title: Mary Boleyn

text: Mary was one of the mistresses of Henry VIII for an unknown period of time. It has been rumoured that she bore two of the king's children, though Henry did not acknowledge either of them as he had acknowledged Henry FitzRoy, his son by another mistress, Elizabeth Blount. Mary was also rumoured to have been a mistress of Henry VIII's rival, King Francis I of France, for some period between 1515 and 1519.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Mary Boleyn was married twice: in 1520 to William Carey, and again, secretly, in 1534, to William Stafford, a soldier from a good family but with few prospects. This secret marriage to a man considered beneath her station angered both King Henry VIII and her sister, Queen Anne, and resulted in Mary's banishment from the royal court. She died seven years later, having spent the remainder of her life in obscurity.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Mary was probably born at Blickling Hall, the family seat in Norfolk, and grew up at Hever Castle, Kent. She was the daughter of a rich diplomat and courtier, Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, by his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Howard, the eldest daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: There is no evidence of Mary's exact date of birth, but it occurred sometime between 1499 and 1508. Most historians suggest that she was the eldest of the three surviving Boleyn children. Evidence suggests that the Boleyn family treated Mary as the eldest child; in 1597, her grandson Lord Hunsdon claimed the earldom of Ormond on the grounds that he was the Boleyns' legitimate heir. Many ancient peerages can descend through female heirs, in the absence of an immediate male heir. If Anne had been the elder sister, the better claim to the title would have belonged to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth I. However, it appears that Queen Elizabeth offered Mary's son, Henry, the earldom as he was dying, although he declined it. If Mary had been the eldest Boleyn sister, Henry would, indeed, have the better claim to the title, regardless of a new grant from the queen. There is more evidence to suggest that Mary was older than Anne. She was married first, on 4 February 1520; an elder daughter was traditionally married before her younger sister. Moreover, in 1532, when Anne was created Marchioness of Pembroke, she was referred to as "one of the daughters of Thomas Boleyn". Were she the eldest, that status would probably have been mentioned. Overall, most historians now accept Mary as being the eldest child, placing her birth some time in 1499.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: During her early years, it is most likely that Mary was educated alongside her brother George, and her sister, Anne at Hever Castle in Kent. She was given a conventional education deemed essential for young ladies of her rank and status, which included the basic principles of arithmetic, grammar, history, reading, spelling, and writing. In addition to her family genealogy, Mary learned the feminine accomplishments of dancing, embroidery, etiquette, household management, music, needlework, and singing, and games such as cards and chess. She was also taught archery, falconry, riding, and hunting.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Mary remained in England for most of her childhood, until she was sent abroad in 1514 around the age of fifteen when her father secured her a place as maid-of-honour to the King's sister, Princess Mary, who was going to Paris to marry King Louis XII of France.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: After a few weeks, many of the Queen's English maids were sent away, but Mary was allowed to stay, probably due to the fact that her father was the new English ambassador to France. Even when Queen Mary left France after she was widowed on 1 January 1515, Mary remained behind at the court of Louis's son-in-law and daughter, Francis I and Claude.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Mary was joined in Paris by her father, Sir Thomas, and her sister, Anne, who had been studying in France for the previous year. During this time Mary is supposed to have embarked on sexual affairs, including one with King Francis himself. Although most historians believe that the reports of her sexual affairs are exaggerated, the French king referred to her as "The English Mare", "my hackney", and as ""una grandissima ribalda, infame sopra tutte"" ("a very great whore, the most infamous of all").


