title: Harley Quinn

text: The series began being published in November 2013, starting with "Harley Quinn" #0, which brought together seventeen comic book artists, including Harley Quinn co-creator Bruce Timm, to illustrate a fourth wall-breaking story about Harley thinking of the artists that could illustrate her in her own comic book series. The rest of the series details Harley Quinn's adventures in Coney Island with her supporting cast. In "Harley Quinn" #25, Palmiotti and Conner reunited Harley Quinn with the Joker; the story depicts Harley Quinn returning to Gotham City to confront the Joker and end their relationship.


title: Harley Quinn

text: With Harley Quinn's longtime friend Poison Ivy being a recurring character in the series, Palmiotti and Conner built on their relationship and hinted at romantic feelings between the two characters; Poison Ivy is shown kissing Harley Quinn multiple times throughout the series, and a sexual relationship between them was alluded to in the twenty-fifth issue. When asked regarding their relationship in a Twitter Q&A, Palmiotti and Conner replied, "Yes, they are girlfriends without the jealousy of monogamy."


title: Harley Quinn

text: The New 52 "Harley Quinn" series received positive reception, and was also one of DC Comics' top selling series, inspiring multiple spin-offs. The series was ended for the "DC Rebirth" relaunch of DC's titles.


title: Harley Quinn

text: The cover of the first issue of the New 52's "Suicide Squad" title drew controversy for its oversexualized depiction of Harley Quinn. This also caused some fans of the character to send Glass hatemail and personal threats.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In September 2013, DC Comics announced an art contest entitled "Break into comics with Harley Quinn!", in which contestants were to draw Harley in four different suicide scenarios. This contest drew controversy not only because it was announced close to National Suicide Prevention Week, but because some artists did not like the sexualized portrayal of Harley Quinn in the fourth scenario, in which the character attempts suicide while naked in her bathtub. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, American Psychiatric Association, and National Alliance on Mental Illness all responded to the controversy in an emailed group statement to "Huffington Post", stating, "We are disappointed that DC Comics has decided to host a contest looking for artists to develop ways to depict suicide attempts by one of its main villains – Harley Quinn". After seeing the reactions to the contest, DC Comics apologized, saying they should have made it clear it was a dream sequence that was not supposed to be taken seriously. In the final version, the bathtub scene was cut and replaced with Harley Quinn sitting on a rocket while flying in space.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In June 2016, the DC Rebirth event relaunched DC Comics' entire line of comic book titles. Both "Harley Quinn" as well as "Suicide Squad" were rebooted, with the latter starting with the one-shot issue "Suicide Squad: Rebirth" #1 (October 2016). Harley Quinn's "DC Rebirth" design included pink and blue dyed hair tips and a jacket inspired by Margot Robbie's portrayal of the character in the 2016 film "Suicide Squad", a change established in the last issues of her "New 52" series.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn returns as a regular character in the relaunched Suicide Squad series, written by Rob Williams. The series was cancelled in January 2019.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn's relaunched ongoing series is a direct continuation of the former, with Conner and Palmiotti still writing for the character, and Hardin and Timms illustrating the interior art. After having written 64 issues of Harley Quinn's ongoing series, Conner and Palmiotti's five-year run ended with the 34th issue of the series in December 2017, with writer Frank Tieri and artist Inaki Miranda taking over the title. Tieri's run on the series ended with the series' 42nd issue, followed by a two-issue storyline written by Christopher Sebela and illustrated by Mirka Andolfo. By issue 45 in July 2018, Sam Humphries was the new writer for the series, with John Timms returning to provide art. The series ended in August 2020.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In 2017, Harley Quinn co-creator Paul Dini wrote a backup feature for Harley Quinn's Rebirth monthly series entitled "Harley Loves Joker", co-written by Palmiotti and illustrated by Bret Blevins, which ran for 9 issues. The story brought back Harley Quinn's classic characterization and focuses on her past with the Joker. Unlike her characterization in "Batman: The Animated Series", Dini and Palmiotti wrote Harley Quinn in the story as less of a "doormat", with Harley Quinn and Joker being on equal footing in their relationship. The story concluded with the two-part limited series of the same name, which also expanded on Harley Quinn's past as a former intern in animal research at S.T.A.R. Labs, where she met her pet hyenas Bud and Lou. In the second part of the story, Dini and Palmiotti explained Harley Quinn's change in costume, establishing the character's modern design as a reflection of her having left her relationship with the Joker.


title: Harley Quinn

text: For the 2021 "Infinite Frontier" relaunch, Harley Quinn is moved back to Gotham City as a superheroine, where she frequently interacts with and aids the Batman family, and she is given a new design by Riley Rossmo. Harley Quinn's fourth ongoing series, written by Stephanie Phillips and illustrated by Rossmo, depicts her "actively looking to make up for her past sins", alongside a former Joker henchman named Kevin. Harley Quinn also has a prominent role in the Fear State crossover event.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn has no superpowers, and relies on her unpredictability, gymnastics skills, and weapons and hand-to-hand proficiency. She is a peak athlete, having won a gymnastics scholarship at Gotham City's Gotham State University. Following her transition to main DC canon in 1999, Harley Quinn was established as having immunity to toxins and enhanced strength, agility, durability, and reflexes, which she received after having been injected a serum concocted by Poison Ivy. "Vengeance Unlimited, Part Five" ("Harley Quinn" vol. 1 #30) revealed that it also gave her the ability to breathe underwater.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn is skilled in using various weapons, often employing weaponized clown-themed gag items, including pop guns, rubber chickens, and a gun that shoots a boxing glove, as well as oversized pistols and mallets, the latter being her signature weapon. Other weapons she uses include: unconventional weapons, such as a baseball bat; explosive weapons such as bazookas, customized bombs, and dynamites; firearms, such as pistols, assault rifles, and machine guns; Harley Quinn also has a pair of pet hyenas, Bud and Lou, which she can order to attack her opponents.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Despite being mentally unstable and sometimes distracted, Harley is highly intelligent. Her intellect extends to her psychological, tactical and deception abilities, but she does not stand out for particular strategic or scientific skills and often remains subordinate to the Joker, who between the two is the genius and the inventor. Harleen Quinzel earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and as a former Arkham psychiatrist, was highly qualified in psychoanalysis, criminology, and forensic psychiatry. While not on par with Joker, she is still an expert tactician, deceiver and escapologist, and still shows traces of her psychological experience. Harley Quinn is the only person besides the Joker to concoct Joker Venom, the Joker's signature weapon, and is shown to have reverse-engineered its formula and developed an antitoxin. She also has an indomitable pathological will.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Just like Poison Ivy, sometimes and not as much, Harley uses her feminine charm to attract men but only to be able to manipulate them. Unlike the Joker, she is able to simulate sanity, thus being able to pretend to be a "normal" person. In this way, she disguised herself as a security guard, a lawyer and even Poison Ivy and Batgirl.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn has had several love interests, the most notable being Joker and Poison Ivy. Other love interests include Mason Macabre, a character created by Conner and Palmiotti. Plastic Man was initially intended to be a love interest for Harley Quinn by Kesel, but was not approved by DC.


title: Harley Quinn

text: The Joker is Harley Quinn's former lover. Harley's solo comics often explores her former association with the Joker through "flashbacks of their past exploits, present-day conflicts", or through Harley as she "laments his absence". Harley often refers to him as ""Mistah J"" and ""Puddin'"".


title: Harley Quinn

text: Their relationship is known for its abusive and codependent nature, first established in Harley's first origin story "Mad Love". The Joker habitually abuses Harley, and despite the abuse, Harley Quinn returns to him. In the 1999 one-shot comic "Batman: Harley Quinn", the Joker decides to kill Harley, after admitting that he does care for her, that their relationship is romantic, and that these feelings prevent him from fulfilling his purpose. Dini describes their relationship as abusive, and empathizes with Harley's feelings of abandonment, with Dini basing most of Harley's dialogue on his past experiences.


title: Harley Quinn

text: The Joker's controlling and codependent relationship with Harley Quinn has been analyzed as a means of the Joker reinforcing his own belief in his power in a world where he may be killed or neutralized by another villain or Batman. Joker mirrors his identity through Harley in her appearance, and even though he may ignore or act indifferent towards her, he continues to try to subject her to his control. When Harley successfully defeats Batman in "" (1994), the Joker, emasculated by his own failure, severely injures her out of fear of what the other villains will think of him; however, while Harley recovers, the Joker sends her flowers, which she accepts, reasserting his control over her.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Poison Ivy is Harley Quinn's current love interest and best friend, and Harley often refers to her as ""Red"". Ivy was first introduced as a new friend to Harley by Dini in the 1993 "Batman: The Animated Series" episode "Harley and Ivy". The episode came from Dini wanting to make Harley a stronger character and write a story where she leaves the Joker; Dini decided to pair her up with Ivy because she was "the strongest contrast to Harley". The two later became close friends within the DC Animated Universe. Dini has stated that he could see a romantic relationship between the two happening the more he worked with the two characters, but the impossibility of properly portraying their relationship in a kids cartoon at the time prevented it from happening.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Prior to the New 52 reboot, Ivy is shown as having teamed up on occasion with Harley with Harley being her best friend and recurring ally. Unlike most villain team-ups, their partnership is based on genuine friendship and mutual respect. Ivy sincerely wants to save Harley from her unhealthy abusive relationship with the Joker. Accordingly, Poison Ivy despises the Joker, and the two exchange vicious banter at every opportunity. In the final storyline of the "Gotham City Sirens" series, Harley suggests that Ivy may be in love with her, an accusation that stuns her. The following issue has Poison Ivy acknowledge that she may indeed love Harley, but the details of her love are never specified, and the series ended with the New 52 reboot before their relationship could be addressed.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Conner and Palmiotti hinted at a romantic relationship in the New 52 Harley Quinn series, and later confirmed that Harley and Ivy are in a non-monogamous relationship. 2017's Harley Quinn #25 marked their first canonical kiss.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn first appeared in "" (1992–1995), voiced by Arleen Sorkin, who subsequently reprised her role in other DC Animated Universe series, including "" (1996–2000), "The New Batman Adventures" (1997–1999), "Static Shock" (2000–2004), and "Justice League" (2001–2004), as well as the film "" (2000). Following Sorkin's retirement in 2012, the character was voiced by Melissa Rauch in "Batman and Harley Quinn" (2017) and an uncredited Tara Strong in "Justice League vs. the Fatal Five" (2019).


