to keep their heritage alive.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavarians tend to place a great value on food and drink. In addition to their renowned dishes, Bavarians also consume many items of food and drink which are unusual elsewhere in Germany; for example ("white sausage") or in some instances a variety of entrails. At folk festivals and in many beer gardens, beer is traditionally served by the litre (in a ). Bavarians are particularly proud of the traditional , or beer purity law, initially established by the Duke of Bavaria for the City of Munich (i.e. the court) in 1487 and the duchy in 1516. According to this law, only three ingredients were allowed in beer: water, barley, and hops. In 1906 the made its way to all-German law, and remained a law in Germany until the EU partly struck it down in 1987 as incompatible with the European common market. German breweries, however, cling to the principle, and Bavarian breweries still comply with it in order to distinguish their beer brands. Bavarians are also known as some of the world's most prolific beer drinkers, with an average annual consumption of 170 liters per person.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria is also home to the Franconia wine region, which is situated along the river Main in Franconia. The region has produced wine ("Frankenwein") for over 1,000 years and is famous for its use of the Bocksbeutel wine bottle. The production of wine forms an integral part of the regional culture, and many of its villages and cities hold their own wine festivals (Weinfeste) throughout the year.


title: Bavaria

text: Three German dialects are most commonly spoken in Bavaria: Austro-Bavarian in Old Bavaria (Upper Bavaria, Lower Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate), Swabian German (an Alemannic German dialect) in the Bavarian part of Swabia (south west) and East Franconian German in Franconia (North). In the small town Ludwigsstadt in the north, district Kronach in Upper Franconia, Thuringian dialect is spoken. During the 20th century an increasing part of the population began to speak Standard German (Hochdeutsch), mainly in the cities.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavarians consider themselves to be egalitarian and informal. Their sociability can be experienced at the annual Oktoberfest, the world's largest beer festival, which welcomes around six million visitors every year, or in the famous beer gardens. In traditional Bavarian beer gardens, patrons may bring their own food but buy beer only from the brewery that runs the beer garden.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria is home to several football clubs including FC Bayern Munich, 1. FC Nürnberg, FC Augsburg, TSV 1860 Munich, FC Ingolstadt 04 and SpVgg Greuther Fürth. Bayern Munich is the most successful football team in Germany having won a record 30 German titles and 6 UEFA Champions League titles. They are followed by 1. FC Nürnberg who have won 9 titles. SpVgg Greuther Fürth have won 3 championships while TSV 1860 Munich have been champions once.


title: Bavaria

text: Bavaria is also home to several professional basketball teams, including FC Bayern Munich, Brose Baskets Bamberg, s.Oliver Würzburg, Nürnberg Falcons BC and TSV Oberhaching Tropics.


title: Bavaria

text: There are five Bavarian ice hockey teams playing in the German top-tier league DEL: EHC Red Bull München, Nürnberg Ice Tigers, Augsburger Panther, ERC Ingolstadt, and Straubing Tigers.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: Joshua David Duhamel (; born November 14, 1972) is an American actor and former fashion model. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera "All My Children" and later starred as Danny McCoy on NBC's "Las Vegas".


title: Josh Duhamel

text: Duhamel has ventured into film, appearing as one of the main protagonists in four of the "Transformers" films, most recently in the fifth entry, "" (2017). He has also appeared in "When in Rome" (2010), "Life as We Know It" (2010), "New Year's Eve" (2011), "Safe Haven" (2013), and "You're Not You" (2014). In 2015, Duhamel co-starred on the short-lived CBS crime drama "Battle Creek". He has also starred in several video games, most notably "" (2017). In 2018, he appeared in the romantic comedy-drama film "Love, Simon". In 2021, Duhamel starred in the role of Sheldon Sampson in the Netflix superhero series "Jupiter's Legacy".


