title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1975, Ronald F. Miller expresses his view that the play is a study in the epistemology of imagination. He focused on the role of the fairies, who have a mysterious aura of evanescence and ambiguity. Also in 1975, David Bevington offered his own reading of the play. He in part refuted the ideas of Jan Kott concerning the sexuality of Oberon and the fairies. He pointed that Oberon may be bisexual and his desire for the changeling boy may be sexual in nature, as Kott suggested. But there is little textual evidence to support this, as the writer left ambiguous clues concerning the idea of love among the fairies. He concluded that therefore their love life is "unknowable and incomprehensible". According to Bevington, the main theme of the play is the conflict between sexual desire and rational restraint, an essential tension reflected throughout the play. It is the tension between the dark and benevolent sides of love, which are reconciled in the end.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1979, M. E. Lamb suggested that the play may have borrowed an aspect of the ancient myth of Theseus: the Athenian's entry into the Labyrinth of the Minotaur. The woods of the play serve as a metaphorical labyrinth, and for Elizabethans the woods were often an allegory of sexual sin. The lovers in the woods conquer irrational passion and find their way back. Bottom with his animal head becomes a comical version of the Minotaur. Bottom also becomes Ariadne's thread which guides the lovers. In having the new Minotaur rescue rather than threaten the lovers, the classical myth is comically inverted. Theseus himself is the bridegroom of the play who has left the labyrinth and promiscuity behind, having conquered his passion. The artisans may stand in for the master craftsman of the myth, and builder of the Labyrinth, Daedalus. Even Theseus' best known speech in the play, which connects the poet with the lunatic and the lover may be another metaphor of the lover. It is a challenge for the poet to confront the irrationality he shares with lovers and lunatics, accepting the risks of entering the labyrinth.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Also in 1979, Harold F. Brooks agreed that the main theme of the play, its very heart, is desire and its culmination in marriage. All other subjects are of lesser importance, including that of imagination and that of appearance and reality. In 1980, Florence Falk offered a view of the play based on theories of cultural anthropology. She argued that the play is about traditional rites of passage, which trigger development within the individual and society. Theseus has detached himself from imagination and rules Athens harshly. The lovers flee from the structure of his society to the "communitas" of the woods. The woods serve here as the "communitas", a temporary aggregate for persons whose asocial desires require accommodation to preserve the health of society. This is the rite of passage where the asocial can be contained. Falk identified this "communitas" with the woods, with the unconscious, with the dream space. She argued that the lovers experience release into self-knowledge and then return to the renewed Athens. This is ""societas"", the resolution of the dialectic between the dualism of "communitas" and structure.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Also in 1980, Christian critic R. Chris Hassel, Jr. offered a Christian view of the play. The experience of the lovers and that of Bottom (as expressed in his awakening speech) teach them "a new humility, a healthy sense of folly". They realise that there are things that are true despite the fact that they can not be seen or understood. They just learned a lesson of faith. Hassel also thought that Theseus' speech on the lunatic, the lover, and the poet is an applause to imagination. But it is also a laughing rejection of futile attempts to perceive, categorise, or express it.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Some of the interpretations of the play have been based on psychology and its diverse theories. In 1972, Alex Aronson argued that Theseus represents the conscious mind and Puck represents the unconscious mind. Puck, in this view, is a guise of the unconscious as a trickster, while remaining subservient to Oberon. Aronson thought that the play explores unauthorised desire and linked it to the concept of fertility. He viewed the donkey and the trees as fertility symbols. The lovers' sexual desires are symbolised in their forest encounters. In 1973, Melvin Goldstein argued that the lovers can not simply return to Athens and wed. First, they have to pass through stages of madness (multiple disguises), and discover their "authentic sexual selves". In 1979, Norman N. Holland applied psychoanalytic literary criticism to the play. He interpreted the dream of Hermia as if it was a real dream. In his view, the dream uncovers the phases of Hermia's sexual development. Her search for options is her defence mechanism. She both desires Lysander and wants to retain her virginity.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1981, Mordecai Marcus argued for a new meaning of Eros (Love) and Thanatos (Death) in this play. In his view, Shakespeare suggests that love requires the risk of death. Love achieves force and direction from the interweaving of the life impulse with the deathward-release of sexual tension. He also viewed the play as suggesting that the healing force of love is connected to the acceptance of death, and vice versa.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1987, Jan Lawson Hinely argued that this play has a therapeutic value. Shakespeare in many ways explores the sexual fears of the characters, releases them, and transforms them. And the happy ending is the reestablishment of social harmony. Patriarchy itself is also challenged and transformed, as the men offer their women a loving equality, one founded on respect and trust. She even viewed Titania's loving acceptance of the donkey-headed Bottom as a metaphor for basic trust. This trust is what enables the warring and uncertain lovers to achieve their sexual maturity. In 1988, Allen Dunn argued that the play is an exploration of the characters' fears and desires, and that its structure is based on a series of sexual clashes.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1991, Barbara Freedman argued that the play justifies the ideological formation of absolute monarchy, and makes visible for examination the maintenance process of hegemonic order.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: During the years of the Puritan Interregnum when the theatres were closed (1642–1660), the comic subplot of Bottom and his compatriots was performed as a droll. Drolls were comical playlets, often adapted from the subplots of Shakespearean and other plays, that could be attached to the acts of acrobats and jugglers and other allowed performances, thus circumventing the ban against drama. When the theatres re-opened in 1660, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was acted in adapted form, like many other Shakespearean plays. Samuel Pepys saw it on 29 September 1662 and thought it ""the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw ...""


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: After the Jacobean / Caroline era, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was never performed in its entirety until the 1840s. Instead, it was heavily adapted in forms like Henry Purcell's musical masque/play "The Fairy Queen" (1692), which had a successful run at the Dorset Garden Theatre, but was not revived. Richard Leveridge turned the Pyramus and Thisbe scenes into an Italian opera burlesque, acted at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1716. John Frederick Lampe elaborated upon Leveridge's version in 1745. Charles Johnson had used the Pyramus and Thisbe material in the finale of "Love in a Forest", his 1723 adaptation of "As You Like It". In 1755, David Garrick did the opposite of what had been done a century earlier: he extracted Bottom and his companions and acted the rest, in an adaptation called "The Fairies." Frederic Reynolds produced an operatic version in 1816.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1840, Madame Vestris at Covent Garden returned the play to the stage with a relatively full text, adding musical sequences and balletic dances. Vestris took the role of Oberon, and for the next seventy years, Oberon and Puck would always be played by women.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: After the success of Madame Vestris' production, 19th-century theatre continued to stage the "Dream" as a spectacle, often with a cast numbering nearly one hundred. Detailed sets were created for the palace and the forest, and the fairies were portrayed as gossamer-winged ballerinas. The overture by Felix Mendelssohn was always used throughout this period. Augustin Daly's production opened in 1895 in London and ran for 21 performances.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1905 Oscar Asche staged a production at the Adelphi Theatre in London with himself as Bottom and Beatrice Ferrar as Puck.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Herbert Beerbohm Tree staged a 1911 production which featured "mechanical birds twittering in beech trees, a simulated stream, fairies wearing battery-operated lighting, and live rabbits following trails of food across the stage."


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Max Reinhardt staged "A Midsummer Night's Dream" thirteen times between 1905 and 1934, introducing a revolving set. After he fled Germany he devised a more spectacular outdoor version at the Hollywood Bowl in September 1934. The shell was removed and replaced by a forest planted in tons of dirt hauled in especially for the event, and a trestle was constructed from the hills to the stage. The wedding procession inserted between Acts IV and V crossed the trestle with torches down the hillside. The cast included James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Mickey Rooney, Victor Jory and a corps of dancers that included Butterfly McQueen. The play was accompanied by Mendelssohn's music.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: On the strength of this production, Warner Brothers signed Reinhardt to direct a filmed version, Hollywood's first Shakespeare movie since Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford's "Taming of the Shrew" in 1929. Jory (Oberon), Rooney (Puck) and De Havilland (Hermia) reprised their roles from the Hollywood Bowl cast. James Cagney starred, in his only Shakespearean role, as Bottom. Other actors in the film who played Shakespearean roles just this once included Joe E. Brown and Dick Powell. Erich Wolfgang Korngold was brought from Austria to arrange Mendelssohn's music for the film. He used not only the "Midsummer Night's Dream" music but also several other pieces by Mendelssohn. Korngold went on to make a legendary career in Hollywood, remaining in the United States after Nazi Germany annexed Austria.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Director Harley Granville-Barker introduced in 1914 a less spectacular way of staging the "Dream": he reduced the size of the cast and used Elizabethan folk music instead of Mendelssohn. He replaced large, complex sets with a simple system of patterned curtains. He portrayed the fairies as golden robotic insectoid creatures based on Cambodian idols. His simpler, sparer staging significantly influenced subsequent productions.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1970, Peter Brook staged the play for the Royal Shakespeare Company in a blank white box, in which masculine fairies engaged in circus tricks such as trapeze artistry. Brook also introduced the subsequently common notion of doubling Theseus/Oberon and Hippolyta/Titania, as if to suggest that the world of the fairies is a mirror version of the world of the mortals. British actors who played roles in Brook's production included Patrick Stewart, Ben Kingsley, John Kane (Puck) and Frances de la Tour (Helena). Recordings documenting this production survive.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" has been produced many times in New York, including several stagings by the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park and a production by the Theatre for a New Audience, produced by Joseph Papp at the Public Theater. In 1978, the Riverside Shakespeare Company staged an outdoor production starring Eric Hoffmann as Puck, with Karen Hurley as Titania and Eric Conger as Oberon, directed by company founder Gloria Skurski. There have been several variations since then, including some set in the 1980s.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: The Maryland Shakespeare Players at University of Maryland staged a queer production in 2015 where the lovers were same-sex couples and the mechanicals were drag queens.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: The University of Michigan's Nichols Arboretum's programme Shakespeare in the Arb has presented a play every summer since 2001. Shakespeare in the Arb has produced "A Midsummer Night's Dream" three times. These performances take place in a natural setting, with lush woods, a flowing river, and steep hills. The performance takes place in several places, with actors and audience moving together to each setting. "As one critic commented, 'The actors used the vastness of its Arb[oretum] stage to full advantage, making entrances from behind trees, appearing over rises and vanishing into the woods.'"