title: Harley Quinn

text: Originally a career-oriented psychologist, Dr. Harleen Quinzel's life took a radical turn when she chose to take an internship at Arkham Asylum for a semester of college. Convinced by the Joker himself to do it, Harleen interviewed him and learned he was abused as a child by his alcoholic father (later learning this backstory to have been one of several different stories he had told to others, some with different details each time), and after more interviews, determined Batman was the primary source of the Joker's anger and was to blame for his actions, but that she also had fallen in love with him. Harleen helped the Joker escape and, renaming herself Harley Quinn, became his sidekick in hopes that she could win his love, going on a crime spree across the United States of America.


title: Harley Quinn

text: After assisting Joker in attempting to assassinate Commissioner James Gordon by planting a bomb at a dinner in his honour, she was subdued by Batman, and subsequently an accomplice in virtually all of Joker's criminal schemes. On occasion, she would be kicked out of Joker's gang when unintentionally upstaging or annoying the Joker, on one of these occasions teaming up with Poison Ivy, with the two becoming close friends and a successful crime duo independently. While imprisoned on her own in Arkham Asylum, Batman offered her a pardon in exchange for helping him track down the Joker after he had stolen a nuclear bomb. The day she is declared rehabilitated and paroled, Harley's hyperactivity and unfamiliarity with the "real" world leads to her accidentally kidnap someone and be returned to Arkham yet again.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In the 31-episode "Gotham Girls" webtoon, Harley joins forces with Poison Ivy and Catwoman in a co-starring role.


title: Harley Quinn

text: After several failed attempts at rehabilitation, Harley returns to the Joker's side. However, after another failed attempt to kill Commissioner Gordon leads the Joker to forgetting their anniversary, Harley re-examines her life and decides that as Batman was the cause of the Joker's obsession, she should capture and kill him herself for him to kill, doing so by falsely pretending to have found sanity and luring Batman into a trap. Recognizing Harley to have come closer to killing him than Joker has ever done, Batman tricks her into facilitating his escape by making her call the Joker and tell him what she has done, knowing that he would not allow anyone other than himself to kill Batman, pushing her aside and unknowingly knocking her out a window. Recovering in Arkham, Harley decides that the Joker will never truly love her, before returning to her devotion upon seeing that he has left her a rose in a vase from him by her bedside table, with a note hoping that she gets better soon. Harley later references having convinced the Joker to attend couple's counseling with her.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In the film "Batman and Harley Quinn", Harley (voiced by Melissa Rauch) is working as a waitress after breaking up with the Joker again. Approached by Batman and Nightwing to help stop Ivy from accidentally causing the extinction of all life on Earth, Harley agrees to help them after having sex with Nightwing, convincing them to light Jason Woodroe on fire after she talks Ivy down with tears. Sometime later, Harley hosts a reality television game show, where she makes contestants run an elaborate obstacle course to win a year of therapy from a professional, in a scathing indictment of the American insurance system.


title: Harley Quinn

text: In the film "" (again voiced by Sorkin), flashbacks reveal Harley's apparent final actions after returning to the Joker again were assisting him in kidnapping Tim Drake and torturing him into insanity in order to transform him into their son "J.J", so that they can start a family together. She later fought Batgirl who angrily chastised her for even helping Joker commit a heinous act but fell deep into an abyss, leading to the latter presuming her dead, though she survived as depicted in the present, where she appears at the end of the movie, revealed to be the grandmother of the Jokerz members, the Dee Dee Twins, who address her as "Nana Harley", having reformed from her life of crime.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harleen Quinzel was a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, and after meeting the Joker, she became his frequent accomplice, takes on the name Harley Quinn, and gets in an abusive codependent relationship with him. She eventually splits up with him, and becomes a solo criminal, forming a criminal gang called the Quinntets. Following the Quinntet's dissolution, Harley Quinn moves to Metropolis with her best friend Poison Ivy, where she works as a love columnist in the Daily Planet under the alias Holly Chance. She then moves back to Gotham City, where she then voluntarily incarcerates herself in Arkham. Harley Quinn then spents a year applying for parole, only to see her request systematically rejected by Bruce Wayne, the layman member of Arkham's medical commission. She is kidnapped by Peyton Riley, the new female Ventriloquist, who offers her a job; Harley turns the job down out of respect for the memory of Arnold Wesker, the original Ventriloquist, who attempted to cheer her up during her first week in Arkham while the Joker was still on the loose. She then helps Batman and Commissioner Jim Gordon foil the impostor's plans. Although Riley escapes, Bruce Wayne is impressed with Harley's effort at redemption and agrees with granting her parole. She then briefly joins the Secret Six, then decides to quit.


title: Harley Quinn

text: During "Countdown to Final Crisis", a reformed Harley Quinn resides in an Amazon-run women's shelter. Having abandoned her jester costume and clown make-up, she now only wears an Amazonian stola or chiton. She befriends the former Catwoman replacement Holly Robinson and then succeeds in persuading her to join her at the shelter, where she is working as an assistant. They are both brought to Themiscyra by "Athena" (really Granny Goodness) and begin Amazon training. Holly and Harley then meet the real Athena and encounter Mary Marvel. The group reveals Granny's deception, and Holly, Harley, and Mary follow her as she retreats to Apokolips. Mary finds the Olympian gods, whom Granny had been holding prisoner, and the group frees them. Harley is granted powers by Thalia as a reward. Upon returning to Earth, the powers vanish, and Harley and Holly return to Gotham City.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn then joins forces with Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley) and Catwoman (Selina Kyle) in the series "Gotham City Sirens". In "Gotham City Sirens" #7, Harley Quinn visits her family in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, during the holiday season. Harley's father is a swindler who is still in jail, and her brother, Barry, is a loser with dead-end dreams of rock stardom. Her mother, Sharon, wants her to stop the "villain and hero stuff." The dysfunctional, "horrible" experience while visiting family causes her to return home to the Sirens' shared Gotham City hideout where Harley, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy spend the rest of Christmas together. Following several adventures with Catwoman and Ivy, Harley betrays them and breaks into Arkham Asylum, intending to kill the Joker for his years of abuse towards her. However, Harley ultimately chooses instead to release the Joker from his cell, and together the two orchestrate a violent takeover of the facility that results in most of the guards and staff members either being killed or taken hostage by the inmates. Harley and the Joker are eventually defeated by Batman and Catwoman, and Harley is last seen being wheeled away while bound in a straitjacket and muzzle. Shortly afterward, Poison Ivy breaks into Harley's cell and attempts to kill her for her betrayal, but instead offers to free her if she helps her kill Catwoman, who had left both of her fellow Sirens behind in Arkham. Harley agrees, and the two set out to trap Catwoman. During the ensuing fight, Catwoman says she saw good in them and only wanted to help. As Batman is about to arrest them, Catwoman helps the two of them escape.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Like her previous incarnations, Harleen Quinzel was still the Joker's psychiatrist, but before she becomes Harley, the Joker pushes her into a vat of chemicals, bleaching her skin white and driving her insane. Harley Quinn is forced to join the Suicide Squad by Amanda Waller. Harley Quinn then leaves Gotham City and moves back to her hometown Brooklyn and resides in Coney Island.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn moves back to Gotham City in an attempt to reestablish herself as a hero, aiding the Batman Family and trying to make up for her past "where she often enabled the Joker".


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn has become one of DC Comics' most popular characters. The 2016 relaunch of her comic shipped more copies than any other "DC Rebirth" title and was one of the best-selling comics of the year. DC Comics Publisher Jim Lee refers to Harley Quinn as the fourth pillar in their publishing line, behind Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Harley Quinn currently stars in four separate ongoing series — three eponymous titles and "Suicide Squad". Only Batman and Superman have comparable numbers of monthly appearances, making Harley DC Comics' most prominent and profitable female character. Kevin Kiniry, vice-president of DC Collectibles, says Harley Quinn is always a top-seller and she "can go toe-to-toe with Batman and the Joker as one of the most fan-requested and sought-after characters." In 2016, Harley Quinn's Halloween costume ranked as the most popular costume in both the United States and the United Kingdom and it remains a popular subject for cosplay. To celebrate the character, DC Comics declared the month of February to be Harley Quinn Month and published 22 Harley Quinn variant covers across their line of comic books. IGN's 2009 list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked Harley Quinn as #45. She was ranked 16th in "Comics Buyer's Guide"s 2011 "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. Joker voice actor Mark Hamill attributes the success of Harley Quinn to Arleen Sorkin's performance. On Twitter, he stated: "In the script she was just an unnamed Joker "hench-wench" w/ no discernible personality. When Arleen began reading her lines in that unforgettable voice so poignant & full of heart I nearly fell off my chair! She brought SO much more than was on the page & a legend was born."


title: Harley Quinn

text: This section lists the collected editions, from trade paperbacks to omnibus editions, of various comics in which Harley Quinn is mainly featured.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley appears in the "DC Universe Online" video game, with Arleen Sorkin returning as her voice. Harley is the basic "Legends" PVP character granted to Villains without having to spend Marks of Legend. To date, this was the last time Arleen Sorkin voiced the character; , Harley Quinn is now voiced by Jen Brown, starting with a DLC episode based on the "Gotham City Sirens".