title: Josh Duhamel

text: Duhamel was born in Minot, North Dakota. His mother, Bonnie L. (Bachmeier) Kemper, is a retired teacher and local businesswoman, and his father, Larry Duhamel, is an advertising salesman. He is of French-Canadian, Irish, English, Austrian, German and Norwegian ancestry. Duhamel's family is Catholic.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: His parents divorced during his youth. Although he remains close to both of them, he grew up with his mother and his three younger sisters, Ashlee, Kassidy and Mckenzee Duhamel. After graduating from Minot High School in 1991, Duhamel attended Minot State University and played as the backup quarterback for the university's football team. He planned to attend dental school, but dropped out one-and-a-half credits shy of his undergraduate degree. He later completed his credits, and received his degree in 2005.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: Duhamel has stated, "After college, I followed an ex-girlfriend to northern California, did a bunch of odd jobs." He won the title of Male Model of the Year in an International Modeling and Talent Association (IMTA) competition in 1997 (the runner-up was actor Ashton Kutcher).


title: Josh Duhamel

text: Duhamel began his acting career as an extra in the music videos for Donna Summer's "I Will Go With You (Con te partirò)" and Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" in 1999. Josh trained with Scott Sedita Acting Studios. Later that year, he won the role of Leo du Pres on the ABC soap opera "All My Children". His work on the show, especially his character's pairing with Greenlee Smythe (portrayed by actress Rebecca Budig), garnered critical acclaim. In 2000, he posed fully nude for Greg Gorman's "As I See It" photography book.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: In 2003, he received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for the Special Fan Award for America's Favorite Couple in 2002, shared with Budig, and a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Leo du Pres. Duhamel left "All My Children" in 2002 to pursue other acting opportunities. In 2003, Duhamel landed a primetime role on the NBC show "Las Vegas", playing the head of security for the Montecito Casino, Danny McCoy. His character succeeded James Caan's as head of the casino after Caan departed the series at the end of the fourth season. The series ended in 2008.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: Duhamel made his big-screen acting debut in 2004's "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!", then starred in the thriller "Turistas" (2006). After watching an episode of "Las Vegas" in which Duhamel's character had just returned from the war in Iraq, Steven Spielberg handpicked him for the role of Captain William Lennox in 2007's summer blockbuster film "Transformers" (a film for which Spielberg was the executive producer). Duhamel reprised the role in three of the sequels: "", released in June 2009, "", released in June 2011, and "", released in June 2017.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: Duhamel was the official pace car driver for the 2009 Indianapolis 500, driving the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro pace car. In 2010, he played the lead role in the film "When in Rome" as Nick Beamon. In 2014 Duhamel starred in the touching drama "You're Not You" (2014) playing the husband of Kate (Hilary Swank), who has the degenerative disease ALS.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: On March 23, 2013, Duhamel hosted the 2013 Kids' Choice Awards, which was broadcast live from Los Angeles, California. He and his co-star from "Safe Haven", Julianne Hough, performed a "Safe Haven"-themed showcase appearance via video on "The Price is Right" with Drew Carey.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: In 2018, he was used on a Taco Bell commercial to advertise Mexican spiced fries with nacho cheese sauce called "Web of Fries".


title: Josh Duhamel

text: In March 2018, it was announced that Duhamel will be starring alongside Megan Fox, in the independent family comedy "Think Like a Dog". In the same year, he starred in the romantic comedy-drama film, "Love, Simon".


title: Josh Duhamel

text: On February 11, 2019, it was announced that Duhamel had been cast as Sheldon Sampson in the Netflix superhero series, "Jupiter's Legacy". The series premiered on May 7, 2021, and was canceled less than a month later.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: In February 2021, it was announced that Duhamel would co-star opposite Jennifer Lopez in the upcoming film "Shotgun Wedding", replacing Armie Hammer, who had left the project in January, following controversy concerning sexually explicit social media activity. In August 2021, it was announced that Duhamel joined Renée Zellweger in "The Thing About Pam" limited series on NBC. He was to play a defense attorney, Joel Schwartz, on this show based on a real-life crime story.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: In early 2022, it was announced that Duhamel had been cast as a series regular on "", for its second season, as Gavin Cole, a former NHL player-turned-coach who runs the hockey institute.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: On September 23, 2022, Duhamel's film "Bandit", based on the best-selling novel and true story about "The Flying Bandit", was released in theatres and on demand. The film received positive reviews with critics calling it a career-best performance for Duhamel.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: Duhamel met and began dating singer Stacy Ann Ferguson, better known by her stage name Fergie, in September 2004 after Ferguson appeared on Duhamel's show "Las Vegas" with her then-band The Black Eyed Peas. The couple wed on January 10, 2009, in a Catholic ceremony at the Church Estate Vineyards in Malibu, California. They have a son born in August 2013. On September 14, 2017, the couple announced that they had separated earlier in the year. On June 1, 2019, the couple filed for divorce after two years of separation. As of late-November 2019, their divorce was finalized.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: In 2012, Duhamel was inducted into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame, a signature event of Norsk Høstfest.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: In late 2018, Duhamel began dating former Miss World America Audra Mari. On January 8, 2022, Duhamel announced his engagement to Mari. They married on September 10, 2022.


