title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea is , more than the city average. Eleven percent of Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea residents are smokers, which is less than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea, 10% of residents are obese, 5% are diabetic, and 18% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 14% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Ninety-one percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is higher than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 86% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea, there are 7 bodegas.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The nearest major hospitals are Mount Sinai West in Hell's Kitchen, Bellevue Hospital Center and NYU Langone Medical Center in Kips Bay, and NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital in the Upper East Side.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Hell's Kitchen is located within three primary ZIP Codes. From north to south they are 10018 between 34th and 41st Streets, 10036 between 41st and 48th Streets, and 10019 between 48th and 59th Streets. The United States Postal Service operates three post offices in Hell's Kitchen:


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: In addition, the James A. Farley Station, the main post office for New York City, is located at 421 8th Avenue.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea generally have a higher rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . A majority of residents age 25 and older (78%) have a college education or higher, while 6% have less than a high school education and 17% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 64% of Manhattan residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City. In Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea, 16% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, less than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 81% of high school students in Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The New York City Department of Education operates the following public elementary schools in Hell's Kitchen as part of Community School District 2:


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The following high schools are located in Hell's Kitchen, serving grades 9-12 unless otherwise indicated:


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The Success Academy Charter Schools group opened an elementary school, Success Academy Hell's Kitchen, in the High School of Graphic Communication Arts building in 2013.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York operates Catholic schools in Manhattan. The Holy Cross School served the Hells Kitchen/Times Square area. Circa 2011 it had about 300 students. Some students originated from areas outside of New York City and outside New York State. In 2013 the archdiocese announced that the school was to close. The school had the possibility of remaining open if $720,000 in pledges to the school were obtained, and the school community almost got to the number; however, the school was to be closed anyway.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The New York Public Library (NYPL) operates the Columbus branch at 742 10th Avenue. The Columbus branch was founded in 1901 as the Columbus Catholic Club's collection, and it became an NYPL branch four years later. The current Carnegie library building opened in 1909 and was renovated in 2004–2005.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Hell's Kitchen is bounded on the east by the New York City Subway's IND Eighth Avenue Line (). The MTA built the 7 Subway Extension () for the aforementioned Hudson Yards development. The extension to 34th Street–Hudson Yards opened on September 13, 2015, making the IRT Flushing Line the westernmost New York City Subway line within Midtown.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Ferry operations in the neighborhood include Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises at West 42nd Street. NY Waterway service is available at the West Midtown Ferry Terminal at 38th Street. Service on the St. George route of the NYC Ferry system will also begin serving 38th Street in 2020.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The Lincoln Tunnel connects New York City to New Jersey. The tunnel consists of three vehicular tubes of varying lengths, with two traffic lanes in each tube. The center tube contains reversible lanes.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Parking lots dot the neighborhood but are dwindling in quantity as developments are being built. Eleventh Avenue is lined with car dealerships, many of which claim to have the highest volume among all dealerships for their brands in the country.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Many of the horse-drawn carriages from Central Park stay in stables just off the West Side Highway. It is not uncommon to hear the sound of horses in the neighborhood. There have been calls for banning horse-drawn carriages, especially from Mayor of New York City Bill de Blasio following a handful of collisions between cars and carriages. The carriage horses live in stables originally built in the 19th century, but today contain modern design features such as fans, misting systems, box stalls, and sprinkler systems. The carriage horses live upstairs in their stables while the carriages are parked below on the ground floor.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: The massive Port Authority Bus Terminal is between 40th and 42nd Streets and Eighth and Ninth Avenues. It serves numerous commuter and intercity routes, as well as airport shuttles and tour buses.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Cruise ships frequently dock at the New York Passenger Ship Terminal in the 48th to 52nd Street piers, respectively numbered Piers 88, 90, and 92. The piers originally built in 1930 are now considered small, and some cruise traffic uses other locations.


title: Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

text: Located just southeast of Hell's Kitchen is Penn Station. It is the busiest railroad station in North America, with 600,000 Long Island Rail Road, NJ Transit Rail, and Amtrak passengers using the station on an average weekday . One railroad line to Penn Station runs through the neighborhood, the Empire Connection, which is located in the sunken West Side Line west of Tenth Avenue. Parts of the trench have been covered over.


title: Bruce Dern

text: Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable nature. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for "Coming Home" (1978) and the Academy Award for Best Actor for "Nebraska" (2013). He is also a BAFTA Award, two-time Genie Award, and three-time Golden Globe Award nominee.


title: Bruce Dern

text: A member of The Actors Studio, he rose to prominence during the New Hollywood era, through roles in films such as "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (1969), "The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant" (1971), "The Cowboys", "Silent Running", and "The King of Marvin Gardens" (all 1972). Other notable films include "The Great Gatsby" (1974), "Posse" (1975), "Family Plot" (1976), "Black Sunday" (1977), "The Driver" (1978), "Tattoo" (1981), "That Championship Season" (1982), "Monster" (2003), "The Hateful Eight" (2015), "The Artist's Wife" (2019) and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" (2019). He played Frank Harlow in the HBO series "Big Love" (2006–2011).


title: Bruce Dern

text: Dern was born in Chicago, the son of Jean (née MacLeish; 1908–1972) and John Dern (1903–1958), a utility chief and attorney. He grew up in Kenilworth, Illinois. His paternal grandfather, George Dern, was a Utah governor and Secretary of War (he was serving in the latter position during the time of Bruce's birth). Dern's maternal grandfather was a Vice President of the Carson, Pirie and Scott stores, which were established by his own father, Scottish-born businessman Andrew MacLeish. Dern's maternal granduncle was poet Archibald MacLeish. His godfather was governor and two-time presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II. Dern attended New Trier High School and the University of Pennsylvania. A lifelong avid runner, he was a track star in high school and sought to qualify for the Olympic Trials in 1956.


title: Bruce Dern

text: Dern studied at The Actors Studio, alongside Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg. He starred with Lyle Kessler in the Philadelphia premiere of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot". Dern starred with Paul Newman and Geraldine Page in the original Broadway run of Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth". Dern began working on films and television series in the 1960s. After his film debut "Wild River", he played the sailor in a few flashbacks in "Marnie" and a murdered lover in "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte". He played a murderous rustler in "Hang 'Em High", a gunfighter in "Support Your Local Sheriff!", and an impoverished farmer with a pregnant wife in the film adaptation of Horace McCoy's novel "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?".


title: Bruce Dern

text: In Mark Rydell's western film "The Cowboys", he played a cattle thief who kills a rancher (John Wayne). While filming, Wayne warned Dern: "America will hate you for this," and Dern replied, "Yeah, but they'll love me in Berkeley." Dern had a leading role in the ecological science-fiction film "Silent Running" and co-starred with Jack Nicholson in "The King of Marvin Gardens". Dern played Tom Buchanan in the film adaptation for F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby" (1974). In Kirk Douglas' Revisionist Western film "Posse", Dern played a train-robber who uses his wiles to turn the tables on his captor, an ambitious, politically minded US marshal (Douglas). Dern starred in the beauty pageant satire film "Smile", and in Alfred Hitchcock's final film "Family Plot". Dern played a detective on the trail of a getaway driver (Ryan O'Neal) in the neo-noir film "The Driver". In John Frankenheimer's thriller film "Black Sunday", Dern played a vengeful Vietnam War veteran and Goodyear Blimp pilot who launches a massive terrorist attack at the Super Bowl. Dern played another Vietnam veteran and the disturbed husband of a perplexed woman (Jane Fonda) in Hal Ashby's war film "Coming Home", and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Bruce Dern

text: In Bob Brooks's erotic thriller film "Tattoo", Dern played an increasingly-deranged tattoo artist who imprisons a fashion model (Maud Adams). The film was dogged by controversy throughout its post-production and pre-release phase - the film's release was delayed by nearly a year - and for his lead performance, Dern earned a Worst Actor Razzie nomination. However, he bounced back by winning the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival for his performance in Jason Miller's "That Championship Season" (1982). Over the next few decades, Dern played a Vietnam veteran and neighborhood survivalist in Joe Dante's suburban satire "The 'Burbs", a local crime boss in Michael Ritchie's "Diggstown", a rival of Wild Bill Hickok in Walter Hill's "Wild Bill", and George Spahn in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". Dern's autobiography, "Things I've Said, But Probably Shouldn't Have: An Unrepentant Memoir", was published in 2007.


title: Bruce Dern

text: In Alexander Payne's film "Nebraska", Dern played an elderly resident who believes he has won a million dollars, and undertakes a road trip from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to claim the prize. He won the Best Actor Award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.


title: Bruce Dern

text: In the course of his long and prolific career, Dern collaborated with film directors, including Walter Hill ("The Driver", "Wild Bill" and "Last Man Standing"), Joe Dante ("The 'Burbs", "Small Soldiers" and "The Hole"), and Quentin Tarantino ("Django Unchained", "The Hateful Eight" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"). In an interview for The A.V. Club, Dern said, "I always say that I feel like I’ve worked for six geniuses in my career... And the six directors, not in any order, would be Mr. Kazan, Mr. Hitchcock, Douglas Trumbull, Alexander Payne, Quentin Tarantino, and Francis Coppola." In an interview with Josh Olson and Joe Dante for the podcast series "The Movies That Made Me", and while discussing his career, Dern cited the films of David Lean (specifically, "Lawrence of Arabia", "Great Expectations" and "The Bridge on the River Kwai"), as among the films that inspired him.


