text: On March 10, 2005, Jackson appeared late in court after having received treatment in a hospital due to a back problem. The judge ordered him to appear in court under the penalty of arrest and forfeiture of his bail. Jackson appeared in court wearing a T-shirt, a blazer, pajama bottoms and slippers.


title: Health and appearance of Michael Jackson

text: On March 21, Jackson arrived in court accompanied by a doctor. It is believed that he suffered from back problems again. A conversation between the judge and the lawyers regarding the matter was sealed. During the trial, Jackson occasionally needed help to get to his seat. On June 5, 2005, Jackson was taken to the emergency room at the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital to seek treatment of a back pain. Jackson's spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, said "stress contributed to the back problem".


text: On March 12, 1988, Jackson canceled a show in St. Louis, which was rescheduled to March 14; on March 13, Jackson performed in St. Louis although he was fighting a cold. The cold progressed to laryngitis; the show on March 14 was also canceled.


text: Three shows in Tacoma, scheduled from October 31 to November 2, 1988, had to be canceled on his physician's advice because Jackson had the flu. Two shows in Los Angeles were canceled due to swollen vocal cords; three shows in Los Angeles scheduled for November 20, 21 and 22 were also canceled; these five concerts were rescheduled for January 1989.


text: In August 1992, a concert in London, England had to be postponed due to a viral infection. Four days later, Jackson performed in Cardiff, Wales. In September 1992, a concert in Gelsenkirchen, Germany was canceled because Jackson was ill with the flu. In October 1992, a concert in Istanbul and another in Izmir, Turkey had to be canceled due to loss of voice caused by a cold. His private doctor attended to Jackson in Istanbul. According to organizers, Jackson's "vocal cords were irritated". These concerts were supposed to be the last three shows of the tour's European leg. Jackson was seen by a throat specialist in London and was advised to seek further treatment in Los Angeles.


text: People around Jackson took precautions to keep him healthy. One of the measures was that Jackson wore a surgical mask during air travel. Later he transformed it into a fashion accessory wearing a silk mask in black with jewel tones.


text: On February 15, 2005, Jackson was admitted to Marian Medical Center in Santa Maria with "flu-like symptoms". According to Chuck Merrill, Jackson was in stable condition and would recover within a few days. Jackson left the hospital on February 16, 2005. Todd Bailey said Jackson "continued to need care for some persistent viral symptoms, but otherwise he was in good spirits". One week later, the jury selection for the child molestation trial resumed in Jackson's presence.


text: In 1993, several concerts in Mexico City were canceled due to tooth problems. Two abscessed molars were pulled.


text: In 1992, an ambulance took Jackson back to his hotel after the show In Lausanne, Switzerland; another show in Basel was also canceled.


text: In 1999, Jackson was taken to a hospital with abrasions and bruises after a bridge, on which Jackson was standing during a charity concert in Munich, Germany, had been lowered too fast.


text: In his final months, Jackson was suffering from insomnia. Nurse Lee stated she spent one night in Jackson's residence to monitor his nighttime routine. Jackson went to bed with classical music playing on a sound system and Donald Duck playing on a computer. That night Jackson slept only for three hours. He told Lee: "All I want is to be able to sleep. I want to be able to sleep eight hours. I know I'll feel better the next day."


text: Klein recalled Jackson couldn't sleep one night when he was on tour in Hawaii. Finally Klein and his office slept in Jackson's room. One of his lawyers said Jackson suffered from sleeplessness when he was under pressure: "He gets upset, he doesn't drink, he doesn't eat, he can't sleep. It gets to the point where he just can't stand it. He is exhausted with this kind of thing."


text: In November 1993, Jackson announced that he was dependent on painkillers; he said he had recently undergone a scalp surgery, and the painkillers had been prescribed. In a taped statement Jackson said: "The pressure resulting from these false allegations, coupled with the incredible energy necessary for me to perform, caused so much distress that it left me physically and emotionally exhausted. I became increasingly more dependent on the painkillers." His lawyers said Jackson would be treated for dependency overseas for one and a half months to two months. In December 1993, Jackson returned to the United States.


text: Jackson's dependency was questioned by the lawyer who represented the boy accusing Jackson of sexual abuse. In November 1993 two lawyers, who had seen Jackson a few days before he had canceled his tour, described their impressions in a sworn declaration. A plaintiff's lawyer in a copyright matter stated he had been "warned that the entertainer was taking painkillers because of recent oral surgery" before questioning him. The lawyer stated he had seen "no obvious effects of drug abuse".


text: One of Jackson's lawyers stated she had seen him the day before and had concluded he had been 'unfit to give testimony' but 'seemed to be doing much better' the next day when he had given the deposition. Jackson's lawyer said these swings had continued over the next few days. She said she had been "deeply concerned" about Jackson's health.


text: Cherilyn Lee, a nurse who provided nutritional counseling to Jackson, said that on April 12, 2009, he had asked her for unspecified "products for sleep". On April 19, 2009, he told her the only medicine that would help was propofol. Lee refused, telling him, "Michael, the only problem with you taking this medication ... is you're going to take it and you're not going to wake up."


text: Jackson dismissed the warning, telling her he had been given the drug before and that he had been told it was safe. After Jackson's death Lee said in an interview: "He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs. This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest."


text: Patrick Treacy, a cosmetic surgeon who had treated Jackson while he had been living in Ireland in 2006, stated that he had never seen any drugs in the house and had never been asked for narcotics. Jackson had always insisted on the presence of an anesthetist when Propofol had been administered.


text: There have been a lot of different rumors regarding Jackson's sexuality. People wondered whether he was homosexual or heterosexual. Some thought he was asexual. In the early 1980s, media reports stated that Jackson had never had a school chum or a steady girlfriend. Jackson later stated he had been too embarrassed to approach girls in school although he had liked them. He stated he had become romantically involved with actresses Tatum O'Neal and Brooke Shields. Shields later denied saying she had given him permission to say she is his girlfriend.


text: In 1993, Oprah Winfrey asked him if he was a virgin. Jackson refused to answer, saying that would be something very private. Winfrey later admitted that the question had been embarrassing. Later in 1993 Jackson was accused of having sexually abused a boy. In 1994, Jackson married his first wife Lisa Marie Presley. Presley said in an interview that the couple had sex. In early 1996, Presley filed for divorce. At the end of that year, Jackson announced that his longtime friend Debbie Rowe, who had been working as a nurse for Jackson's dermatologist, was six months pregnant with his baby.


text: He denied reports stating Rowe had been inseminated artificially. They married one week later. Rowe is the mother of two of Jackson's children. Jackson later said that many single mothers have children and fathers should have the same opportunity. He said Rowe had wanted to do that for him as a present. In late 1999, she filed for divorce. Speculations whether they had sex or not continue.


text: Media reports state Jackson's third child was carried by a surrogate whose identity is unknown. Jackson said he had signed a contractual agreement not to talk about her. During a child molestation trial against Jackson in 2005, prosecutors showed the jury a collection of heterosexual adult magazines that had been found during a police raid in 2003. The investigator who found the magazines testified they were legal. Jackson was later acquitted.


text: Jackson's physical changes attracted widespread media coverage and criticism from the public. Some African-American psychologists argued that Jackson was a poor role model for black youth. Dennis Chestnut said Jackson had given "black youth a feeling that they can achieve", but might encourage them to believe they had to be esoteric and idiosyncratic to be successful. Halford Fairchild said Jackson and other African-American celebrities would try "to look more like white people in order to get in films and on television".


text: When Jackson was approached in 2003 about people thinking he was obsessed with cosmetic surgery because of his distressed childhood he replied: "Well, I know what's inside my head. That's all."


text: In his interview in 1993, Jackson talked about the impact the speculations about his skin color had on him. "It is something I cannot help," said Jackson. "When people make up stories that I don't want to be who I am, it hurts me. It's a problem for me. I can't control it. But what about all the millions of people who sit in the sun to become darker, to become other than what they are. Nobody says nothing about that."


text: Jackson's cosmetic surgeries are also regarded as an attempt to look white. Another theory says Jackson didn't want to look like his father. People close to Jackson say he didn't want to remove himself from the race.


text: In September 1986, the "National Enquirer" reported Jackson would sleep in an oxygen chamber to turn 150. Later editor Nick Maier declared that the story wasn't true. He said a polaroid of Jackson lying in the chamber was provided by Jackson's press representative. Maier added: "Many celebrities try to create a buzz around themselves. And Michael Jackson did exactly that. In the end, that backfired…" Jackson used his eccentric image to cover his skin condition before speaking about it in public.


text: Jackson's daughter stated her father had depression and had been prescribed antidepressants. Jackson stated he used to cry from loneliness as a child starting at the age of eight or nine. Jackson said the acne had a bad effect on his personality and depressed him. He hadn't looked at people when he had been talking and hadn't wanted to go out, but stated he had learned to feel better about himself and things had changed.


text: Jackson stated in his biography he had one of the most difficult periods in his life when he was making "Off the Wall". He felt isolated having only very few close friends. He used to walk through his neighborhood hoping to meet somebody he could talk to and who might become a friend. "Success definitely brings on loneliness", he added. "I've learned to cope better with these things and now I don't get nearly as depressed as I used to".


text: In his memoir, Jackson described the relationship with his father Joe as "turbulent". He stated he would not know his father Joseph and had never been able "to have a real closeness with him". He said Joseph found it hard to relate to his children beyond family business. He stated that he and his siblings had been physically abused by his father with a belt or a switch. Jackson said he had fought back and had hidden himself under tables.