title: Josh Duhamel

text: On May 19, 2022, Minot State University named their Summer Theatre stage the "Josh Duhamel Stage" in his honor.


title: M16 rifle

text: The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine.


title: M16 rifle

text: In 1964, the M16 entered US military service and the following year was deployed for jungle warfare operations during the Vietnam War. In 1969, the M16A1 replaced the M14 rifle to become the US military's standard service rifle. The M16A1 incorporated numerous modifications including a bolt-assist, chrome-plated bore, protective reinforcement around the magazine release, and revised flash hider.


title: M16 rifle

text: In 1983, the US Marine Corps adopted the M16A2 rifle and the US Army adopted it in 1986. The M16A2 fires the improved 5.56×45mm (M855/SS109) cartridge and has a newer adjustable rear sight, case deflector, heavy barrel, improved handguard, pistol grip and buttstock, as well as a semi-auto and three-round burst fire selector. Adopted in July 1997, the M16A4 is the fourth generation of the M16 series. It is equipped with a removable carrying handle and Picatinny rail for mounting optics and other ancillary devices.


title: M16 rifle

text: The M16 has also been widely adopted by other armed forces around the world. Total worldwide production of M16s is approximately 8 million, making it the most-produced firearm of its 5.56 mm caliber. The US military has largely replaced the M16 in frontline combat units with a shorter and lighter version, the M4 carbine.


title: M16 rifle

text: In April 2022, the U.S. Army selected the SIG MCX SPEAR as the winner of the Next Generation Squad Weapon Program to replace the M16/M4. The rifle is designated XM5.


title: M16 rifle

text: In 1928, a U.S. Army 'Caliber Board' conducted firing tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground and recommended transitioning to smaller caliber rounds, mentioning in particular caliber. Largely in deference to tradition, this recommendation was ignored and the Army referred to the caliber as "full sized" for the next 35 years. After World War II, the United States military started looking for a single automatic rifle to replace the M1 Garand, M1/M2 Carbines, M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle, M3 "Grease Gun" and Thompson submachine gun. However, early experiments with select-fire versions of the M1 Garand proved disappointing. During the Korean War, the select-fire M2 carbine largely replaced the submachine gun in US service and became the most widely used carbine variant. However, combat experience suggested that the .30 Carbine round was underpowered. American weapons designers concluded that an intermediate round was necessary, and recommended a small-caliber, high-velocity cartridge.


title: M16 rifle

text: However, senior American commanders, having faced fanatical enemies and experienced major logistical problems during World War II and the Korean War, insisted that a single, powerful .30 caliber cartridge be developed, that could not only be used by the new automatic rifle, but by the new general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) in concurrent development. This culminated in the development of the 7.62×51 mm NATO cartridge.


title: M16 rifle

text: The U.S. Army then began testing several rifles to replace the obsolete M1. Springfield Armory's T44E4 and heavier T44E5 were essentially updated versions of the M1 chambered for the new 7.62 mm round, while Fabrique Nationale submitted their FN FAL as the T48. ArmaLite entered the competition late, hurriedly submitting several AR-10 prototype rifles in the fall of 1956 to the U.S. Army's Springfield Armory for testing. The AR-10 featured an innovative straight-line barrel/stock design, forged aluminum alloy receivers and with phenolic composite stocks. It had rugged elevated sights, an oversized aluminum flash suppressor and recoil compensator, and an adjustable gas system. The final prototype featured an upper and lower receiver with the now-familiar hinge and takedown pins, and the charging handle was on top of the receiver placed inside of the carry handle. For a 7.62 mm NATO rifle, the AR-10 was incredibly lightweight at only empty. Initial comments by Springfield Armory test staff were favorable, and some testers commented that the AR-10 was the best lightweight automatic rifle ever tested by the Armory. In the end the U.S. Army chose the T44, now named M14 rifle, which was an improved M1 Garand with a 20-round magazine and automatic fire capability. The U.S. also adopted the M60 general purpose machine gun (GPMG). Its NATO partners adopted the FN FAL and HK G3 rifles, as well as the FN MAG and Rheinmetall MG3 GPMGs.