title: Mary Boleyn

text: She returned to England in 1519, where she was appointed a maid-of-honour to Catherine of Aragon, the queen consort of Henry VIII. Mary was reportedly considered to be a great beauty, both at the French and English court.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Soon after her return, Mary was married to William Carey, a wealthy and influential courtier, on 4 February 1520; Henry VIII was a guest at the couple's wedding. At some point, Mary became Henry's mistress; the starting date and duration of the liaison are unknown.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Henry VIII's wife, Catherine of Aragon, had first been married to Henry's elder brother Arthur when he was a little over fifteen years old, but Arthur had died just a few months later. Henry later used this to justify the annulment of his marriage to Catherine, arguing that her marriage to Arthur had created an affinity between Henry and Catherine; as his brother's wife, under canon law she became his sister. In 1527, during his initial attempts to obtain a papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine, Henry in a similar way also requested a dispensation to marry Anne, the sister of his former mistress.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Anne had returned to England in January 1522; she soon joined the royal court as one of Queen Catherine's maids-of-honour. Anne achieved considerable popularity at court, although the sisters already moved in different circles and were not thought to have been particularly close.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Although Mary was said to have been more attractive than her sister, Anne seems to have been more ambitious and intelligent. When the king took an interest in Anne, she refused to become his mistress. By the middle of 1526, Henry was determined to marry her. This gave him further incentive to seek the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. When Mary's husband died during an outbreak of sweating sickness, Henry granted Anne Boleyn the wardship of her nephew, Henry Carey. Mary's husband had left her with considerable debts, and Anne arranged for her nephew to be educated at a respectable Cistercian monastery. Anne also interceded to secure her widowed sister an annual pension of £100.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: In 1532, when Anne accompanied Henry to the English Pale of Calais on his way to a state visit to France, Mary was one of her companions. Anne was crowned queen on 1 June 1533 and on 7 September gave birth to Henry's daughter Elizabeth, who later became Queen Elizabeth I. In 1534, Mary secretly married an Essex landowner's younger son: William Stafford (later Sir William Stafford). Since Stafford was a soldier, his prospects as a second son so slight, and his income so small, many believed the union was a love match. When Mary became pregnant, the marriage was discovered. Queen Anne was furious, and the Boleyn family disowned Mary. The couple were banished from court.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Mary's financial circumstances became so desperate that she was reduced to begging the king's adviser Thomas Cromwell to speak to Henry and Anne on her behalf. She admitted that she might have chosen "a greater man of birth" but never one that should have loved her so well, nor a more honest man. And she went on, "I had rather beg my bread with him than to be the greatest queen in Christendom. And I believe verily ... he would not forsake me to be a king". Henry, however, seems to have been indifferent to her plight. Mary asked Cromwell to speak to her father, her uncle, and her brother, but to no avail. It was Anne who relented, sending Mary a magnificent golden cup and some money, but still refused to reinstate her position at court. This partial reconciliation was the closest the two sisters attained; it is not thought that they met after Mary's exile from the king's court.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Mary's life between 1534 and her sister's execution on 19 May 1536 is difficult to trace. There is no record of her visiting her parents, and no evidence of any correspondence with, or visits to, her sister Anne or her brother George when they were imprisoned in the Tower of London.


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Mary's marriage to William Stafford (d. 5 May 1556) may have resulted in the birth of two further children:


title: Mary Boleyn

text: Philippa Gregory later nominated Mary as her personal heroine in an interview with "BBC History" magazine. Her novel spawned five others in the same series, but drew criticism for its lack of historical accuracy. For example, Gregory characterizes Anne, not Mary, as the elder sister, and makes no mention of Mary's relationships prior to her affair with Henry.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American supernatural horror film produced, written, directed, photographed and edited by Oren Peli. It centers on a young couple (Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat) who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film utilizes found-footage conventions that were mirrored in the later films of the series.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Originally developed as an independent feature and given film festival screenings in 2007, the film was shot for $15,000. It was then acquired by Paramount Pictures and modified, particularly with a new ending that cost an additional $200,000. It was given a limited U.S. release on September 25, 2009, and then a nationwide release on October 16, 2009. The film earned nearly $108 million at the U.S. box office and a further $85 million internationally for a worldwide total of $193 million. Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U.S. rights for $350,000. It is the most profitable film ever made, based on return on investment, although such figures are difficult to verify independently as this is likely to exclude marketing costs.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: The film is the first entry in the "Paranormal Activity" film series. A parallel sequel, "Paranormal Activity 2", was released in 2010. The success of the first two films would spawn additional films in the series: the prequel "Paranormal Activity 3" in 2011, and sequel to the second film, "Paranormal Activity 4" in 2012. The fifth installment and spin-off, , was released in 2014, and the sixth installment, , was released in 2015. A video game, "The Lost Soul", was released in 2017, while a seventh film, , was released in 2021.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Young couple Katie and Micah move to a new house in San Diego. Katie claims an evil presence has been haunting her since she was a child, so Micah sets up a camera in their bedroom to record any paranormal activity that occurs while they sleep. Katie visits psychic Dr. Fredrichs, who suggests Katie is being haunted by a demon that feeds off of negative energy and is intent on tormenting her. He advises not to communicate with the demon without a demonologist, but Micah continues to film and seek it out.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: The camera captures many strange occurrences during the night; they start off as minor noises, flickering lights, and bedroom door movements, but over time escalate into violent door slamming, loud thuds, and demonic grunts and screeches. One night, Katie appears to be in a trance; she gets up, stands beside the bed staring at Micah for two hours, and goes outside, none of which she recalls the next day.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Micah brings home a Ouija board. When the couple leave the house, the camera records an unseen force moving the board's pointer on its surface, which then spontaneously catches fire. Katie is increasingly aggravated by Micah's flippant behavior and pleads to contact the demonologist, but he refuses. The couple find non-human footsteps on baby powder Micah sprinkled in the hallway; its path leads to a burnt photograph of a young Katie in the attic, thought to have been destroyed in a house fire. Outside intervention is unavailable, as the demonologist is out of the country and Dr. Fredrichs is afraid of making the demon angrier. That night, Katie is pulled out of the bedroom by an unseen force. Micah discovers a bite mark on Katie's back the morning after, motivating him to get out of the house, but Katie abruptly insists on staying.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: On night twenty-one, Katie gets out of bed again and stares at Micah for two hours before going downstairs. Katie screams for Micah and he quickly rushes to help her. Afterwards, Micah screams in pain. After a moment of silence, Micah's body is violently hurled at the camera which is knocked off the tripod, revealing Katie standing in the doorway with blood on her shirt. She crawls to Micah's body, then looks up at the camera with a grin. As she lunges toward the camera, her face takes on a demonic snarl and the scene cuts to black. Epilogue text states Micah's body is discovered by the police, and Katie is missing.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Once Paramount acquired the film, the original ending was shown at only one public viewing before being scrapped; two new endings were developed, one theatrically released and the other available as an alternate ending on home releases.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Katie returns to the bedroom alone, covered in blood and holding a large kitchen knife. She sits on the floor against the bed and rocks back and forth. The next day, Katie's friend Amber leaves a concerned message at 2 PM, visits the house at 9 PM, discovers Micah's body downstairs, and runs away in panic. 30 minutes later, two policemen enter the house and reach the bedroom where they find the possessed Katie with the knife. Seeing them, Katie suddenly returns to her normal state and asks about Micah. After the attic door slams by itself, one of the officers panics and shoots and kills her. The camera fades to black as the police officers continue searching the house for the source of the sound. An epilogue text appears dedicating the film to the memory of Micah and Katie.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: After killing Micah off-screen, Katie comes back upstairs alone like in the original ending. She closes and locks the bedroom door, approaches the camera and promptly slits her own throat, before collapsing dead. The scene then fades to black.