text: In his 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Jackson said there had been times when he had been so scared of his father that he would get sick and start to regurgitate when Joe had come to see him. In 2003, his father admitted having whipped Jackson with a switch and a belt.


text: In a speech held at Oxford University in March 2001, Jackson said that his father had never shown him love. He said he had forgiven his father and encouraged parents to spend more time with their children.


text: Jackson stated that he wouldn't have been so successful if Joseph hadn't been as strong. He said he was thankful that his father hadn't tried to take his children's money.


text: Jackson also said he missed a lot of his childhood. He said it was hard to watch other children playing while he was working. Jackson said that he loved to perform but admitted there had been times when he hadn't wanted to do it. In his mid 30s, Jackson said he was compensating for his lost childhood. Later, he released a song about it.


text: In November 1993, Jackson's then lawyer Bertram Fields announced that his client would be treated for painkillers outside the U.S. He declined that Jackson wouldn't come back because of the child molestation allegations. He said: "He's not in a position to cooperate with his attorneys now preparing his defense. He was barely able to function on an intellectual level."


text: Fields was criticized by others in Jackson's team for portraying Jackson as incompetent. Later he stated: "It was important to tell the truth. [The boy's lawyer] and the press took the position that Michael was trying to hide and that it was all a scam. But it wasn't." The lawyer resigned a few days later. The week before, Jackson had given two depositions in a copyright issue. One of the plaintiffs' lawyers said: "[Jackson] didn't look tired at all. It was not obvious to me he was suffering addiction or we wouldn't use the testimony".


text: Due to an inquiry about a cancelation insurance for the upcoming tour, insurance carriers demanded a medical exam by a doctor they trusted. In February 2009, Jackson had an examination performed by David Slavit of New York. Later, the broker told an AEG senior vice president Jackson had only slight hay fever and had passed the exam "with flying colors". A second medical exam was supposed to take place on July 6, 2009.


text: After Jackson's death, nurse Lee stated that she had received a frantic call on June 21, 2009, from an aide on Jackson's staff. The aide had reported that Jackson had been feeling ill. Lee reported overhearing Jackson complain that one side of his body was hot, the other side cold. She had believed that somebody had given him something that had affected his central nervous system. She had advised the aide to take him to the hospital.


text: The autopsy report states that Jackson called his primary physician, cardiologist Conrad Murray, at around 1 am on June 25, 2009, and complained of being dehydrated and being unable to sleep. Murray went to Jackson's residence and administered medical care. The details and extent of the medical care were unknown when the autopsy report was written. Jackson slept for several hours while Murray was at his bedside. He found Jackson not breathing at approximately 12 pm. He pulled him onto the bedroom floor and began CPR.


text: 911 was called and paramedics arrived at 12:26 pm. The paramedics continued CPR and ACLS protocol including two rounds of epinephrine and atropine. Jackson was intubated and the CPR efforts continued. Jackson remained unresponsive, his pupils were fixed and dilated. Jackson was transported to UCLA Medical Center under Murray's advisement, who gave all medical orders throughout the transport. Upon arrival Jackson was asystolic. Central lines and an intra-aortic balloon pump were placed but Jackson remained without vital signs. Death was pronounced at 2:26 pm.


text: In the afternoon of June 25, 2009, Jackson's death was reported as an accidental versus natural death case to the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner by the LAPD. The coroner completed a body examination at the hospital in the late afternoon. Later that day, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department-Air Bureau transported Jackson's body to the Coroner's Forensic Science Center.


text: Two days after, Jackson had died Murray told the police that he had arrived at Jackson's residence at 12:50 a.m. on June 25. He said doses of lorazepam and midazolam hadn't put Jackson to sleep throughout the night so he had given him 25 milligrams of propofol at around 10:40 a.m. He stated that the propofol had been diluted with lidocaine.


text: Murray said he had administered the drug at Jackson's request, after which Jackson fell asleep. Murray stated at some point he had gone to the bathroom, and when he returned he had found Jackson not breathing and had started CPR. Murray said he had given Jackson propofol 'virtually every day' for a little more than two months. He said the entertainer had told him the drug would be the only thing that would help him sleep and that he had received it before.


text: Murray stated he had feared Jackson had been becoming addicted. Three days before Jackson's death he had begun to reduce the use of propofol, and with Jackson's reluctant cooperation he had relied more on lorazepam and midazolam. According to Murray, Jackson hadn't needed propofol in the night of June 23, but the next night lorazepam and midazolam hadn't helped Jackson sleep.


text: On June 29, the coroner's office issued a subpoena requesting all of Jackson's medical records. Murray only handed over few documents referring to sporadic medical care he had provided since 2006, but no records referring to treatments in Jackson's final months. A few days later, the DEA confirmed they had joined the investigations into Jackson's death. A spokesperson said the agency would "routinely offer assistance to any agency regarding the Federal Controlled Substance act".


text: Following Jackson's death, a police warrant issued against his attending physician, Conrad Murray, said that Jackson's many doctors had used nineteen distinct aliases while prescribing medications for Jackson. Police found a CD mentioning the "Omar Arnold" alias when they raided the Las Vegas, Nevada home and office of Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician. Use of pseudonyms by celebrities' doctors is common practice for maintaining the confidentiality of patients' medical history.


text: Jackson's death was caused by an acute propofol intoxication with a benzodiazepine effect being a contributory factor in the death.


text: The coroner determined Jackson's death a homicide based on the following reasons: "Circumstances indicate that propofol and the benzodiazepines were administered by another. The propofol was administered in a non-hospital setting without any appropriate medical indication. The standard of care for administering propofol was not met […]. Recommended equipment for patient monitoring, precision dosing, and resuscitation was not present. The circumstances do not support self-administration of propofol".


text: Jackson's autopsy report states one scar beside each of his nostrils, one scar behind each of his ears, plus cosmetic tattoos on his eyebrows, around his eyes and lips. It also states a "dark discoloration resembling a tattoo on the anterior half of the scalp". Jackson was uncircumcised. The report confirmed that he had vitiligo and states a "focal depigmentation of the skin" (i.e., the depigmentation occurs on one or a few areas of the body).


text: In Jackson's case, there were five affected areas. Two areas of his neck were found to have reduced (though not absent) melanocytes, the cells active in skin pigmentation. He had punctured wounds on his right neck, both arms, both ankles and his right shoulder. Jackson had degenerative osteoarthritis of the lower lumbar spine facet joints and the distal interphalangeal joints of the right index and long fingers as well as the left little finger. He also had a chronic interstitial pneumonitis.


text: Jackson's family sought a second autopsy which was performed by a private pathologist on June 27, 2009. Reverend Jesse Jackson said the family had a lot of questions. Former medical examiners said it is not unusual for families to ask for a second autopsy because they either distrust officials or want a second opinion. A New York pathologist said the family would have the results within one or two weeks. It was estimated that the official results for the toxicology results for Jackson could take four to six weeks.


text: In 2011, Murray was tried for involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors said [Murray]... "repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied appropriate care to his patient". Records showed that Murray had spent nearly 90 minutes on the phone in the hours before Jackson died making or receiving 11 phone calls.


text: Murray's attorneys argued that Jackson administered the fatal dose himself when the defendant wasn't in the bedroom.


text: Dr Christopher Rogers said in his testimony: "The theory that seems less reasonable to me is that Mr. Jackson woke up, and although he was under the influence of sedative medications, managed to give himself another dose."


text: Paramedic Richard Sennef testified that Murray didn't mention propofol when he asked him about Jackson's medications. According to Sennef Murray said: "No he's not taking anything. I just gave him a little bit of Lorazepam to help him sleep." Murray told Sennef he had treated Jackson for dehydration and exhaustion. Paramedic Martin Blunt testified he saw three open vials of lidocaine on the floor of Jackson's bedroom when he and his colleague arrived. He said when his colleague had asked Murray what drugs Jackson had been given Murray didn't mention lidocaine. Blunt said when they prepared to transport Jackson to the hospital he saw Murray putting three bottles into a black bag.


text: Emergency doctor Richelle Cooper testified she first called death at 12:57 p.m. based on the information provided by the paramedics at Jackson's residence. She said that Jackson had been "clinically dead" when he had arrived Cooper said Murray had told her Jackson had regularly taken Valium and Flomax and that he had given Jackson 2 mg of lorazepam via IV. That dose had been followed by another dose. After the second dose, Jackson went into arrest.


text: Murray asked doctors "not to give up easily." Murray "looked devastated" and "sounded desperate". Dr Thao Nguyen said she and her attending couldn't find a pulse. Murray said he had detected a pulse and the efforts continued. It was agreed if another attempt and resuscitation efforts with a balloon pump failed, then Jackson would be pronounced dead. After that final procedure, Jackson was pronounced dead. Dr. Nguyen said when she asked Murray if Jackson had taken any other sedatives or narcotics "his reply was negative". Murray had also been unable to tell Nguyen when Jackson had stopped breathing. Dr Cooper said: "Michael Jackson had died long before he became my patient. It is unlikely with that information [about the propofol] I could have done something that would have changed the outcome." Murray was sentenced to serve four years in prison.


text: The medical examiner, Dr Rogers, testified in court that Jackson had been and had weighed , which would be within a normal weight range, although he had been thin. He also said that, in his opinion, Jackson "was healthier than the average person of his age" and that the arteries around Jackson's heart were free of fat and cholesterol, which is unusual for a 50-year-old individual. Toxicologist Dan Anderson testified that Demerol wasn't detected in Jackson's system. However, significant amounts of propofol, lidocaine, and lorazepam were present. According to Nader Kamangar, a sleeping expert at UCLA, drugs such as demerol can cause insomnia. In the case of Jackson, insomnia could have been caused by "anxiety for performing" as well.