title: Bruce Dern

text: When asked if he has ever contemplated retirement, Dern has stated, “If you think I’m gonna retire so Jimmy fucking Caan can get another part from me, you’re dead wrong. Because I’m gonna go till I’m 100. My goal is to do stuff with older characters that people never got the chance to do, because they never lived long enough... And because I don’t have anything else I can do."


title: Bruce Dern

text: Dern was married to Marie Dawn Pierce from 1957 to 1959. He married Diane Ladd in 1960. Their first daughter, Diane Elizabeth Dern (born November 29, 1960), died at eighteen months from head injuries after falling into a swimming pool on May 18, 1962. The couple's second daughter, Laura, is also an actress. After his divorce from Ladd in 1969, Dern married Andrea Beckett. Dern, Ladd and Laura received adjoining stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on November 1, 2010.


title: George Strait

text: George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for igniting the neotraditional country movement, famed for his authentic cowboy image and roots-oriented sound at a time when the Nashville music industry was dominated by country pop crossover acts. His influential and record-breaking legacy of his pioneering neotraditionalist country style has garnered him as the "King of Country Music."


title: George Strait

text: Strait's success began when his first single "Unwound" was a hit in 1981, signaling the mainstream ascendance of the neotraditional movement and rebuke of pop-country. During the 1980s, seven of his albums reached number one on the country charts. In the 2000s, Strait was named Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music, elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and won his first Grammy award for the album "Troubadour". Strait was named CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 2013, and ACM Entertainer of the Year in 1990 and 2014. He has been nominated for more CMA and ACM awards and has more wins in both categories than any other artist.


title: George Strait

text: By 2009, he broke Conway Twitty's previous record for the most number-one hits on "Billboard"s Hot Country Songs chart when his 44 number one singles surpassed Twitty's 40. Strait has amassed 60 number-one hits.


title: George Strait

text: "Give It All We Got Tonight" was number one in 2013, breaking a record also previously set by Twitty. Strait currently holds the record for most number one songs on all charts by an artist in any genre of music."


title: George Strait

text: Strait is also known for his touring career when he designed a 360-degree configuration and introduced festival style tours. For example, the Strait Tours earned $99 million in three years. His final concert for The Cowboy Rides Away Tour at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in June 2014, drew 104,793 people, marking a new record for largest indoor concert in North America.


title: George Strait

text: Strait has sold more than 120 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His certifications from the RIAA include 13 multi-platinum, 33 platinum, and 38 gold albums. His best-selling album is "Pure Country" (1992), which sold 6 million (6× platinum). His highest certified album is "Strait Out of the Box" (1995), which sold 2 million copies (8× Platinum due to being a box set with four CDs). According to the RIAA, Strait is the 12th best-selling album recording artist in the United States overall selling over 69 million records across the United States.


title: George Strait

text: George Harvey Strait Sr. was born on May 18, 1952, in Poteet, Texas, to John Byron Strait Sr. (January 11, 1922 – June 4, 2013), and Doris Jean Couser (June 26, 1930 – January 30, 2010).


title: George Strait

text: He grew up in nearby Pearsall, in Frio County, where his father was a junior high school mathematics teacher and the owner of a cattle ranch outside of Big Wells, Texas. The family worked at the ranch on the weekends and in the summers. When George was in the fourth grade, his father and mother were divorced, and his mother moved away with his sister, Pency. George and his brother John Jr. (1950–2009), were raised by their father.


title: George Strait

text: Strait began his musical career while attending Pearsall High School, where he performed in a rock and roll garage band, taking most influence from the Beatles. "The Beatles were big," Strait confirmed. "I listened to them a lot and that whole bunch of groups that were popular then." His musical preference soon turned to country with singers Hank Thompson, Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, and Frank Sinatra influencing his style. Strait did not tune to the country music radio often as a youth, usually listening to the news and the farmer's report. His introduction to country music came mostly by way of live performances, which, according to Strait, could be heard in every town in Texas.


title: George Strait

text: He eloped with his high school sweetheart, Norma Voss. The couple initially married in Mexico on December 4, 1971. That same year, he enlisted in the United States Army as an infantryman. While stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii as a part of the 25th Infantry Division, Strait began performing with an Army-sponsored band, "Rambling Country", which also played off-base under the name "Santee". On October 6, 1972, while still in Hawaii, George and Norma had their first child, Jenifer. Strait served in the United States Army from 1971 to 1975 and ultimately attained the rank of Corporal.


title: George Strait

text: After Strait was honorably discharged from the Army in 1975, he enrolled at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) in San Marcos. He graduated with a degree in agriculture.


title: George Strait

text: Strait was also presented an honorary doctoral degree by his alma mater – Texas State University in San Marcos – in a private ceremony on May 26, 2006. Strait is a loyal alumnus of Texas State; in 1985 he established an endowment fund for the development and operation of the Freeman Ranch for agricultural purposes, land and wildlife management, and gifts of scholarships.


title: George Strait

text: During his college years, Strait joined the country band Stoney Ridge, answering a flyer the band posted around campus looking for a new vocalist. Strait renamed the group the Ace in the Hole Band, and quickly became the lead; they began to perform at different honky-tonks and bars around south and central Texas, traveling as far east as Huntsville and Houston. They gained a regional following and opened for national acts such as The Texas Playboys. Soon, his band was given the opportunity to record several Strait-penned singles, including "That Don't Change The Way I Feel About You" and "I Can't Go On Dying Like This" for the Houston-based D label. However, the songs never achieved wide recognition, and Strait continued to manage his family cattle ranch during the day to make some extra cash.


title: George Strait

text: While he continued to play with his band, without any real connections to the recording industry, Strait became friends with Erv Woolsey, who operated one of the bars in which the Ace in the Hole band played, and who had previously worked for the major label MCA Records. Woolsey convinced some of his Music Row (Nashville) connections to come to Texas and to listen to Strait and his band play. Impressed with the performance, but concerned that they could not market the Western Swing sound that the band featured, they left without a deal.


title: George Strait

text: After several unsuccessful trips to Nashville in search of a record deal in which Strait was turned down by every label in town, he considered giving up music altogether. He was offered a job designing cattle pens and decided to take it. He gave the band notice that he was leaving, but after a discussion with his wife, she convinced him to give music one more year. Not long afterward, MCA signed Strait to a recording contract in February 1981. The initial deal was for one song. If the single did well, the label would then consider doing an album. The Ace in the Hole band remained with Strait, performing as the backup and touring band for the now solo career of Strait.


title: George Strait

text: In the spring of 1981, Strait released his first single for MCA Records, titled "Unwound", which climbed to number six on the "Billboard "Hot Country Songs chart that year, and was included on his debut album "Strait Country". The record featured two more singles including "Down and Out", a number-16 hit for Strait, and "If You're Thinking You Want a Stranger (There's One Coming Home)".


title: George Strait

text: "Strait Country" was hailed by critics as a "new-traditionalist" breakthrough that broke the trend of pop-influenced country prevalent at the time. 1982 saw the release of Strait's second album, the critically acclaimed "Strait from the Heart", which featured the first number-one single of his career, "Fool Hearted Memory", and the top-five Western ballad "Amarillo by Morning" originally sung and written by Terry Stafford in 1973 and would later become one of Strait's signature songs. In 1983, Strait made his first appearance at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, when the headlining star, Eddie Rabbitt became sick with the flu. Performing at that rodeo has since become a mainstay throughout his career. He has made more than 20 appearances at the rodeo and played for more than one million fans.


title: George Strait

text: Strait recorded 17 number ones during the decade, including a string of five that lasted from 1983 to 1984 from his next two albums "Right or Wrong", his first number-one album and the CMA award-winning "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind". The next year, he won the CMA award for top male vocalist, and released his first greatest hits compilation, which featured songs from his first three albums. Also in 1985, Strait released "Something Special", the third-straight number-one album of his career, featuring the number-one single "The Chair". In 1986, Strait repeated as the CMA vocalist of the year and released his fourth number-one album "#7".


title: George Strait

text: Strait and his family were struck with tragedy when his 13-year-old daughter, Jenifer, was killed in a one-car, alcohol-unrelated accident in 1986. She was riding in a Ford Mustang driven by Gregory Wilson Allen, 18, of Staples, Texas. Allen was subsequently charged with a class A misdemeanor for vehicular homicide. Mike Cox, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety in Austin, said, "The responding trooper determined the cause of accident to be excessive speed and that the car did not negotiate the turn properly. Jenifer was riding in the front passenger seat, and none of the four occupants was wearing seat belts at the time. When the vehicle flipped over onto its passenger's side, Jenifer was partially ejected, killing her on impact. The incident caused Strait to greatly limit his contact with the media. He stopped doing interviews for many years after the accident; he and his family did not wish to discuss Jenifer's death.


title: George Strait

text: His grief did not hinder his performance, however, or his output, as he went on to release 11 straight number-one hits, starting with "Nobody in His Right Mind Would've Left Her" in 1986 and ending with "Ace in the Hole" in 1989. The singles spanned four albums, including "#7", "Ocean Front Property" in 1987, "If You Ain't Lovin' You Ain't Livin'" in 1988, and 1989's "Beyond the Blue Neon", all of which reached the number-one spot on country album charts. "Ocean Front Property" was the first country album to ever debut at number one on the charts by any artist. The streak included such songs as "Ocean Front Property", "All My Ex's Live in Texas", "Famous Last Words of a Fool", and "Baby Blue". Strait finished the decade by winning the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1989. One year later, he won the award again.