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn appears in the "" franchise. While Arleen Sorkin reprised her role from the DC Animated Universe in the first installment, she was replaced by Tara Strong for the rest of the series.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn appears in "" (the sequel to ""), voiced by Laura Post. This version of Dr. Harleen Quinzel was driven insane following her father's long bout with mental illness and eventual suicide. Attempting to avoid her father's fate, she joins a criminal organization called the Pact to steal a virus able to cure her hereditary condition. This depiction initially reverses the dynamic between Harley and the Joker. Quinn manipulates and abuses her former patient at Arkham Asylum, named "John Doe", who is infatuated with her. As the series progresses, John's confidence will increase, and depending on the player's choices, he will either aid Bruce Wayne in capturing Quinn or transform into the traditional version of the Joker. In the latter outcome, Harley will become the Joker's girlfriend and the two use the virus to threaten Gotham City.


title: Harley Quinn

text: Harley Quinn has her own novel adaptation from comics as part of the DC Comic Novels series. "Mad Love" was released in November 2018 and written by Pat Cardigan and original co-creator Paul Dini and published by Titan Books.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett (; born 21 March 1946) is a British actor. Beginning his career on stage, he made his film debut as Philip II of France in the 1968 historical drama "The Lion in Winter". He gained international prominence as the fourth actor to portray fictional secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, starring in "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "Licence to Kill" (1989). Dalton also appeared in the films "Flash Gordon" (1980), "The Rocketeer" (1991), "" (2003), "Hot Fuzz" (2007) and "The Tourist" (2010). On television, Dalton played Mr. Rochester in the BBC serial "Jane Eyre" (1983), Rhett Butler in the CBS miniseries "Scarlett" (1994), Rassilon in the BBC One science fiction adventure "Doctor Who" (2009–2010), Sir Malcolm Murray on the Showtime horror drama "Penny Dreadful" (2014–2016), and the Chief on the DC Universe / HBO Max superhero comedy-drama "Doom Patrol" (2019–2021).


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett on 21 March 1946 in Colwyn Bay, Wales, to an English father, Peter Dalton Leggett, who was a captain in the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War and was an advertising executive at the time of his son's birth; and an American mother, Dorothy Scholes, of Italian and Irish descent.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Before Dalton's fourth birthday, the family moved back to England to Belper in Derbyshire, where he attended Herbert Strutt Grammar School. As a teenager, he was a member of the Air Training Corps at LXX (Croft & Culcheth) Squadron.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: He decided to become an actor at 16 after seeing a production of "Macbeth" and got a role in a production of the play at The Old Vic. He left school in 1962 at 16 to enrol in the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and tour with the National Youth Theatre. Dalton did not complete his RADA studies, leaving the academy in 1966 to join the ensemble of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He had ambitions of being an actor, which pleased his father; "It pleased everybody on my father's side of the family. My mother and her side, however, were worried. None of them felt acting was a secure profession for a young man."


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton quickly moved to television, working mainly with the BBC, and in 1968 made his film debut as Philip II of France in "The Lion in Winter". This was the first of several period dramas, which included a remake of "Wuthering Heights" in 1970 in which he portrayed Heathcliff, and the English Civil War drama "Cromwell" as Cavalier commander Prince Rupert of the Rhine. After a few more films, Dalton took a break in 1971 to concentrate on the theatre, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and other troupes throughout the world. In 1975, Dalton and Vivien Merchant headed the cast of a revival of Noël Coward's "The Vortex".


title: Timothy Dalton

text: With two exceptions, the films "Mary, Queen of Scots" (1971) and "Permission to Kill" (1975), he remained a theatre actor until 1978. That year he starred in "Sextette" as the husband of 85-year-old Mae West, hailing his return to cinema and the beginning of his American career. While in the United States, Dalton worked mainly in television, although he starred in several films. During this time, he played Prince Barin in the science fiction film "Flash Gordon" (1980) and played Mr. Rochester in a BBC serial of "Jane Eyre" (1983). Dalton starred alongside Jonathan Pryce in the film "The Doctor and the Devils" (1985).


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton co-starred with Joan Collins in the miniseries, "Sins" (1986). He was also replaced in two films in which he'd been signed to appear. He was offered the role of real-life British Prime Minister William Lamb in the film "Lady Caroline Lamb". The filmmakers replaced him with Jon Finch at the last moment; Dalton sued for breach of contract and won an out-of-court settlement.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: In 1985, Dalton was set to play Don Alfonso de la Torré in Roman Polanski's film "Pirates". The two men did not get along, so Polanski replaced Dalton with Damien Thomas. Dalton co-starred with Anthony Edwards in the 1988 British comedy film Hawks about two terminally ill patients who set off on a road-trip together.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton had been considered for the role of James Bond several times. According to the documentary "Inside The Living Daylights", the producers first approached Dalton in 1968 for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" although Dalton himself in this same documentary claims the approach occurred when he was either 24 or 25 and had already done the film "Mary, Queen of Scots" (1971), so it has been speculated that it was more likely for "Live and Let Die", the film in which Roger Moore made his debut as Bond after Sean Connery in "Diamonds Are Forever". Dalton declined the offer and told the producers that he was too young for the role. In a 1987 interview, Dalton said, "Originally I did not want to take over from Sean Connery. He was far too good, he was wonderful. I was about 24 or 25, which is too young. But when you've seen Bond from the beginning, you don't take over from Sean Connery." In either 1979 or 1980, during pre-production of "For Your Eyes Only" he was approached again, but did not favour the direction the films were taking, nor did he think the producers were seriously looking for a new 007. As he explained, his idea of Bond was different. In a 1979 episode of the television series "Charlie's Angels", Dalton played the role of Damien Roth, a millionaire playboy described by David Doyle's character as "almost James Bond-ian".


title: Timothy Dalton

text: In August 1986, Dalton was approached to play Bond after Roger Moore had retired, and Pierce Brosnan was unavailable due to his contractual commitments to the television series "Remington Steele". Dalton would soon begin filming "Brenda Starr" and could do "The Living Daylights" only if the Bond producers waited six weeks.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton's first appearance as 007, "The Living Daylights" (1987), was critically successful, grossing more than either of the previous two Bond films with Moore ("Octopussy" (1983) and "A View to a Kill" (1985)) as well as contemporary box-office rivals such as "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon". His second film, "Licence to Kill" (1989), although almost as successful as its predecessor in most markets, did not perform as well at the U.S. box office, in large part due to a lacklustre marketing campaign whereby the title of the film was abruptly changed from "Licence Revoked". The main factor for the lack of success in the U.S. was that it was released at the same time as the hugely successful "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", Tim Burton's "Batman", and "Lethal Weapon 2", during the summer blockbuster season. In the United Kingdom—one of its critical markets—the film was also hampered by receiving a 15 certificate from the British Board of Film Classification, which severely affected its commercial success. Future Bond films, following the resolution of legal and other issues, were all released between 31 October and mid-December, in order to avoid the risk of a summer failure, as had happened to "Licence to Kill".


title: Timothy Dalton

text: With a worldwide gross of , "The Living Daylights" became the fourth-most-successful Bond film at the time of its release. In 1998, the second Deluxe Edition of Bond's soundtracks was released. "The Living Daylights" was one of the first soundtracks to receive Deluxe treatment. The booklet/poster of this CD contains MGM's quote about "The Living Daylights" being the fourth-most-successful Bond film.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Since Dalton was contracted for three Bond films, the pre-production of his third film began in 1990, in order to be released in 1991. What was confirmed is that the story would deal with the destruction of a chemical weapons laboratory in Scotland, and the events would take place in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. The film was cancelled due to legal issues between UA/MGM and Eon Productions, which lasted for four years.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: The legal battle ended in 1993, and Dalton was expected to return as James Bond in the next Bond film, which later became "GoldenEye". Since his contract had expired, negotiations with him to renew it took place. Dalton surprised everyone on 12 April 1994 with the announcement that he would not return as James Bond. At this time, he was shooting the miniseries "Scarlett". Two months later, Brosnan, the original intended successor to Moore, was announced as the new Bond. Dalton reflected in 2007, "I was supposed to make one more but it was cancelled because MGM and the film's producers got into a lawsuit which lasted for five years. After that, I didn't want to do it anymore."


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton portrayed Bond in "The Living Daylights" (1987) and "Licence to Kill" (1989), the fifteenth and sixteenth entries in the franchise. Unlike Moore, who had played Bond as more of a light-hearted playboy, Dalton's portrayal of Bond was darker and more serious. Dalton pushed for renewed emphasis on the gritty realism of Ian Fleming's novels instead of fantasy plots and humour.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: A fan of the literary character, often seen re-reading and referring to the novels on set, Dalton determined to approach the role and play truer to the original character described by Fleming. His 007, therefore, came across as a reluctant agent who did not always enjoy the assignments he was given, something seen on screen before, albeit obliquely, only in George Lazenby's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". In "The Living Daylights," for example, Bond tells a critical colleague, Saunders, "Stuff my orders! ... Tell M what you want. If he fires me, I'll thank him for it." This was an element that appealed to Dalton when he read the script. In "Licence to Kill," he resigns from the Secret Intelligence Service in order to pursue his own agenda of revenge.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: This approach proved to be a double-edged sword. Film critics and fans of Fleming's original novels welcomed a more serious interpretation after more than a decade of Moore's approach. However, Dalton's films were criticised for their comparative lack of humour. Dalton's serious interpretation was not only in portraying the character, but also in performing most of the stunts of the action scenes himself. His director, John Glen, commented "Tim is a very convincing James Bond. When he has a gun in his hand, you believe he really could kill someone. I don't think that was ever the case with Roger Moore."