title: M16 rifle

text: The first confrontations between the AK-47 and the M14 came in the early part of the Vietnam War. Battlefield reports indicated that the M14 was uncontrollable in full-auto and that soldiers could not carry enough ammunition to maintain fire superiority over the AK-47. And, while the M2 carbine offered a high rate of fire, it was under-powered and ultimately outclassed by the AK-47. A replacement was needed: a medium between the traditional preference for high-powered rifles such as the M14, and the lightweight firepower of the M2 Carbine.


title: M16 rifle

text: As a result, the Army was forced to reconsider a 1957 request by General Willard G. Wyman, commander of the U.S. Continental Army Command (CONARC) to develop a .223-inch caliber (5.56 mm) select-fire rifle weighing when loaded with a 20-round magazine. The 5.56 mm round had to penetrate a standard U.S. helmet at 500 yards (460 meters) and retain a velocity in excess of the speed of sound, while matching or exceeding the wounding ability of the .30 Carbine cartridge.


title: M16 rifle

text: This request ultimately resulted in the development of a scaled-down version of the Armalite AR-10, named the ArmaLite AR-15. The AR-15 was first revealed by Eugene Stoner at Fort Benning in May 1957. The AR-15 used .22-caliber bullets, which destabilized when they hit a human body, as opposed to the .30 round, which typically passed through in a straight line. The smaller caliber meant that it could be controlled in autofire due to the reduced bolt thrust and free recoil impulse. Being almost one-third the weight of the .30 meant that the soldier could sustain fire for longer with the same load. Due to design innovations, the AR-15 could fire 600 to 700 rounds a minute with an extremely low jamming rate. Parts were stamped out, not hand-machined, so could be mass-produced, and the stock was plastic to reduce weight.


title: M16 rifle

text: In 1958, the Army's Combat Developments Experimentation Command ran experiments with small squads in combat situations using the M14, AR-15, and another rifle designed by Winchester. The resulting study recommended adopting a lightweight rifle like the AR-15. In response, the Army declared that all rifles and machine guns should use the same ammunition, and ordered full production of the M-14. However, advocates for the AR-15 gained the attention of Air Force Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay. After testing the AR-15 with the ammunition manufactured by Remington that Armalite and Colt recommended, the Air Force declared that the AR-15 was its 'standard model' and ordered 8,500 rifles and 8.5 million rounds. Advocates for the AR-15 in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency acquired 1,000 Air Force AR-15s and shipped them to be tested by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). The South Vietnam soldiers issued glowing reports of the weapon's reliability, recording zero broken parts while firing 80,000 rounds in one stage of testing, and requiring only two replacement parts for the 1,000 weapons over the entire course of testing. The report of the experiment recommended that the U.S. provide the AR-15 as the standard rifle of the ARVN, but Admiral Harry Felt, then Commander in Chief, Pacific Forces, rejected the recommendations on the advice of the U.S. Army.


title: M16 rifle

text: Throughout 1962 and 1963, the U.S. military extensively tested the AR-15. Positive evaluations emphasized its lightness, "lethality", and reliability. However, the Army Materiel Command criticized its inaccuracy at longer ranges and lack of penetrating power at higher ranges. In early 1963, the U.S. Special Forces asked, and was given permission, to make the AR-15 its standard weapon. Other users included Army Airborne units in Vietnam and some units affiliated with the Central Intelligence Agency. As more units adopted the AR-15, Secretary of the Army Cyrus Vance ordered an investigation into why the weapon had been rejected by the Army. The resulting report found that Army Materiel Command had rigged the previous tests, selecting tests that would favor the M14 and choosing match grade M14s to compete against AR-15s out of the box. At this point, the bureaucratic battle lines were well-defined, with the Army ordnance agencies opposed to the AR-15 and the Air Force and civilian leadership of the Defense Department in favor.