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Artistic director Emma Rice's first production at Shakespeare's Globe in 2016 was a version of the play. While not "a production to please the purists", it received praise. A contemporary reworking, it included gender switched characters and Bollywood influences.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: "Absurda Comica, oder Herr Peter Squentz" by Andreas Gryphius which was probably written between 1648 and 1650 and was published in 1657 is evidently based on the comic episode of Pyramus and Thisbe in A Midsummer Night's Dream.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Ken Ludwig's 2003 comic play, "Shakespeare in Hollywood", is set during the production of the 1935 film. Oberon and Puck appear on the scene and find themselves cast as—themselves.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: W. Stanley Moss used the quotation "Ill met by moonlight" as the title of his "Ill Met by Moonlight" (1950), a non-fiction book about the kidnap of General Kreipe during WWII. The book was adapted into a film with the same name in 1957.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Botho Strauß's play "The Park" (1983) is based on characters and motifs from "A Midsummer Night's Dream".


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Neil Gaiman's comic series "The Sandman" uses the play in the 1990 issue "". In this story, Shakespeare and his company perform the play for the real Oberon and Titania and an audience of fairies. The play is heavily quoted in the comic, and Shakespeare's son Hamnet appears in the play as the Indian boy. This issue was the first and only comic to win the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction, in 1991.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Bernard Cornwell's novel "Fools and Mortals" (2017) is about the creation and first performance of the play, as seen by the young actor, Richard Shakespeare, brother of the playwright.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1826, Felix Mendelssohn composed a concert overture, inspired by the play, that was first performed in 1827. In 1842, partly because of the fame of the overture, and partly because his employer King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia liked the incidental music that Mendelssohn had written for other plays that had been staged at the palace in German translation, Mendelssohn was commissioned to write incidental music for a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that was to be staged in 1843 in Potsdam. He incorporated the existing Overture into the incidental music, which was used in most stage versions through the 19th century. The best known of the pieces from the incidental music is the famous "Wedding March", frequently used as a recessional in weddings.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: The choreographer Marius Petipa, more famous for his collaborations with Tchaikovsky (on the ballets "Swan Lake" and "The Sleeping Beauty") made another ballet adaptation for the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg with additional music and adaptations to Mendelssohn's score by Léon Minkus. The revival premiered 14 July 1876. English choreographer Frederick Ashton also created a 40-minute ballet version of the play, retitled to "The Dream". George Balanchine was another to create a "Midsummer Night's Dream" ballet based on the play, using Mendelssohn's music.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: Between 1917 and 1939 Carl Orff also wrote incidental music for a German version of the play, "Ein Sommernachtstraum" (performed in 1939). Since Mendelssohn's parents were Jews who converted to Lutheranism, his music had been banned by the Nazi regime, and the Nazi cultural officials put out a call for new music for the play: Orff was one of the musicians who responded. He later reworked the music for a final version, completed in 1964.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: "Over Hill, Over Dale", from Act 2, is the third of the "Three Shakespeare Songs" set to music by the British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. He wrote the pieces for a cappella SATB choir in 1951 for the British Federation of Music Festivals, and they remain a popular part of British choral repertoire today.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: The play was adapted into an opera, with music by Benjamin Britten and libretto by Britten and Peter Pears. The opera was first performed on 11 June 1960 at Aldeburgh.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: The theatre company, Moonwork put on a production of "Midsummer" in 1999. It was conceived by Mason Pettit, Gregory Sherman and Gregory Wolfe (who directed it). The show featured a rock-opera version of the play within a play, Pyramus & Thisbe, with music written by Rusty Magee. The music for the rest of the show was written by Andrew Sherman.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: "The Donkey Show" is a disco-era experience based on "A Midsummer Night's Dream", that first appeared off Broadway in 1999.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1949 a three-act opera by Delannoy entitled "Puck" was premiered in Strasbourg. Progressive Rock guitarist Steve Hackett, best known for his work with Genesis, made a classical adaptation of the play in 1997. Hans Werner Henze's Eighth Symphony is inspired by sequences from the play.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: The Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts Theatre Department presented the show as a musical adapted/directed by Beverly Blanchette (produced by Marcie Gorman) using the songs of The Moody Blues. The show was called "Midsummer" and was subsequently performed at Morsani Hall/Straz Performing Arts Center in Tampa, at the Florida State International Thespian Society Festival. Text/Concept Copyright, 9 December 2011.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 2011, Opera Memphis, Playhouse on the Square, and contemporary a cappella groups DeltaCappella and Riva, premiered Michael Ching's "A Midsummer Night's Dream: Opera A Cappella."


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 2015, the plot of "Be More Chill" included a version of the play called "A Midsummer Nightmare (About Zombies)."


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: In 1787, British astronomer William Herschel discovered two new moons of Uranus. In 1852 his son John Herschel named them after characters in the play: Oberon, and Titania. Another Uranian moon, discovered in 1985 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, has been named Puck.