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Attempting to focus on believability rather than action and gore, Peli chose to shoot the picture with a home video camera. In deciding on a more raw and stationary format (the camera was almost always sitting on a tripod or something else) and eliminating the need for a camera crew, a "higher degree of plausibility" was created for the audience as they were "more invested in the story and the characters". Peli says that the dialogue was "natural" because there was no real script. Instead, the actors were given outlines of the story and situations to improvise, a technique known as "retroscripting" also used in the making of "The Blair Witch Project". In casting the movie, Peli auditioned "a few hundred people" before finally meeting Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat. He originally auditioned them individually and later called them back to audition together. Peli was impressed with the chemistry between the actors, saying, "If you saw the [audition] footage, you would've thought they had known each other for years." During a guest appearance on "The Jay Leno Show" on November 3, 2009, Sloat and Featherston explained they each saw the casting call on LACasting. Featherston noted they were originally paid $500 for their work.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: The film was shot out of sequence due to Peli's self-imposed seven-day shooting schedule, though he would have preferred the story to have unfolded for the actors as he had envisioned it. Sloat, who controlled the camera for a good deal of the film, was a former cameraman at his university's TV station. "It was a very intense week", Peli said, stating that the film would be shot day and night, edited at the same time, and would have the visual effects applied to it as the acting footage was being finalized. Multiple endings were conceived, but not all of them were shot.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: The film was screened at 2007's Screamfest Horror Film Festival, where it impressed an assistant at the Creative Artists Agency, Kirill Baru, so much that CAA signed on to represent Peli. Attempting to find a distributor for the film and/or directing work for Peli, the agency sent out DVDs of the movie to as many people in the industry as they could, and it was eventually seen by Miramax Films Senior Executive Jason Blum, who thought it had potential. He worked with Peli to re-edit the film and submitted it to the Sundance Film Festival, but it was rejected. The DVD also impressed DreamWorks executives Adam Goodman, Stacey Snider, and finally Steven Spielberg, who cut a deal with Blum and Peli.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: DreamWorks' plan was to remake the film with a bigger budget and with Peli directing, and only to include the original version as an extra when the DVD was eventually released. "They didn't know what to do with [the original]", said Blum; they just wanted to be "in business" with Peli. Blum and Peli agreed, but stipulated a test screening of the original film before going ahead with the remake, believing it would be well received by a theatrical audience.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: During the screening, people began walking out; Goodman thought the film was bombing, until he learned that the viewers were actually leaving because they were so frightened. He then realized a remake was unwise. Paramount Pictures, which acquired DreamWorks in 2005, bought the domestic rights to the film, and worldwide rights to any sequels, for . When the film was taken in by Paramount, several changes were made. Some scenes were cut, others added, and the original ending was scrapped, with two new endings being shot. The ending shown in theaters during the film's worldwide release is the only one of the three to feature visual effects, and it differs from the endings previously seen at the Screamfest and Burbank screenings. The theatrical release was delayed indefinitely because Paramount had put all DreamWorks productions on hold. Meanwhile, a screening for international buyers resulted in the sale of international rights in 52 countries. Only after Goodman became production chief at Paramount in June 2009 did the film finally get slated for a fall release.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: "Paranormal Activity" premiered at Screamfest Horror Film Festival in North America on October 14, 2007, was shown at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 18, 2008, and screened at the 36th Annual Telluride Film Festival on September 6, 2009.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: The version with the new ending, made after Paramount acquired the film, had screenings on September 25, 2009, in twelve college towns across the United States. The venues included Ann Arbor, MI; Baton Rouge, LA; Boulder, CO; Columbus, OH; Durham, NC; Lincoln, NE; Madison, WI; Orlando, FL; Santa Cruz, CA; Seattle, WA; State College, PA; and Tucson, AZ. Eleven of the twelve venues sold out with State College, PA being the only exception due to a Penn State football game that was held the same night. On his website, director Oren Peli invited internet users to "demand" where the film went next by voting on Eventful. This was the first time a major motion picture studio used the service to virally market a film. On September 28, Paramount issued a press release on Peli's website, announcing openings in 20 other markets on October 2, including larger market cities such as New York and Chicago.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: On October 3, it was reported that a total of 33 screenings in all 20 markets had sold out and that the film had earned $500,000 domestically. A day later, Paramount announced that the film would have a full limited release in 40 markets, playing at all hours (including after-midnight showings). On October 6, Paramount announced that the movie would be released nationwide if the film received one million "demands" on Eventful. The full limited release of the film started on October 9. On October 10, the Eventful.com counter hit over one million requests. Paramount announced soon after that the film would get a wide domestic release on October 16 and expand to more theaters on October 23. By November, it was showing in theaters worldwide.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: "Paranormal Activity" was not released on DVD or Blu-ray until December 29, 2009, more than two years after the film was made. The home release includes one alternate ending to the theatrical version. It was released in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2010, on DVD and Blu-ray with some specials. In the Netherlands the movie received a release on VHS in 2010.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Additionally, at the end of the film, 15 minutes worth of names were added to the DVD release, as part of a special promotion. The message that popped up before this said: "The fans who "demanded" the film were asked by email if they wanted to have their name appear as a thank you for the film's success."