text: Shortly after Jackson's death, speculation about his use of demerol surfaced. Murray's legal team argued that Jackson's insomnia had been caused by demerol and therefore he had needed propofol to get to sleep. Medical records showed that demerol had been administered to Jackson by his dermatologist. An expert for the defense testified that insomnia and anxiety are side effects of demerol withdrawal. According to medical records, Klein had given Jackson botox and restylane to treat wrinkles and excessive perspiration. The expert said the demerol shots were 'stiff doses' that hadn't been needed for skin treatment injections.


text: Records presented by the defense showed that Jackson had visited Klein's clinic at least 24 times between March 12 and June 22, 2009, receiving a total amount of 6,500 mg of demerol during those visits. Murray said he hadn't known about the demerol shots. He said Jackson told him his insomnia was caused by "his creative mind always racing". The expert testified he believed there was evidence that Jackson had been dependent on demerol, "possibly" addicted. During cross-examination he said he probably wouldn't diagnose Jackson as being addicted to demerol based strictly on the medical records. The witness also said he wasn't a board-certified addiction specialist. Demerol hadn't been found in Jackson's body at the autopsy.


text: The theory established by the defense caused a discussion among experts whether propofol should be used to treat withdrawal symptoms.


text: Jackson's death and the trial against Murray started a public discussion about the use and dangers of propofol. Media reports stated that the American Association of Nurse Anesthetics had warned hospitals three days prior to Jackson's death to restrict access to propofol because some medical professionals had become addicted to the drug. Propofol became known as the 'Michael Jackson Drug' among patients and many of them had reservations about it after Jackson's death. These concerns decreased.


text: Following Jackson's death and increasing numbers of fatalities linked to the drug, the DEA stated they would consider labelling propofol a controlled substance. In 2010 the agency recommended adding propofol to the List of Schedule IV drugs but it was not successful. In 2011, North Dakota classified propofol as a controlled substance. North Dakota was joined by Alabama in 2012 and Georgia in 2016. Also in 2011, Korea listed propofol as a psychotropic drug, making its use outside stipulated treatments illegal.


text: In 2012, Missouri prison officials announced plans to use propofol for death executions. Pharmaceutical companies refused to provide propofol for such purposes.


title: Fred Willard

text: Frederic Charles Willard (September 18, 1933 May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian, and writer. He was best known for his roles in the Rob Reiner mockumentary film "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984); the Christopher Guest mockumentaries "Waiting for Guffman" (1996), "Best in Show" (2000), "A Mighty Wind" (2003), "For Your Consideration" (2006), and "Mascots" (2016); and the "Anchorman" films; as well as for his television roles on "Fernwood 2 Night", "Everybody Loves Raymond", and "Modern Family" the latter of which earned him two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.


title: Fred Willard

text: Frederic Charles Willard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 18, 1933. Willard's mother, Ruth (née Weinman) was a housewife. His father, Frederick Charles Willard, died in 1945 when he was 12 years old. He was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard graduated from the Kentucky Military Institute in 1951 and the Virginia Military Institute in 1955. He was stationed in Germany while serving in the United States Army.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard's stage career began when he moved to New York in the late 1950s. His initial work included a production of "Desperate Hours" at a local YMCA where he worked with future comedy partner Vic Grecco. They later performed as Willard & Grecco in the Greenwich Village area, found some success touring, and appeared on "The Dean Martin Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" and "The Tonight Show". They were offered roles in the television series "Get Smart" and "The Carol Burnett Show", but the offers fell through due to poor management. The two parted ways in 1968.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard's film debut was in the 1967 exploitation film "Teenage Mother". He later reported that the audience at one screening booed when his character interrupted an attempted sexual assault of the female lead.


title: Fred Willard

text: One of Willard's earliest performing jobs was at The Second City, Chicago, where he shared the stage with Robert Klein and David Steinberg. He was a founding member of the improvisational comedy group Ace Trucking Company, whose other members included Michael Mislove and Bill Saluga. They performed sketches on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson" over 50 times, and appeared regularly on "This is Tom Jones".


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard achieved wider fame in 1977–78 as Barth Gimble's (Martin Mull) sidekick and announcer Jerry Hubbard on the "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" spinoffs "Fernwood 2 Night", "Forever Fernwood" and "America 2-Night", which parodied the nighttime talk shows of the day. He was an original cast member of the NBC series "Real People" in 1979, then again from 1981 to 1983. He played Tom Osbourne in the 1987 Academy Award–winning short film "Ray's Male Heterosexual Dance Hall". From 1987 to 1989 he starred as a bartender/straightman in Sid and Marty Krofft's "D.C. Follies", and was host to the Krofft puppets portraying political figures of the time.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard hosted the talk show "What's Hot, What's Not," which aired from 1985 to 1986 and earned him a daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Talk Show Host.


title: Fred Willard

text: In 1990, Willard hosted the cable TV show "Access America" on the Ha! Comedy Network. As part of that show, on September 21, 1990, he appeared in episode 7 of the cult public-access television show "Decoupage" with Summer Caprice. In 1995, Willard reunited with his "Fernwood" co-star playing Scott, the romantic partner of Mull's character Leon Carp, on "Roseanne". The couple married in the episode "December Bride," and Scott became a recurring character during the series' final two seasons. That same year, Willard guest-starred in three episodes of "Sister, Sister", starring Tia and Tamera Mowry; Willard played Carl Mitushka, a teacher at Roosevelt High who often spoke popular teenage slang terms in order to sound cool to his students. Willard voiced travel agent Wally Kogen in the 1999 episode "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" for "The Simpsons".


title: Fred Willard

text: From 2001 to 2002, he played the father of five children on "Maybe It's Me", and also guest-starred in an episode of "The Weird Al Show". He and Mull joined up again for the mockumentary "The History of White People in America". He played Mayor Deebs in "Roxanne", starring Steve Martin.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard appeared in several Christopher Guest films, such as "A Mighty Wind", in which he played Mike LaFontaine (known for his catchphrase "Eh—whahappen'?"); "Best in Show", where he played Buck Laughlin, a dog show announcer with an unending stream of bad jokes and off-color comments; "Waiting for Guffman", playing Ron Albertson, a travel agent who performs in amateur stage productions with his wife; "This Is Spinal Tap", where he played a lieutenant on the military base where Spinal Tap perform; and "For Your Consideration" as an obnoxious entertainment television show anchor. For his performance in "Waiting for Guffman", Willard received an American Comedy Award nomination and a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Funniest Supporting Actor. He received the Boston Film Critics Award, an American Comedy Award, a Sierra Award and a tribute from AFI for his portrayal of Buck Laughlin in "Best in Show". He also appeared in "American Wedding", and as KVWN news director Ed Harken in "".


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard had a recurring role as Hank MacDougall on the later seasons of CBS's "Everybody Loves Raymond", which brought him Emmy Award nominations in 2003, 2004 and 2005. He also hosted a VH1 documentary series, "Totally Obsessed", about people obsessed with their hobbies. He appeared as Captain Ribmanman in Episode 21 of "Channel Frederator", a podcast from Kansas. He provided the voices of nudist family dad Dave Campbell in "Family Guy" (first in the episode "From Method to Madness"), and of Officer Brown in "King of the Hill", and appeared on "That '70s Show". On "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", Willard appeared in 100 sketches as a government official, businessman, or other authority figure who was always drinking. In 2006, he voiced Dad in the Academy Award nominated animated film "Monster House". He also hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 1978 (with musical guests Devo), and appeared twice on "MADtv".


title: Fred Willard

text: He was the voice of a clueless companion to a lazy robot (Martin Mull) in one episode of the series "Dexter's Laboratory" and guest-starred on the Adult Swim cartoon "Tom Goes to the Mayor". He acted in the Cartoon Network movie "Re-Animated" and played Vala Mal Doran's "father" in an episode of "Stargate SG-1" in 2007. He appeared in two episodes of the Adult Swim program "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!". He also starred as the "Boogey Man" in an episode of "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" and reprised his role in a 2006 video game and the movie "Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure". His final appearance as "Boogey" occurred in "". In 2007, he made a guest appearance on the children's TV series "Come on Over". He also guest-starred on an episode of "The Boondocks", providing the voice of "Joe Petto."


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard was cast as a sportscaster in the television series "Back to You", which premiered on the Fox Network on September 19, 2007. He played Shelby Forthright, the CEO of the Buy 'n' Large Corporation, in the first ever live-action speaking segments by Pixar in the animated film "WALL-E".


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard completed a sold-out run of "Fred Willard: Alone At Last!", advertised as a "one-man show" but actually featuring a cast of twelve, and received Los Angeles Artistic Director Awards for Best Comedy and Best Production. Willard had several stage roles to his credit, including Off-Broadway performances in "Little Murders", directed by Alan Arkin, and "Arf", directed by Richard Benjamin. His regional roles include "Call Me Madam" in Chicago and the musicals "Promises, Promises", with Jason Alexander, and "Anything Goes" with Rachel York, both in Los Angeles. He starred in Wendy Wasserstein's "Isn't It Romantic" and off Broadway in "Elvis and Juliet".