title: A Midsummer Night's Dream

text: All references to "A Midsummer Night's Dream", unless otherwise specified, are taken from the Arden Shakespeare 2nd series edition. Under their referencing system, which uses roman numerals, III.i.55 means act 3 (Roman numerals in upper case), scene 1 (Roman numerals lower case), line 55.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, which has played in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football, since its inception in 1956. Along with Ajax and Feyenoord, PSV is one of the country's "big three" clubs that have dominated the Eredivisie.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: The club was founded in 1913 as a team for Philips employees. PSV's history contains two golden eras revolving around the UEFA Cup victory in 1978 and the 1987–88 European Cup victory as part of the seasonal treble in 1988. The team has won the Eredivisie 24 times, the KNVB Cup ten times and the Johan Cruyff Shield a record of twelve times. Currently (as of May 2021), PSV is ranked 56th on the UEFA club coefficients ranking.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Throughout the years, PSV established itself as a stepping stone for future world class players like Ruud Gullit, Ronald Koeman, Romário, Ronaldo, Phillip Cocu, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Park Ji-sung, Arjen Robben, Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Since its foundation, it has played in the Philips Stadion and has upheld its club colours (red and white). Its elaborate connection with Philips can be witnessed in its sponsoring, shared technology and board member ties. Fans have named themselves 'boeren' (, Dutch for either peasants or farmers), taking pride in Eindhoven's status of being a provincial city and their Brabantian heritage.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: To serve the need for activities with Philips employees, the company founded its own football team in 1910: the Philips Elftal. Its ground was the Philips Sportpark, located on the same location as the present day stadium. Financial turmoil and worker strikes led to a quick demise of the team and in 1913, its successor emerged, Philips Sport Vereniging, founded on 31 August. It was the day that Philips organized celebrations and sports competitions in light of the centennial defeat of the French in the Napoleonic Wars. It was not until 1916, however, that the football department switched its name from Philips Elftal to PSV. Because of World War I, the first possibility to enter a league was in the 1915–16 season. The club's first ever match was a 3–2 defeat against Willem II Reserves on 19 September 1915. The team did achieve promotion that season to a newly created Third Division of the Brabantian FA. Under the guidance of coach Wout Buitenweg, PSV were promoted in 1918 and 1921 as well, eventually reaching the Eerste Klasse. The team was relegated in 1925, but its stint in the Second Division only lasted one year when PSV were promoted again. Since 1926, PSV has always played in the highest possible domestic league.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: That year, defender Sjef van Run was brought in and a year later Jan van den Broek joined PSV, two players that would shape the squad in the coming years. Behind the scenes, Frans Otten became chairman of the entire PSV sports union. He was responsible for bringing the club to a new level with new accommodations and stadium expansions. After winning the district league in 1929, PSV entered the championship play-offs. In that competition, it won six out of eight matches. A 5–1 win against Velocitas from the city of Groningen meant that PSV was crowned league champions for the first time. In the following three years, PSV won the district league every year, but it could not win the play-offs until 1935. In that year, the team secured the second championship ever in a 2–1 victory against DWS.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Due to World War II, attendances decreased significantly and in 1940, PSV player Johan Brusselers died in combat. After the war, PSV signed two new strikers: Piet Fransen in 1948 and Coen Dillen in 1949. In 1950, PSV got its first post-war success when the team defeated HFC Haarlem in the KNVB Cup final; the match ended in 4–3 after extra-time. A year later, PSV won the district title after EVV failed to win their final match. Even though coach Sam Wadsworth resigned during the championship play-offs, the title was won after a 2–1 win over Willem II. The 1950–51 season was Dillen's breakthrough, scoring 21 times and earning the nickname "The Canon". Besides Dillen and Fransen, a memorable player of the early 1950s success was goalkeeper Lieuwe Steiger, who ended up playing 383 matches for PSV.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: In 1955, PSV became the first Dutch club to enter the European Champion Clubs' Cup. The two matches against Rapid Wien ended in 1–6 and 1–0. Other success in the 1950s remained absent but in the 1956–57 season, Dillen scored 43 times, a Dutch record that still stands today. The approaching 1960s marked a shift in player's heritage: the team went from mostly Brabantian men to players nationwide. Representative for this policy were defender Roel Wiersma, who arrived in 1954 and captained the team for a decade, and Piet van der Kuil, who came from Ajax for the equivalent of €59,000 (PSV's then-highest transfer fee). Dillen left the club in 1961 after being club top scorer every year from 1953 to 1961. In 1962, Otten also decided to quit as chairman of the sports union. By then, board member Ben van Gelder had gradually started to mold the club in his way. Throughout the next two decades, he became responsible for turning PSV into a full-fledged professional organization.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: In the 1962–63 season, marking PSV's 50-year anniversary, the club appointed Bram Appel as the new coach. The first results were disastrous, however, with a mere six points earned from the first six fixtures. A sudden revival led to a first place at the winter break and a 5–2 victory over Ajax in June meant that PSV could celebrate its fourth league title, with Pierre Kerkhofs leading the goal scorer charts with 22 goals. The following year, PSV ended second in the league but more significantly, reached the Europa Cup I quarter-finals for the first time, where it was eliminated by FC Zürich. Appel remained coach for five years; the position was later on followed up with short stints by Milan Nikolić and Wim Blokland. Willy van der Kuijlen was signed in 1964, who produced 23 league goals in 1966 and became the league's top scorer at age 20.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Between 1968 and 1972, Kurt Linder coached PSV. His team reached two Dutch cup finals and the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup. Van der Kuijlen had trouble fulfilling his promise after an encouraging career start in the 1960s, however, partly because of a lack of chemistry between him and Linder's harsh coaching style. The early 1970s in football were dominated by Ajax and Feyenoord and it was not until the appointment of Kees Rijvers as coach in 1972 that would mark the start of increasing success for PSV. With Van der Kuijlen and goalkeeper Jan van Beveren as the stars of the team, Rijvers created a new squad by signing Ralf Edström, Gerrie Deijkers and the twins Willy and René van der Kerkhof. Things improved for Van der Kuijlen when Rijvers built the team around him, giving him a free role in the process. Van der Kuijlen, a technical player, formed a successful striker partnership with Edström, who was famed for his heading ability. It led to a Dutch cup victory in 1974, and after a blistering season start (no defeats in the first season half) and 28 goals by Van der Kuijlen. PSV also won the league for the fifth time in 1975.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: A year later, PSV managed to win its first double. With defender Huub Stevens joining the team, the league title was secured after a 4–1 result against Feyenoord. Earlier, a 1–0 victory over Roda JC meant that PSV won the national cup as well. In the European Cup, the final was only narrowly missed after a 1–0 aggregate loss against Saint-Étienne in the semi-finals. After the two consecutive titles, PSV ended second in 1977. The following year, Edström left the squad but PSV nonetheless enjoyed a strong league campaign. In April 1978, the team secured the title without a single loss. The domestic cup ended early after a shocking 1–6 first round loss against FC Wageningen (PSV's biggest home loss ever to date). The UEFA Cup campaign proved to be more successful; after wins against Glenavon, Widzew Łódź, Eintracht Braunschweig and 1. FC Magdeburg, the team faced Barcelona. A 3–0 win in the first leg was nullified by the Spaniards in the return leg, but a single goal by Nick Deacy at Camp Nou meant that PSV could progress with a 4–3 aggregate win. The two-legged final against Bastia first produced a goalless draw in the first match. The return leg in Eindhoven ended in a 3–0 win, with goals by Willy van de Kerkhof, Deijkers and Van der Kuijlen providing PSV its first European trophy.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: After the UEFA Cup victory, the team chemistry started to suffer, which was reflected in the results. Not long after a 6–0 UEFA Cup loss against Saint-Étienne, Rijvers was sacked and the squad disintegrated. Van Beveren, unhappy with the declining success and Rijvers' departure, left for the United States after 291 league games and years of captaincy. Van Gelder also quit in 1980 and was replaced by Kees Ploegsma. Even though PSV invested in players like Hallvar Thoresen and Jurrie Koolhof, success remained absent. Thijs Libregts' (coach from 1980 until 1983) highest league position was the second place in the 1981–82 season, and in 1983, Jan Reker took over. A clash between Van der Kuijlen and Libregts led to the former's departure in 1982 after nearly 18 seasons at the club.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: In 1985, chairman Jacques Ruts and Ploegsma decided on a change of direction: Hans Kraay became the new director of football (supervising Reker in 1985–86, and taking over altogether in 1986–87) and PSV started to sign players with flair, like Ruud Gullit, Søren Lerby, Gerald Vanenburg and Eric Gerets. Gullit, who quickly was appointed as captain, contributed to the team that headed the league table for the majority of the 1985–86 Eredivisie and claimed the title after an 8–2 win against Go Ahead Eagles. Being unhappy with his personal development, Gullit heavily criticized PSV and Kraay in a March 1987 interview. The management's subsequent warning was deemed too lenient by Kraay, who resigned. Gullit's strained relationship with the club meant that he left for Milan in the summer for a world record fee of €7.7 million. Earlier that year, Guus Hiddink replaced Kraay and Ronald Koeman joined PSV. That season, the squad suffered early eliminations from the Dutch cup and European Cup, but secured the title in the penultimate match.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: The 1987–88 season turned out to be PSV's best year in history. The Eredivisie was won four matches before the end after many high scoring matches, leading up to 117 goals. The cup was also won after beating Roda JC 3–2 after extra time. The European Cup campaign started with wins against Galatasaray and Rapid Wien. Subsequently, PSV managed to reach the final with only draws. The quarter finals against Bordeaux were decided by Wim Kieft’s away goal. A vicious foul by Hans Gillhaus on Jean Tigana was praised by Koeman, which prompted UEFA to suspend him for the semi-final return leg against Real Madrid. Again, an away goal in the first leg (a notoriously lethargic shot by Edward Linskens at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium) meant that the second leg's 0–0 was enough to proceed. The final against Benfica, held in Stuttgart, remained goalless. In the penalty shoot-out, Van Breukelen saved Benfica's sixth penalty by António Veloso, which meant that PSV had won the European Cup and completed the treble.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: After the summer break, Willy van de Kerkhof, present at both the 1978 and 1988 triumphs, was honored with a farewell match. The 1988–89 season again resulted in the double: Hiddink's squad won the title (albeit with less dominance than the year before) and PSV beat Groningen in the cup final. In comparison, the international competitions were disappointing. The Intercontinental Cup against Nacional ended in a 2–2 draw, but PSV lost the penalty shoot-out with 7–6. The team was also beaten in the UEFA Super Cup by KV Mechelen (3–1 on aggregate). In the European Cup, Real Madrid got its revenge by eliminating PSV in the quarter-finals.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: After the European Cup win, PSV outsmarted many clubs by signing Romário. After a first season with 19 league goals, his hat-trick in the November 1989 match against Steaua București (5–1) – including a memorable solo effort – was his big breakthrough. In 1989, after Koeman left, PSV ended second in the league, but won the KNVB Cup after defeating Vitesse (1–0). Hiddink left the team in 1990, to be replaced by Bobby Robson. In his two seasons at the club, PSV won two league titles; the first one on goal difference (with Ajax) and the second one in the penultimate match against Groningen. Meanwhile, Romário – league top scorer in 1989, 1990 and 1991 – was admired by fans, but sometimes also renounced by the squad for being unprofessional and selfish. Robson had frequent clashes with Romário, but the striker never changed his ways. These events, in addition to the lack of European success, meant that Robson was let go in 1992. While Gerets retired, Hans Westerhof took over as coach, but only won the Super Cup in his single season at the helm. In 1993, Romário was transferred to Barcelona. Westerhof was replaced by Aad de Mos, who led the team to the third place.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Early in the 1994–95 season, De Mos was fired and replaced by Dick Advocaat (after Kees Rijvers temporarily took over). PSV saw Van Breukelen retiring and signed Luc Nilis in 1994, who formed a powerful duo with another signing, the 17-year-old Ronaldo. The Brazilian striker scored 30 goals in his debut season, while Nilis was named Dutch Footballer of the Year in an otherwise trophy-less year. After an injury-filled 1995–96 season where he still managed 12 goals, Ronaldo left for Barcelona. That season, PSV won the cup after a 5–2 win against Sparta Rotterdam. In the 1996–97 season, when Harry van Raaij became chairman, Advocaat had created a team with players like Phillip Cocu, Jaap Stam, Boudewijn Zenden and Wim Jonk. It led to the Eredivisie title, with Nilis becoming league top goalscorer (21 goals). In the 1997–98 season, the team came in second behind Ajax in both league and cup. It resulted in Cocu, Stam, Zenden, Jonk and Advocaat leaving PSV, forcing the club to build a new squad. Robson temporarily returned in 1998 for one year so that desired coach Eric Gerets could get his coaching badges. Again, Nilis showed to be highly compatible with a poacher-type striker; new signing Ruud van Nistelrooy scored 31 times in his first season. In the season's last round, PSV beat Utrecht 3–2 with a last-minute goal by Arnold Bruggink – just enough for Champions League qualification.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: In the 1999–2000 season, Van Nistelrooy had scored 29 goals after just 23 matches, but after two serious injuries, an imminent transfer to Manchester United was forced to be postponed for a year. PSV were comfortably crowned league champions in Gerets' debut year, creating a 16-point gap with runner-up Heerenveen. The 2000–01 Eredivisie was also won with new striker Mateja Kežman, who replaced Van Nistelrooy and the departed Nilis. The cup final was lost to Twente after penalties. In the UEFA Cup, PSV faced 1. FC Kaiserslautern at home; fans threatening to storm the field during the match prompted Gerets and some players to personally intervene. PSV was fined by UEFA and forced to play a European match on neutral ground. After Van Nistelrooy left, PSV ended second in the 2001–02 season and were eliminated in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals by Feyenoord.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Gerets was released and Guus Hiddink returned to the club as coach and director of football, with Arjen Robben, Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo joining PSV. Their first season immediately brought a league title, secured in the last match against Groningen. But in the 2003–04 season, PSV failed to reclaim the championship. In 2004, the PSV board clashed with Hiddink and Van Raaij concerning the expenditures. Van Raaij left in September and Hiddink never got along with his successor Rob Westerhof, who sided with the board. Even though Kežman and Robben left in 2004, Hiddink had gradually built a powerful squad, with Heurelho Gomes, Alex, Park, Lee, Mark van Bommel and the returning Phillip Cocu. The Eredivisie was won five matches before the end, and Willem II was beaten in the cup final. After eight consecutive Champions League group stage eliminations, PSV reached the knockout stage. There, they beat Monaco 3–0 on aggregate and Lyon after penalties. The first semi-final against Milan was lost 2–0. In the return, PSV took a 2–0 lead but a late goal by Massimo Ambrosini ended the hope to reach the final, despite an injury-time third goal by Cocu.