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Some modern critics have compared Dalton to Daniel Craig. In 2006, Gwladys Fouché of "The Guardian" wrote "while Connery was cool, and Brosnan brilliant, only Dalton could show the dark side of Fleming's fearless agent [...] they want Bond to be closer to the original Ian Fleming character. They want him to be grittier, darker and less jokey. What they really want, it seems, is to have Dalton back." Dalton himself has claimed that the Bond films starring Daniel Craig are "believable" in the way he wanted his own Bond films to be:


title: Timothy Dalton

text: After his Bond films, Dalton divided his work between stage, television and films, and diversified the characters he played. This helped him eliminate the 007 typecasting that followed him during the previous period. Dalton was nevertheless for a certain period considered to act in the Bond film " GoldenEye". Instead, he played Nazi spy Neville Sinclair in "The Rocketeer" (1991), and Rhett Butler in "Scarlett", the television miniseries sequel to "Gone with the Wind". He also appeared as criminal informant Eddie Myers in the acclaimed British TV film "Framed" (1992). He had a major part in an episode of the TV series "Tales from the Crypt".


title: Timothy Dalton

text: During the second half of the 1990s he starred in several cable films, most notably the Irish Republican Army drama, "The Informant", and the action thriller "Made Men". In the TV film "Cleopatra" (1999) he played Julius Caesar. He played a parody of James Bond named Damian Drake in the film "" (2003). At the end of that year and the beginning of 2004, he returned to theatre to play Lord Asriel in the stage version of "His Dark Materials". Dalton played Simon Skinner, who ran the local supermarket, in the action/comedy film "Hot Fuzz", which was released in 2007.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton returned once again to British television in a guest role for the "Doctor Who" 2009–10 two-part special "The End of Time", playing Rassilon. He was first heard in the role narrating a preview clip shown at the 2009 Comic Convention. In 2010 and 2011, he starred in several episodes of the fourth season of the American spy comedy "Chuck" as Alexei Volkoff.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton voiced the character Mr. Pricklepants in "Toy Story 3", which was released on 18 June 2010; and again in the television specials "Toy Story of Terror!" (2013) and "Toy Story That Time Forgot" (2014), and the sequel "Toy Story 4" (2019). In 2012, Dalton voiced Lord Milori in "Secret of the Wings", as part of the Disney Fairies franchise and the fourth film direct-to-DVD instalment of the Tinker Bell film series.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: From 2014 to 2016, Dalton portrayed the character Sir Malcolm Murray for three seasons on the "Showtime" original television series" Penny Dreadful".


title: Timothy Dalton

text: From 2019 to 2021, Dalton has portrayed the Chief in the DC Universe / HBO Max superhero series "Doom Patrol".


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton was in a relationship with reporter Kate Adie as a youth, and with English actress Vanessa Redgrave (with whom he appeared in the 1971 film "Mary, Queen of Scots" and the 1979 film "Agatha") between 1971 and 1986. He briefly dated actresses Stefanie Powers and Whoopi Goldberg.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: He was in a relationship with musician Oksana Grigorieva in the 1990s; they met in 1995 while she was employed as a translator for filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov. Dalton and Grigorieva had a son together (born August 1997) named Alexander. They broke up around 2003.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton resides between Chiswick, London and West Hollywood, California. He also has a home in St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda.


title: Timothy Dalton

text: Dalton is a Manchester City F.C. supporter, and is often seen at the City of Manchester Stadium to watch the team play.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: David Matthew Macfadyen (; born 17 October 1974) is an English actor known for his performances on stage and screen. He gained prominence for his role as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright's "Pride & Prejudice" (2005) for which he received a London Film Critics' Circle nomination for Best Newcomer. He currently stars as Tom Wambsgans in the HBO drama series "Succession" (2018-present) for which he has received a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: Macfayden is also known for his roles in films such as "Death at a Funeral" (2007), "Frost/Nixon" (2008), "Anna Karenina" (2012), "The Assistant" (2019), and "Operation Mincemeat" (2021). He made his television debut in 1998 as Hareton Earnshaw in "Wuthering Heights". He portrayed Tom Quinn in the BBC One spy series "Spooks" (2002-04, 2011), and Inspector Edmund Reid in the BBC mystery series "Ripper Street" (2012-2016). He also starred as Henry Wilcox in Kenneth Lonergan's miniseries "Howards End" and Charles Ingram in the Stephen Frears' limited series "Quiz" (2020).


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: Macfadyen was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, the son of Meinir (née Owen), a drama teacher and former actress, and Martin Macfadyen, an oil engineer. His paternal grandparents were Scottish and his maternal grandparents were Welsh. Macfadyen was brought up in a number of places, including Jakarta, Indonesia, as a result of his father's occupation. He attended schools in England (including in Louth, Lincolnshire), Scotland and Indonesia, and went to Oakham School in Rutland, before being accepted to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at 17. As a student, he was inspired by Ingmar Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander", which he thought was "[a]n example to follow – an example of people acting with each other...", and "[f]eatured just the most extraordinary acting I'd ever seen".


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: After having studied at the RADA from 1992 to 1995, Macfadyen became known in British theatre primarily for his work with the stage company Cheek by Jowl, for which he played Antonio in "The Duchess of Malfi", Charles Surface in "The School for Scandal", and Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing". His Benedick was played as an officer-class buffoon with a moustache and a braying laugh. In 2005, he played Prince Hal in "Henry IV, Parts One" and "Two" at the Royal National Theatre, with Michael Gambon in the role of Falstaff. In 2007, he returned to the stage, portraying an American, Clay, a stay-at-home father with a liberal attitude in the play "The Pain and the Itch".


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: A TV breakthrough came when he appeared as Hareton Earnshaw in an adaptation of "Wuthering Heights", screened on the ITV network in 1998. Further television drama work followed, including starring roles in the dramas "Warriors" (1999) and "The Way We Live Now" (2001), both for the BBC. Also in 2001, he earned acclaim for his starring role in the BBC Two drama serial "Perfect Strangers", which was written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff. In 2002, he starred in "The Project", a BBC drama charting New Labour's rise to power. He starred in "Spooks", which became a success when screened on BBC One. A longer second season was screened in 2003, and a third season was broadcast in autumn 2004, with him leaving the series in the second episode. The series was aired as "MI-5" on the A&E Network. In 2007 he appeared in the one-off Channel 4 drama "Secret Life", which dealt with paedophilia. Macfadyen won the Best Actor award at the Royal Television Society 2007 Awards for this part, and was nominated for a BAFTA. He also appeared in a short sketch for Comic Relief as the bridegroom in "Mr. Bean's Wedding", alongside Rowan Atkinson and Michelle Ryan.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: Macfadyen appeared in films including "Enigma" (released in 2001), and "In My Father's Den", for which he received the New Zealand Screen Award for Best Actor. He starred as the romantic lead Fitzwilliam Darcy in an adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice", released in the UK in September 2005.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: Macfadyen starred in Frank Oz's "Death at a Funeral" and the film "Incendiary", based on Chris Cleave's novel alongside Michelle Williams and Ewan McGregor. He also appeared in Ron Howard's film "Frost/Nixon", in which he played John Birt. In 2008, he played the male lead Arthur Clennam in the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Little Dorrit". In 2009 Macfadyen appeared alongside Academy Award-nominated actress Helena Bonham Carter in the BBC Four movie "Enid", based on the life of Enid Blyton, as Hugh Pollock, Blyton's publisher and first husband.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: In 2010, he played the Sheriff of Nottingham in "Robin Hood". He starred as Prior Philip in the TV serial "The Pillars of the Earth", and was the middle-aged Logan Mountstuart in "Any Human Heart". In June 2010, Macfadyen won a British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in "Criminal Justice".


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: In 2011, Macfadyen made a final cameo in the BBC show "Spooks", and in 2012, he played Oblonsky in Joe Wright's film, "Anna Karenina". In December 2012 he began portraying Detective Inspector Edmund Reid in BBC One's "Ripper Street".


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: In 2013-14 he played Jeeves in the production of "Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense" at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End of London. The play won the 2014 Olivier award for Best New Comedy.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: In 2015 Amazon Prime picked up "Ripper Street" and, after good reviews, it was recommissioned for fourth and fifth seasons. Macfadyen said he was "delighted to be embarking on another dose of "Ripper Street"blood and guts, pocket watches and Victorian headgear, wonderfully dark, moving and mysterious story lines from Mr Richard Wardlow". The series also aired in the U.S. on BBC America. Also in 2015, he guest starred in the pilot episode of The Last Kingdom.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: He currently stars as Tom Wambsgans in the HBO series "Succession", for which he has received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and in 2022, a Primetime Emmy Award win for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: In 2020, he appeared in the role of Major Charles Ingram in a three-part ITV drama, "Quiz", based on the controversial coughing cheat scandal on "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" in 2001.


title: Matthew Macfadyen

text: In 2002, Macfadyen began a relationship with his "Spooks" co-star Keeley Hawes. They were married in November 2004. The couple have two children. Macfadyen is stepfather to Hawes's son from her previous marriage. The couple are patrons of the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham.


title: Johnny Carson

text: John William Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known as the host of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962–1992). Carson received six Primetime Emmy Awards, the Television Academy's 1980 Governor's Award and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.


title: Johnny Carson

text: During World War II, Carson served in the Navy. After the war, Carson started a career in radio. He moved from radio to TV and followed Jack Paar as the host of the late night talk show, "Tonight". Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s, Carson became an American icon and remained so even after his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous "Tonight Show" hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar but enhanced by Carson's lightning-quick wit. Former late-night host and friend David Letterman, as well as many others, have cited Carson's influence. He is a cultural icon and widely considered to be the king of late-night TV.