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard played Frank Dunphy, father of Phil (Ty Burrell), in several episodes of the show "Modern Family". For his performance, he was nominated at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series and in the same category at the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (a posthumous nomination).


title: Fred Willard

text: On September 16, 2011, Willard was honored as a "Pioneer in Comedy" at Burbank International Film Festival. Also in 2011, Willard starred as "Santa Jack," a comical—and somewhat pervy—owner of a local Christmas carnival in episode 12 of the final season of "The Closer".


title: Fred Willard

text: In 2012, he played Al Kaiser in Rob Reiner's film "The Magic of Belle Isle". In 2013, he starred in "The Bird Men" (originally called "The Birder") alongside Tom Cavanagh, a film centered around a mild-mannered birder who seeks revenge on a younger rival, after losing the highly coveted Head of Ornithology position at the National Park.


title: Fred Willard

text: Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters presented Willard with the Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award at their celebrity luncheon on June 19, 2015.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard joined Ed Begley Jr. and Michael McKean for the HBO documentary-style comedy "Family Tree" from Christopher Guest.


title: Fred Willard

text: On August 10, 2018, Willard made a special guest appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", reprising his role from a 1970s television pilot for an unmade series called "Space Force", in light of President Donald Trump's announcement that he will create a space force for the United States military. Following the sketch, Willard made guest appearances on the show on a frequent basis, often portraying comedic, misguided characters parodying current news topics which Jimmy would interview "live via satellite". The characters included the ghosts of Fred Trump and George Washington, a Trump-supporting Santa Claus, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.


title: Fred Willard

text: On October 23, 2019, it was announced that Willard was cast as Fred Naird in the 2020 Netflix comedy series, "Space Force". This was Willard's final acting role, with the series being released two weeks after his death.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard's final voice-acting performance was in the 2017 Disney animated cartoon "Mickey and the Roadster Racers" as the character Mr. Doozy.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard was married to the former Mary Lovell from 1968 until her death in 2018, aged 71. They had a daughter and a grandson.


title: Fred Willard

text: On July 18, 2012, Willard was arrested on suspicion of engaging in a misdemeanor lewd act in an adult theater on Santa Monica Boulevard and was brought to the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Station. However, there was no proof of any misconduct and no charges were filed. Despite the outcomes, PBS fired Willard from "Market Warriors" immediately following his arrest, and Mark L. Walberg replaced him on the show. In an appearance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" shortly thereafter, Willard stated that the incident was "very painful" and "very embarrassing", but that he "did nothing wrong". Willard was subsequently required to take a sex education diversion program.


title: Fred Willard

text: Willard died at his home in Los Angeles on May 15, 2020, at age 86, according to his daughter and his representative. The cause of death was subsequently reported as cardiac arrest, with coronary artery disease and myelodysplastic syndrome listed as contributing factors. Jamie Lee Curtis—whose husband, Christopher Guest, frequently worked with Willard—first shared news of the actor's death.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Depression is a mental state of low mood and aversion to activity, which affects more than 280 million people of all ages (about 3.5% of the global population). Classified medically as a mental and behavioral disorder, the experience of depression affects a person's thoughts, behavior, motivation, feelings, and sense of well-being. The core symptom of depression is said to be anhedonia, which refers to loss of interest or a loss of feeling of pleasure in certain activities that usually bring joy to people. Depressed mood is a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder and dysthymia; it is a normal temporary reaction to life events, such as the loss of a loved one; and it is also a symptom of some physical diseases and a side effect of some drugs and medical treatments.


title: Depression (mood)

text: It may feature sadness, difficulty in thinking and concentration and a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping. People experiencing depression may have feelings of dejection, hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. It can either be short term or long term.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Adversity in childhood, such as bereavement, neglect, mental abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or unequal parental treatment of siblings can contribute to depression in adulthood. Childhood physical or sexual abuse in particular significantly correlates with the likelihood of experiencing depression over the survivor's lifetime.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Life events and changes that may influence depressed moods include (but are not limited to): childbirth, menopause, financial difficulties, unemployment, stress (such as from work, education, family, living conditions etc.), a medical diagnosis (cancer, HIV, etc.), bullying, loss of a loved one, natural disasters, social isolation, rape, relationship troubles, jealousy, separation, or catastrophic injury. Adolescents may be especially prone to experiencing a depressed mood following social rejection, peer pressure, or bullying.


title: Depression (mood)

text: The global pandemic of COVID-19 has negatively impacted upon many individuals' mental health, causing levels of depression to surge, reaching devastating heights. A study conducted by the University of Surrey in autumn 2019 and May/June 2020 looked into the impact of COVID-19 upon young people's mental health. This study is published in the "Journal of Psychiatry Research Report". The study showed a significant rise in depression symptoms and a reduction in overall wellbeing during lockdown (May/June 2020) compared to the previous Autumn (2019). Levels of clinical depression in those surveyed in the study were found to have more than doubled, rising from 14.9 per cent in Autumn 2019 to 34.7 per cent in May/June 2020. This study further emphasises the correlation that certain life events have with developing depression.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Changes in personality or in one's social environment can affect levels of depression. High scores on the personality domain neuroticism make the development of depressive symptoms as well as all kinds of depression diagnoses more likely, and depression is associated with low extraversion. Other personality indicators could be: temporary but rapid mood changes, short term hopelessness, loss of interest in activities that used to be of a part of one's life, sleep disruption, withdrawal from previous social life, appetite changes, and difficulty concentrating.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Alcohol can be a depressant which slows down some regions of the brain, like the prefrontal and temporal cortex, negatively affecting rationality and memory. It also lowers the level of serotonin in the brain, which could potentially lead to higher chances of depressive mood.


title: Depression (mood)

text: The connection between the amount of alcohol intake, level of depressed mood, and how it affects the risks of experiencing consequences from alcoholism, were studied in a research done on college students. The study used 4 latent, distinct profiles of different alcohol intake and level of depression; Mild or Moderate Depression, and Heavy or Severe Drinkers. Other indicators consisting of social factors and individual behaviors were also taken into consideration in the research. Results showed that the level of depression as an emotion negatively affected the amount of risky behavior and consequence from drinking, while having an inverse relationship with protective behavioral strategies, which are behavioral actions taken by oneself for protection from the relative harm of alcohol intake. Having an elevated level of depressed mood does therefore lead to greater consequences from drinking.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Social abuse, such as bullying, are defined as actions of singling out and causing harm on vulnerable individuals. In order to capture a day-to-day observation of the relationship between the damaging effects of social abuse, the survivor's mental health and depressive mood, a study was conducted on whether individuals would have a higher level of depressed mood when exposed to daily acts of negative behavior. The result concluded that being exposed daily to abusive behaviors such as bullying has a positive relationship to depressed mood on the same day.


title: Depression (mood)

text: The study has also gone beyond to compare the level of depressive mood between the victims and non-victims of the daily bullying. Although victims were predicted to have a higher level of depressive mood, the results have shown otherwise that exposure to negative acts has led to similar levels of depressive mood, regardless of the victim status. The results therefore have concluded that bystanders and non-victims feel as equally depressed as the victim when being exposed to acts such as social abuse.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Depression may also be the result of healthcare, such as with medication induced depression. Therapies associated with depression include interferon therapy, beta-blockers, isotretinoin, contraceptives, anticonvulsants, antimigraine drugs, antipsychotics, hormonal agents such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist, magnetic stimulation to brain and electric therapy.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Several drugs of abuse can cause or exacerbate depression, whether in intoxication, withdrawal, and from chronic use. These include alcohol, sedatives (including prescription benzodiazepines), opioids (including prescription pain killers and illicit drugs such as heroin), stimulants (such as cocaine and amphetamines), hallucinogens, and inhalants.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Depressed mood can be the result of a number of infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies, neurological conditions, and physiological problems, including hypoandrogenism (in men), addison's disease, cushing's syndrome, pernicious anemia, hypothyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, Lyme disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, chronic pain, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.


title: Depression (mood)