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: After the 2004–05 season, Van Bommel, Vogel, Park and Lee left. With new signing Timmy Simons and youth prospect Ibrahim Afellay, PSV reached the Champions League knockout stage again. In that round, Lyon revenged PSV by winning 5–0 on aggregate. The team did win the league, but lost the cup final to Ajax. Afterwards, Hiddink left and Ronald Koeman replaced him. Westerhof, who lost support from the board, resigned soon after Hiddink's departure. Jan Reker became general manager. During the 2006–07 season, league leaders PSV squandered a 12-point lead, enabling AZ and Ajax to equal their 72 points before the last round. A surprise AZ defeat in the last fixture meant that PSV's 5–1 victory against Vitesse was enough to edge the title win; PSV had a single goal difference with Ajax. Koeman was criticised by the board after losing a big lead, but was eventually allowed to remain as coach. In the 2007–08 season, after Cocu and Alex left, the team was disqualified from the KNVB Cup after fielding a suspended Manuel da Costa. In October, Koeman took up the coaching job at Valencia, prompting PSV to first appoint Jan Wouters and then Sef Vergoossen as caretakers. The fourth title in a row was won in the last match, again against Vitesse. After the title, Heurelho Gomes and director of football Stan Valckx voiced criticism towards Reker, forcing the club to choose between Reker and Gomes. Subsequently, Reker sacked Valckx and sold Gomes to Tottenham Hotspur.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Huub Stevens returned as coach in 2008, but disappointing performances and clashes between Stevens and the squad resulted in his resignation six months later. Caretaker Dwight Lodeweges wrapped up the season with a fourth place. The following year, Fred Rutten was appointed as coach. In his first two seasons, PSV reached the third place twice. With Rutten as coach, PSV beat Feyenoord 10–0 in a home game on 24 October 2010, a historical win and Feyenoord's heaviest defeat in their club history. Meanwhile, the club experienced liquidity problems, but secured its future through loans and property sales. Key players Ibrahim Afellay and Balázs Dzsudzsák were sold and as a consequence, director of football Marcel Brands spent €25 million to improve the squad. But in the 2011–12 season, the team dropped out of the title race early again, which led to Rutten's dismissal. Phillip Cocu finished the season as caretaker, leading the team to a third place and a KNVB Cup after beating Heracles Almelo. For the 2012–13 season, Dick Advocaat returned as head coach, while Mark van Bommel returned from Milan. Despite 103 league goals, the team ended as runner-up in both Eredivisie and KNVB Cup. Advocaat, who struggled with the job's intensity, left after one season. In 2013, Cocu was appointed as head coach. On 18 April 2015, PSV won the Eredivisie after a 4–1 win over Heerenveen. This was their first league title since 2008, and it ended a four-year domination of the league by Ajax. On 8 December 2015, PSV reached the knock-out stages of the Champions League, becoming the first Dutch club to do so since the 2006–07 Champions League season. PSV defended their league title in 2016 owing to a 1–1 draw between Ajax (who led the table prior to this day on goal difference) and 17th-placed De Graafschap in the last game of the season. After finishing third in the 2016–17 season, PSV once again claimed the Eredivisie title in 2018 with a 3–0 win against Ajax, who were in second place.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: On 30 March 2022, the team announced that Ruud van Nistelrooy who played with the team from 1998–2001 would take over as manager starting with the 2022–2023 season.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV's first crest consisted of a light bulb and the words "Philips Sport" in a circular shape. Its next incarnation was a shield-shaped logo with red-and-white vertical lines, topped off with the letters "PSV". The third design of the crest proved to be a durable one; its oval shape, red-and-white horizontal lines and a flag with the PSV letters incorporated remains used until today. Only minor changes have occurred: the border color and addition of horseshoe-shaped figures, a circle around the three letters and the addition of two stars to commemorate winning twenty league titles. Early incarnations of the oval version also included dots for the abbreviation "P.S.V.". For the centennial celebrations in 2013, a laurel wreath and the number "100" in gold were temporarily added to the crest.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: The colours red and white were chosen at the founding meeting in 1913 by Jan Willem Hofkes, the first chairman of the club. He apparently appreciated the contrast between his red raspberry drink and his white notepad. Inspired by the club colours, the first kit consisted of a red-and-white vertically striped shirt, black shorts and red-and-white horizontally striped socks. This combination was worn until the 1970s, when the club switched to a completely red shirt, which was worn with either white or black shorts. The red kit was changed back to a striped version in 1989. The red-and-white stripes have remained ever since, albeit in very varied adaptations. The shorts would also often change between black and white. During Ruud Gullit's tenure at PSV, he personally changed the shorts from black to white, in an attempt to improve the stature of the kit. For the centennial celebrations in 2013, PSV have temporarily switched to an all-red jersey with white shorts and socks. Its design choices were meant to reminisce the kits worn during the 1987–88 season.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Because of the close ties with Philips, PSV had the same jersey sponsor without exception from 1982, the year jersey sponsorships were introduced in the Eredivisie, until 2016. This is a record in Dutch football. Starting in the 2016–17 season, however, Philips was no longer the main shirt sponsor. PSV's first clothing sponsor was Le Coq Sportif, from 1970 to 1974, when it switched to Adidas. They remained the sponsor until 1995, when they were replaced by Nike, until Umbro became the shirt sponsor in 2015, ending a 20-year relationship between PSV and Nike.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV have played at the Philips Stadion since its foundation in 1913, when it was still named Philips Sportpark. The venue was built in the Strijp borough, and more specifically in the Philipsdorp area – a neighborhood set up in 1910 by Anton Philips in order to provide accommodation to employees. A football field was simultaneously laid out where PSV's predecessor, the Philips Elftal, played its first match in on 15 January 1911 against Hollandia from Woensel. In 1916, the first wooden stand was built, providing seating space for 550 viewers. Another stand with 900 seats was built in the 1930s. In 1941, a running track was added, but it was removed 17 years later. During World War II, the stadium was damaged by the war; the reparations took place after the liberation of South Netherlands in 1944.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Four 40-meter high floodlights were installed in the stadium in 1958, making evening matches possible. The lights were inaugurated with an exhibition match against Anderlecht. In 1977, the main stand was completely rebuilt, but an alkali–silica reaction ten years later caused the concrete to crack. Chairman Jacques Ruts, who was previously introduced to the skybox in the United States, considered a new stand to be an opportunity to attract more sponsors. The new main stand – two tiers, with skyboxes in the middle – was introduced in a friendly match against Milan in 1988. In the nineties, the other three stands are also elevated. The last major renovation was the closing of the four open corners of the stadium. Along with creating more seats, the new corners had window blind-type constructions, which allowed air to flow through in order to let the grass breathe. The completion was celebrated in October 2002, with the capacity increased to 35,000. In the summer of 2005, the club removed the tall fences around the pitch, replacing them with lower railings keeping the spectators off the grass. Unauthorized persons who do invade the pitch will receive a €15,000 penalty and a ten-year-ban from visiting the ground.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: The Philips Stadion has been awarded four out of five stars by the UEFA Stadium Rankings. The ground hold several designated areas. The lower terraces on the East stand are considered the proper location for the fanatic viewers. There are also separate areas for youngsters up to 16 years old, for the disabled and for fans of the visiting team in the north-west upper corner. A stand named the "Family Corner" specifically serves children up to 12 and their parents. For business representatives, the stadium has business rooms and suites, totaling 1186 seats. Besides football-related activities, the stadium holds merchandising stores, offices and three restaurants, including the Michelin-star assigned Avant-Garde. For the centennial celebrations, a PSV Museum was revealed in the stadium. Training sessions by PSV are conducted on De Herdgang, located in the outskirts of Eindhoven in woodland surroundings. With ten fields and fitness facilities, it also accommodates all PSV youth and amateur teams. Its last major renovation occurred in 2019.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV have attracted around 33,000 people to Eredivisie matches on average in the last years. The record attendance stands at 35,200, achieved in a match against Feyenoord at 17 November 2002. The club always reserves tickets for away fans and individual ticket purchases; the maximum number of season ticket holders therefore is 29,200. All season tickets were sold out in 2007 and 2008. More recently in 2013, PSV sold 28,000 season tickets. Research showed that over 25,000 season ticket holders hail from North Brabant, with other significant groups coming from Limburg, Gelderland, South Holland, North Holland and Belgium.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV currently has two independent fan bodies. The Supportersvereniging PSV was founded in 1920 and currently consists of 14,000 members. They own a fan base within the Philips Stadion. The second one, PSV Fans United, serve a more specific purpose: to improve the atmosphere in the stadium. Besides the fan unions, there are several sets of fans who work together on tifo choreography, like Lighttown Madness among others. The PSV Junior Club was founded by PSV in 1998 for children up to 12 years. Later it was renamed Phoxy Club after Phoxy, PSV's mascot. Currently, more than 20,000 children are members. Every year, the Phoxy Club Day is organized, offering activities for members who are joined by the first team squad. During pre-season, PSV also holds an Open Day for people of all ages; the event gives the opportunity for sponsors and new player signings to be presented. The official club anthem was composed by Kees van der Weijden and Jo Vermeulen. It was introduced in 1950 and is currently sung at every home match at 19 minutes and 13 seconds into the game – the time mirroring the club's foundation year.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV's main rivalry is with Ajax, with both teams regularly competing for the league title in the last forty years. The PSV fans, whose club has reserved the kit number "12" for them, refer to themselves as "boeren" (peasants/farmers); the word can be heard chanted through the home ground after every PSV goal. Its reference designates taking pride in their Brabantian heritage, as opposed to the metropolitan Amsterdam area. The Brabantian identity also plays a fundamental role in the club's culture with the Flag of North Brabant being incorporated in shirt design and being displayed in and around the stadium. PSV used to have an ongoing rivalry with FC Eindhoven, which originated in the 1910s. FC Eindhoven, being the older team, manifested itself as the "people's club", whereas PSV was only open to Philips employees. In the 1940s and 1950s, PSV and FC Eindhoven were both competing for the league title, which increased the feud and divided the City of Light in "red-white striped" and "blue-white striped". Fixtures between the two sides were named the "Lichtstadderby" ("City of Light Derby"). After FC Eindhoven's decline in the 1970s, the rivalry disappeared. Nowadays, relations between the two sets of supporters are generally friendly; during the annual pre-season derby supporters even sit in the same end without any major incidents. Although a friendly rivalry still exists, it is mostly felt on the FC Eindhoven side. However, it is not uncommon for people in Eindhoven to go to FC Eindhoven on Fridays (the usual matchday in the Eerste Divisie) and to go to PSV on a Saturday or Sunday. In recent times, FC Eindhoven was PSV's feeder club on several occasions and the clubs share a women's team and youth setup.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV was an association ("vereniging") until 1999, when it became a public limited company with shareholders ("naamloze vennootschap"). It meant that the club installed a board of directors, who are not involved in most of the decision-making processes. Instead, they serve as an advising and supervising entity. All shares but one are owned by a foundation, the Foundation PSV Football. The remaining share is owned by the Eindhoven Football Club PSV, another separate entity. The general manager holds responsibility for all activities regarding the club, and is supported by a manager operations and a treasurer. PSV also appoints a director of football, who manages football-related processes such as transfers (in conjunction with the technical staff), in order to control the long-term planning.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV was founded by Philips and in the first decades, the club was only open to employees. The club did sign players from elsewhere, however; one of the perks of playing for PSV was that players who were offered a football contract were always offered a Philips job as well. Philips has been kit sponsor since 1982 and the PSV home ground has included the Philips name since its foundation. The company was paying €7.5 million per year for the sponsoring when they ended their kit sponsorship role in 2016. Frits Philips, chairman of the company between 1961 and 1971, became an icon for PSV during his lifetime. At five years of age, he conducted the ceremonial kick-off at the first Philips Elftal match in 1911. Frits Philips would become intertwined with PSV and Eindhoven; his 100th birthday was widely celebrated in the city. Frits Philips had his own spot in the stands until his death and would sometimes provide pep talks to the squad during half-time. PSV was often a way for Philips to introduce its technology to the public. In 1950, a match between PSV and FC Eindhoven was the first televised match in the Netherlands, with Philips supplying the technique. And in 1958, Philips installed four floodlights in the stadium.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV's budget in 2011 was €60 million. Before 2011, PSV's budget would only remain balanced if the team would qualify for the UEFA Champions League every year. But disappointing performances since 2008 meant that the club ended up with a yearly €10–20 million negative balance, forcing the club to cut costs and obtain new revenues. The ground under the stadium and the training facilities were sold for €48.4 million to the Eindhoven municipality in a leasehold estate construction. PSV also took out a €20 million loan with Philips and additional loans with local entrepreneurs. The club also introduced sponsoring on the back of the player kits. Freo, part of De Lage Landen, was the company to present its name there.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: On 21 April 2016, it was announced that Dutch energy company energiedirect.nl would replace Philips as PSV's kit sponsor, starting from the 2016–17 season. The company signed a contract for three seasons and paid €6 million per year. Philips continues to be a sponsor, but has decreased their contribution to €3 million per year. In 2019, it was announced that Philips, ASML, Jumbo, VDL and the High Tech Campus will jointly sponsor PSV in the coming years, under the name of ‘Metropoolregio Brainport Eindhoven’ (Brainport Eindhoven Metropolitan Area), which will be displayed on the shirt.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: PSV's 24 league championships are the second-highest in Dutch football, behind Ajax (36). Their ten KNVB Cup victories are the third-highest, after Ajax (20) and Feyenoord (13). PSV have won the most Johan Cruyff Shields so far, with thirteen. The double was achieved four times, with the one in 1988 being part of the treble, a feat only achieved by six other European clubs. Between 1985 and 1989, and between 2005 and 2008, PSV won the Eredivisie four times in a row; the only other clubs accomplishing this (once) were Ajax and HVV Den Haag. In recent decades, the team has been consistently competing for the top spots in the league: in the Eredivisie all-time standings (since 1956), PSV are second behind Ajax. PSV have played in a European competition every year since 1974; only Barcelona (since 1959) and Anderlecht (since 1964) have a longer streak in play.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: Willy van der Kuijlen currently holds the record for the most league appearances and the most league goals. He played 528 matches and scored 308 goals between 1964 and 1981. Willy van de Kerkhof played the second-highest amount of league matches for PSV; he appeared in 418 Eredivisie fixtures. The third-highest in the list is Jan Heintze with 395 games. The second-highest goalscorer for PSV is Coen Dillen, who produced 288 goals. Third in the list is Piet Fransen with 210 goals. The record for number of goals in one season stands at 43, scored by Dillen in the 1956–57 season; this figure is also a national record. Another domestic record is the amount of consecutive minutes with a clean sheet. The number stands at 1,159 minutes, which PSV achieved in 2004 with two different goalkeepers: Heurelho Gomes and Edwin Zoetebier. The largest transfer fee PSV have ever received was for Ruud van Nistelrooy; Manchester United paid €30 million for the striker in 2001, closely followed by the €29 million paid by Manchester United for Memphis Depay in mid-2015. Mateja Kežman's move to PSV in 2000 was the most expensive incoming transfer; €11.3 million was paid to Partizan.