title: Paranormal Activity

text: The film opened on September 25, 2009, to twelve theaters and took $36,146 on its opening day and $77,873 on its first weekend for an average of $6,489 per venue. It had more success when it opened to 33 theaters on October 1, 2009, doubling the box-office reception, grossing $532,242 for an average of $16,129 per venue, bringing the 10-day total to $776,763.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: As it expanded to 160 theaters on the October 9–11 weekend, the film grossed $2.7 million on that Friday, having a per-theater average of $16,621. It went on to gross $7.9 million. Over the weekend, the film reached the week's highest per-theater average of $49,379, coming in at fourth for the weekend, behind "Couples Retreat", "Zombieland", and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs". Over the weekend of October 16, 2009, "Paranormal Activity" expanded to 600 more theaters, grossing $19.6 million with $25,813 per theater average gross, and bringing the total gross to $33.2 million. On the weekend of October 23, 2009, "Paranormal Activity" rose to first, beating out "Saw VI", earning $21,104,070, expanding to 1,945 theaters for an average of $10,850 per theater, compared with the $14.1 million gross from 3,036 theaters, and $4,650 average for "Saw VI". The film has grossed $107.9 million domestically and $85.4 million in foreign markets, with a total gross of $193.4 million. "The Hollywood Reporter" estimated the film made a net profit of $78 million.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating of 83% based on 205 reviews, with an average rating of 7.00/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Using its low-budget effects and mockumentary method to great result, "Paranormal Activity" turns a simple haunted house story into 90 minutes of relentless suspense." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Film critics James Berardinelli and Roger Ebert each awarded it 3.5 stars out of a maximum of 4 stars. Ebert stated in his review, "It illustrates one of my favorite points, that silence and waiting can be more entertaining than frantic fast-cutting and berserk f/x. For extended periods here, nothing at all is happening, and believe me, you won't be bored." "Entertainment Weekly" critic Owen Gleiberman gave "Paranormal Activity" an A− rating and called it "frightening...freaky and terrifying" and said that ""Paranormal Activity" scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés." Bloody Disgusting ranked the film 16th in their list of the "Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade", with the article saying, "Peli deserves props for milking the maximum amount of tension out of the spare, modern setting—an ordinary, cookie-cutter tract home in San Diego. It doesn't sound very scary, but Peli manages to make it terrifying. If you aren't white-knuckling your armrest at least once or twice while watching it, you probably don't have a pulse."


title: Paranormal Activity

text: However, some critics disliked the film. Michael Carter of "The Breeze" summed up the film as "all right", though denouncing its reliance on "cheap jump scares and an even cheaper 'found footage' style". David Stratton of the Australian television series "At the Movies" said that "it was extremely unthrilling, very obvious, very clichéd. We've seen it all before." Marc Savlov of "The Austin Chronicle" called it "an excruciatingly tedious YouTube gag cleverly marketed to go viral". Bill Gibron of "PopMatters" listed the film as the second worst horror film of all time, writing that it lacked "anything remotely redeeming for the seasoned fright fan", and was "a waste of time in both concept and execution".