title: Johnny Carson

text: John William Carson was born on October 23, 1925, in Corning, Iowa, to Ruth Elizabeth (Hook) Carson (1901–1985) and Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson (1899–1983), a power company manager. He was the second child of three children. He had an older sister, Catherine “Kit” (Carson) Sotzing (1923-2014) and a younger brother Richard Carson (1929-2021). As a child, he lived in the nearby towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwest Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at the age of eight. There, Carson grew up and began developing his talent for entertaining. At the age of 12, Carson found a book on magic at a friend's house and immediately purchased a mail-order magician's kit. After purchasing the kit, Carson practiced his entertainment skills on family members with card tricks. He was known for following his family members around saying, "Pick a card, any card." Carson's mother sewed him a cape, and his first performance was staged in front of the local Kiwanis Club. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at age 14 and was paid $3 a show. Soon, many other performances at local picnics and county fairs followed. After graduating from high school, Carson had his first encounter with Hollywood. He had hitchhiked to Hollywood, where he was arrested and fined $50 for impersonating a midshipman, a story often regarded as apocryphal.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson joined the United States Navy on June 8, 1943, and received V-12 Navy College Training Program officer training at Columbia University and Millsaps College. Commissioned an ensign late in the war, Carson was assigned to the in the Pacific. While in the Navy, Carson posted a 10–0 amateur boxing record, with most of his bouts fought on board the "Pennsylvania". He was en route to the combat zone aboard a troop ship when the war ended. Carson served as a communications officer in charge of decoding encrypted messages. He said that the high point of his military career was performing a magic trick for United States Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal. In a conversation with Forrestal, the Secretary asked Carson if he planned to stay in the Navy after the war. In response, Carson said no and told him he wanted to be a magician. Forrestal asked him to perform, and Carson responded with a card trick. Carson made the discovery that he could entertain and amuse someone as cranky and sophisticated as Forrestal.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Taking advantage of educational opportunities from the Navy, Carson attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he joined Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and continued performing magic (then paid $25 per appearance). He majored in journalism with the intention of becoming a comedy writer, but instead switched his major to speech and drama a few months later because he wanted to become a radio performer. Carson's college thesis, titled "How to Write Comedy for Radio", was a compilation of taped skits and jokes from popular radio shows with Carson explaining the comedic technique in a voice-over. It allowed him to graduate in three years. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in radio and speech with a minor in physics in 1949.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha. He soon hosted a morning television program called "The Squirrel's Nest". One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners—attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders he had lampooned on the radio.


title: Johnny Carson

text: The wife of one of the Omaha political figures Carson spoofed owned stock in a radio station in Los Angeles, and in 1951 referred Carson to her brother, who was influential in the emerging television market in Southern California. Carson joined CBS-owned Los Angeles television station KNXT (now KCBS-TV). In 1953, comic Red Skelton—a fan of Carson's "cult success" low-budget sketch comedy show, "Carson's Cellar" (1951 to 1953) on KNXT—asked Carson to join his show as a writer. In 1954, Skelton accidentally knocked himself unconscious during rehearsal, an hour before his live show began. Carson successfully filled in for him. In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures. Benny predicted that Carson, who readily admitted Benny's substantial influence on aspects of his comedic delivery, would have a successful career as a comedian.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson hosted several shows besides "Carson's Cellar", including the game show "Earn Your Vacation" (1954) and the CBS variety show "The Johnny Carson Show" (1955–1956). He was a guest panelist on the original "To Tell the Truth" beginning in 1960, becoming a regular panelist from 1961 to 1962. After the primetime "The Johnny Carson Show" failed, he moved to New York City to host ABC-TV's "Who Do You Trust?" (1957–1962). It was on "Who Do You Trust?" that Carson met his future sidekick and straight man, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime television would hurt his career, "Who Do You Trust?" was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests, and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his six years at ABC.


title: Johnny Carson

text: NBC's "Tonight" was the late-night counterpart to its early-morning show "Today". Originating in 1954 with host Steve Allen, "Tonight" was somewhat experimental at the time, as the only previous network late-night program was NBC's "Broadway Open House" which starred Jerry Lester and Dagmar. "Tonight" was successful, and when Allen moved on to primetime comedy-variety shows in 1957, Jack Paar replaced him as host of "Tonight". Paar left the show in 1962.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson's success on ABC's "Who Do You Trust?" led NBC to invite him to take over "Tonight" a few months before Paar's departure. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 105 minutes each day. Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, and Joey Bishop all also declined. NBC finally convinced Carson to sign by early February 1962. Carson can be seen discussing his upcoming job for the first time on the February 11, 1962, episode of "What's My Line?". Due to Carson having six months left on his ABC contract, NBC used multiple guest hosts until he could take over. Guest hosts included Merv Griffin, Art Linkletter, Joey Bishop, Arlene Francis (the first woman to host "The Tonight Show"), Bob Cummings, Jerry Lewis, Groucho Marx, Donald O'Connor, and others.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Although he continued to have doubts about his new job, Carson became the host of "Tonight" (later called "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson") on October 1, 1962. After a difficult first year, he overcame his fears. While "Tonight" under its previous hosts had been successful, especially under Paar, Carson's version eventually did very well in the ratings. Billy Wilder said of Carson:


title: Johnny Carson

text: McMahon followed Carson from "Who Do You Trust?" as his announcer and sidekick, and Skitch Henderson was installed as the maestro of the NBC orchestra. McMahon's famous introduction, "Heeeeere's Johnny!!!" was followed by a brief monologue by Carson. This was often followed by comedy sketches, interviews, and music. Carson's trademark was a phantom golf swing at the end of his monologues, aimed stage left toward the studio orchestra. (Guest hosts sometimes parodied that gesture. Bob Newhart rolled an imaginary bowling ball toward the audience.)


title: Johnny Carson

text: Paul Anka wrote the theme song, ("Johnny's Theme"), a reworking of his "Toot Sweet"; given lyrics, it was renamed "It's Really Love" and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959. Before taking over "The Tonight Show", Carson wrote lyrics for the song, and so claimed 50 percent of the song's performance royalties (though the lyrics were never used). The theme is heard being played on sound recordings of Carson's first "Tonight Show", and it was used without interruption through to his last broadcast on May 22, 1992.


title: Johnny Carson

text: The show was originally produced at the 30 Rockefeller Plaza NBC television studios in New York City, with occasional stints in California. The program began videotaping in advance during the Jack Paar days, although during the 1970s, NBC fed the live taping from Burbank to New York via satellite for editing (see below). Carson had a talent for quick quips to deal with problems. If the opening monologue fared poorly, the band would start playing "Tea for Two" and Carson danced a softshoe to laughs from the studio audience. Alternatively, Carson might pull the boom microphone close to his face and announce, "Attention K-Mart shoppers, clean up in aisle four!"


title: Johnny Carson

text: On May 1, 1972, the show moved from 30 Rockefeller Plaza to Burbank, California, because of the studio's proximity to celebrities.


title: Johnny Carson

text: From July 1971, Carson stopped hosting five shows per week. Instead, Mondays featured a guest host, leaving Carson to host the other four weeknights. Shows were videotaped in Burbank at 5:30 pm, fed from there to the Central and Eastern time zone stations via cross-country television line at 8:30 pm Pacific time (11:30 pm Eastern time), and later sent from Burbank to the Pacific time zone stations at 11:30 pm Pacific time. Since only two feeds originated from Burbank, Central time zone stations received the Eastern feed one hour earlier at 10:30 pm local time, and Mountain time stations received the Pacific time zone feed one hour later at 12:30 am local time.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In 1980, at Carson's request, the show cut its 90-minute format to 60 minutes on September 16; Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" added a half-hour to fill the vacant time. Joan Rivers became the "permanent" guest host from September 1983 until 1986. "The Tonight Show" then returned to using rotating guest hosts, including comic George Carlin. Jay Leno became the exclusive guest host in fall 1987. Leno joked that although other guest hosts had upped their fees, he had kept his low, assuring himself more bookings. Eventually, Monday night was for Leno, Tuesday for "The Best of Carson"—rebroadcasts usually dating from a year earlier, but occasionally from the 1970s.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Although Carson's work schedule became more abbreviated, "Tonight" remained so successful that his compensation from NBC continued to rise; by the mid-1970s, he had become the highest-paid personality on television, earning about $4 million a year ($ today), not including nightclub appearances and his other businesses. He refused many offers to appear in films, including title roles in "The Thomas Crown Affair" and Gene Wilder's role in "Blazing Saddles". He also declined director Martin Scorsese's offer to co-star with Robert De Niro in the 1983 film "The King of Comedy", with the role of a TV talk-show host then going to Jerry Lewis.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In recognition of his 25th anniversary on "The Tonight Show", Carson received a personal Peabody Award, the board saying he had "become an American institution, a household word, [and] the most widely quoted American." They also said they "felt the time had come to recognize the contributions that Johnny has made to television, to humor, and to America."


title: Johnny Carson

text: In 1973, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic Uri Geller appeared on "The Tonight Show". In the "NOVA" documentary, "James Randi – Secrets of the Psychics," magician and skeptical activist James Randi says that Carson "had been a magician himself and was skeptical" of Geller's claimed paranormal powers, so prior to the date of taping, Randi was asked "to help prevent any trickery." Per Randi's advice, the show prepared their own props without informing Geller, and did not let Geller or his staff "anywhere near them." When Geller joined Carson on stage, he appeared surprised that he was not going to be interviewed, but instead was expected to display his abilities using the provided articles. Geller said "This scares me." and "I'm surprised because before this program your producer came and he read me at least 40 questions you were going to ask me." Geller was unable to display any paranormal abilities, saying "I don't feel strong" and he expressed his displeasure at feeling like he was being "pressed" to perform by Carson. According to Adam Higginbotham's November 7, 2014, article in "The New York Times":


title: Johnny Carson

text: However, this appearance on "The Tonight Show", which Carson and Randi had orchestrated to debunk Geller's claimed abilities, backfired. According to Higginbotham,


title: Johnny Carson

text: Although Carson's program moved to Burbank in 1972, NBC's editing and production services for the show remained in New York, requiring that the program be transmitted between the two cities. In 1976, NBC used the Satcom 2 satellite to achieve this, feeding the live taping (which started around 5:30 pm local time) directly to New York, where it would be edited prior to the late-night broadcast. This live feed lasted usually for two to two-and-a-half hours a night and was both uncensored and commercial-free. During the slots for commercial breaks, the audio and picture feed would continue, capturing at times risqué language and other events that would be edited out before transmission.