title: PSV Eindhoven

text: In 2010, PSV made international headlines when they humiliated former European champions Feyenoord 10–0.


title: Robert Downey Jr. filmography

text: Robert Downey Jr. is an American actor and film producer who has starred in numerous films, and television series. Downey made his acting debut in his father's film "Pound" at the age of five. In the 1980s, Downey was considered a member of the Brat Pack after appearing in the films "Weird Science" with Anthony Michael Hall (1985), "Less than Zero" with Andrew McCarthy (1987), and "Johnny Be Good" again with Hall (1988). Downey also starred in the films "True Believer" (1989) and "Chances Are" (1989), and was a regular cast member on the late-night variety show "Saturday Night Live" in 1985.


title: Robert Downey Jr. filmography

text: In the 1990s, Downey was featured in the films "Air America" with Mel Gibson (1990), "Soapdish" with Sally Field (1991), "Chaplin" as Charlie Chaplin (1992), "Heart and Souls" with Alfre Woodard and Kyra Sedgwick (1993), "Short Cuts" with Julianne Moore (1993), "Only You" with Marisa Tomei (1994), "Richard III" with Ian McKellen (1995), and "U.S. Marshals" with Tommy Lee Jones (1998). His role in "Chaplin" earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and a BAFTA Award win for Best Actor in a Leading Role.


title: Robert Downey Jr. filmography

text: Downey had a regular role in the television series "Ally McBeal" in 2000, which won him a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. He was then cast in the 2003 films "The Singing Detective" alongside Robin Wright and "Gothika" with Halle Berry. In 2005, he starred in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" with Val Kilmer; in "Good Night, and Good Luck" with David Strathairn and George Clooney; and voiced the character of Patrick Pewterschmidt in the animated series "Family Guy". The following year, he appeared in the animated science fiction film "A Scanner Darkly" and as Paul Avery in the 2007 film "Zodiac".