title: George Strait

text: Strait began the decade with the release of his 10th studio album, "Livin' It Up", which featured two number-one hits, including "Love Without End, Amen", his first multiweek hit, and "I've Come to Expect It From You". Both songs remained first for five weeks in 1990. "Chill of an Early Fall" shortly followed in 1991, and received positive reviews. "Entertainment Weekly" noted that the album marked a shift for Strait from "repeating himself" in his previous works to producing different material. It produced the number-one songs "If I Know Me" and "You Know Me Better Than That", but ended his streak of 31 straight top-10 hits with the cover of "Lovesick Blues", which peaked at number 24. The record blocked his run of eight top-charting albums with its peak of number four. In the spring of 1992, "Holding My Own" was released. It did not produce any number ones, but did include two top-five songs, including "So Much Like My Dad".


title: George Strait

text: Later in 1992, Strait played the main character in the film "Pure Country", and released the film's soundtrack. It was his most successful studio album, producing such hits as "Heartland", "I Cross My Heart", and "When Did You Stop Loving Me", and peaked at number one and number six respectively on the Country and "Billboard" 200 album charts. The success continued with his next album, "Easy Come, Easy Go" in 1993, which reached the top five on the "Billboard" 200 and featured the hits "I'd Like to Have That One Back", "The Man in Love with You", and the number-one title track.


title: George Strait

text: His next four albums, including "Lead On" in 1994, "Blue Clear Sky" in 1996, "Carrying Your Love with Me" in 1997, and 1998's "One Step at a Time", all charted at number one, with "Blue Clear Sky" claiming the spot on its debut week, and "Carrying Your Love with Me" peaking at number one on the" Billboard "200 for the first time in Strait's career. This series of albums produced eight number-one singles for Strait, including "You Can't Make a Heart Love Somebody", "Carried Away", "One Night at a Time", and "I Just Want to Dance with You".


title: George Strait

text: During this period, Strait also released a four-disc, box-set career retrospective, "Strait Out of the Box", in 1995, which became the second-best selling box set ever with shipments of 8 million in the United States. He was named as the CMA's Top Male Vocalist in 1997 and 1998. Starting in 1997, and continuing until 2001, Strait headlined the George Strait Country Music Festival, which included artists such as Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and others.


title: George Strait

text: In an effort to introduce these acts to as many fans as possible, the festival promised not to visit any market more than twice. It played only a small number of dates, usually no more than 20 a year, but still managed to be the ninth-biggest grossing tour of 1998.


title: George Strait

text: Strait completed the decade with the album "Always Never the Same" in 1999, which peaked at number two on country charts and matched the cross-over success of "Pure Country" by reaching number six on the "Billboard" 200. The record produced the hits "What Do You Say to That", "Meanwhile", and the number-one "Write This Down". Reviews of the album's material were generally mixed, but "Entertainment Weekly" observed that at this point in his career, Strait could record the "most lightweight" material and "make it soar" on the radio with his "grace". All in all, Strait scored 17 number-one hits on the "Billboard" country airplay charts in the decade, and carried his successes into the next century.


title: George Strait

text: Strait released a self-titled album in 2000, which despite a number-one and number-seven showing on the country and "Billboard "200 album charts, respectively, produced no number-one singles, and was the first studio album of his career to not be certified platinum. The singles "Go On" and "If You Can Do Anything Else" were released from the record, with both peaking in the top five. In May 2001, "The Road Less Traveled" was released. Reviews for the album were mostly positive; "Rolling Stone" described it as sticking to the formula, "but adds a few twists that make it superior to his last few releases." It featured "vocal processing", and was considered by some critics as an experimental album. Three singles were released from it, two of which reached number one, including "She'll Leave You with a Smile", his 50th on combined charts and "Living and Living Well", both of which reached the top 30 of "Billboard" Hot 100, with the former peaking at number 23, Strait's highest rank on the chart. The single "Run" peaked at number two and reached number 34 on the "Billboard" 100. Strait released two records in 2003. "" was a recording of the last Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to take place in the Astrodome. The performance itself set the record for paid attendance at the venue, with 68,266 people, breaking Latin superstar Selena's previous record of about 67,000 in 1995.


title: George Strait

text: His next album, "Honkytonkville" was described as "a fiery set of hard country", and was praised "for its mixture of the old Strait with his modern, superstar self." It did not produce any number ones for Strait, but included the hits "Cowboys Like Us" and a cover of Bruce Robison's "Desperately". His 2004 performance at Reliant Stadium set a new rodeo attendance record, with 68,679 spectators. That year, he issued a greatest hits package billed as "50 Number Ones", chronicling the number-one hits of his career from all charts, starting with "Fool Hearted Memory" and ending with "She'll Leave You With a Smile." A new track, "I Hate Everything", was also included, and became his 51st overall number one in 2004.


title: George Strait

text: The next year, "Somewhere Down in Texas" arrived, which produced the hit "You'll Be There", marking Strait's first appearance on the adult contemporary chart. The next year, he embarked on a tour that included only 18 performances, but grossed over $15 million. He attributed this success to the fact that his band and he are "musically very tight", have a large pool of songs to draw from, and perform those songs very similarly to how they sound on their albums.


title: George Strait

text: On October 3, 2006, Strait marked his 30th year in the music industry with the release of a new album titled "It Just Comes Natural". The album was recorded in Key West, Florida, in Jimmy Buffett's Shrimp Boat Sound Studio (said to be a better recording location due to lack of allergy flare-ups during recording process), which was also the recording location of "Troubadour". It featured 15 new songs. Strait's long-time friend and songwriter, Dean Dillon, co-wrote two of the songs on the album. It received generally positive reviews from critics. "People", in their four-star review, remarked, "If ever there was a natural in country music, it's Strait," while "USA Today" raved that "he continues to make such consistent quality look easy". The first single from the album, "Give It Away" reached number one, making one of its co-writers, country legend "Whispering Bill" Anderson, the first songwriter to have a number-one hit in five different decades. The title track, "It Just Comes Natural" became his 42nd "Billboard" number one.


title: George Strait

text: In 2007, "Wrapped" reached number one on the Mediabase 24/7 country music charts, giving Strait his 55th overall number-one single. From January through April of that year, Strait headlined a 23-date arena tour with country-music legend Ronnie Milsap and then-newcomer Taylor Swift. He released a new album titled "Troubadour" on April 1, 2008. The CD contained 12 tracks, including a duet with Patty Loveless and another with long-time songwriter Dean Dillon. The lead single from the album, "I Saw God Today", debuted at number 19 on the "Radio and Records" and "Billboard" charts. It is the highest debut ever for a single from Strait and the fourth-highest debut for a song in country-music history. "Troubadour" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" Top 200 album charts, selling over 160,000 copies in its first week of release. "River of Love", the third single from the album, became his 57th number-one song in 2009.


title: George Strait

text: In April 2009, Strait was honored by the Academy of Country Music with the Artist of the Decade Award, which was presented to Strait by the previous ACM Artist of the Decade, Garth Brooks. In June of that year, he headlined the first event at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Strait's single "Living for the Night" was released on May 28, 2009, and was written by Strait, his son Bubba, and Dean Dillon. The song was the lead single from his album "Twang", released on August 11, 2009. "Twang" was certified gold for selling over 500,000 copies.


title: George Strait

text: In 2010, "Billboard" ranked Strait number one in the top-25 country artists of the past 25 years. On September 6, 2011, Strait released the album, "Here for a Good Time", which yielded two number-one singles—"Here for a Good Time" and "Love's Gonna Make It Alright"—bringing Strait's number-one singles total to 59. The album's third single, "Drinkin' Man", was less successful, peaking at number 37.


title: George Strait

text: In October 2012, Strait released the single "Give It All We Got Tonight", which was included on his album "Love Is Everything", released on May 14, 2013. The song initiated a "60 for 60" movement by Strait's label, to make the song his 60th number-one single on all country charts while he was still 60 years old. The song reached the top of the "Mediabase" charts in May 2013. The album's next single, "I Believe", reached number 50 on the U.S. Country Airplay chart, making it Strait's first single to miss the top 40. Strait won the 2013 CMA Entertainer of the Year award.


title: George Strait

text: In November 2013, "Billboard" presented Strait with its Legend of Live honor during the 10th annual Billboard Touring Awards ceremony. The award honors the concert industry's top artist based on "Billboard"s Boxscore chart and box-office performance. Strait is the first country artist to receive "Billboard"s highest touring accolade. On April 19, 2015, Strait made a guest appearance at the 2015 ACM Awards, he performed "All My Ex's Lives in Texas" and his new single "Let it Go".


title: George Strait

text: In 2016, Strait was selected as one of 30 artists to perform on "Forever Country", for a mash-up track of "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "On the Road Again", and "I Will Always Love You", which celebrates 50 years of the CMA Awards.


title: George Strait

text: In 2018, Strait released a single called "Codigo", after a brand of tequila produced by a company in which he had invested.


title: George Strait

text: On September 26, 2012, Strait announced that he was retiring from touring, and that his Cowboy Rides Away Tour would be his last. Tickets for both arenas and stadiums on the Cowboy Rides Away Tour sold out in a matter of hours. The tour started on January 18, 2013, in Lubbock, Texas, and was divided into two legs: 21 concerts in 2013 and 26 concerts in 2014. The tour ended in Arlington, Texas, on June 7, 2014. Strait was supported on the tour by his longtime 11-member touring group, the Ace in the Hole Band. For the 2013 leg, Martina McBride was the opening performer.