title: Paranormal Activity

text: The monetary success of "Paranormal Activity" compared to its budget made it the most profitable film of all time, surpassing "The Blair Witch Project" (1999). It directly led to found footage becoming a horror movie trend for years, with "The Last Exorcism", "Apollo 18", "The Devil Inside", and the "V/H/S" series arriving in its wake.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: Mockbuster group The Asylum created their take on the film, titled "Paranormal Entity", which would later spawn a series of its own. In Japan, a sequel entitled "" was released in 2010.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: On March 7, 2010, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin performed a spoof of the film as part of the 82nd Academy Awards. "A Haunted House", a parody film, was released in 2013.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: In December 2009, a short digital comic entitled "Paranormal Activity: The Search for Katie" was released for the iPhone. It was written by Scott Lobdell and features art from Mark Badger.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: A video game called "Paranormal Activity: The Lost Soul" was released by VRWerx for the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 4 version can be played in both PlayStation VR and regular mode.


title: Paranormal Activity

text: A parallel sequel and prequel, "Paranormal Activity 2", was released in 2010. The success of the first two films would spawn additional films in the series: the prequel "Paranormal Activity 3" in 2011, and "Paranormal Activity 4" (the sequel to the second installment) in 2012. The fifth installment and spin-off, , was released in 2014, and the sixth installment, , was released in 2015. A seventh mainline installment, titled , was released on October 29, 2021 to the Paramount+ streaming service, with an eighth installment, , set for a 2023 release.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Christopher Paul Gardner (born February 9, 1954) is an American businessman and motivational speaker. During the early 1980s, Gardner struggled with homelessness while raising a toddler son. He became a stockbroker and eventually founded his own brokerage firm Gardner Rich & Co in 1987. In 2006, Gardner sold his minority stake in the firm and published a memoir. That book was made into the motion picture "The Pursuit of Happyness" starring Will Smith.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 9, 1954, to Thomas Turner and Bettye Jean Gardner. He was the second child and the only boy born to Bettye Jean. His older half-sister, Ophelia, is from a previous union. His younger sisters, Sharon and Kimberly, are children from his mother's marriage to Freddie Triplett.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner did not have many positive male role models as a child, as his father was living in Louisiana during his birth, and his stepfather was physically abusive to both his mother and his sisters. Triplett's fits of rage made both Gardner and his sisters constantly afraid. In one incident, Bettye Jean was imprisoned when Triplett falsely reported her to the authorities for welfare fraud; the children were placed in foster care. When Gardner was eight years old, he and his sisters returned to foster care for the second time when their mother, unbeknownst to them, was convicted of trying to kill Triplett by burning down the house while he was inside.


title: Chris Gardner

text: While in foster care, Gardner first became acquainted with his three maternal uncles: Archibald, Willie, and Henry. Of the three, Henry had the most profound influence on him, entering Gardner's world at a time when he most needed a positive father figure. However, Henry drowned in the Mississippi River when Chris was nine years old. The children learned that their mother had been imprisoned when she arrived at Henry's funeral escorted by a prison guard.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Despite both her very unhappy marriage and her periods of absence, Bettye Jean was a positive source of inspiration and strength to her son Chris. She encouraged Gardner to believe in himself and sowed the seeds of self-reliance in him. Gardner quotes her as saying, "You can only depend on yourself. The cavalry ain't coming." Gardner also determined from his early experiences that alcoholism, domestic abuse, child abuse, illiteracy, fear, and powerlessness were all things he wanted to avoid in the future.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Inspired by his Uncle Henry's worldwide adventures in the U.S. Navy, Gardner decided to enlist when he finished secondary schooling. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for four years, where he was assigned as a hospital corpsman. He became acquainted with a decorated San Francisco cardiac surgeon, Dr. Robert Ellis, who offered Gardner a position assisting him with innovative clinical research at the University of California Medical Center and Veterans Administration Hospital in San Francisco. Gardner accepted the position, and moved to San Francisco upon his discharge from the Navy in 1974. Over the course of two years, he learned how to manage a laboratory and to perform various surgical techniques. By 1976, he had been given full responsibility over a laboratory and had co-authored several articles with Dr. Ellis that were published in medical journals.