text: A number of psychiatric syndromes feature depressed mood as a main symptom. The mood disorders are a group of disorders considered to be primary disturbances of mood. These include major depressive disorder (MDD; commonly called major depression or clinical depression) where a person has at least two weeks of depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all activities; and dysthymia, a state of chronic depressed mood, the symptoms of which do not meet the severity of a major depressive episode. Another mood disorder, bipolar disorder, features one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood, cognition, and energy levels, but may also involve one or more episodes of depression. When the course of depressive episodes follows a seasonal pattern, the disorder (major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, etc.) may be described as a seasonal affective disorder.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Outside the mood disorders: borderline personality disorder often features an extremely intense depressive mood; adjustment disorder with depressed mood is a mood disturbance appearing as a psychological response to an identifiable event or stressor, in which the resulting emotional or behavioral symptoms are significant but do not meet the criteria for a major depressive episode; and posttraumatic stress disorder, a mental disorder that sometimes follows trauma, is commonly accompanied by depressed mood.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Researchers have begun to conceptualize ways in which the historical legacies of racism and colonialism may create depressive conditions.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Measures of depression as an emotional disorder include, but are not limited to: Beck Depression Inventory-11 and the 9-item depression scale in the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Both of these measures are psychological tests that ask personal questions of the participant, and have mostly been used to measure the severity of depression. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a self-report scale that helps a therapist identify the patterns of depression symptoms and monitor recovery. The responses on this scale can be discussed in therapy to devise interventions for the most distressing symptoms of depression. Several studies, however, have used these measures to also determine healthy individuals who are not experincing depression as a mental disorder, but as an occasional mood disorder. This is substantiated by the fact that depression as an emotional disorder displays similar symptoms to minimal depression and low levels of mental disorders such as major depressive disorder; therefore, researchers were able to use the same measure interchangeably. In terms of the scale, participants scoring between 0–13 and 0–4 respectively were considered healthy individuals.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Another measure of depressed mood would be the IWP Multi-affect Indicator. It is a psychological test that indicates various emotions, such as enthusiasm and depression, and asks for the degree of the emotions that the participants have felt in the past week. There are studies that have used lesser items from the IWP Multi-affect Indicator which was then scaled down to daily levels to measure the daily levels of depression as an emotional disorder.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Divergent thinking is defined as a thought process that generates creativity in ideas by exploring many possible solutions. Having a depressed mood will significantly reduce the possibility of divergent thinking, as it reduces the fluency, variety and the extent of originality of the possible ideas generated.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Some depressive mood disorders might have a positive effect for creativity. Upon identifying several studies and analyzing data involving individuals with high levels of creativity, Christa Taylor was able to conclude that there is a clear positive relationship between creativity and depressive mood. A possible reason is that having a low mood could lead to new ways of perceiving and learning from the world, but it is unable to account for certain depressive disorders. The direct relationship between creativity and depression remains unclear, but the research conducted on this correlation has shed light that individuals who are struggling with a depressive disorder may be having even higher levels of creativity than a control group, and would be a close topic to monitor depending on the future trends of how creativity will be perceived and demanded.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Depressed mood may not require professional treatment, and may be a normal temporary reaction to life events, a symptom of some medical condition, or a side effect of some drugs or medical treatments. A prolonged depressed mood, especially in combination with other symptoms, may lead to a diagnosis of a psychiatric or medical condition which may benefit from treatment. The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) 2009 guidelines indicate that antidepressants should not be routinely used for the initial treatment of mild depression, because the risk-benefit ratio is poor. Physical activity can have a protective effect against the emergence of depression.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Physical activity can also decrease depressive symptoms due to the release of neurotrophic proteins in the brain that can help to rebuild the hippocampus that may be reduced due to depression. Also yoga could be considered an ancillary treatment option for patients with depressive disorders and individuals with elevated levels of depression.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Reminiscence of old and fond memories is another alternative form of treatment, especially for the elderly who have lived longer and have more experiences in life. It is a method that causes a person to recollect memories of their own life, leading to a process of self-recognition and identifying familiar stimuli. By maintaining one's personal past and identity, it is a technique that stimulates people to view their lives in a more objective and balanced way, causing them to pay attention to positive information in their life stories, which would successfully reduce depressive mood levels.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Self-help books are a growing form of treatment for peoples physiological distress. There may be a possible connection between consumers of unguided self-help books and higher levels of stress and depressive symptoms. Researchers took many factors into consideration to find a difference in consumers and nonconsumers of self-help books. The study recruited 32 people between the ages of 18 and 65; 18 consumers and 14 nonconsumers, in both groups 75% of them were female. Then they broke the consumers into 11 who preferred problem-focused and 7 preferred growth-oriented. Those groups were tested for many things including cortisol levels, depressive symptomatology, and stress reactivity levels. There were no large differences between consumers of self-help books and nonconsumers when it comes to diurnal cortisol level, there was a large difference in depressive symptomatology (signs and symptoms) with consumers having a higher mean score. The growth-oriented group has higher stress reactivity levels than the problem-focused group. However, the problem-focused group shows higher depressive symptomatology.


title: Depression (mood)

text: There is limited evidence that continuing antidepressant medication for one year reduces the risk of depression recurrence with no additional harm. Recommendations for psychological treatments or combination treatments in preventing recurrence are not clear.


title: Depression (mood)

text: There are empirical evidences of a connection between the type of stress management techniques and the level of daily depressive mood.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, the United Nations (UN) health agency reported, estimating that it affects more than 300 million people worldwide – the majority of them women, young people and the elderly. An estimated 4.4 percent of the global population has depression, according to a report released by the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which shows an 18 percent increase in the number of people living with depression between 2005 and 2015.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Depression is a major mental-health cause of disease burden. Its consequences further lead to significant burden in public health, including a higher risk of dementia, premature mortality arising from physical disorders, and maternal depression impacts on child growth and development. Approximately 76% to 85% of depressed people in low- and middle-income countries do not receive treatment; barriers to treatment include: inaccurate assessment, lack of trained health-care providers, social stigma and lack of resources.


title: Depression (mood)

text: The stigma comes from misguided societal views that people with mental illness are different from everyone else, and they can choose to get better only if they wanted to. Due to this more than half of the people with depression do not receive help with their disorders. The stigma leads to a strong preference for privacy.


title: Depression (mood)

text: The World Health Organization has constructed guidelines – known as The Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) – aiming to increase services for people with mental, neurological and substance-use disorders. Depression is listed as one of conditions prioritized by the programme. Trials conducted show possibilities for the implementation of the programme in low-resource primary-care settings dependent on primary-care practitioners and lay health-workers.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Examples of mhGAP-endorsed therapies targeting depression include Group Interpersonal Therapy as group treatment for depression and "Thinking Health", which utilizes cognitive behavioral therapy to tackle perinatal depression. Furthermore, effective screening in primary care is crucial for the access of treatments. The mhGAP adopted its approach of improving detection rates of depression by training general practitioners. However, there is still weak evidence supporting this training.


title: Depression (mood)

text: The term "depression" was derived from the Latin verb , "to press down". From the 14th century, "to depress" meant to subjugate or to bring down in spirits. It was used in 1665 in English author Richard Baker's "Chronicle" to refer to someone having "a great depression of spirit", and by English author Samuel Johnson in a similar sense in 1753.


title: Depression (mood)

text: In Ancient Greece, disease was thought due to an imbalance in the four basic bodily fluids, or "humors". Personality types were similarly thought to be determined by the dominant humor in a particular person. Derived from the Ancient Greek , "black", and , "bile", melancholia was described as a distinct disease with particular mental and physical symptoms by Hippocrates in his "Aphorisms", where he characterized all "fears and despondencies, if they last a long time" as being symptomatic of the ailment.


title: Depression (mood)

text: During the 18th century, the humoral theory of melancholia was increasingly being challenged by mechanical and electrical explanations; references to dark and gloomy states gave way to ideas of slowed circulation and depleted energy. German physician Johann Christian Heinroth, however, argued melancholia was a disturbance of the soul due to moral conflict within the patient.


title: Depression (mood)

text: In the 20th century, the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin distinguished manic depression. The influential system put forward by Kraepelin unified nearly all types of mood disorder into "manic–depressive insanity". Kraepelin worked from an assumption of underlying brain pathology, but also promoted a distinction between endogenous (internally caused) and exogenous (externally caused) types. Around 1980, Kraepelin defined the term manic depression, which is also known as bipolar disorder. This mental health condition causes people to have mood swings, such as emotional highs and lows. Manic depression and bipolar disorder are considered the same thing because of these mood swings.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Other psycho-dynamic theories were proposed. Existential and humanistic theories represented a forceful affirmation of individualism. Austrian existential psychiatrist Viktor Frankl connected depression to feelings of futility and meaninglessness. Frankl's logotherapy addressed the filling of an "existential vacuum" associated with such feelings, and may be particularly useful for depressed adolescents.


title: Depression (mood)

text: Researchers theorized that depression was caused by a chemical imbalance in neurotransmitters in the brain, a theory based on observations made in the 1950s of the effects of reserpine and isoniazid in altering monoamine neurotransmitter levels and affecting depressive symptoms. During the 1960s and 70s, manic-depression came to refer to just one type of mood disorder (now most commonly known as bipolar disorder) which was distinguished from (unipolar) depression. The terms unipolar and bipolar had been coined by German psychiatrist Karl Kleist.


title: Depression (mood)

text: In July 2022, British psychiatrist Joanna Moncrieff, also psychiatrist Mark Horowtiz and others proposed in a study on academic journal Molecular Psychiatry that depression is not caused by a serotonin imbalance in the human body, unlike what most of the psychiatry community points to, and that therefore anti-depressants don't work against the illness. However, such study was met with criticism from some psychiatrists, who argued the study's methodology used an indirect trace of serotonin, instead of taking direct measurements of the molecule. Moncrieff said that, despite her study's conclusions, no one should interrupt their treatment if they are taking any anti-depressant.


title: Cannibalism

text: Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, both in ancient and in recent times.


title: Cannibalism

text: The rate of cannibalism increases in nutritionally poor environments as individuals turn to members of their own species as an additional food source. Cannibalism regulates population numbers, whereby resources such as food, shelter and territory become more readily available with the decrease of potential competition. Although it may benefit the individual, it has been shown that the presence of cannibalism decreases the expected survival rate of the whole population and increases the risk of consuming a relative. Other negative effects may include the increased risk of pathogen transmission as the encounter rate of hosts increases. Cannibalism, however, does not—as once believed—occur only as a result of extreme food shortage or of artificial/unnatural conditions, but may also occur under natural conditions in a variety of species.


title: Cannibalism

text: Cannibalism is prevalent in aquatic ecosystems, in which up to approximately 90% of the organisms engage in cannibalistic activity at some point in their life-cycle. Cannibalism is not restricted to carnivorous species: it also occurs in herbivores and in detritivores. Sexual cannibalism normally involves the consumption of the male by the female individual before, during or after copulation. Other forms of cannibalism include size-structured cannibalism and intrauterine cannibalism.


title: Cannibalism

text: Behavioral, physiological and morphological adaptations have evolved to decrease the rate of cannibalism in individual species.