title: Robert Downey Jr. filmography

text: Downey was cast as the role of Tony Stark / Iron Man in the 2008 Marvel Studios film "Iron Man", a role he later reprised in "Iron Man 2" (2010), "The Avengers" (2012), "Iron Man 3", "" (2015), "" (2016), "" (2017), "" (2018), and "" (2019). He also starred in the films "Tropic Thunder" (2008) and "The Soloist" (2009), and played the title character in "Sherlock Holmes" (2009) and "" (2011). In 2020, he starred as the title character in "Dolittle". For his role in "Tropic Thunder", he was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. He also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his role in "Sherlock Holmes".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 until his death, and was also creative director of the Italian fur and leather goods fashion house Fendi, and of his own eponymous fashion label. He collaborated on a variety of fashion and art-related projects.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld was recognized for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high, starched, detachable collars.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld was born on 10 September 1933 in Hamburg, to Elisabeth (née Bahlmann) and businessman Otto Lagerfeld. His father owned a company that produced and imported evaporated milk; while his maternal grandfather, Karl Bahlmann, was a local politician for the Catholic Centre Party. His family belonged to the Old Catholic Church. When Lagerfeld's mother met his father, she was a lingerie saleswoman from Berlin. His parents married in 1930.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld was known to misrepresent his birth year, claiming to be younger than his actual age, and to misrepresent his parents' background. For example, he claimed that he was born in 1938 to "Elisabeth of Germany" and Otto Ludwig Lagerfeldt . These claims have been conclusively proven to be false, as his father was from Hamburg and spent his entire life in Germany, with no Swedish connection. There is also no evidence that his mother Elisabeth Bahlmann, the daughter of a middle-class local politician, called herself "Elisabeth of Germany". He was known to insist that no one knows his real birth date. In an interview on French television in February 2009, Lagerfeld said that he was "born neither in 1933 nor 1938".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In April 2013, he finally declared that he was born in 1935. A birth announcement was, however, published by his parents in 1933, and the baptismal register in Hamburg also lists him as born in that year, showing that he was born on 10 September 1933. "Bild am Sonntag" published his baptismal records in 2008 and interviewed his teacher and a classmate, who both confirmed that he was born in 1933. The same was later confirmed by his death record. Despite that, Karl Lagerfeld announced publicly that he was celebrating his "70th birthday" on 10 September 2008, despite actually turning 75.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: His older sister, Martha Christiane "Christel", was born in 1931. Lagerfeld had an older half-sister, Theodora Dorothea "Thea", from his father's first marriage. His family name has been spelled both Lagerfeldt (with a "t") and Lagerfeld. Like his father, he used the spelling Lagerfeld, considering it to "sound more commercial".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: His family was mainly shielded from the deprivations of World War II due to his father's business interests in Germany through the firm Glücksklee-Milch GmbH. His father had been in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: As a child, he showed great interest in visual arts, and former schoolmates recalled that he was always making sketches "no matter what we were doing in class". Lagerfeld told interviewers that he learned much more by constantly visiting the Kunsthalle Hamburg museum than he ever did in school.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 1954, Lagerfeld submitted a dress design to the International Wool Secretariat's design competition that presaged the chemise dresses that would be introduced by Givenchy and Balenciaga in 1957.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 1955, after living in Paris for two years, Lagerfeld entered a coat design competition sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat. He won the coat category and befriended Yves Saint Laurent, who won the dress category, and was soon after hired by Pierre Balmain. He worked as Balmain's assistant, and later apprentice, for three years.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 1958, Lagerfeld became the artistic director for Jean Patou. In 1964, he went to Rome to study art history and work for Tiziani but was soon designing freelance for a multitude of brands, including Charles Jourdan, Chloé, Krizia, and Valentino.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 1967, he was hired by Fendi to modernize their fur line. Lagerfeld's innovative designs proved groundbreaking, as he introduced the use of mole, rabbit, and squirrel pelts into high fashion. Lagerfeld remained with Fendi Rome until his death.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In the 1970s, his work for Chloé made him one of the most prominent designers in the world, often vying with Yves Saint Laurent for most influential. After a period in the early seventies when he toyed with styles from the 1930s and '50s, in 1974 he contributed to the burgeoning Big Look or Soft Look by eliminating linings, padding, and even hemming from voluminous, thin-fabric garments, even from fur in his work for Fendi at the time, to enable an unencumbered, comfortable, layered style that would dominate the high fashion of the middle of the decade.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: After refining this style and saying that to go back to linings and stiff structure would be regressive, he did a complete about-face in 1978 and joined other designers in showing the heavily constructed, huge-shouldered, more restrictive looks that would dominate the 1980s, presenting such an exaggerated retro 1940s-50s silhouette – immense shoulder pads; severe, stiffly constructed suits with padded lampshade peplums; padded busts and hips; impractically tight skirts; awkwardly high spike heels; hats; gloves; even boned corsets – that his work did not look out of place alongside similar retro fare from Thierry Mugler of the period.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: During both these phases, his mid-seventies Soft Look phase and his late seventies-eighties big-shoulders phase, his love of the eighteenth century was frequently on display. For instance, his Fall 1977 collection, one of the most celebrated of the seventies Soft Look era, included lace trim, headwear, and thigh-high boots in styles from the 1700s, while his Fall 1979 collection, one of the most influential of the early years of the big-shoulder era, contained millinery that recalled Napoleonic bicornes, along with button-sided spats/leggings that looked somewhat like military accoutrements from the same period.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld would continue in the shoulder pads-tight skirts-stiletto heels direction into the eighties, joining other, similar designers in shortening the skirts of the look even as high as mini length, though his hemlines could also range as low as the ankle. Alongside these styles, he also showed softer, more comfortable clothing, particularly in 1981-'82, when a brief revival of somewhat mid-seventies-looking long dirndl skirts and shawls appeared on runways and Lagerfeld touted the gossamer weightlessness he had perfected in the seventies, although he did like to place corsets and girdles over it now. The variety of lengths and trouser shapes he presented during this period kept him in line with modern women's needs.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In the 1980s, Lagerfeld was hired by Chanel, which was considered a "near-dead brand" at the time since the death of designer Coco Chanel a decade prior. Taking over the couture there in 1983, Lagerfeld brought life back into the company, making it a huge success by revamping its ready-to-wear fashion line. Lagerfeld integrated the interlocked "CC" monograph of Coco Chanel into a style pattern for the House of Chanel.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld also changed the Chanel silhouette that had prevailed since the early 1960s, making it more eighties by padding the shoulder, shortening and tightening the skirt, raising the heel, and enlarging or miniaturizing the jewelry and purses, all controversial moves, especially the short skirts, as Mlle. Chanel had always disapproved of above-the-knee skirts. This new direction was actually initiated the year before Lagerfeld took the helm, 1982, when a design team led by Hervé Léger, a Lagerfeld protegé, operated at the house. Lagerfeld is suspected of having influenced Léger's changes.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 1984, a year after his start at Chanel, Lagerfeld began his own eponymous "Karl Lagerfeld" brand. The brand was established to channel "intellectual sexiness".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld flourished in the plethora of historical revivals of the eighties, from the shoulder-padded 1940s-50s revivals beginning in 1978 and continuing through the eighties, to the 1950s pouf skirts, 1860s crinolines, and hoops of the mid-eighties, now often showgirl-short. Lagerfeld participated in it all, for both his namesake line and Chanel. In 1986, he marked the move away from broad shoulders by removing pads from the shoulders and placing them visibly on the outside of the hips.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 2002, Lagerfeld asked Renzo Rosso, the founder of Diesel, to collaborate with him on a special denim collection for the Lagerfeld Gallery. The collection, Lagerfeld Gallery by Diesel, was co-designed by Lagerfeld and then developed by Diesel's creative team, under the supervision of Rosso. It consisted of five pieces that were presented during the designer's catwalk shows during Paris Fashion Week and then sold in highly limited editions at the Lagerfeld Galleries in Paris and Monaco and at the Diesel Denim Galleries in New York and Tokyo. During the first week of sales in New York, more than 90% of the trousers were sold out, even though prices ranged from $240 to $1,840. In a statement after the show in Paris, Rosso said: "I am honored to have met this fashion icon of our time. Karl represents creativity, tradition and challenge, and the fact that he thought of Diesel for this collaboration is a great gift and acknowledgement of our reputation as the "prêt-à-porter" of casual wear".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In December 2006, Lagerfeld announced the launch of a new collection for men and women dubbed K Karl Lagerfeld, which included fitted T-shirts and a wide range of jeans. In September 2010, the Couture Council of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology presented Lagerfeld with an award created for him, The Couture Council Fashion Visionary Award, at a benefit luncheon at Avery Fisher Hall, in New York City. In November 2010, Lagerfeld and Swedish crystal manufacturer Orrefors announced a collaboration to design a crystal art collection. The first collection was launched in spring 2011, called Orrefors by Karl Lagerfeld.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 2014, Palm Beach Modern Auctions announced that many of Lagerfeld's early sketches for the House of Tiziani in Rome would be sold.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld's work in fashion houses garnered him to be considered the Chameleon of fashion. Said by Anna Sui and Clare Waight Keller, they emphasized Lagerfeld's ability to elevate the rich history of fashion houses into the modern-day context.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In November 2015, Karl Lagerfeld was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the British Fashion Awards. Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of American "Vogue", presented the award.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: The final Chanel collection completed before his death had an Alpine theme of après-ski clothing. As Lagerfeld requested not to have any type of funeral, the show only included a moment of silence in his honor and chairs emblazoned with his image next to Coco Chanel with the saying "the beat goes on". Although Lagerfeld shunned any emotional reactions around the idea of his death, some models could be seen crying on the runway, as well as audience members.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld and investments enterprise Dubai Infinity Holdings (DIH) signed a deal to design limited edition homes on the island of Isla Moda. A feature-length documentary film on the designer, "Lagerfeld Confidential", was made by Vogue in 2007. Later in the year, Lagerfeld was made the host of the fictional radio station K109—the studio in the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV", and its DLCs "" and "".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 2008, he created a teddy bear in his likeness produced by Steiff in an edition of 2,500 that sold for $1,500. and has been immortalized in many forms, which include pins, shirts, dolls, and more. In 2009, Tra Tutti began selling Karl Lagermouse and Karl Lagerfelt, which are mini-Lagerfelds in the forms of mice and finger puppets, respectively. The same year, he lent his voice to the French animated film, "Totally Spies! The Movie".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Late in life, Lagerfeld realized one of his boyhood ambitions by becoming a professional caricaturist – from 2013, his political cartoons were regularly published in the German newspaper "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In 2013, he directed the short film "Once Upon a Time..." in the Cité du Cinéma, Saint-Denis, by Luc Besson, featuring Keira Knightley in the role of Coco Chanel and Clotilde Hesme as her aunt Adrienne Chanel. In June 2016, it was announced that Lagerfeld would design the two residential lobbies of the Estates at Acqualina, a residential development in Miami's Sunny Isles Beach.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: In October 2018, Lagerfeld in collaboration with Carpenters Workshop Gallery launched an art collection of functional sculptures titled Architectures. Sculptures were made of Arabescato Fantastico, a rare vibrant white marble with dark gray veins and black Nero Marquina marble with milky veins. Inspired by antiquity and referred to as modern mythology the ensemble consists of gueridons, tables, lamps, consoles, fountains and mirrors.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld was recognized for his signature white hair, black sunglasses, fingerless gloves, and high, starched detachable collars.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: He had an 18-year relationship with the French aristocrat, model, and socialite Jacques de Bascher (1951–1989), though Lagerfeld said that the liaison never became sexual. "I infinitely loved that boy," Lagerfeld reportedly said of de Bascher, "but I had no physical contact with him. Of course, I was seduced by his physical charm." De Bascher also had an affair with the couturier Yves Saint-Laurent; subsequently, Saint-Laurent's business partner and former lover Pierre Bergé accused Lagerfeld of being behind a gambit to destabilize the rival fashion house. De Bascher died of AIDS in 1989 while Lagerfeld stayed on a cot at his bedside in his hospital room during the final stages of his illness.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Following Lagerfeld's death, tabloids reported that he was to be cremated and his ashes mixed with those of de Bascher, which Lagerfeld kept in an urn, or with those of his mother.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld lived in numerous homes over the years: an apartment in the rue de l'Université in Paris, decorated in the Art Deco style (1970s); the 18th-century Chateau de Penhoët in Brittany, decorated in the Rococo style (1970s to 2000); an apartment in Monte Carlo decorated until 2000 in 1980s Memphis style (from the early 1980s); the Villa Jako in Blankenese in Hamburg, decorated in the Art Deco style (mid-1990s to 2000); the Villa La Vigie in Monaco (the 1990s to 2000), a 17th-century mansion ("hôtel particulier") in the Rue de l'Université in Paris, decorated in the Rococo and other styles (1980s to the 2000s); an apartment in Manhattan, although he never moved into or decorated it (2006 to 2012); the summer villa El Horria in Biarritz, decorated in the modern style (1990s–2006); and a house dating from the 1840s in Vermont (from the 2000s). From 2007, Lagerfeld owned an 1820s house in Paris in Quai Voltaire decorated in modern and Art Deco style.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: A spread with pictures inside Lagerfeld's apartments in Paris and Monaco was published in "Vogue". He also revealed his vast collection of Suzanne Belperron's pins and brooches and used the color of one of her blue chalcedony rings as the starting point for the Chanel spring/summer 2012 collection.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld owned a red point Birman cat named Choupette, which, in June 2013, he indicated he would marry, if it were legal.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld lost in 2001. He explained: "I suddenly wanted to dress differently, to wear clothes designed by Hedi Slimane ... But these fashions, modeled by very, very slim boys—and not men my age—required me to lose at least 40 kg. It took me exactly 13 months." The diet was created specially for him by Dr. Jean-Claude Houdret, which led to a book called "The Karl Lagerfeld Diet". He promoted it on "Larry King Live" and other television shows.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld was a passionate book collector and amassed one of the largest personal libraries in the world. According to the Rare Book Hub, he was quoted as saying, "Today, I only collect books; there is no room left for something else. If you go to my house, I'll have you walk around the books. I ended up with a library of 300,000. It's a lot for an individual."