title: M16 rifle

text: In January 1963, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara concluded that the AR-15 was the superior weapon system and ordered a halt to M14 production. In late 1963, the Defense Department began mass procurement of rifles for the Air Force and special Army units. Secretary McNamara designated the Army as the procurer for the weapon with the Department, which allowed the Army ordnance establishment to modify the weapon as they wished. The first modification was the addition of a "manual bolt closure," allowing a soldier to ram in a round if it failed to seat properly. The Air Force, which was buying the rifle, and the Marine Corps, which had tested it both objected to this addition, with the Air Force noting, "During three years of testing and operation of the AR-15 rifle under all types of conditions the Air Force has no record of malfunctions that could have been corrected by a manual bolt closing device." They also noted that the closure added weight and complexity, reducing the reliability of the weapon. Colonel Harold Yount, who managed the Army procurement, would later state the bolt closure was added after direction from senior leadership, rather than as a result of any complaint or test result, and testified about the reasons: "the M-1, the M-14, and the carbine had always had something for the soldier to push on; that maybe this would be a comforting feeling to him, or something."


title: M16 rifle

text: Despite its early failures the M16 proved to be a revolutionary design and stands as the longest continuously serving rifle in US military history. It has been adopted by many US allies and the 5.56×45 mm NATO cartridge has become not only the NATO standard, but "the standard assault-rifle cartridge in much of the world." It also led to the development of small-caliber high-velocity service rifles by every major army in the world. It is a benchmark against which other assault rifles are judged.


title: M16 rifle

text: In July 1960, General Curtis LeMay was impressed by a demonstration of the ArmaLite AR-15. In the summer of 1961, General LeMay was promoted to U.S. Air Force chief of staff, and requested 80,000 AR-15s. However, General Maxwell D. Taylor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised President John F. Kennedy that having two different calibers within the military system at the same time would be problematic and the request was rejected. In October 1961, William Godel, a senior man at the Advanced Research Projects Agency, sent 10 AR-15s to South Vietnam. The reception was enthusiastic, and in 1962 another 1,000 AR-15s were sent. United States Army Special Forces personnel filed battlefield reports lavishly praising the AR-15 and the stopping-power of the 5.56 mm cartridge, and pressed for its adoption.


title: M16 rifle

text: The damage caused by the 5.56 mm bullet was originally believed to be caused by "tumbling" due to the slow 1 turn in rifling twist rate. However, any pointed lead core bullet will "tumble" after penetration in flesh, because the center of gravity is towards the rear of the bullet. The large wounds observed by soldiers in Vietnam were actually caused by bullet fragmentation created by a combination of the bullet's velocity and construction. These wounds were so devastating, that the photographs remained classified into the 1980s.


title: M16 rifle

text: However, despite overwhelming evidence that the AR-15 could bring more firepower to bear than the M14, the Army opposed the adoption of the new rifle. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara now had two conflicting views: the ARPA report favoring the AR-15 and the Army's position favoring the M14. Even President Kennedy expressed concern, so McNamara ordered Secretary of the Army Cyrus Vance to test the M14, the AR-15 and the AK-47. The Army reported that only the M14 was suitable for service, but Vance wondered about the impartiality of those conducting the tests. He ordered the Army inspector general to investigate the testing methods used; the inspector general confirmed that the testers were biased towards the M14.


title: M16 rifle

text: In January 1963, Secretary McNamara received reports that M14 production was insufficient to meet the needs of the armed forces and ordered a halt to M14 production. At the time, the AR-15 was the only rifle that could fulfill a requirement of a "universal" infantry weapon for issue to all services. McNamara ordered its adoption, despite receiving reports of several deficiencies, most notably the lack of a chrome-plated chamber.


title: M16 rifle

text: After modifications (most notably, the charging handle was re-located from under the carrying handle like the AR-10, to the rear of the receiver), the new redesigned rifle was renamed the "Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16". Inexplicably, the modification to the new M16 did not include a chrome-plated barrel. Meanwhile, the Army relented and recommended the adoption of the M16 for jungle warfare operations. However, the Army insisted on the inclusion of a forward assist to help push the bolt into battery in the event that a cartridge failed to seat into the chamber. The Air Force, Colt and Eugene Stoner believed that the addition of a forward assist was an unjustified expense. As a result, the design was split into two variants: the Air Force's M16 without the forward assist, and the XM16E1 with the forward assist for the other service branches.