title: Chris Gardner

text: On June 18, 1977, Chris Gardner married Sherry Dyson, a Virginia native and an educational expert in mathematics. With his knowledge, experience, and contacts within the medical field, it appeared Gardner had his medical career plans laid out before him. However, with ten years of medical training ahead of him and with changes in health care just on the horizon, he realized that the medical profession would be vastly different by the time he could practice medicine. Gardner was advised to consider more lucrative career options; a few days before his 26th birthday, he informed his wife, Sherry, of his plans to abandon his dreams of becoming a physician.


title: Chris Gardner

text: His relationship with Sherry was detached, in part because of his decision to abandon a medical career and in part due to differences in their behavior. While still living with Sherry, he began an affair with a dental student named Jackie Medina, and she became pregnant with his child only a few months into the affair. After three years of marriage to Sherry, he left her to move in with Jackie and to prepare for fatherhood. Nine years elapsed before he and Sherry were legally divorced in 1986.


title: Chris Gardner

text: His son Christopher Jarrett Gardner Jr. was born on January 28, 1981. Gardner worked as a research lab assistant at UCSF and at the Veterans' Hospital after leaving the service. His position as a research lab assistant paid only about $8,000 a year, which was not enough for him to support a live-in girlfriend and a child. After four years, he quit these jobs and doubled his salary by taking a job as a medical equipment salesman.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Prompted by his son's inquiries about his father, Gardner had previously been able to track down his biological father via telephone. With a higher income from his new job, Gardner was able to save enough money to travel to Monroe, Louisiana, where he and his son met his father, Turner, for the first time.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner returned to San Francisco determined to succeed at business. A pivotal moment in his life occurred, after a sales call to a San Francisco General Hospital when he encountered an impeccably dressed man in a red Ferrari. Curious, Gardner asked the man about his career. The man told him he was a stockbroker and, from that moment on, Gardner's career path was decided. Eventually, Gardner bought a Ferrari of his own from Michael Jordan. The Illinois license plate of Gardner's black Ferrari reads "NOT MJ".


title: Chris Gardner

text: The stockbroker in the red Ferrari was a man named Bob Bridges. He met with Gardner and gave him an introduction to the world of finance. Bridges organized meetings between Gardner and branch managers at the major stock brokerage firms that offered training programs—such as Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber, E.F. Hutton, Dean Witter Reynolds, and Smith Barney. For the following two months, Gardner canceled or postponed his sales appointments, and his car amassed parking tickets while he met with managers.


title: Chris Gardner

text: It appeared that Gardner got his "break" when he was accepted into a training program at E.F. Hutton. He subsequently quit his sales job so that he could dedicate his time exclusively to training as a stockbroker. Then he appeared at the office ready to work, only to discover that his hiring manager had been fired the week before. To make matters worse, Gardner's relationship with Jackie was falling apart. According to Gardner, the police witnessed an incident in which Jackie was running away with Chris Jr. and Gardner attempted to take the child back, but in the process swung Jackie into the garden bushes, which resulted in her being scratched. Gardner was apprehended initially for this incident, but an identity check on his car license plate led them to detain him for non-payment of parking fines. He was taken to jail and a judge ordered that he stay there, for ten days, as punishment for being unable to pay $1,200 in parking tickets. Jackie then took Chris Jr. away to live with her on the East Coast, but she eventually decided not to press charges over the incident.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner returned home from jail to find his apartment empty. With no experience, no college education, virtually no connections, and with the same casual outfit he had been wearing on the day he was taken into custody, Gardner gained a position in Dean Witter Reynolds' stock brokerage training program. However, this offered no salary; apart from selling medical equipment that brought in 300–400 dollars a month in the early 1980s, and with no savings, he was unable to meet his living expenses.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner worked to become a top trainee at Dean Witter Reynolds. He arrived at the office early and stayed late each day, persistently making calls to prospective clients with his goal being 200 calls per day. His perseverance paid off when, in 1982, Gardner passed his Series 7 Exam on the first try and became a full employee of the firm. Eventually, Gardner was recruited by Bear Stearns & Company in San Francisco.