title: George Strait

text: On January 9, 2014, Strait initiated the second leg of the tour, which featured the opening performers Jason Aldean, Eric Church, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Merle Haggard, Chris Young, Ronnie Dunn, Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and Asleep at the Wheel. Many of these performers gathered together for the tour's final concert in Arlington, Texas on June 7, before 104,793 fans—the largest ticketed attendance at a single-show concert in the United States. The concert also set a record for the largest gross at a single-show country concert, $18,194,374, and broke the 33-year-old record as well for "largest indoor concert ever," easily surpassing the 87,500 fans who attended the December 5, 1981, Rolling Stones concert at the New Orleans Superdome (opening acts, The Neville Brothers, followed by George Thorogood and the Destroyers).


title: George Strait

text: A live album recorded from the final concert in Arlington titled "" was released on September 16, 2014, with DVD/CDs of the concert being released on November 10, 2014, with Walmart exclusively releasing a deluxe edition including two CDs, as well. This deluxe DVD is the entire over three-hour concert and the accompanying two CDs have 28 of the 40 songs sung that night. On August 29, 2014, the Country Music Television channel broadcast a two-hour concert special of the event titled "George Strait: The Cowboy Rides Away". This CMT concert special had hours of music from the concert and interviews.


title: George Strait

text: Strait's style of country music has been largely labeled as neotraditional country, which relies on traditional instrumentation in country music, i.e. fiddle and pedal steel guitar. His style has also been labeled as Texas country, Western swing, and honky-tonk.


title: George Strait

text: Strait eloped in Mexico with his high school sweetheart Norma in December 1971. Their first child, Jenifer, was born on October 6, 1972. Their son, George Strait Jr., known as "Bubba", was born in 1981.


title: George Strait

text: Jenifer was killed in an automobile accident in San Marcos on June 25, 1986, at age 13. The family set up the Jenifer Lynn Strait Foundation, which donates money to children's charities in the San Antonio area. George Strait Jr., who is a graduate of Texas A&M University, competed as a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association team-roping competitor. Strait was able to watch his son compete at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 2006 shortly before taking the stage for his own performance.


title: George Strait

text: Since 2010, Strait has served as spokesman for the VF Corporation's Wrangler National Patriot program, a campaign designed to raise awareness and funds for America's wounded and fallen military veterans and their families. Strait says, "I've been a part of the Wrangler family for a long time... when they came to me with the idea for supporting fallen and wounded American veterans and their families, I knew I wanted to get involved." He also appeared in commercials for Tractor Supply Company.


title: George Strait

text: In February 2012, Strait became a grandfather when George Strait Jr. and his wife Tamara had their first child, a son, George Harvey Strait III.


title: George Strait

text: Strait owns a Gulfstream G450 business jet; its tail number is N518GS. His personal aircraft is housed at the Landmark Aviation facility in San Antonio. He teamed up with Texas Governor Greg Abbott to help with disaster relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey which devastated coastal areas of Texas.


title: George Strait

text: Strait along with long-time friend and business partner Tom Cusick created the Vaqueros Del Mar (Cowboys of the Sea) Invitational Golf Tournament and Concert held annually at Strait and Cusick's Texas Hill Country resort Tapatio Springs Resort near Boerne, Texas. The Invitational raises money for David Feherty's Troops First Foundation, benefiting wounded servicemen, servicewomen and their families. Since its beginning in 2012, more than US$5 million have been raised by the events. In January 2018, George Strait was named the 2018 Texan of the Year by the Texas Legislative Conference, a statewide group of business and political leaders. Strait is being honored for his fundraising efforts in the wake of the widespread flooding following Hurricane Harvey.


title: George Strait

text: In more than 30 years of recording, all of which have been spent with MCA Records, George Strait has garnered 61 number-one songs on all country charts (including "Mediabase 24/7", the former "Radio & Records" chart, and the now-defunct Gavin Report chart), and has more number-one hits than any other artist in a single genre. His 44 "Billboard" country number-one hits are a record, four more than Conway Twitty's total that includes several duets with Loretta Lynn. Additionally, Strait is also the first artist in the history of "Billboard" to have at least one single enter the top 10 of a "Billboard" chart for 30 consecutive years, starting in 1981 when his debut single "Unwound" peaked at number six on the Hot Country Singles chart. All of his top-10 singles have been on that chart. Strait has sold more than 68 million records in the United States alone, and his certifications from the RIAA include 13 multiplatinum, 33 platinum, and 38 gold albums.


title: George Strait

text: Strait has acted in several films. He had a bit part in "The Soldier" (1982) and starred in "Pure Country" (1992). He also appeared as himself in "Grand Champion" (2002).


title: George Strait

text: The film "Pure Country" featured George Strait in the lead role as Dusty Chandler, a famous country singer who strays too far from his country roots and traditional sound. It provided the opportunity for Strait to branch out from his own traditional country sound for a more rock-and-roll approach. The film had little success at the box office and took in only $15 million, but the soundtrack also called "Pure Country", produced several hit singles for Strait. It has become his best-selling album to date. Strait had a limited role in the sequel to "Pure Country", "Pure Country 2: The Gift".


title: George Strait

text: Strait holds the record for most number-one albums and singles, gold albums, platinum albums, and multiplatinum albums in the history of country music, and is 11th in the most number-one albums in all other genres. Strait is third only to Elvis Presley and The Beatles with the most gold and platinum albums in the history of music. Strait has been certified as the 12th-best selling artist in American history, with career record sales of 70 million in the United States.


title: George Strait

text: Strait has held the world record for most number one hit singles across all charts and genres with 60 number-one hits since 2013, and is the only artist in the history of music of any kind to have a top-10 hit every year for 30 years. He is also second all-time in top-10 hits in the history of music, currently five away from breaking the all-time record held by Eddy Arnold, who had 92 in his historic career. Strait has won 22 CMA Awards, including consecutive Entertainer of the Year honors in 1989 and 1990, and also just recently won that same honor in 2013 (and is the only artist to win the top honor in three different decades) and holds the career record for CMA nominations (as a whole) and the most consecutively of all time.


title: George Strait

text: As of 2009, he holds the record for the most CMA awards. Strait also holds those same records for wins and nominations for the Academy of Country Music Awards. Strait was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006, performing his then-latest number-one hit "Give it Away" right before accepting his replica Hall of Fame plaque at the 40th CMA Awards. He was only the second artist (after Eddy Arnold in 1966) to be inducted into the Hall of Fame while still actively recording and producing chart-topping hits and albums.


title: George Strait

text: As of June 8, 2010, Strait was named the top country-music artist of the past 25 years according to "Billboard". In October 2008, the Academy of Country Music Awards named Strait their Artist of the Decade for the 2000s. He was presented the award by the previous winner Garth Brooks. Past winners of the award are Marty Robbins (1960s), Loretta Lynn (1970s), Alabama (1980s), and Garth Brooks (1990s). With the win of the entertainer-of-the-year award in 2013, he is the only artist to ever win that award in three different decades and also was the oldest winner. The win is currently the longest span between wins for that award, as well. Strait is also tied with Merle Haggard for the most male vocalist-of-the-year awards.