title: Johnny Carson

text: At the same time, satellite ground stations owned by individuals began appearing, and some found the live feed. Satellite dish owners began to document their sightings in technical journals, giving viewers knowledge of things they were not meant to see. Carson and his production staff grew concerned about this and pressured NBC into ceasing the satellite transmissions of the live taping in the early 1980s. The satellite link was replaced by microwave transmission until the show's editing facilities were moved to Burbank.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson often made jokes at the expense of other celebrities. In 1980, Carson backed out of a deal to acquire the Aladdin Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, and a competing group led by Wayne Newton successfully bought the property. According to lawyer Henry Bushkin, Carson became annoyed that he was often portrayed by the media as having "lost" the deal and reacted by telling jokes on his show about Newton, who had spent a great deal of effort building a masculine image. This created something of a high-profile feud between Carson and Newton. Years later, Newton appeared on "Larry King Live", declaring that "Johnny Carson is a mean-spirited human being. And there are people that he has hurt that people will never know about. And for some reason at some point, he decided to turn that kind of negative attention toward me. And I refused to have it." Newton has often told of personally confronting Carson; after the final straw, Newton barged into Carson's office at the NBC studios and threatened to beat him up unless the jokes stopped. They did; but only after Carson, who had compiled a 10–0 record as a boxer in the Navy, laughed at him.


title: Johnny Carson

text: On February 27, 1982, Carson was arrested for drunk driving on La Cienega Boulevard, near Beverly Hills; he was released on his own recognizance. Carson pleaded no contest to the charges, and in October 1982, received a sentence of three years probation, a fine of $603 and was required to attend a driver's education alcohol program. Carson's driving privilege was restricted to driving only to and from work and the alcohol education classes for a period of 90 days.


title: Johnny Carson

text: "Perry Mason" actor Raymond Burr became angry over Carson's continuing fat jokes about him and he only appeared on "The Tonight Show" twice, in 1968 and 1976.


title: Johnny Carson

text: On July 2, 1969, Carson launched an on-the-air attack on "The New York Times" after his nightly monologue, assailing the newspaper for an article saying that he was the highest-paid performer on television, earning $75,000 a week. He denied that was so, while declining to reveal his compensation in a subsequent interview with the newspaper, and called the article "damned unfair." "The Times" published a follow-up article saying that its initial reporter "erred", and that $75,000 a week was unlikely.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson reportedly loathed what he perceived as disloyalty, and he was furious when former frequent "Tonight Show" guest hosts John Davidson and Joan Rivers began hosting their own talk shows. Rivers' show on the Fox Network directly competed with Carson during the 1986–1987 season before being cancelled. On June 24, 2009, following Ed McMahon's death, Rivers lauded McMahon on "Larry King Live", but said that after she got her own show, Carson never spoke to her again.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In December 1973, Carson joked on "Tonight" about an alleged shortage of toilet paper. Viewers believed the story and panic buying and hoarding ensued across the United States as consumers emptied stores, causing a real shortage that lasted for weeks. Stores and toilet paper manufacturers had to ration supplies until the panic ended. Carson apologized in January 1974 for the incident, which became what "The New York Times" called a "classic study" of how rumors spread. Carson called references in the article to him “very unfair”.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson successfully sued a manufacturer of portable toilets that wanted to call its product "Here's Johnny".


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson performed a send-up of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood". Rogers noted, "I've told Johnny that I like humor as much as anybody. But what concerns me is the takeoffs that make me seem so "wimpy"! I hope it doesn't communicate that Mr. Rogers is just somebody to be made fun of. Only people who take the time to see our work can begin to understand the depth of it." Carson later apologized to Rogers for making fun of him.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson invested $500,000 in the DeLorean Motor Company. Additionally, Carson was head of a group of investors who purchased and operated two television stations. The first was KVVU-TV in Henderson, Nevada, an independent station serving Las Vegas, acquired by the Carson group in 1979. Shortly after buying the station, KVVU was rumored to be acquiring an NBC affiliation as then long-time affiliate KORK-TV was in the process of being replaced by KVBC (and now KSNV), but it never happened. Carson's second station, independent KNAT-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was purchased in 1982. Unlike the Las Vegas operation, KNAT faced stiffer competition for top-quality, syndicated programming. Carson sold both of his stations in 1985 and 1986 with KVVU-TV (FOX 5) going to the Meredith Corporation and KNAT being sold to Trinity Broadcasting Network.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson's other business ventures included the successful Johnny Carson Apparel, Inc.—his turtlenecks became a fashion trend—and a failed restaurant franchise.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson retired from show business on May 22, 1992, at age 66, when he stepped down as host of "The Tonight Show". His farewell was a major media event, often emotional for Carson, his colleagues, and the audiences, and stretched over several nights. In tribute to Carson and his enormous influence, several networks that had late-night variety talk shows "went dark" for the entire hour he did the last show. After 13 tries, "The Tonight Show" finally won the Emmy for Outstanding Late-night later that year, buoyed by the penultimate broadcast, which featured Johnny's final two guests: Robin Williams and Bette Midler.


title: Johnny Carson

text: NBC gave the role of host to the show's then-current permanent guest host, Jay Leno. Leno and David Letterman were soon competing on separate networks.


title: Johnny Carson

text: At the end of his final "Tonight Show" episode, Carson indicated that he might, if so inspired, return with a new project. Instead, he chose to go into full retirement, rarely giving interviews and declining to participate in NBC's 75th-anniversary celebrations. He made an occasional cameo appearance, including voicing himself on the May 13, 1993, episode of "The Simpsons" ("Krusty Gets Kancelled"), telephoning David Letterman on a November 1993 episode of "Late Show with David Letterman", and appearing in the 1993 NBC special "Bob Hope: The First 90 Years".


title: Johnny Carson

text: On May 13, 1994, Carson appeared on the "Late Show with David Letterman". During a week of shows from Los Angeles, Letterman was having Larry "Bud" Melman (Calvert DeForest) deliver his "Top Ten Lists" under the guise that a famous personality would be delivering the list, instead. On the last show of the week, Letterman indicated that Carson would be delivering the list. Instead, DeForest delivered the list, insulted the audience (in keeping with the gag), and walked off to polite applause. Letterman then indicated that the card he was given did not have the proper list on it and asked that the "real" list be brought out. On that cue, the real Carson emerged from behind the curtain (as Letterman's band played "Johnny's Theme"), an appearance that prompted a 90-second standing ovation from the audience. Carson then asked to sit behind Letterman's desk; Letterman obliged, as the audience continued to cheer and applaud. After some moments, Carson departed from the show without having spoken to the audience. He later cited acute laryngitis as the reason for his silence. This turned out to be Carson's last television appearance.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson also reviewed clips of the "Tonight Show" included in DVD compilations, and had humor pieces published in "The New Yorker".


title: Johnny Carson

text: Prior to his death, Carson occasionally sent jokes to David Letterman. Letterman would then use these jokes in the monologue of his show, which Carson got "a big kick out of", according to Worldwide Pants Inc. senior vice president Peter Lassally, who formerly produced both men's programs. He also said Carson had always believed Letterman, not Leno, to be his "rightful successor". In his first broadcast after Carson's death, Letterman delivered a monologue compiled entirely of jokes sent in by Carson, a fact the host revealed a short time later in the program.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson's influences included Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Bill Maher, Jack Paar.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson's show launched the careers of many performers, especially comedians and musicians. For a comedian appearing on the show, getting Carson to laugh and being invited to the guest chair were considered the highest honors. Notable among these were David Letterman, Robin Williams, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Arsenio Hall, Jeff Foxworthy, Ellen DeGeneres, Rodney Dangerfield, Joan Rivers, David Brenner, Tim Allen, Drew Carey, Howie Mandel, Roseanne Barr and Don Rickles. Carson was successor to "The Ed Sullivan Show" as a showcase for different types of talent, as well as continuing a vaudeville-style variety show.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In 1966, Carson popularized Milton Bradley's game Twister when he played it with actress Eva Gabor. Not widely known up to that time, the game skyrocketed in popularity after the broadcast.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Comedians who credit Carson as an influence include David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Dennis Miller, Bill Maher, Joan Rivers, Larry Wilmore, Ray Romano, Don Rickles, Bob Newhart, Angie Dickinson, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Dick Cavett, Norm Macdonald, David Steinberg, Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, Garry Shandling, Steve Martin, Ray Combs, Arsenio Hall, Craig Ferguson, Orson Bean, and Jimmy Fallon.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Brian Wilson was an avid fan of the show and in 1977 wrote a song titled "Johnny Carson" as a tribute. It was released on the "Beach Boys Love You" album.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Despite his on-camera demeanor, Carson was introverted and shy off-camera. He was known for avoiding most large parties and was referred to as "the most private public man who ever lived." Dick Cavett recalled, "I felt sorry for Johnny in that he was so socially uncomfortable. I've hardly ever met anybody who had as hard a time as he did." In addition, George Axelrod once said of Carson, "Socially, he doesn't exist. The reason is that there are no television cameras in living rooms. If human beings had little red lights in the middle of their foreheads, Carson would be the greatest conversationalist on Earth."


title: Johnny Carson

text: He normally refused to discuss politics, social controversies, his childhood, or his private life with interviewers, and offered the following list of written answers to journalists who wanted to ask him questions:


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson opposed the Vietnam War and capital punishment, favored racial equality, and was against criminalizing extramarital sex and pornography. He avoided explicitly mentioning his views on "The Tonight Show," saying he "hates to be pinned down" as that would "hurt me as an entertainer, which is what I am." As he explained in 1970, "In my living room I would argue for liberalization of abortion laws, divorce laws, and there are times when I would like to express a view on the air. I would love to have taken on Billy Graham. But I'm on TV five nights a week; I have nothing to gain by it and everything to lose." He also seldom invited political figures onto the "Tonight Show" because he "didn't want it to become a political forum" and did not want the show used, by himself or others, to influence the opinions of the viewers.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In his book, Carson's former lawyer Henry Bushkin stated, he "was by instinct and upbringing definitely Republican, but of an Eisenhower sort that we don't see much of anymore ... Overall, you'd have to say he was anti-big: anti-big government, anti-big money, anti-big bullies, anti-big blowhards." Carson served as MC for Ronald Reagan's inaugural gala in 1981 at the request of Frank Sinatra.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In October 1982, Carson plead no contest to a misdemeanor count of driving with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit, well the charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and driving without a license were withdrawn by the prosecution. This case stemmed from an arrest in February 1982 after being pulled a few blocks after dinner at an Italian restaurant. Carson was fined $603 and placed on three years of probation Municipal Court Judge David Kidney ordered Carson, to attend a driver's education alcohol program and restricted his license for 90 days to trips to and from work and those classes. Though his lawyer Robert Shapiro advised Carson to take his case to trial believing they had a winning case, Carson was looking to move on from the scandal and wanted to avoid the media attention that going forward with a trial would bring. Carson commented on the matter in a monolog of the Tonight Show saying: "I regret the incident, And I'll tell you one thing, You will never see me do that again."


title: Johnny Carson

text: As an adult, Carson was not a regular churchgoer, although during his childhood he was raised as a Methodist and during high school attended Christian Endeavor meetings at the local church.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In October 1949, Carson married Jody Wolcott in North Platte, Nebraska. The marriage was volatile, with infidelities committed by both parties, and ended in divorce in 1963.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson married Joanne Copeland the same year, on August 17. After a second protracted divorce in 1972, Copeland received a settlement of $6,000 per month in alimony until she remarried or until Carson's death (she received it until his death in 2005). She also received "a pretty nice little art collection." She later had a second marriage that also ended in divorce, and died in California, aged 83, in 2015. She had no children.


title: Johnny Carson

text: At the Carson "Tonight Show" 10th-anniversary party on September 30, 1972, Carson announced that former model Joanna Holland and he had been secretly married that afternoon, shocking his friends and associates. On March 8, 1983, Holland filed for divorce. The divorce case finally ended in 1985 with an 80-page settlement, Holland receiving $20 million in cash and property.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson reportedly joked, "My giving advice on marriage is like the captain of the "Titanic" giving lessons on navigation."


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson had three sons with his first wife: Christopher, Cory, and Richard. His middle son, Richard, died on June 21, 1991, when his car plunged down a steep embankment along a paved service road off Highway 1 near Cayucos, California. Apparently, Richard had been taking photographs when the accident occurred. On the first "Tonight Show" after his son's death, Carson paid tribute to Richard's photographic work by showing his nature slides, while Stevie Ray Vaughan's 1989 song "Riviera Paradise" played in the background. In addition, the final image of the show, as well as some "More to Come" bumpers, of Carson's last show on May 22, 1992, featured a photo Richard had taken.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In 1981, Carson created the John W. Carson Foundation, dedicated to supporting children, education, and health services. In August 2010, the charitable foundation created by Carson reported receiving $156 million () from a personal trust established by the entertainer years prior to his January 2005 death. Carson's foundation was now by far the largest of the Hollywood charities. The foundation continues to support charitable causes.


title: Johnny Carson

text: In November 2004, Carson announced a $5.3 million gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation to support the Hixson–Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Department of Theater Arts, which created the Johnny Carson School of Theater and Film. Another $5 million donation was announced by the estate of Carson to the University of Nebraska following his death, while a $1 million donation was announced on November 4, 2011, creating the Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship Fund. The foundation made another $5 million donation to the university on October 22, 2021 to augment the Opportunity Scholarship Fund.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson also donated to causes in his hometown of Norfolk, including the Carson Cancer Center at Faith Regional Health Services, the Elkhorn Valley Museum, and the Johnny Carson Theater at Norfolk Senior High School. Carson also donated to the Northeast Community College Lifelong Learning Center in honor of his favorite teacher, Miss Faye Gordon. Miss Gordon had appeared on his show a number of times. His last known visit to Norfolk was to throw the 100th-birthday party for Miss Gordon, which Carson had promised to do several years earlier.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson, an amateur astronomer, was a close friend of astronomer Carl Sagan, who often appeared on "The Tonight Show". The unique way Sagan had of saying certain words, like "billions" of stars, would lead Carson to ribbing his friend, saying "BILL-ions and BILL-ions". Carson was the first person to contact Sagan's wife Ann Druyan with condolences when the scientist died in 1996. He owned several telescopes, including a top-of-the-line unit. In 1981, the minor planet 1981 EM was named in his honor, . That year, a star was also nicknamed after Carson.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson was an amateur drummer and was shown on a 1978 segment of "60 Minutes" practising at home on a drum set given to him by his close friend Buddy Rich, who was the jazz musician with the most appearances on "The Tonight Show". Gore Vidal, another frequent "Tonight Show" guest and friend, wrote about Carson's personality in his 2006 memoir.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson was an avid tennis player. When he sold a Malibu house to John McEnroe and Tatum O'Neal, the escrow terms required McEnroe to give Johnny six tennis lessons. Carson's primary tennis teacher was Bob Trapenberg, who taught him for some time, and traveled with him to Wimbledon.


title: Johnny Carson

text: On March 19, 1999, Carson suffered a severe heart attack at his home in Malibu, California, and was hospitalized in nearby Santa Monica, where he underwent quadruple-bypass surgery.


title: Johnny Carson

text: Carson had been a heavy smoker for decades, and in the early days of his tenure on "The Tonight Show," often smoked on-camera. He smoked four packs of Pall Mall cigarettes a day. It was reported that as early as the mid-1970s, he would repeatedly say, "These things are killing me." His younger brother recalled that during their last conversation, Carson kept saying, "Those damn cigarettes."


title: Johnny Carson

text: At 6:50 am PST on January 23, 2005, Carson died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of respiratory failure arising from emphysema. He was 79, and had revealed his terminal illness to the public in September 2002. His body was cremated, and the ashes were given to his wife, Alexis Maas. In accordance with his family's wishes, no public memorial service was held. Carson was also survived by his younger brother, Dick, who was an Emmy Award-winning director of, among other things, the competing "Merv Griffin Show" and "Wheel of Fortune".


title: Johnny Carson

text: Numerous tributes were paid to Carson upon his death, including a statement by then-President George W. Bush, all recognizing the deep and enduring affection held for him.


title: Johnny Carson

text: On January 31, "The Late Show with David Letterman" paid tribute with former "Tonight Show" executive producer Peter Lassally and bandleader Doc Severinsen. At the beginning of this show, Letterman said that for 30 years, no matter what was going on in the world, whether people had a good or bad day, they wanted to end it being "tucked in by Johnny." He also told his viewers that the monologue he had just spoken, which was very well received by the studio audience, consisted entirely of jokes sent to him by Carson in the last few months of his life. Doc Severinsen ended the Letterman show that night by conducting and playing, along with Tommy Newsom and Ed Shaughnessy, one of Carson's two favorite songs, "Here's That Rainy Day" (the other was "I'll Be Seeing You"). "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" also paid tribute to Carson with guests Ed McMahon, Bob Newhart, Don Rickles, Drew Carey, and k.d. lang.


title: Johnny Carson

text: On his final "Tonight Show" appearance, Carson himself said that while sometimes people who work together for long stretches of time on television do not necessarily like each other, this was not the case with McMahon; he and McMahon were good friends who would have drinks and dinner together, and the camaraderie they had on the show could not be faked. Their friendship spanned 46 years.


title: Johnny Carson

text: At the first Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to David Letterman. At the 2nd Annual Comedy Awards on Comedy Central, the Johnny Carson Award was given to Don Rickles.


title: Johnny Carson

text: A two-hour documentary about his life, "", aired on PBS on May 14, 2012, as part of their "American Masters" series. It is narrated by Kevin Spacey and features interviews with many of Carson's family, fellow comedians, and protégés.


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn. She died of postnatal complications less than two weeks after the birth of her only child, the future King Edward VI. She was the only wife of Henry to receive a queen's funeral or to be buried beside him in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane, the daughter of Sir John Seymour and Margery Wentworth, was most likely born at Wulfhall, Wiltshire, although West Bower Manor in Somerset has also been suggested. Her birth date is not recorded; various accounts use anywhere from 1504 to 1509, but it is generally estimated around 1508. Through her maternal grandfather, she was a descendant of King Edward III's son Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence. Because of this, she and King Henry VIII were fifth cousins. She also shared a great-grandmother, Elizabeth Cheney, with his second and fifth wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard.


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane was not as highly educated as Henry's first and second wives, Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. She could read and write a little, but was much better at needlework and household management, which were considered much more necessary for women. Her needlework was reportedly beautiful and elaborate; some of it survived as late as 1652, when it is recorded to have been given to the Seymour family. After her death, it was noted that Henry was an "enthusiastic embroiderer."


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane became a maid-of-honour in 1532 to Queen Catherine, but may have served her as early as 1527, and went on to serve Queen Anne with her sister Elizabeth. The first report of Henry's interest in Jane was in February 1536, about three months before Anne's execution.