title: Cannibalism

text: In environments where food availability is constrained, individuals can receive extra nutrition and energy if they use members of their own species, also known as "conspecifics", as an additional food source. This would, in turn, increase the survival rate of the cannibal and thus provide an evolutionary advantage in environments where food is scarce. For example, female Fletcher frogs lay their eggs in ephemeral pools that lack food resources. Therefore, in order to survive, tadpoles within the same clutch are forced to consume each other and exploit their conspecitics as the only available source of nutrition. A study conducted on another amphibian, the wood frog, tadpoles showed that those that exhibited cannibalistic tendencies had faster growth rates and higher fitness levels than non-cannibals. An increase of size and growth would give them the added benefit of protection from potential predators such as other cannibals and give them an advantage when competing for resources.


title: Cannibalism

text: The nutritional benefits of cannibalism may allow for the more efficient conversion of a conspecific diet into reusable resources than a fully herbaceous diet; as herbaceous diets may consist of excess elements which the animal has to expend energy to get rid of. This facilitates for faster development; however, a trade-off may occur as there may be less time to ingest these acquired resources. Studies have shown that there is a noticeable size difference between animals fed on a high conspecific diet which were smaller compared to those fed on a low conspecific diet. Hence, individual fitness could only be increased if the balance between developmental rate and size is balanced out, with studies showing that this is achieved in low conspecific diets.


title: Cannibalism

text: Cannibalism regulates population numbers and benefits the cannibalistic individual and its kin as resources such as extra shelter, territory and food are freed, thereby increasing the fitness of the cannibal by lowering crowding effects. However, this is only the case if the cannibal recognizes its own kin as this won't hinder any future chances of perpetuating its genes in future generations. The elimination of competition can also increase mating opportunities, allowing further spread of an individual's genes.


title: Cannibalism

text: Animals which have diets consisting of predominantly conspecific prey expose themselves to a greater risk of injury and expend more energy foraging for suitable prey as compared to non-cannibalistic species.


title: Cannibalism

text: Predators often target younger or more vulnerable prey. However, the time necessitated by such selective predation could result in a failure to meet the predator's self-set nutritional requirements. In addition, the consumption of conspecific prey may also involve the ingestion of defense compounds and hormones, which have the capacity to impact the developmental growth of the cannibal's offspring. Hence, predators normally partake in a cannibalistic diet in conditions where alternative food sources are absent or not as readily available.


title: Cannibalism

text: Failure to recognize kin prey is also a disadvantage, provided cannibals target and consume younger individuals. For example, a male stickleback fish may often mistake their own "eggs" for their competitor's eggs, and hence would inadvertently eliminate some of its own genes from the available gene pool. Kin recognition has been observed in tadpoles of the spadefoot toad, whereby cannibalistic tadpoles of the same clutch tended to avoid consuming and harming siblings, while eating other non-siblings.


title: Cannibalism

text: The act of cannibalism may also facilitate trophic disease transmission within a population, though cannibalistically spread pathogens and parasites generally employ alternative modes of infection.


title: Cannibalism

text: Cannibalism can potentially reduce the prevalence of parasites in the population by decreasing the number of susceptible hosts and indirectly killing the parasite in the host. It has been shown in some studies that the risk of encountering an infected victim increases when there is a higher cannibalism rate, though this risk drops as the number of available hosts decreases. However, this is only the case if the risk of disease transmission is low. Cannibalism is an ineffective method of disease spread as cannibalism in the animal kingdom is normally a one-on-one interaction, and the spread of disease requires group cannibalism; thereby it is rare for a disease to have evolved to rely solely on cannibalism to spread. Usually there are different means of transmission, such as with direct contact, maternal transmission, coprophagy, and necrophagy with different species. Infected individuals are more likely to be consumed than non-infected individuals, thus some research has suggested that the spread of disease may be a limiting factor to the prevalence of cannibalism in the population.


title: Cannibalism

text: Some examples of diseases transmitted by cannibalism in mammals include Kuru which is a prion disease that degenerates the brain. This disease was prevalent in Papua New Guinea where tribes practiced endocannibalism in cannibalistic funeral rituals and consume the brains infected by these prions. It is a cerebellar dysfunctional disease which has symptoms including a broad-based gait and decreased motor activity control; however, the disease has a long incubation period and symptoms may not appear until years later.


title: Cannibalism

text: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease is another prion disease which is usually caused by feeding contaminated bovine tissue to other cattle. It is a neurodegenerative disease and could be spread to humans if the individual were to consume contaminated beef. The spread of parasites such as nematodes may also be facilitated by cannibalism as eggs from these parasites are transferred more easily from one host to another.


title: Cannibalism

text: Other forms of diseases include sarcocystis and iridovirus in reptiles and amphibians; granulosus virus, chagas disease, and microsporidia in insects; stained prawn disease, white pot syndrome, helminthes and tapeworms in crustaceans and fish.


title: Cannibalism

text: Cannibalism may become apparent when direct competition for limited resources forces individuals to use other conspecific individuals as an additional resource to maintain their metabolic rates. Hunger drives individuals to increase their foraging rates, which in turn decreases their attack threshold and tolerance to other conspecific individuals. As resources dwindle, individuals are forced to change their behaviour which may lead to animal migration, confrontation, or cannibalism.


title: Cannibalism

text: Cannibalism rates increase with increasing population density as it becomes more advantageous to prey on conspecific organisms than to forage in the environment. This is because the encounter rate between predator and prey increases, making cannibalism more convenient and beneficial than foraging within the environment. Over time, the dynamics within the population change as those with cannibalistic tendencies may receive additional nutritional benefits and increase the size ratio of predator to prey. The presence of smaller prey, or prey which are at a vulnerable stage of their life cycle, increases the chances of cannibalism occurring due to the reduced risk of injury. A feedback loop occurs when increasing rates of cannibalism decreases population densities, leading to an increased abundance of alternative food sources; making it more beneficial to forage within the environment than for cannibalism to occur. When population numbers and foraging rates increase, the carrying capacity for that resource in the area may be reached, thus forcing individuals to look for other resources such as conspecific prey.


title: Cannibalism

text: Sexual cannibalism is present largely in spiders and other invertebrates, including gastropods. This refers to the killing and consumption of conspecific sexual partners during courtship, and during or after copulation. Normally, it is the female which consumes the conspecific male organism, though there have been some reported cases of the male consuming the adult female, however, this has only been recorded under laboratory conditions. Sexual cannibalism has been recorded in the female redback spider, black widow spider, praying mantis, and scorpion, among others.


title: Cannibalism

text: In most species of spiders, the consumption of the male individual occurs before copulation and the male fails to transfer his sperm into the female. This may be due to mistaken identity such as in the case of the orb weaving spider which holds little tolerance to any spider which is present in its web and may mistake the vibrations for those of a prey item. Other reasons for male consumption before mating may include female choice and the nutritional advantages of cannibalism. The size of the male spider may play a part in determining its reproductive success as smaller males are less likely to be consumed during pre-copulation; however, larger males may be able to prevent the smaller ones from gaining access to the female.


title: Cannibalism

text: There exists a conflict of interest between males and females, as females may be more inclined to turn to cannibalism as a source of nutritional intake while the male's interest is mostly focused on ensuring paternity of the future generations. It was found that cannibalistic females produced offspring with greater survival rates than non-cannibalistic females, as cannibals produced greater clutches and larger egg sizes. Hence, species such as the male dark fishing spider of the family Dolomedes self-sacrifice and spontaneously die during copulation to facilitate their own consumption by the female, thereby increasing the chance of survivorship of future offspring.


title: Cannibalism

text: Sexual dimorphism has been theorised to have arisen from sexual selection as smaller males were captured more easily than larger males; however, it is also possible that sexual cannibalism only occurs due to the difference in size between male and females. Data comparing female and male spider body length shows that there is little support for the prior theory as there is not much correlation between body size and the presence of sexual cannibalism. Not all species of spiders which partake in sexual cannibalism exhibit size dimorphism.


title: Cannibalism

text: The avoidance of sexual cannibalism is present in many male species to increase their rate of survival, whereby the male uses cautionary methods to lower the risk of his consumption. Male orb weaving spiders would often wait for females to moult or to finish eating before attempting to initiate mating, as the females are less likely to attack. Males which are vulnerable to post-copulation consumption may gather mating thread to generate a mechanical tension which they could use to spring away after insemination, while other spiders such as the crab spider may tangle the female's legs in webs to reduce the risk of the female capturing him. Male choice is common in mantids whereby males were observed to choose fatter females due to the reduced risk of attack and were more hesitant to approach starved females.


title: Cannibalism

text: Size-structured cannibalism is cannibalism in which older, larger, more mature individuals consume smaller, younger conspecifics. In size-structured populations, (where populations are made of individuals of various sizes, ages, and maturities), cannibalism can be responsible for 8% (Belding's ground squirrel) to 95% (dragonfly larvae) of the total mortality, making it a significant and important factor for population and community dynamics.


title: Cannibalism

text: Size-structured cannibalism has commonly been observed in the wild for a variety of taxa. Vertebrate examples include chimpanzees, where groups of adult males have been observed to attack and consume infants.


title: Cannibalism

text: Filial cannibalism is a specific type of size-structured cannibalism in which adults eat their own offspring. Although most often thought of as parents eating live young, filial cannibalism includes parental consumption of stillborn infants and miscarried fetuses as well as infertile and still-incubating eggs. Vertebrate examples include pigs, where savaging accounts for a sizable percentage of total piglet deaths, and cats.