title: George Strait

text: On June 1, 2013, Strait appeared at the Alamodome, in San Antonio, Texas, before 70,000 fans in the last concert of the first half of his two-year farewell tour. Governor Rick Perry, who was in attendance with First Lady Anita Thigpen Perry, announced that May 18, Strait's birthday, would be "George Strait Day" in Texas each year.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Born into a political family, Kishida spent part of his childhood in the United States where he attended elementary school in New York City. After beginning his career in finance, Kishida entered politics and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1993 as a member of the LDP. Kishida was appointed to various posts in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Shinzo Abe and Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008, and was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2012 after Abe regained the premiership following the 2012 general election, serving for five years and becoming the longest-serving Foreign Affairs Minister in Japanese history. Kishida later resigned from the Abe cabinet in 2017 in order to head the LDP's Policy Research Council. Kishida also assumed control of the LDP's Kōchikai faction in 2012 following the retirement of faction boss Makoto Koga.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Long considered a potential future prime minister, Kishida ran in the 2020 LDP leadership election, but lost out to Yoshihide Suga. He ran again for the party leadership in 2021, this time winning in a second round run-off against opponent Taro Kono. Kishida was confirmed as Prime Minister by the National Diet four days later on 4 October 2021 and led the LDP to victory in the 2021 general election later that same month. Kishida has been described as an ideological moderate within the LDP and has stated that his premiership will focus on a "new model of capitalism", by seeking to implement redistributive policies to expand the middle class. On foreign policy he plans to continue strengthening the Quad Security Dialogue in pursuit of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Kishida was born to a political family in Shibuya, Tokyo, on 29 July 1957. His father Fumitake Kishida was a government official in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and director of The Small and Medium Enterprise Agency. Since the Kishida family was from Hiroshima, the family returned there every summer. Many members of the Kishida family had died in the atomic bombing and Fumio grew up hearing stories from the atomic bomb survivors. Both his father Fumitake and grandfather Masaki Kishida were former politicians who were members of the House of Representatives. Former Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yoichi Miyazawa is his cousin and former prime minister Kiichi Miyazawa is a distant relative of his.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: He went to P.S. 013 Clement C. Moore elementary school in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, New York, because his father was posted to a job in the U.S. at the time. He also attended Kōjimachi Elementary School and Kōjimachi Junior High School. Kishida graduated from Kaisei Academy, where he also played on the baseball team.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Following several rejections from the University of Tokyo, Kishida studied law at Waseda University and graduated in 1982. At Waseda, he was friends with future politician Takeshi Iwaya.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: After working at now-defunct Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan and then as a secretary to a member of the House of Representatives, Kishida was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1993 general election, representing the Hiroshima 1st district.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Kishida served as Minister of Okinawa Affairs from 2007 to 2008, firstly in the Abe Cabinet and later in the Fukuda cabinet. He was appointed state minister in charge of consumer affairs and food safety in the cabinet of then prime minister Yasuo Fukuda in 2008. Kishida was also state minister in charge of science and technology in the Fukuda cabinet.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: He was close to Makoto Koga, leader of the Kōchikai faction, one of the oldest inside the LDP, and assumed control of it in October 2012 after Makoto Koga announced his retirement from politics.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Following the LDP's victory in the 2012 general election, Kishida was named foreign minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe on 26 December 2012. He became the longest-serving foreign minister in postwar history, surpassing Abe's father Shintaro Abe. He helped to arrange U.S. President Barack Obama's historic visit to Hiroshima in May 2016, and gained attention in 2017 when he appeared alongside comedian Piko Taro to promote a United Nations program.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: He was not in favor of the appointment of Toshihiro Nikai as LDP secretary-general by Abe in 2016 against the wishes of Kishida's own faction, which was seen as an attempt at blocking generational change inside the LDP.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: In 2017, Kishida left the Cabinet to take over the chairmanship of the LDP Policy Research Council, a position traditionally seen as a stepping stone to leadership of the party. He sought this position in order to improve his chances to succeed Abe, as the foreign minister post had relatively little influence within the party.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Kishida considered running in the 2018 LDP presidential election, but he was persuaded by Abe not to run, with a suggestion that Abe would later support Kishida as his successor. By mid-2020, several senior LDP lawmakers had shifted their support from Kishida to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso was also popular for sending stimulus payments to households during the COVID-19 pandemic. After Suga won the 2020 LDP presidential election and became Prime Minister, Kishida was not offered a position in the Suga cabinet, although his faction obtained two cabinet seats.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: On 29 September 2021, Kishida defeated Taro Kono in a runoff vote to become the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and replaced outgoing party leader Yoshihide Suga. He received a total of 257 votes, from 249 parliament members and eight rank-and-file members, to become Japan's next Prime Minister. The First Kishida Cabinet took office on 4 October 2021 and consisted of 21 members, including 13 who joined the Cabinet for the first time while also including 2 veterans, Toshimitsu Motegi and Nobuo Kishi who retained their respective posts from the previous cabinet under Suga; however, on the same day, Kishida announced he would call a general election for 31 October 2021.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Kishida gave his first speech as prime minister on 8 October 2021, vowing to fight and end the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan as well as announcing measures to counter the perceived threats by China and North Korea.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Following the 2021 Japanese general election, Kishida maintained the premiership although the LDP lost 25 seats. He formed the Second Kishida Cabinet by replacing Toshimitsu Motegi with Yoshimasa Hayashi as the Foreign Minister; Motegi became the party's Secretary-General.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: On 24 February 2022, following the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kishida joined other leaders of the G-7 nations in imposing economic sanctions on Russia. Kishida's proposed sanctions are much harsher than the largely symbolic sanctions imposed by the government of Shinzo Abe on Russia following the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea. Liberal Democratic Party leaders fear that a lackluster response by Japan to the Ukrainian crisis will result in a lack of support from Japan's European allies in the event of potential Chinese aggression against Taiwan.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: After the assassination of Shinzo Abe on 8 July 2022, Kishida condemned the assassination, but refused to suspend political campaigning so as to demonstrate that democracy would not be impeded by violence. He later blamed insufficient police protection for allowing the murder to occur. Because of media reports on the ties between the LDP and the Unification Church, a Korean cult accused of scamming Japanese followers (including the suspect's mother) out of much of their wealth, Kishida reshuffled his Cabinet on 10 August 2022, which included removing Abe's brother, Nobuo Kishi, from the role of Minister of Defense. While the majority of members of the LDP, including Shinzo Abe and Nobuo Kishi, were related to the church to various degrees, there were no evidences of Kishida having any direct tie with the church or any of its affiliated entities. However, it was reported in the 1 September issue of "Shūkan Bunshun" that , the president of a Kumamoto circle for backing Kishida's bidding of the premiership was also a chairperson of a Unification Church-affiliated group which was advocating for building the Japan-Korea Undersea Tunnel. Both Kishida and Nakayama denied any knowledge of the tunnel advocacy group being related to the Unification Church.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: In November 2022, Kishida instructed his government to increase military spending to 2 percent of Japan's GDP, up from 1 percent previously, by 2027.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Kishida is seen as dovish on foreign policy and lukewarm about revising Japan's pacifist constitution. Following the political philosophy of his own faction, Kishida has pledged a "humane diplomacy" based on the Peace Constitution, the Japan–U.S. alliance, and the Self-Defense Forces and that he will seek to strengthen Japan–U.S. relations and to promote the free and open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy while counterbalancing Chinese political assertiveness and military presence in the region.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Regarding Chinese influence over Taiwan and Hong Kong, Kishida has stated that the Taiwan Strait may be the "next major diplomatic problem" following "China's clampdown on Hong Kong" and that Japan should seek more cooperation with Taiwan.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Despite being the leader of the moderate Kōchikai faction, Kishida has an affiliation with the parliamentary league of the ultraconservative and nationalist organization Nippon Kaigi similar to many other LDP lawmakers. However, he is also described as a centrist politician.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: During the 2021 LDP presidential race, he called for Japan to strive for a new form of capitalism to reduce income disparity, saying neoliberalism and deregulation have widened economic gaps in society. In a parliamentary session on 20 February 2022 he reiterated that the benefits of growth should not belong to a limited group adding that "[c]apitalism isn't sustainable unless it is something that belongs to all stakeholders".


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Kishida is in favor of retaining nuclear power technology, which he says should be considered as a clean energy option, while also calling for the establishment of a $90.7 billion university fund to further stimulate science and promotion of renewable energy.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: Being a representative from Hiroshima, Kishida has consistently advocated for Japanese diplomacy to promote nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kishida rejected former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's proposal for Japan to consider hosting U.S. nuclear weapons as a deterrent, calling it "unacceptable" given the country’s stance of maintaining the three nonnuclear principles.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: He stated support for discussions toward allowing married Japanese couples to choose between unified single surnames or separate last names, while on the topic of same-sex marriage Kishida has stated he has not reached the point for accepting it saying instead that the public's opinion should be understood before the Diet decides.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: In 2017, while serving as foreign minister, Kishida pressured China to push North Korea towards denuclearization. During the race for the leadership of the LDP, Kishida also addressed the issue of Japanese abductees by North Korea and supported a summit between Japan and North Korea to end the issue. Kishida also took a stronger stance than other contenders regarding China and North Korea, saying that Japan should strengthen its defenses, while at the same time of recognizing that there is a clash between authoritarianism and democracy in the region, especially with regard to the status of Taiwan.


title: Fumio Kishida

text: In 1988, Kishida married Yuko Kishida, a daughter of a real estate businessman, in an arranged marriage. They have three sons. In one presentation, Yuko was featured in the LDP messaging immediately after he became the "de facto" PM-designate. He is a fan of the manga series "" and has pledged to financially support the Japanese animation industry during his premiership. He is also a fan of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Breakfast at Tiffany's is a 1961 American romantic comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, written by George Axelrod, adapted from Truman Capote's 1958 novella of the same name, and starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly, a naïve, eccentric café society girl who falls in love with a struggling writer. It was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures on October 5, 1961, to critical and commercial success.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Nominated for five Academy Awards (winning two), with the music (including "Moon River") nominated for six Grammy Awards (winning five), the film was selected in 2012 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Early one morning, a taxi pulls up in front of the Tiffany & Co. flagship store and from it emerges elegantly dressed Holly Golightly, carrying a paper bag containing her breakfast. After looking into the store's window displays, she strolls to her apartment and has to fend off her date from the night before. Once inside, Holly cannot find her keys, so she buzzes her landlord, Mr. Yunioshi, to let her in. Later, she is awakened by new neighbor Paul Varjak, who rings her doorbell to get into the building. The pair chat as she dresses to leave for her weekly visit to mobster Sally Tomato, who is currently incarcerated at Sing Sing. Tomato's lawyer pays her $100 a week to deliver "the weather report".


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: As she is leaving, Holly is introduced to Paul's "decorator", wealthy older woman Emily Eustace Failenson, whom Paul nicknames "2E". That night, when Holly goes out onto the fire escape to elude an over-eager date, she peeks into Paul's apartment and sees 2E leaving money and kissing him goodbye. Visiting Paul afterward, she learns he is a writer who has not had anything published since a book of vignettes five years before. Holly, in turn, explains she is trying to save money to support her brother Fred after he completes his Army service. The pair fall asleep but are awakened when Holly has a nightmare about her brother. When Paul questions her about this, Holly chides him for prying. She later buys Paul a typewriter ribbon to apologize and invites him to a wild party at her apartment. There, Paul meets her Hollywood agent, who describes Holly's transformation from a country girl into a Manhattan socialite, along with wealthy Brazilian politician José da Silva Pereira, and Rusty Trawler, the "ninth richest man in America under 50".