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Following health complications in January 2019, Lagerfeld was admitted to the American Hospital of Paris in Parisian suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine on 18 February. He died there the following morning from complications of pancreatic cancer. Lagerfeld requested no formal funeral with plans for cremation and ashes spread at secret locations alongside his mother as well as his late partner, Jacques de Bascher.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld was memorialized on 20 June 2019 at the Grand Palais with "Karl For Ever", a celebration of the designer's life, which featured a career retrospective highlighting his tenures at Chloé, Fendi, and Chanel. The 90-minute tribute was attended by 2,500 guests. Nearly 60 gigantic portraits were on view within the pavilion, which has hosted many Chanel runway collections. The ceremony also included readings and musical performances by Tilda Swinton, Cara Delevingne, Helen Mirren, Pharrell Williams, and Lang Lang. The production was staged by theater and opera director Robert Carsen.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Following the memorial, the house of Karl Lagerfeld announced in July 2019 the development of "The White Shirt Project". In homage to its eponymous founder, this collaboration celebrates the late designer's legacy with a collection of reimagined, iconic white shirts.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld once said: "If you ask me what I'd most like to have invented in fashion, I'd say the white shirt. For me, the white shirt is the basis of everything. Everything else comes after."


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: The global project, which was curated by Karl Lagerfeld Style Adviser Carine Roitfeld, features designs from Cara Delevingne, Kate Moss, Tommy Hilfiger, Diane Kruger, Takashi Murakami, Amber Valletta, and British street artist, Endless, amongst others.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Seven was Lagerfeld's favorite number, and as such, seven of the final designs will be replicated 77 times and sold for €777 each from 26 September 2019. All proceeds will benefit the French charity Sauver La Vie, which funds medical research at the Paris Descartes University.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: During his career, Lagerfeld faced many controversies and was accused of being fatphobic, Islamophobic, and of opposing the Me Too movement.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: There was much controversy from Lagerfeld's use of a verse from the Qur'an in his spring 1994 couture collection for Chanel, despite apologies from the designer and the fashion house. The controversy erupted after the 1994 couture show in Paris, when the Indonesian Muslim Scholars Council in Jakarta called for a boycott of Chanel and threatened to file formal protests with the government of Lagerfeld's homeland, Germany. The designer apologized, explaining that he had taken the design from a book about the Taj Mahal, thinking the words came from a love poem.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld was a supporter of the use of fur in fashion, although he himself did not wear fur and hardly ate meat. In a BBC interview in 2009, he claimed that hunters "make a living having learnt nothing else than hunting, killing those beasts who would kill us if they could" and maintained: "In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish." Spokespersons for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) called Lagerfeld "a fashion dinosaur who is as out of step as his furs are out of style", and "particularly delusional with his kill-or-be-killed mentality. When was the last time a person's life was threatened by a mink or rabbit?" In 2001, he was the target of a pieing at a fashion premiere at Lincoln Center in New York City. However, the tofu pies hurled by animal rights activists in protest against his use of fur within his collections went astray, instead hitting Calvin Klein. A PETA spokesperson described the hit on Klein as "friendly fire", calling Klein, who does not use fur, "a great friend to the animals" and Lagerfeld a "designer dinosaur", who continues to use fur in his collections. In 2010, after Lagerfeld used fake fur in his 2010 Chanel collection, PETA's website claimed: "It's the triumph of fake fur ... because fake fur changed so much and became so great now that you can hardly see a difference".


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: Lagerfeld in 2009 joined critics of supermodel Heidi Klum, following German designer Wolfgang Joop's remarks about Klum, who had posed naked on the cover of the German edition of "GQ" magazine. Joop described Klum as being "no runway model. She is simply too heavy and has too big a bust". Lagerfeld commented that neither he nor Claudia Schiffer knew Klum, as she had never worked in Paris, and that she was insignificant in the world of high fashion, being "more bling bling and glamorous than current fashion". He created an international furore on 9 February 2012, when he called the singer Adele "a little too fat." Adele responded that she is like the majority of women, and she is very proud of that fact. Lagerfeld later caused another controversy, on 31 July 2012, when he criticised Pippa Middleton, the sister of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, for her looks.


title: Karl Lagerfeld

text: His caricature drawing "Harvey Schweinstein", that shows film producer Harvey Weinstein as a pig, was criticised as antisemitic and dehumanizing. He sparked controversy by criticizing German Chancellor Angela Merkel's immigration policy during the European migrant crisis by saying, "You cannot kill millions of Jews and then take in millions of their worst enemies afterwards, even if there are decades [between the events]", and by accusing her to have thereby caused the rise of the party Alternative for Germany (AfD).


title: Larry King

text: Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys, an Emmy and 10 Cable ACE Awards. Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews.


title: Larry King

text: King was born and raised in New York City to Jewish parents who immigrated to the United States from Belarus in the 1930s. He studied at Lafayette High School, a public high school in Brooklyn. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s, and gained prominence in 1978 as host of "The Larry King Show", an all-night nationwide call-in radio program heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System.


title: Larry King

text: From 1985 to 2010, he hosted the nightly interview television program "Larry King Live" on CNN. King hosted "Larry King Now" from 2012 to 2020, which aired on Hulu, Ora TV, and RT America. He hosted "Politicking with Larry King", a weekly political talk show, on the same three channels from 2013 to 2020. King also appeared in television series and films, usually playing himself. He remained active until his death in 2021, from complications of COVID-19 and sepsis, at the age of 87.


title: Larry King

text: King was born in Brooklyn on November 19, 1933. He was one of two children of Jennie ( Gitlitz), a garment worker who was born in Minsk, Russian Empire, and Aaron Zeiger, a restaurant owner and defense-plant worker who was born in Pinsk, Russian Empire. His parents were Orthodox Jews who immigrated to the United States from Belarus in the 1930s.


title: Larry King

text: King attended Lafayette High School, a public high school in Brooklyn. When King was nine years old, his father died of a heart attack. This resulted in King, his mother, and brother going on government welfare. King was greatly affected by his father's death, and subsequently lost interest in his schoolwork.


title: Larry King

text: After graduating from high school, King worked to help support his mother. From an early age, he desired to work in radio broadcasting.


title: Larry King

text: A CBS staff announcer, whom King met by chance, suggested he go to Florida which was a growing media market with openings for inexperienced broadcasters. King went to Miami, and after initial setbacks, he gained his first job in radio. The manager of a small station, WAHR (now WMBM) in Miami Beach, hired him to clean up and perform miscellaneous tasks. When one of the station's announcers abruptly quit, King was put on the air. His first broadcast was on May 1, 1957, working as the disc jockey from 9 a.m. to noon. He also did two afternoon newscasts and a sportscast. He was paid $50 a week.


title: Larry King

text: He acquired the name Larry King when the general manager claimed that Zeiger was too difficult to remember, so minutes before airtime, Larry chose the surname "King", which he got from an advertisement in the "Miami Herald" for King's Wholesale Liquor. Within two years, he legally changed his name to Larry King.


title: Larry King

text: He began to conduct interviews on a mid-morning show for WIOD, at Pumpernik's Restaurant in Miami Beach. He would interview whoever walked in. His first interview was with a waiter at the restaurant. Two days later, singer Bobby Darin, in Miami for a concert that evening, walked into Pumpernik's having heard King's radio show; Darin became King's first celebrity interview guest.


title: Larry King

text: King's Miami radio show brought him local attention. A few years later, in May 1960, he hosted "Miami Undercover", airing Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. on WPST-TV Channel 10 (now WPLG).


title: Larry King

text: King credited his success on local television to the assistance of comedian Jackie Gleason, whose national television variety show was being taped in Miami Beach beginning in 1964. "That show really took off because Gleason came to Miami," King said in a 1996 interview he gave when inducted into the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame. "He did that show and stayed all night with me. We stayed till five in the morning. He didn't like the set, so we broke into the general manager's office and changed the set. Gleason changed the set, he changed the lighting, and he became like a mentor of mine."


title: Larry King

text: During this period, WIOD gave King further exposure as a color commentator for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, during their 1970 season and most of their 1971 season. However, he was dismissed by both WIOD and television station WTVJ as a late-night radio host and sports commentator as of December 20, 1971, when he was arrested after being accused of grand larceny by a former business partner, Louis Wolfson. Other staff covered the Dolphins' games into their 24–3 loss to Dallas in Super Bowl VI. King also lost his weekly column at the "Miami Beach Sun" newspaper. The charges were dropped. Eventually, King was rehired by WIOD. For several years during the 1970s, he hosted a sports talk-show called "Sports-a-la-King" that featured guests and callers.


title: Larry King

text: On January 30, 1978, King began broadcasting a nightly coast-to-coast program on the Mutual Broadcasting System, inheriting the talk show slot that had begun with Herb Jepko in 1975, then followed by "Long John" Nebel in 1977, until his illness and death the following year. King's Mutual show rapidly developed a devoted audience, called "King-aholics".