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane was highly praised for her gentle, peaceful nature, being called as "gentle a lady as ever I knew" by John Russell and "the Pacific" by the Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys, (who referred to her as Jane Semel in his letters,) for her peacemaking efforts at court. According to Chapuys, she was of middling stature and very pale; he also said that she was not of much beauty, but Russell said she was "the fairest of all the King's wives." Polydore Vergil commented that she was "a woman of the utmost charm in both character and appearance." She was regarded as meek, gentle, simple, and chaste, with her large family making her thought to be suitable to have many children.


title: Jane Seymour

text: Henry VIII was betrothed to Jane on 20 May 1536, the day after Anne Boleyn's execution. They were married at the Palace of Whitehall, Whitehall, London, in the Queen's closet by Bishop Gardiner on 30 May 1536. As a wedding gift he granted her 104 manors in four counties as well as a number of forests and hunting chases for her jointure, the income to support her during their marriage. She was publicly proclaimed queen on 4 June 1536. Her well-publicised sympathy for the late Queen Catherine and her daughter Mary showed her to be compassionate and made her a popular figure with the common people and most of the courtiers. She was never crowned because of plague in London, where the coronation was to take place. Henry may have been reluctant to have her crowned before she had fulfilled her duty as a queen consort by bearing him a male heir.


title: Jane Seymour

text: As queen, Jane was said to be strict and formal. The lavish entertainments, gaiety, and extravagance of the queen's household, which had reached its peak during Anne Boleyn's time, was replaced by strict decorum. She banned the French fashions Anne had introduced. Politically, Jane appears to have been conservative. Her only reported involvement in national affairs, in 1536, was when she asked for pardons for participants in the Pilgrimage of Grace. Henry is said to have rejected this, reminding her of the fate her predecessor met with when she "meddled in his affairs". Her motto as a queen was "Bound to obey and serve".


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane formed a close relationship with her stepdaughter Mary. Jane put forth much effort to restore Mary to court and to the royal succession, behind any children she might have with Henry. She brought up the issue of Mary's restoration both before and after she became queen. While she was unable to restore Mary to the line of succession, she was able to reconcile her with Henry. Chapuys wrote to Emperor Charles V of her compassion and efforts on behalf of Mary's return to favour. A letter from Mary to her shows Mary's gratitude. While it was she who first pushed for the restoration, Mary and Elizabeth were not reinstated to the succession until Henry's sixth wife, Catherine Parr, convinced him to do so.


title: Jane Seymour

text: One non-contemporary source conjectures that she may have been pregnant and had a miscarriage by Christmas 1536. In January 1537, Jane conceived again. During her pregnancy, she developed a craving for quail, which Henry ordered for her from Calais and Flanders. During the summer, she took no public engagements and led a relatively quiet life, attended by the royal physicians and the best midwives in the kingdom. She went into confinement in September 1537 and gave birth to the coveted male heir, the future King Edward VI, at two o'clock in the morning on 12 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace. Edward was christened on 15 October 1537, without his mother in attendance, as was the custom. He was the only legitimate son of Henry VIII to survive infancy. Both of his daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, were present and carried Edward's train during the ceremony.


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane's labour had been difficult, lasting two days and three nights, probably because the baby was not well positioned. After the christening, it became clear that she was seriously ill. She died on 24 October 1537 at Hampton Court Palace. Within a few weeks, there were conflicting accounts of the cause of her death. More recently, various speculations have been made. According to King Edward's biographer Jennifer Loach, her death may have been due to an infection from a retained placenta. According to Alison Weir, she may have succumbed to puerperal fever following a bacterial infection contracted during the birth. Weir has also speculated, after medical consultation, that the cause of her death was a pulmonary embolism.


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane was buried on 12 November 1537 in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle after the funeral in which her stepdaughter Mary acted as chief mourner. A procession of 29 mourners followed Mary, one for every year of Jane's life. She was the only one of Henry's wives to receive a queen's funeral.


title: Jane Seymour

text: After her death, Henry wore black for the next three months. He married Anne of Cleves two years later, although marriage negotiations were tentatively begun soon after Jane's death. He put on weight during his widowerhood, becoming obese and swollen and developing diabetes and gout. Historians have speculated she was his favourite wife because she gave birth to a male heir. When he died in 1547, he was buried beside her, on his request, in the grave he had made for her.


title: Jane Seymour

text: Jane gave the King the son he so desperately desired, helped to restore Mary to the succession and her father's affections, and used her influence to bring about the advancement of her family. Two of her brothers, Thomas and Edward, used her memory to improve their own fortunes. Thomas was rumoured to have been pursuing the future Elizabeth I, but married the queen dowager Catherine Parr instead. In the reign of the young King Edward VI, Edward set himself up as Lord Protector and de facto ruler of the kingdom. Both eventually fell from power, and were executed.


title: Neil Diamond

text: Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts: "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Longfellow Serenade", "I've Been This Way Before", "If You Know What I Mean", "Desirée", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight". Thirty-eight songs by Diamond have reached the top 10 on the "Billboard" Adult Contemporary charts, including "Sweet Caroline". He has also acted in films, making his screen debut in the 1980 musical drama film "The Jazz Singer".


title: Neil Diamond

text: Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, and he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. In 2011, he was an honoree at the Kennedy Center Honors, and he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.


title: Neil Diamond

text: Diamond was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Jewish family. All four of his grandparents were immigrants, from Poland on his father's side and Russia on his mother's. His parents were Rose ("née" Rapoport; 1918–2019) and Akeeba "Kieve" Diamond (1917–1985), a dry-goods merchant. He grew up in several homes in Brooklyn, having also spent four years in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where his father was stationed in the army. In Brooklyn, he attended Erasmus Hall High School and was a member of the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club, along with classmate Barbra Streisand; Diamond recalled they were not close friends at the time: "We were two poor kids in Brooklyn. We hung out in the front of Erasmus High and smoked cigarettes." After his family moved to Brighton Beach, he attended Abraham Lincoln High School and was a member of the fencing team. Also on the team was his best friend, future Olympic fencer Herb Cohen.


title: Neil Diamond

text: For his 16th birthday, he received his first guitar. When he was 16 and still in high school, Diamond spent a number of weeks at Surprise Lake Camp, a camp for Jewish children in upstate New York, when folk singer Pete Seeger performed a small concert. Seeing the widely recognized singer perform, and watching other children singing songs for Seeger that they wrote themselves, had an immediate effect on Diamond, who then became aware of the possibility of writing his own songs. "And the next thing, I got a guitar when we got back to Brooklyn, started to take lessons and almost immediately began to write songs", he said. He added that his attraction to songwriting was the "first real interest" he had growing up, while also helping him release his youthful "frustrations".


title: Neil Diamond

text: Diamond also used his newly developed skill to write poetry. By writing poems for girls he was attracted to in school, he soon learned it often won their hearts. His male classmates took note and began asking him to write poems for them, which they would sing and use with equal success. He spent the summer following his graduation as a waiter in the Catskills resort area. There he first met Jaye Posner, who would years later become his wife.


title: Neil Diamond

text: Diamond next attended New York University as a pre-med major on a fencing scholarship, again on the fencing team with Herb Cohen. He was a member of the 1960 NCAA men's championship fencing team. Often bored in class, he found writing song lyrics more to his liking. He began cutting classes and taking the train up to Tin Pan Alley, where he tried to get some of his songs heard by local music publishers. In his senior year, when he was just 10 units short of graduation, Sunbeam Music Publishing offered him a 16-week job writing songs for $50 a week (equivalent to about $ per week, in ), and he dropped out of college to accept it.


title: Neil Diamond

text: Diamond was not rehired after his 16 weeks with Sunbeam, and he began writing and singing his own songs for demos. "I never really chose songwriting", he says. "It just absorbed me and became more and more important in my life." His first recording contract was billed as "Neil and Jack", an Everly Brothers-type duet with high school friend Jack Packer. They recorded the unsuccessful singles "You Are My Love at Last" with "What Will I Do", and "I'm Afraid" with "Till You've Tried Love", both records released in 1962. "Cashbox" and "Billboard" magazines gave all four sides excellent reviews, and Diamond signed with Columbia Records as a solo performer later in 1962. In July 1963, Columbia released the single "At Night" with "Clown Town"; "Billboard" gave an excellent review to "Clown Town", and "Cashbox" gave both sides excellent reviews, but it still failed to make the charts. Columbia dropped him from their label and he went back to writing songs in and out of publishing houses for the next seven years.


title: Neil Diamond

text: He wrote wherever he could, including on buses, and used an upright piano above the Birdland Club in New York City. One of the causes of this early nomadic life as a songwriter was his songs' wordiness: "I'd spent a lot of time on lyrics, and they were looking for hooks, and I didn't really understand the nature of that", he says. He was able to sell only about one song a week during those years, barely enough to survive. He found himself only earning enough to spend 35 cents a day on food (equivalent to $ in ). But the privacy that he had above the Birdland Club allowed him to focus on writing without distractions. "Something new began to happen. I wasn't under the gun, and suddenly interesting songs began to happen, songs that had things none of the others did." Among them were "Cherry, Cherry" and "Solitary Man". "Solitary Man" was the first record that Diamond recorded under his own name which made the charts. It remains one of his personal favorites, as it was about his early years as a songwriter, even though he failed to realize it at the time. He describes the song as "an outgrowth of my despair".


title: Neil Diamond

text: Diamond spent his early career in the Brill Building. His first success as a songwriter came in November 1965 with "Sunday and Me", a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans. Greater success followed with "I'm a Believer", "A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You", "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)", and "Love to Love", all performed by the Monkees. He wrote and recorded the songs for himself, but the cover versions were released before his own. The unintended consequence was that Diamond began to gain fame as a songwriter. "I'm a Believer" became a gold record within two days of its release and stayed at the top of the charts for seven weeks, making it the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966.


title: Neil Diamond

text: "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind" brought covers from Elvis Presley (who also interpreted "Sweet Caroline") and Mark Lindsay, former lead singer for Paul Revere & the Raiders. Other notable artists who recorded his early songs were Lulu, Cliff Richard and the English hard-rock band Deep Purple.