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Some time later, 2E enters Paul's apartment, worried she is being followed. Paul tells her he will investigate and eventually confronts Holly's husband, Doc Golightly, who explains that Holly's real name is Lula Mae Barnes and that they were married when she was approaching 14. Now he wants to take her back to rural Texas. After Paul reunites Holly and Doc, she informs Paul that the marriage was annulled. At the Greyhound bus station, she tells Doc she will not return with him, and he leaves broken-hearted.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: After drinking at a club, Paul and Holly return to her apartment, where she drunkenly tells him that she plans to marry Trawler for his money. A few days later, Paul learns that one of his short stories will be published. On the way to tell Holly, he sees a newspaper headline stating that Trawler has married someone else. Holly and Paul agree to spend the day together, taking turns doing things each has never done before. At Tiffany's, Paul has the ring from Doc Golightly's box of Cracker Jack engraved as a present for Holly. After spending the night together, he awakens to find her gone. When 2E arrives, Paul ends their relationship. She calmly accepts, having earlier concluded that he was in love with someone else.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Holly now schemes to marry José for his money, but after receiving a telegram notifying her of her brother's death in a jeep accident, she trashes her apartment. Months later, she invites Paul to dinner, as she is leaving the next morning for Brazil to continue her relationship with José. However, the pair are arrested in connection with Sally Tomato's drug ring, and Holly spends the night in jail.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: The next morning, Hollywood friend O.J. Berman pays Holly's bail. Paul is waiting for her in a cab, bringing her pet, "Cat", and a letter from José explaining that he must end their relationship due to her arrest. Holly insists that she will go to Brazil anyway; she asks the cab to pull over and pushes Cat out into the pouring rain. Just after they get underway again, Paul storms out of the cab, tossing the engraved ring into her lap and telling her to examine her life. She goes through a decision-making moment, puts on the ring and runs after Paul, who has gone looking for Cat. Finally, Holly finds Cat sheltering in an alley and, with it tucked into her coat, she and Paul embrace.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: The Oscar-nominated screenplay was written by George Axelrod, loosely based on the novella by Truman Capote. Changes were made to fit the medium of cinema and to correspond to the filmmakers' vision. Capote, who sold the film rights of his novella to Paramount Studios, wanted Marilyn Monroe to play Holly Golightly, whom he had described perfectly in the book. Barry Paris cites Capote's own comments on the choice of actress: "Marilyn was always my first choice to play the girl, Holly Golightly." Screenwriter Axelrod was hired to "tailor the screenplay for Monroe". When Lee Strasberg advised Monroe that playing a "lady of the evening" would be bad for her image, she turned it down and performed in "The Misfits" instead. When Hepburn was cast instead of Monroe, Capote remarked: "Paramount double-crossed me in every way and cast Audrey". Shirley MacLaine was also offered the part of Holly, but she turned it down and performed in "Two Loves" instead. Kim Novak also turned down the role of Holly. Steve McQueen was offered the role of Paul Varjak, but declined the offer due to being under contract.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Axelrod worked with the original director of the film John Frankenheimer for a period of three months, but Hepburn's agent wanted a more known director, with the result that Frankenheimer was removed from the project.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Filming began on Fifth Avenue outside the Tiffany & Co. flagship store on October 2, 1960. Most of the exteriors were filmed in New York City, and all of the interiors, except for portions of the scene inside Tiffany & Company, were filmed on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: According to one report, the film's on-location opening sequence, in which Holly gazes into a Tiffany's display window, was extremely difficult for director Blake Edwards to shoot. Although it was simple in concept, crowd control, Hepburn's dislike of pastries, and an accident that nearly resulted in the electrocution of a crew member are all said to have made capturing the scene a challenge. However, another report claims that the sequence was captured rather quickly due to the good fortune of an unexpected traffic lull.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: During the film, Hepburn sang the film's signature song, "Moon River" by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. The song was tailored to Hepburn's limited vocal range, based on songs she had performed in 1957's "Funny Face". On the Anniversary Edition DVD of "Breakfast at Tiffany's", co-producer Dick Shepherd says in his audio commentary that after a preview in San Francisco, Martin Rankin, Paramount's head of production, wanted "Moon River" replaced with music by somebody else but "Marty [Jurow, co-producer] and I both said 'over our dead bodies,'" – a remark attributed to Hepburn herself in another account.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: According to "Time" magazine, Mancini "sets off his melodies with a walking bass, extends them with choral and string variations, varies them with the brisk sounds of combo jazz. 'Moon River' is sobbed by a plaintive harmonica, repeated by strings, hummed and then sung by the chorus, finally resolved with the harmonica again."


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: The soundtrack featured a score composed and conducted by Henry Mancini, with songs by Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer. Mancini and Mercer won the 1961 Oscar for Best Original Song for "Moon River". Mancini won for Best Original Score. There are also unreleased score pieces from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in existence; "Carousel Cue" is from an unsurfaced scene, while "Outtake 1" is from a deleted scene in which Holly and Fred visit Tiffany's and is a variation of the main theme. In 2013 Intrada released the complete score in its original film performance (as with many soundtrack albums by Mancini and others at the time, the album released alongside the film was a re-recording).


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was theatrically released by Paramount Pictures on October 5, 1961, to critical and commercial success, grossing $14 million on a $2.5 million budget. Hepburn's portrayal of Holly Golightly is generally considered to be one of her most memorable and identifiable roles. She regarded it as one of her most challenging roles, since she was an introvert required to play an extrovert.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: The film received five nominations at the 34th Academy Awards; Best Actress (for Hepburn), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design, winning Best Original Score and Best Original Song for "Moon River". It was considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry in 2012.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 55 reviews, with an average score of 7.50/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It contains some ugly anachronisms, but Blake Edwards is at his funniest in this iconic classic, and Audrey Hepburn absolutely lights up the screen." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: "Time" magazine noted "for the first half hour or so, Hollywood's Holly (Audrey Hepburn) is not much different from Capote's. She has kicked the weed and lost the illegitimate child she was having, but she is still jolly Holly, the child bride from Tulip, Texas, who at 15 runs away to Hollywood to find some of the finer things of life—like shoes." It pointed out that "after that out-of-Capote beginning, director Blake Edwards ... goes on to an out-of-character end." Almost a half century later, "Time" commented on the pivotal impact of Hepburn's portrayal of Golightly:


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: "The New York Times" called the film a "completely unbelievable but wholly captivating flight into fancy composed of unequal dollops of comedy, romance, poignancy, funny colloquialisms and Manhattan's swankiest East Side areas captured in the loveliest of colors". In reviewing the performances, the newspaper said Holly Golightly is


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Truman Capote hated Hepburn in the lead part. Capote biographer Gerald Clarke deemed the film a "valentine" to free-spirited women rather than a cautionary tale about a little girl lost in the big city. "The movie is a confection — a sugar and spice confection."


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Hepburn as Holly, with her hair in a high chignon and carrying an oversized cigarette holder, is considered one of the most iconic images of 20th century American cinema. Another iconic item throughout the movie is Holly's sunglasses. Often misidentified as Ray-Ban, they are Manhattan sunglasses designed and manufactured in London by Oliver Goldsmith. In 2011 the model was re-released to mark the 50th anniversary of "Breakfast at Tiffany's". One of three dresses designed by Givenchy for Hepburn for possible use in the film sold at auction by Christie's on December 5, 2006, for £467,200 (~US$947,000), about seven times the reserve price. The "Little Black Dress" by Givenchy, worn by Hepburn in the beginning of the film, is cited as one of the most iconic items of clothing in the history of the twentieth century and is, perhaps, the most famous little black dress of all time. A second "little black dress" in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", along with its wide-brimmed hat, was worn by Hepburn as Holly when she goes to visit mobster Sally Tomato at Sing Sing Prison. This dress was paid homage as one of the dresses worn by Anne Hathaway's character Selina Kyle, Catwoman's alter ego, in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises"; the comic book Catwoman drawn by artist Adam Hughes, was based on Hepburn, creating a double homage to Hepburn's Holly Golightly in Hathaway's Catwoman.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: The film rejuvenated the career of 1930s movie song-and-dance man and Disney Davy Crockett sidekick Buddy Ebsen, who had a small but effective role in this film as Doc Golightly, Holly's ex-husband. His success here led directly to his best-known role as Jed Clampett on "The Beverly Hillbillies".


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: A diamond necklace at Tiffany's that Hepburn scorned as too flashy was the Tiffany Yellow Diamond, which she wore in publicity photos for the film. Tiffany's profile as a pre-eminent luxury retailer, while already established, was further boosted by the film.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: For his portrayal of I. Y. Yunioshi, Mickey Rooney wore makeup and a prosthetic mouthpiece to change his features to a caricatured approximation of a Japanese person. Since the 1990s, this portrayal has been subject to increasing protest by Asian Americans, among others. For instance, in the film "" (1993), "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is used as an illustration of Hollywood's racist depiction of Asian people when Bruce Lee and his future wife, Linda, see the film and Linda suggests they leave when she notices that Bruce is upset at Rooney's caricatured performance.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: In his audio commentary for the DVD release, producer Richard Shepherd said that at the time of production as well as in retrospect, he wanted to recast the role "not because he [Rooney] didn't play the part well" but because Shepherd thought the part of Mr. Yunioshi should be performed by an actor of Japanese ethnicity; it was director Blake Edwards' decision to keep Rooney. In a "making-of" for the 45th anniversary edition DVD release, Shepherd repeatedly apologizes, saying, "If we could just change Mickey Rooney, I'd be thrilled with the movie." Director Blake Edwards stated, "Looking back, I wish I had never done it ... and I would give anything to be able to recast it, but it's there, and onward and upward."


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Rooney also said that if he had known the portrayal would have offended people so much, "I wouldn't have done it. Those that didn't like it, I forgive them and God bless America, God bless the universe, God bless Japanese, Chinese, Indians, all of them and let's have peace."