title: Cannibalism

text: Filial cannibalism is particularly common in teleost fishes, appearing in at least seventeen different families of teleosts. Within this diverse group of fish, there have been many, variable explanations of the possible adaptive value of filial cannibalism. One of these is the energy-based hypothesis, which suggests that fish eat their offspring when they are low on energy as an investment in future reproductive success. This has been supported by experimental evidence, showing that male three-spined sticklebacks, male tessellated darters, and male sphinx blenny fish all consume or absorb their own eggs to maintain their physical conditions. In other words, when males of a fish species are low on energy, it might sometimes be beneficial for them to feed on their own offspring to survive and invest in future reproductive success.


title: Cannibalism

text: Another hypothesis as to the adaptive value of filial cannibalism in teleosts is that it increases density-dependent egg survivorship. In other words, filial cannibalism simply increases overall reproductive success by helping the other eggs make it to maturity by thinning out the numbers. Possible explanations as to why this is so include increasing oxygen availability to the remaining eggs, the negative effects of accumulating embryo waste, and predation.


title: Cannibalism

text: In some species of eusocial wasps, such as "Polistes chinensis", the reproducing female will kill and feed younger larvae to her older brood. This occurs under food stressed conditions in order to ensure that the first generation of workers emerges without delay.


title: Cannibalism

text: Further evidence also suggests that occasionally filial cannibalism might occur as a by-product of cuckoldry in fish. Males consume broods, which may include their own offspring, when they believe a certain percentage of the brood contains genetic material that is not theirs.


title: Cannibalism

text: It is not always the parent that cannibalizes the offspring; in some spiders, mothers have been observed to feed themselves to their brood as the ultimate provision from mother to children, known as matriphagy.


title: Cannibalism

text: The dinosaur "Coelophysis" was once suspected to practice this form of cannibalism but this turned out to be wrong, although "Deinonychus" may have done so. Skeletal remains from subadults with missing parts are suspected of having been eaten by other "Deinonychus", mainly full-grown adults.


title: Cannibalism

text: Infanticide is the killing of a non-adult animal by an adult of the same species. Infanticide is often, but not always, accompanied by cannibalism. It is often displayed in lions; a male lion encroaching on the territory of a rival pride will often kill any existing cubs fathered by other males; this brings the lionesses into heat more quickly, enabling the invading lion to sire his own young. This is an example of cannibalistic behaviour in a genetic context.


title: Cannibalism

text: In many species of Lepidoptera, such as "Cupido minimus" and the Indian mealmoth, the first larvae to hatch will consume the other eggs or smaller larvae on the host plant, decreasing competition.


title: Cannibalism

text: Intrauterine cannibalism is a behaviour in some carnivorous species, in which multiple embryos are created at impregnation, but only one or two are born. The larger or stronger ones consume their less-developed siblings as a source of nutrients.


title: Cannibalism

text: Adelphophagy occurs in some marine gastropods (calyptraeids, muricids, vermetids, and buccinids) and in some marine annelids ("Boccardia proboscidia" in Spionidae).


title: Cannibalism

text: Intrauterine cannibalism is known to occur in lamnoid sharks such as the sand tiger shark, and in the fire salamander, as well as in some teleost fishes. The Carboniferous period chimaera, "Delphyodontos dacriformes", is suspected of having practiced intrauterine cannibalism, also, due to the sharp teeth of the recently born (or possibly aborted) juveniles, and the presence of fecal matter in the juveniles' intestines.


title: Cannibalism

text: Animals have evolved protection to prevent and deter potential predators such as those from their own kind. Many amphibian eggs are gelatinous and toxic to decrease edibility. Often, adults would lay their eggs in crevices, holes, or empty nesting sites to hide their eggs from potential conspecific predators which tend to ingest the eggs for an additional nutritional benefit or to get rid of genetic competition. In amphibians, the development of non-aquatic egg deposition has helped increase the survival rates of their young by the evolution of viviparity or direct development. In bees, worker policing occurs to prohibit worker reproduction, whereby workers cannibalize other worker laid eggs. Queen laid eggs have a different scent than worker laid eggs, allowing workers to differentiate between the two, allowing them to nurture and protect queen laid eggs rather than cannibalising them. Parental presence at nesting sites is also a common method of protection against infanticide committed by conspecific individuals, whereby the parent exhibits defensive displays to ward off potential predators. Parental investment in newborns are generally higher during their early stages of development whereby behaviours such as aggression, territorial behaviour, and pregnancy blocking become more apparent.


title: Cannibalism

text: Morphological plasticity helps an individual account for different predation stresses, thereby increasing individual survival rates. Japanese brown frog tadpoles have been shown to exhibit morphological plasticity when they are in a high stress environment where cannibalism between tadpoles and more developed individuals were present. Shifting their morphology plays a key role in their survival, creating bulkier bodies when put into environments where more developed tadpoles were present, to make it difficult for the individuals to swallow them whole. Diet shifts between different stages of development have also evolved to decrease competition between each stage, thereby increasing the amount of food availability so that there is a decreased chance that the individuals will turn to cannibalism as an additional food source.


title: Cannibalism

text: Cannibalism has been a subject for horror movies since the 1980s. This genre is called cannibal films. In Planet Dinosaur it shows two Majungasaurus fighting to eat each other.


title: Cannibalism

text: Cannibalism has also been a subject of video games. More recently, cannibalism has been featured in a positive light, with video games like "" incentivizing players' virtual characters to eat each other.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Olivia Hussey (born Olivia Osuna; 17 April 1951) is an English film, stage, and television actress. Her accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a David di Donatello Award. The daughter of Argentine opera singer Andrés Osuna, Hussey was born in Buenos Aires but spent most of her early life in her mother's native England. She aspired to become an actress at a young age and studied drama for five years at London's Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Hussey began acting professionally as an adolescent. She appeared in a 1966 London production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", opposite Vanessa Redgrave; this led to her being scouted for the role of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet". Hussey received widespread acclaim and international recognition for her performance.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: In 1974, she appeared as the lead character Jess Bradford in the cult slasher film "Black Christmas". This role and her subsequent horror films earned her the title of scream queen. She reunited with Zeffirelli in the miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth" (1977) as Mary and appeared in John Guillermin's Agatha Christie adaptation "Death on the Nile" (1978). She appeared in several international productions throughout the 1980s, including the Japanese production "Virus" (1980) and the Australian dystopian action film "Turkey Shoot" (1982). She appeared in two made-for-television horror productions: "" and Stephen King's "It", both first screened in 1990.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: In addition to screen acting, Hussey has worked as a voice actress, providing voice roles in multiple "Star Wars" video games, including "", "", and "".


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Hussey was born Olivia Osuna on 17 April 1951 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the first child of Argentine opera singer Andrés Osuna (who performed under the stage name Osvaldo Ribó), and Joy (née Hussey), a legal secretary originally from England. Her parents were both Roman Catholics, and she was raised in that denomination. "My mother was a devout Catholic," Hussey recalled. "I grew up with a mini-altar at home that she had; a candle was always alight on it. She always had a great love for God, and she instilled that in me." When Hussey was two years old, her parents separated.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Hussey was fascinated by acting from a young age, and as a child, would dress herself and pretend to be a nun. At the age of seven, she moved with her mother and younger brother to London, where she spent the remainder of her early life. There, Hussey's mother enrolled her in the Italia Conti Academy drama school, which she attended for five years. At 13, she began acting professionally on the stage.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Assuming her mother's maiden name as her stage name, Hussey appeared on the London stage in a West End production of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", playing the role of Jenny opposite Vanessa Redgrave. During the run of this play, Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli noticed her because "she was the only choice mature enough with experience and natural beauty to play Juliet while still looking 14." At 15, she was chosen out of 500 actresses to star as Juliet in Zeffirelli's film version of "Romeo and Juliet" (1968), opposite 16-year-old Leonard Whiting's Romeo. Prior to her role in "Romeo and Juliet", she had appeared in minor roles in two films: "The Battle of the Villa Fiorita" and "Cup Fever" (both 1965), and an episode of the television series "Drama" (1964). In 1969, she won a special David di Donatello Award and the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress for her performance in "Romeo and Juliet".


title: Olivia Hussey

text: After the success of "Romeo and Juliet", Hollywood producer Hal B. Wallis offered her the title role in "Anne of the Thousand Days" (1969) and the co-starring role with John Wayne in "True Grit" (1969). In her 2018 memoir Hussey stated that she had "mumbled something about being interested in "Anne of the Thousand Days" but added that she "couldn't see herself with Wayne". She claims that this "adolescent and opinionated" remark inevitably ended her professional relationship with Wallis, and he immediately withdrew his offer from her. "It had taken me less than a minute to talk my way out of it", Hussey stated.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: In 1971, she appeared in the British drama "All the Right Noises", followed by the crime film "The Summertime Killer" (1972), and the musical "Lost Horizon" (1973), opposite Liv Ullmann, John Gielgud, and Sally Kellerman. In 1974, she played the leading role of Jess Bradford in the Canadian horror film "Black Christmas" (1974), which became influential as a forerunner of the slasher film genre of horror films. She played Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the 1977 television production of "Jesus of Nazareth" (her second work for director Zeffirelli). In 1978, she played Rosalie Otterbourne in "Death on the Nile" with Peter Ustinov, and appeared in "The Cat and the Canary" (1979). She also starred as Marit in the Japanese film "Virus" (1980), and played Rebecca of York in the 1982 remake of "Ivanhoe" (1982); the same year, she had a lead role in the Australian horror film "Turkey Shoot" (1982).