title: Larry King

text: "The Larry King Show" was broadcast live Monday through Friday from midnight to 5:30 a.m. Eastern Time. King would interview a guest for the first hour, with callers asking questions that continued the interview for the next two hours. At 3 a.m., the "Open Phone America" segment began, where he allowed callers to discuss any topic they pleased with him, until the end of the program when he expressed his own political opinions. Many stations in the western time zones carried the "Open Phone America" portion of the show live, followed by the guest interview on tape delay.


title: Larry King

text: Some of King's regular callers used pseudonyms or were given nicknames by King, such as "The Numbers Guy", "The Chair", "The Portland Laugher", "The Miami Derelict", and "The Scandal Scooper". At the beginning, the show had 28 affiliates, though the number was eventually above 500. King hosted the show until stepping down in 1994. King occasionally entertained the audience by telling amusing stories from his youth or early broadcasting career.


title: Larry King

text: For its final year, the show was moved to afternoons. After King stepped down, Mutual gave the afternoon slot to David Brenner and Mutual's affiliates were given the option of carrying the audio of King's new CNN evening television program. After Westwood One dissolved Mutual in 1999, the radio simulcast of the CNN show continued until December 31, 2009.


title: Larry King

text: "Larry King Live" began on CNN in June 1985. On the show, King hosted a broad range of guests, from figures such as UFO conspiracy theorists and alleged psychics, to prominent politicians and entertainment industry figures, often doing their first or only interview on breaking news stories on his show. After broadcasting his CNN show from 9 to 10 p.m., King then traveled to the studios of the Mutual Broadcasting System to do his radio show, when both shows still aired.


title: Larry King

text: Two of his best-remembered interviews involved political figures. In 1992, billionaire Ross Perot announced his presidential bid on the show. In 1993, a debate between Al Gore and Perot became CNN's most-watched segment until 2015.


title: Larry King

text: Unlike many interviewers, King had a direct, non-confrontational approach. His reputation for asking easy, open-ended questions made him attractive to important figures who wanted to state their position while avoiding being challenged on contentious topics. King said that when interviewing authors, he did not read their books in advance, so that he would not know more than his audience. Throughout his career, King interviewed many of the leading figures of his time. According to CNN, King conducted more than 30,000 interviews in his career.


title: Larry King

text: King also wrote a regular newspaper column in "USA Today" for almost 20 years, from shortly after that first national newspaper's debut in Baltimore-Washington in 1982 until September 2001. The column consisted of short "plugs, superlatives and dropped names" but was dropped when the newspaper redesigned its "Life" section. The column was resurrected in blog form in November 2008 and on Twitter in April 2009.


title: Larry King

text: During his career, he did more than 60,000 interviews. CNN's Larry King Live became "the longest-running television show hosted by the same person, on the same network and in the same time slot", and was recognized for it by the Guinness Book of World Records. He retired in 2010 after taping 6,000 episodes of the show.


title: Larry King

text: On June 29, 2010, King announced that after 25 years, he would be stepping down as the show's host. However, he stated that he would remain with CNN to host occasional specials. The announcement came in the wake of speculation that CNN had approached Piers Morgan, the British television personality and journalist, as King's primetime replacement, which was confirmed that September.


title: Larry King

text: The final edition of "Larry King Live" aired on December 16, 2010. The show concluded with his last thoughts and a thank you to his audience for watching and supporting him over the years. The concluding words of Larry King on the show were, "I... I, I don't know what to say except to you, my audience, thank you. And instead of goodbye, how about so long."


title: Larry King

text: In March 2012, King co-founded Ora TV, a production company, with his then-wife Shawn Southwick King and Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim. On January 16, 2013, Ora TV celebrated their 100th episode of "Larry King Now". In September 2017, King stated that he had no intention of ever retiring and expected to host his programs until he died.


title: Larry King

text: Ora TV signed a multi-year deal with Hulu to exclusively carry King's new talk-oriented web series, "Larry King Now", beginning July 17. On October 23, 2012, King hosted the third-party presidential debate on Ora TV, featuring Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, Virgil Goode, and Gary Johnson.


title: Larry King

text: In May 2013, the Russian-owned RT America network announced that they struck a deal with Ora TV to host the "Larry King Now" show on its network. King said in an advertisement on RT America: "I would rather ask questions to people in positions of power, instead of speaking on their behalf." The show continued to be available on Hulu.com and Ora.tv.


title: Larry King

text: When criticized for doing business with a Russian-owned TV network in 2014, King responded, "I don't work for RT", commenting that his podcasts, "Larry King Now" and "Politicking", are licensed for a fee to RT America by New York-based Ora TV. "It's a deal made between the companies ... They just license our shows. If they took something out, I would never do it. It would be bad if they tried to edit out things. I wouldn't put up with it."


title: Larry King

text: King guest starred in episodes of "Arthur", "30 Rock" and "Gravity Falls", had cameos in "Ghostbusters" and "Bee Movie", and voiced Doris the Ugly Stepsister in "Shrek 2" and its sequels. He also played himself in "" and appeared as himself in an episode of "".


title: Larry King

text: King hosted the educational television series "In View with Larry King" from 2013 to 2015, which was carried on cable television networks including Fox Business Network and Discovery and produced by The Profiles Series production company.


title: Larry King

text: King and his wife Shawn appeared on "WWE Raw" in October 2012, participating in a storyline involving professional wrestlers The Miz and Kofi Kingston.


title: Larry King

text: King became a very active user on the social-networking site Twitter, where he posted thoughts and commented on a wide variety of subjects. King stated, "I love tweeting, I think it's a different world we've entered. When people were calling in, they were calling into the show and now on Twitter, I'm giving out thoughts, opinions. The whole concept has changed."


title: Larry King

text: After 2011, he also made various television infomercials, often appearing as a "host" discussing products like Omega-3 fatty acid dietary supplement OmegaXL with guests, in an interview style reminiscent of his past television programs.


title: Larry King

text: "ProPublica" reported that in 2019 King had been manipulated into starring in a fake interview with a Russian journalist containing disinformation about Chinese dissident Guo Wengui, which was subsequently spread by Chinese government associated social media accounts.


title: Larry King

text: Following his 1987 heart attack, King founded the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, a non-profit organization which paid for life-saving cardiac procedures for people who otherwise would not be able to afford them.


title: Larry King

text: On August 30, 2010, King served as the host of Chabad's 30th annual "To Life" telethon, in Los Angeles.


title: Larry King

text: King was married eight times, to seven women. He married high-school sweetheart Freda Miller in 1952 at age 19. That union ended the following year at the behest of their parents, who reportedly had the marriage annulled. He was later briefly married to Annette Kaye, who gave birth to his son, Larry Jr., in November 1961. King did not meet Larry Jr. until the latter was in his 30's.


title: Larry King

text: In 1961, King married his third wife, Alene Akins, a Playboy Bunny, at one of the magazine's eponymous nightclubs. He adopted Akins' son Andy in 1962; the couple divorced the following year. In 1963, he married his fourth wife, Mary Francis "Mickey" Sutphin, who divorced him. He remarried Akins, with whom he had a second child, Chaia, in 1969. The couple divorced a second time in 1972. In 1997, Dove Books published a book written by King and Chaia, "Daddy Day, Daughter Day". Aimed at young children, it tells each of their accounts of his divorce from Akins.


title: Larry King

text: On September 25, 1976, King married his fifth wife, mathematics teacher and production assistant Sharon Lepore. The couple divorced in 1983.


title: Larry King

text: King met businesswoman Julie Alexander in 1989, and proposed to her on the couple's first date on August 1, 1989. Alexander became King's sixth wife on October 7, 1989, when the two were married in Washington, D.C. The couple lived in different cities, however, with Alexander in Philadelphia, and King in Washington, D.C., where he worked. They separated in 1990 and divorced in 1992. He became engaged to actress Deanna Lund in 1995, after five weeks of dating, but they remained unmarried.


title: Larry King

text: In 1997, he married his seventh wife, Shawn Southwick, born in 1959 (as Shawn Ora Engemann), a singer, actress, and TV host. They wed in King's Los Angeles hospital room three days before he underwent heart surgery to clear an occluded blood vessel. The couple had two children: Chance, born March 1999, and Cannon, born May 2000. He was stepfather to Arena Football League quarterback Danny Southwick. On King and Southwick's 10th anniversary in September 2007, Southwick joked she was "the only [wife] to have lasted into the two digits". Larry and Shawn King filed for divorce in 2010 but reconciled, and filed for divorce again on August 20, 2019. They were estranged and going through divorce proceedings at the time of King's death in 2021.


title: Larry King

text: From his seven wives, King had five children and nine grandchildren, as well as four great-grandchildren. His children with Alene (Andy and Chaia), died within weeks of each other in August 2020, Andy at 65 from a heart attack and Chaia at 51 from lung cancer.


title: Larry King

text: King resided in Beverly Hills, California. A lifelong Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers fan, he was frequently seen behind home plate at the team's games. He was previously part of an investment group that attempted to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to Buffalo, New York, in 1990. He lost $2.8 million to Bernie Madoff.


title: Larry King

text: In 2009, 2011, and several times in 2015, King said that he would like to be cryonically suspended. He discussed the issue with his family two years before his death, and "after much consideration," he decided that he did not want to undergo the procedure.


title: Larry King

text: After describing himself as a Jewish agnostic in 2005, he stated that he was fully atheist in 2015. In 2017, he told "The Jerusalem Post", "I love being Jewish, am proud of my Jewishness, and I love Israel".


title: Larry King

text: On February 24, 1987, King had a major heart attack before a successful quintuple-bypass surgery. Following this, he wrote two books about living with heart disease. "Mr. King, You're Having a Heart Attack: How a Heart Attack and Bypass Surgery Changed My Life" (1989, ), which was written with New York's "Newsday" science editor B. D. Colen, and "Taking On Heart Disease: Famous Personalities Recall How They Triumphed over the Nation's #1 Killer and How You Can, Too" (2004, ), which features the experience of various celebrities with cardiovascular disease, including Peggy Fleming and Regis Philbin. King quit smoking after the heart attack, having smoked three packs of cigarettes a day until then.