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: The film continues to draw criticism for this character, now widely considered to be a racist caricature, particularly when the movie is selected as a "classic" screened in public spaces, supported by tax dollars. In 2011, a SyFy and Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation screening inspired petitions.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: Film historian and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne stated in a Q&A that he would recast Rooney from the picture saying, "that was such a racial slur, out of nowhere, and I blame Blake Edwards for that decision, the caricature was totally embarrassing".


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was one of the first Hepburn films to be released to the home video market in the early 1980s, and is also widely available on DVD. On February 7, 2006, Paramount released a 45th anniversary special edition DVD set in North America with featurettes not included on the prior DVD release:


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: On January 13, 2009, a remastered Centennial Collection version of the film was released. In addition to the special features on the 45th anniversary edition, this version includes:


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: In 2011 a newly remastered HD version of the film was released on Blu-ray with many of the features from the aforementioned DVDs. The digital restoration of the film was done by Paramount Pictures. The digital pictures were frame by frame digitally restored at Prasad Corporation to remove dirt, tears, scratches and other artifacts. The film was restored to its original look for its 50th Anniversary.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: In May 2009, Anna Friel starred in a London adaptation that opened in September 2009 at the Haymarket Theatre.


title: Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)

text: A new stage adaption made its debut in March 2013 at the Cort Theater in New York City with Emilia Clarke in the role of Holly Golightly.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Henry Albert Azaria ( ; born April 25, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for voicing many characters in the animated sitcom "The Simpsons" (1989–present), most notably Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Comic Book Guy, Snake Jailbird, and formerly Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Lou, Carl Carlson, and Bumblebee Man, among others. He joined the show with little voice acting experience, but became a regular in its second season, with many of his performances on the show being based on famous actors and characters. For his work, he has won six Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria is also known for his live-action roles in feature films such as "The Birdcage" (1996), "Godzilla" (1998), "Mystery Men" (1999), "America's Sweethearts" (2001), "Shattered Glass" (2003), "Along Came Polly" (2004), "Run Fatboy Run" (2007), "" (2009), "The Smurfs" (2011), and "The Smurfs 2" (2013). He starred as the title character in "Brockmire" (2017–2020) and had recurring roles on the television series "Mad About You" and "Friends", as the title character in the drama series "Huff" (2004–2006), and appeared in the popular stage musical "Spamalot", for which he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Originally known as a comedic actor, he has also taken on more dramatic roles, including in "Tuesdays with Morrie" (1999) and "Uprising" (2001).


title: Hank Azaria

text: Henry Albert Azaria was born in the Queens borough of New York City, New York on April 25, 1964, the son of Ruth Altcheck (1928-2022) and Albert Azaria (1927-2013). His grandparents on both sides were Sephardic Jews from Thessaloniki. His family spoke Ladino, also known as Judaeo-Spanish, which he described as "a strange, antiquated Spanish dialect written in Hebrew characters." Azaria's father ran several dress-manufacturing businesses while his mother raised him and his two older sisters, Stephanie and Elise. Before marrying his father, Azaria's mother had been a publicist for Columbia Pictures, promoting films in Latin American countries as she was fluent in both English and Spanish. During his childhood, Azaria would often "memorize and mimic" the scripts of films, shows, and stand-up comedy routines he enjoyed. He attended Camp Towanda in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, and now visits annually as a judge for the camp's Olympics.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria attended The Kew-Forest School in Queens' Forest Hills neighborhood. He decided to become an actor after performing in a school play at the age of 16, becoming "obsessed with acting" at the expense of his academic studies. Both of his parents loved all forms of show business, which further spurred him to become an actor. He studied drama at Tufts University from 1981 to 1985, where he met and befriended actor Oliver Platt and noted that Platt was a "better actor" than he was and inspired him. Together they starred in various college stage productions, including "The Merchant of Venice," before Azaria went to train at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Although he did not expect the endeavor to be successful, he decided to become a professional actor so that he would not regret not having tried later in life. His first acting job was an advertisement for Italian television when he was 17 years old. He also worked as a busboy. He originally intended to work predominantly as a theatrical actor, and he and Platt set up a company called Big Theatre, although Harold Pinter's "The Dumb Waiter" was the only show they ever performed. Azaria decided that television was a better arena and offered more opportunity, and moved to Los Angeles after being offered work with talent agent Harry Gold.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria got along with talent agent Harry Gold, who was lukewarm about working with him but still sent him out for auditions after a woman Azaria had worked with in New York "got really furious with [Gold]" for breaking his promise to work with Azaria. He made his television debut with a role in the pilot episode of the 1986 ABC comedy-drama series "Joe Bash". His part—a one-line role as the police officer Maldonado—was edited out before the show was broadcast, although the role secured him admission to the Screen Actors Guild. Azaria appeared in the TV film "Nitti: The Enforcer", about the gangster Frank Nitti, and appeared in the failed pilot "Morning Maggie" alongside Matthew Perry, with whom he became good friends. He played Joe in an episode of the sitcom "Family Ties" in 1988 in which he had one line, and the following year he played Steve Stevenson in an episode of "Growing Pains". Azaria has described his career progression as being gradual; he did not achieve overnight recognition or fame. In Los Angeles, Azaria was trained by acting coach Roy London. Between acting jobs he performed as a stand-up comedian, and worked as a bartender for a catering firm.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria became famous for his voice work in the ongoing animated television series "The Simpsons". He joined the show having previously performed only one voice-over—as the titular animated dog in the failed Fox pilot "Hollywood Dog", a show he described as "sort of Roger Rabbit-esque, where the dog was animated, but everybody else was real." The first voice he performed on "The Simpsons" was that of town bartender Moe Szyslak, replacing Christopher Collins who had initially recorded the character's voice. Having known him from "Hollywood Dog", casting director Bonita Pietila called Azaria and asked him to audition for the voice of Moe. At the time he was performing the role of a drug dealer in a play, utilizing a voice based on Al Pacino's performance in the film "Dog Day Afternoon". He used the voice in his audition for "The Simpsons" and, at the request of the show's executive producers Matt Groening and Sam Simon, made the voice more "gravelly". Groening and Simon thought the resultant voice was ideal for Moe and took Azaria over to the Fox recording studio. Before he had even seen a script, he recorded several lines of dialogue as Moe for the episode "Some Enchanted Evening", dubbing Collins' voice.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria did not expect to hear from the show again, but they continued to call him back, first to perform the voice of Chief Wiggum and then Apu Nahasapeemapetilan. He felt that, initially, "[the producers] didn't seem too pleased with what I had done...[Simon] was very exacting...[and] was kind of impatiently directing me on the ABCs of comedy. But then, much to my surprise, he would still keep having me back every week. But each week, I thought it was going to be my last week because I really didn't think I had done that well." Nevertheless, by the show's second season he was performing multiple recurring voices and so was given a contract and made a permanent member of the main cast. Since he joined later than the rest of the cast, Groening still considered Azaria the "new guy". In addition to Moe, Wiggum and Apu, Azaria provides the voices of Comic Book Guy, Carl Carlson (until season 32, now voiced by Alex Désert), Cletus Spuckler, Professor Frink, Dr. Nick Riviera, Lou, Snake Jailbird, Kirk Van Houten, the Sea Captain, Superintendent Chalmers, Disco Stu, Duffman, the Wiseguy and numerous one-time characters. His co-star in "The Simpsons", Nancy Cartwright, wrote that: "The thing about Hank that I most remember is that he started out so unassuming and then, little by little, his abilities were revealed and his contributions to the show escalated. I realized Hank was going to be our breakaway star."


title: Hank Azaria

text: As Moe's voice is based on Al Pacino's, likewise many of Azaria's other recurring characters are based on existing sources. He took Apu's voice from the many Indian and Pakistani convenience store workers in Los Angeles that he had interacted with when he first moved to the area, and also loosely based it on Peter Sellers' character Hrundi V. Bakshi from the film "The Party". Originally, it was thought that Apu being Indian was too offensive and stereotyped, but after Azaria's reading of the line "Hello, Mr. Homer", which the show's producers thought was hilarious, the character stayed. Azaria, however, disputed this on "LateNet with Ray Ellin", claiming that Apu was always intended to be stereotypical. Chief Wiggum's voice was originally a parody of David Brinkley, but when Azaria was told it was too slow, he switched it to that of Edward G. Robinson. Officer Lou is based on Sylvester Stallone, and Dr. Nick is "a bad Ricky Ricardo impression." The "Wise Guy" voice is "basically Charles Bronson," while Carl is "a silly voice [Azaria] always did." Two of the voices come from his time at college: Snake's is based on Azaria's old college roommate, while Comic Book Guy's voice is based on a student who lived in the room next door to Azaria and went by the name "F". Professor Frink is based on Jerry Lewis' performance in the original "The Nutty Professor", and the Sea Captain is based on English actor Robert Newton's portrayal of many pirates. Azaria based his performance for the one-time character Frank Grimes, from the episode "Homer's Enemy", on actor William H. Macy. He counts Grimes as the hardest, most emotional performance he has ever had to give in the history of "The Simpsons".