title: Olivia Hussey

text: In 1987, Hussey appeared in a clip for the Michael Jackson video "Liberian Girl", among others, who also included Steven Spielberg, John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Whoopi Goldberg, Lou Ferrigno, and Billy Dee Williams. In 1990, Hussey appeared in two horror projects, playing Norma Bates, the mother of Norman Bates, in "", a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960), and in the miniseries "It", an adaptation of the Stephen King novel.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Hussey played the lead in "Mother Teresa of Calcutta" (2003), a biographical film about Mother Teresa, for which she was presented with a Character & Morality in Entertainment Award on 12 May 2007 in Hollywood. She stated in an interview that it had been her dream and wish to portray the role of Mother Teresa of Calcutta since she finished her role as the Virgin Mary in "Jesus of Nazareth". Hussey and Leonard Whiting reunited as on-screen partners in the film "Social Suicide" (2015), the only film that they both appeared in since "Romeo and Juliet" (1968). In the project, Hussey's daughter, actress India Eisley, played their fictional daughter, Julia Coulson.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Hussey has also worked as a voice actress, and was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production" at the Annie Awards for her work in the DC animated universe, as Talia, daughter of Ra's al Ghul. She voiced the character of Kasan Moor in the PC/Nintendo 64 game, "" (1998) and was also in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game "" (2011) as Jedi Master Yuon Par. She also lent her voice to "" in 2000.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Hussey quit acting for two years following the success of Franco Zeffirelli's "Romeo and Juliet", due to an ongoing struggle with agoraphobia. As teenagers, she and Whiting dated for a brief period following the production of the film and have remained friends since, reportedly speaking "at least once every ten days."


title: Olivia Hussey

text: In 1971, she married actor Dean Paul Martin, the son of singer Dean Martin, on the day of her twentieth birthday. They had a son, Alexander Gunther Martin (who became an actor), in 1973, before divorcing in 1978. Dean Paul Martin died in 1987, when his National Guard F-4 Phantom jet fighter crashed in California's San Bernardino Mountains during a snowstorm.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: In 1980, Hussey married Japanese singer Akira Fuse in two ceremonies: one at home in Los Angeles, and a second, an Indian wedding in Miami. She gave birth to their son Max in 1983 and divorced Fuse in 1989. In 1991, she married the American rock musician David Glen Eisley, the son of an actor Anthony Eisley. In October 1993, she gave birth to their daughter, India Eisley, also an actress.


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Hussey was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. Rather than pursuing chemotherapy or radiation, she underwent a double mastectomy to treat the cancer. After being in remission for nearly a decade, Hussey learned in 2018 that the breast cancer had returned when a small tumour was discovered growing between her heart and lungs. She opted to use radiation and chemotherapy to treat the tumour, stating: "I'd refused chemotherapy and radiation treatment ten years ago, wanting to avoid those poisons, but last year I had no choice, and they saved my life. The tumour shrank, I'm hoping to the size of a pea, and I'm doing well now. I'm healthy and happy."


title: Olivia Hussey

text: Hussey's memoir, "The Girl on the Balcony: Olivia Hussey Finds Life After Romeo and Juliet", was released on 31 July 2018.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean formed by the confluence of the Ashley, Cooper, and Wando rivers. Charleston had a population of 150,277 at the 2020 census. The 2020 population of the Charleston metropolitan area, comprising Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties, was 799,636 residents, the third-largest in the state and the 74th-largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King CharlesII, at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River (now Charles Towne Landing) but relocated in 1680 to its present site, which became the fifth-largest city in North America within ten years. It remained unincorporated throughout the colonial period; its government was handled directly by a colonial legislature and a governor sent by Parliament. Election districts were organized according to Anglican parishes, and some social services were managed by Anglican wardens and vestries. Charleston adopted its present spelling with its incorporation as a city in 1783. Population growth in the interior of South Carolina influenced the removal of the state government to Columbia in 1788, but Charleston remained among the ten largest cities in the United States through the 1840 census.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: Charleston's significance in American history is tied to its role as a major slave trading port. Charleston slave traders like Joseph Wragg were the first to break through the monopoly of the Royal African Company and pioneered the large-scale slave trade of the 18th century; almost one half of slaves imported to the United States arrived in Charleston. In 2018, the city formally apologized for its role in the American slave trade after CNN noted that slavery "riddles the history" of Charleston.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: The incorporated city fitted into as late as the First World War, but has since greatly expanded, crossing the Ashley River and encompassing James Island and some of Johns Island. The city limits also have expanded across the Cooper River, encompassing Daniel Island and the Cainhoy area. The present city has a total area of , of which is land and is covered by water. North Charleston blocks any expansion up the peninsula, and Mount Pleasant occupies the land directly east of the Cooper River.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: Charleston Harbor runs about southeast to the Atlantic with an average width of about , surrounded on all sides except its entrance. Sullivan's Island lies to the north of the entrance and Morris Island to the south. The entrance itself is about wide; it was originally only deep but began to be enlarged in the 1870s. The tidal rivers (Wando, Cooper, Stono, and Ashley) are evidence of a submergent or drowned coastline. There is a submerged river delta off the mouth of the harbor, and the Cooper River is deep.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: Charleston has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfa"), with mild winters, hot humid summers, and significant rainfall all year long. Summer is the wettest season; almost half of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September in the form of thundershowers. Fall remains relatively warm through the middle of November. Winter is short and mild, and is characterized by occasional rain. Measurable snow (≥) has a median occurrence of only once per decade at the airport, but freezing rain is more common; a snowfall/freezing rain event on January 3, 2018, was the first such event in Charleston since December 26, 2010. However, fell at the airport on December 23, 1989, during the December 1989 United States cold wave, the largest single-day fall on record, contributing to a single-storm and seasonal record of snowfall.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: Downtown Charleston's climate is considerably milder than the airport's due to stronger maritime influence. This is especially true in the winter, with the average January low in downtown being to the airport's for example.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: The highest temperature recorded within city limits was on June 2, 1985, and June 24, 1944; the lowest was on February 14, 1899. At the airport, where official records are kept, the historical range is on August 1, 1999, down to on January 21, 1985. Hurricanes are a major threat to the area during the summer and early fall, with several severe hurricanes hitting the area—most notably Hurricane Hugo on September 21, 1989 (a category 4 storm). The dewpoint from June to August ranges from .


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: As defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, for use by the U.S. Census Bureau and other U.S. Government agencies for statistical purposes only, Charleston is included within the Charleston–North Charleston, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area and the smaller Charleston-North Charleston urban area. The Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area consists of three counties: Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the metropolitan statistical area had a total population of 799,636 people. North Charleston is the second-largest city in the metro area and ranks as the third-largest city in the state; Mount Pleasant and Summerville are the next-largest cities. These cities combined with other incorporated and unincorporated areas along with the city of Charleston form the Charleston-North Charleston urban area with a population of 548,404 . The metropolitan statistical area also includes a separate and much smaller urban area within Berkeley County, Moncks Corner (with a 2000 population of 9,123).


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: The traditional parish system persisted until the Reconstruction Era, when counties were imposed. Nevertheless, traditional parishes still exist in various capacities, mainly as public service districts. When the city of Charleston was formed, it was defined by the limits of the Parish of St. Philip and St. Michael, now also includes parts of St. James' Parish, St. George's Parish, St. Andrew's Parish, and St. John's Parish, although the last two are mostly still incorporated rural parishes.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: King Charles II granted the chartered Province of Carolina to eight of his loyal friends, known as the Lords Proprietors, on March 24, 1663. In 1670, Governor William Sayle arranged for several shiploads of settlers from Bermuda and Barbados. These settlers established what was then called Charles Town at Albemarle Point, on the west bank of the Ashley River, a few miles northwest of the present-day city center. Charles Town became the first comprehensively planned town in the Thirteen Colonies. Its governance, settlement, and development was to follow a visionary plan known as the Grand Model prepared for the Lords Proprietors by John Locke. Because the Carolina's Fundamental Constitutions was never ratified, however, Charles Town was never incorporated during the colonial period. Instead, local ordinances were passed by the provincial government, with day-to-day administration handled by the wardens and vestries of StPhilip's and StMichael's Anglican parishes.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: At the time of European colonization, the area was inhabited by the indigenous Cusabo, whom the settlers declared war on in October 1671. The settlers initially allied with the Westo, a northern indigenous tribe that traded in enslaved Indians. The settlers abandoned their alliance with the Westo in 1679 and allied with the Cusabo instead.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: The initial settlement quickly dwindled away and disappeared while another village—established by the settlers on Oyster Point at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers around 1672—thrived. This second settlement formally replaced the original Charles Town in 1680. (The original site is now commemorated as Charles Towne Landing.) The second location was more defensible and had access to a fine natural harbor. The new town had become the fifth largest in North America by 1690.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: A smallpox outbreak erupted in 1698, followed by an earthquake in February 1699. The latter caused a fire that destroyed about a third of the town. During rebuilding, a yellow fever outbreak killed about 15% of the remaining inhabitants. Charles Town suffered between five and eight major yellow fever outbreaks over the first half of the 18th century.


title: Charleston, South Carolina

text: It developed a reputation as one of the least healthy locations in the Thirteen Colonies for ethnic Europeans. Malaria was endemic. Although malaria did not have such high mortality as yellow fever, it caused much illness. It was a major health problem through most of the city's history before dying out in the 1950s after use of pesticides cut down on the mosquitoes that transmitted it.