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria's work on the show has won him four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance, in 1998, 2001, 2003 and 2015. He was also nominated for the award in 2009 and 2010, but lost to co-star Dan Castellaneta and guest star Anne Hathaway respectively. He was nominated again in 2012. Azaria, with the rest of the principal cast, reprised all of his voice roles from "The Simpsons" for the 2007 film "The Simpsons Movie". Azaria notes that he spends "an embarrassingly small amount of time working on "The Simpsons."" He works for "an hour on Thursdays when we read through the script, then four hours on Monday when we record it, and I'll pop in again once or twice." He concludes it is "the best job in the world, as far as I'm concerned."


title: Hank Azaria

text: Up until 1998, Azaria was paid $30,000 per episode. Azaria and the five other main "The Simpsons" voice actors were then involved in a pay dispute in which Fox threatened to replace them with new actors and went as far as preparing for the casting of new voices. However, the issue was soon resolved and from 1998 to 2004, they received $125,000 per episode. In 2004, the voice actors intentionally skipped several script read-throughs, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode. The strike was resolved a month later, with Azaria's pay increasing to something between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode. In 2008, production for the twentieth season was put on hold due to new contract negotiations with the voice actors, who wanted a "healthy bump" in salary. The dispute was later resolved, and Azaria and the rest of the cast received their requested pay raise, approximately $400,000 per episode. Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Azaria and the other cast members accepted a 30 percent pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode.


title: Hank Azaria

text: In an April 24, 2018 appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert", Azaria discussed his reaction to "The Problem with Apu", a 2017 documentary by Hari Kondabolu that examined Azaria and other white actors who had played South Asian roles as stereotypes. During the interview, Azaria described how watching the documentary had changed his perspective on the issue: "The idea that anyone, young or old, past or present, was bullied or teased based on the character of Apu, it just really makes me sad." Azaria also offered to stop voicing the character: "I'm perfectly willing and happy to step aside, or help transition it into something new." In response, Kondabolu tweeted his appreciation for Azaria's statement: "Thank you, @HankAzaria. I appreciate what you said & how you said it." In early 2020, Azaria announced that he was stepping away from the Apu character, primarily because of the stereotypes and bias it perpetuated. Later in the year he would retire from voicing Carl for similar reasons. In April 2021, Azaria formally apologized for voicing the Apu character, on Dax Shepherd's podcast.


title: Hank Azaria

text: With the continuing success of "The Simpsons", Azaria began taking on other, principally live-action, roles. He was a main cast member on the show "Herman's Head" (1991–1994) playing Jay Nichols, alongside "The Simpsons" co-star Yeardley Smith. He regularly recorded for "The Simpsons" and filmed "Herman's Head" during the same day. Following the series' cancellation Azaria unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Joey Tribbiani, one of the lead characters in the sitcom "Friends". He was instead cast in the role of the scientist David, one of Phoebe Buffay's boyfriends in the series. He appeared in the show's tenth episode "The One with the Monkey", before the character left for a research trip in Minsk. He reprised the role in the show's seventh season (2001), before making several appearances in the ninth (2003). This return culminates in David proposing to Phoebe; she rejects him, and David leaves the show for good. From 1995 to 1999, Azaria had a recurring role in the sitcom "Mad About You" as Nat Ostertag, the dog walker. Azaria was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his roles in both "Mad About You" (in 1998) and "Friends" (in 2003). Azaria had the lead role in the short-lived sitcom "If Not For You" in 1995, playing record producer Craig Schaeffer.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria produced and starred in the sitcom "Imagine That" in 2002, replacing "Emeril" mid-season in the NBC lineup. He played Josh Miller, a comedy writer, who "transformed" each episode into a character Miller has imagined, "provid[ing] a humorous outlet for his frustrations at home and work". Production closed after five episodes and it was canceled after just two aired, due to poor critical reaction and ratings. Azaria later commented on the show: "I wanted to do something really truthful and interesting and impactful. We had a bunch of executives sitting in the room, all agreeing that "The Larry Sanders Show" was our favorite thing on television, but we couldn't do it on NBC, and nor would we want to from a business standpoint; it simply wouldn't make enough money. By the time it aired, the writing was sort of on the wall, and I don't blame them at all. It was apparent it wasn't working."


title: Hank Azaria

text: He starred as psychiatrist Craig "Huff" Huffstodt in the Showtime drama series "Huff", which ran for two seasons between 2004 and 2006, airing 24 episodes. Azaria served as an executive producer on the show and directed an episode of its second season. After reading the pilot script, he sent it to Platt, who took the role of Huff's friend Russell Tupper. Azaria enjoyed working on the show, but struggled with the bleak subject matter and was often in dispute with its creator Bob Lowry, noting that it "was tough to marry our visions all the time, [because] we both cared so much about it that neither of us were willing to let go." Gillian Flynn of "Entertainment Weekly" called Azaria "impressively subtle" in the role, while John Leonard of "New York magazine" said he was a "shrewd bit of casting." The show garnered seven Emmy nominations in 2005, including a nomination for Azaria for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Despite the awards, the show continually received low ratings, and Showtime chose not to commission it for a third season.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Returning to live-action television in 2011, Azaria starred in the NBC sitcom "Free Agents", a remake of the British series of the same name. He played Alex Taylor, a recently divorced public relations executive "who is missing his kids and trying to keep himself together", and ends up sleeping with a co-worker (Kathryn Hahn). Azaria also served as a producer on the show. He was apprehensive about the project, disliking the lengthy schedule required of a lead actor in a single-camera series, and favoring the "sensibility" of cable shows. However, he liked the script and executive producer John Enbom's previous series "Party Down" and decided to accept the part. Despite Azaria mounting a campaign on Twitter to save it, the series was canceled after four episodes due to low ratings. In 2014, Azaria had a recurring role in the second season of Showtime's "Ray Donovan", playing FBI agent Ed Cochran.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria made his film debut in the direct-to-video release "Cool Blue" (1990), as Buzz. His first theatrically released feature film appearance came the same year in "Pretty Woman", as a police detective named Albertson. His next major film role was as television producer Albert Freedman in the 1994 film "Quiz Show", which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1996, Azaria played gay Guatemalan housekeeper Agador Spartacus in the film "The Birdcage". For the role, which Azaria considers to be his "big break", he was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, and critically branded "the most hilarious performance in the film," by Alison Macor of "The Austin Chronicle", while "Empire" wrote that he "[stole] the show." For the role he used a Guatemalan accent, and made himself sound as effeminate as possible. He had chosen two possible voices, an effeminate one and a tougher one. After advice from a drag queen, he chose the effeminate voice. Three weeks into production, he realized he sounded exactly like his grandmother, which aided his performance. Agador was originally going to be a single scene part, with the larger role of the housekeeper being played by David Alan Grier. With the producers fearing the racial connotations of a black actor in such a part, Azaria inherited the full role.


title: Hank Azaria

text: He appeared in numerous other films in the late 1990s, including "Heat" (1995), "Grosse Pointe Blank" (1997), "Celebrity" (1998) and worked opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, as Walter Plane, in the 1998 adaptation of "Great Expectations". He played photographer Victor "Animal" Palotti in "Godzilla" (1998). "Godzilla" was one of Azaria's first starring roles in a blockbuster film. Its five-month shoot was the longest of his career to date, but he considered it a good chance to boost his profile. He noted, "I'm so used to melding into every character I play. Even people in the business think the guy who did "Birdcage", "Quiz Show" and "Great Expectations" are three different actors—which in a way makes me proud, but in another way is very frustrating. It's the curse and blessing of the character actor". The shoot's physical challenges, and the film's critical failure, led Azaria to later describe it as "tough to make, and very disappointing when it came out. It was one you definitely chalk up and say, 'That was part of paying your dues, better luck next time'." In 1999, he starred in the drama "Mystery, Alaska" as Charles Danner, and the comedy superhero film "Mystery Men", as the faux-British silverware throwing expert The Blue Raja. Other film roles included Hector Gorgonzolas in "America's Sweethearts" (2001), Claude in "Along Came Polly" (2004), and the young Patches O'Houlihan in "" (2004), the latter two with Ben Stiller. For his role of Claude, a French scuba instructor, in "Along Came Polly", Azaria donned a wig and worked out extensively to get into the physical shape the part required.


title: Hank Azaria

text: Azaria played composer Marc Blitzstein in Tim Robbins' film "Cradle Will Rock" in 1999. Paul Clinton wrote that Azaria was "brilliant as the tortured (is there any other kind) artist Blitzstein." The same year he appeared as author and journalist Mitch Albom alongside Jack Lemmon in the television film "Tuesdays with Morrie", winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for the role. Azaria described the latter as the "best work [he has] done." These were two of the first dramatic roles Azaria had taken; throughout his career, Azaria has primarily worked in comedy, but tries to balance the two. Azaria commented: "all the roles I got were in comedy at first, and I was certainly happy to get those, so I never felt the lack of being considered a dramatic actor because I was so happy to get what I got. And then I became surprised later on when I got dramatic roles. But I never went, 'OK, now it's time to get a dramatic role.'" His next dramatic part was in the television film "Uprising" in 2001. The film was based on the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and Azaria played Mordechaj Anielewicz, one of the revolt's leaders. Azaria was confused by his casting in "Uprising" and frequently asked the film's producer and director Jon Avnet why he was selected. "I know [Avnet] liked the fact I was Jewish, and he knew I could do accents well. He cast me and David Schwimmer in ["Uprising"], and we were both sort of mystified. He had some instinct that he wanted people who were more known for being funny. He never explained it satisfactorily to me; I don't understand why." His parts in "Tuesdays With Morrie" and "Uprising" affected him, causing a depressive state which he countered with DVDs of the comedy series "Monty Python". Azaria found "Uprising" to be "very difficult very depressing very emotionally challenging" material. In 2003, Azaria played journalist Michael Kelly, the former editor of "The New Republic", in the drama film "Shattered Glass". Kelly died a few months before the film was released and Azaria said the film "has become a weird kind of eulogy to him."