title: Chris Gardner

text: About four months after Jackie disappeared with their son, she returned and left him with Gardner. By then, he was earning a small salary and was able to afford rooming in a flophouse. He willingly accepted sole custody of his child; however, the rooming house where he lived did not allow children. Although he was gainfully employed, Gardner and his son secretly struggled with homelessness while he saved money for a rental house in Berkeley.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Meanwhile, none of Gardner's co-workers knew that he and his son were homeless in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco for nearly a year. Gardner often scrambled to place his child in daycare, stood in soup kitchens and slept wherever he and his son could find safety—in his office after hours, at flophouses, motels, parks, airports, on public transport, and even in a locked bathroom at a BART station.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Concerned for Chris Jr.'s well-being, Gardner asked Reverend Cecil Williams to allow them to stay at the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church's shelter for homeless women, now known as The Cecil Williams Glide Community House. Williams agreed without hesitation. Today, when asked what he remembers about being homeless, Christopher Gardner Jr. recalls "I couldn't tell you that we were homeless, I just knew that we were always having to go. So, if anything, I remember us just moving, always moving."


title: Chris Gardner

text: After Gardner had found a home, he resumed contact with Jackie and had a second child with her in 1985 – a daughter named Jacintha. Gardner turned down Jackie's offer for the two to get back together in a relationship, but arranged for Chris Jr. and Jacintha to stay with Jackie during his long hours at work.


title: Chris Gardner

text: In 1987, Gardner established the brokerage firm, Gardner Rich & Co, in Chicago, Illinois, an "institutional brokerage firm specializing in the execution of debt, equity, and derivative products transactions for some of the nation's largest institutions, public pension plans, and unions." His new company was started in his small Presidential Towers apartment, with start-up capital of $10,000 and a single piece of furniture: a wooden desk that doubled as the family dinner table. The "Rich" in the name was in honor of commodities trader Marc Rich, who had no connection to the company and whom Gardner had never met, but whom Gardner considered "one of the most successful futures traders in the world."


title: Chris Gardner

text: After Gardner sold his small stake in Gardner Rich in a multimillion-dollar deal in 2006, he became CEO and founder of Christopher Gardner International Holdings, with offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. During a visit to South Africa to observe elections around the time of the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid, Gardner met with Nelson Mandela to discuss possible investment in South African emerging markets. Gardner was planning an investment venture there which he hoped would create hundreds of jobs and introduce millions in foreign currency into the country's economy. Gardner has declined to disclose details of the project, citing securities laws.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner is a philanthropist who sponsors many charitable organizations, primarily the "Cara Program" and the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church in San Francisco, where he and his son received desperately needed shelter. He has helped fund a $50 million project in San Francisco that creates low-income housing and opportunities for employment in the area of the city where he was once homeless. As well as offering monetary support, Gardner donates clothing and shoes. He makes himself available for permanent job placement assistance, career counselling and comprehensive job training for the homeless population and at-risk communities in Chicago.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Dedicated to the well-being of children through positive paternal involvement, Gardner serves on the board of the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI). He is also a board member of the National Education Foundation and sponsors two annual education awards: the National Education Association's National Educational Support Personnel Award and the American Federation of Teachers' Paraprofessionals and School-Related Personnel Award.


title: Chris Gardner

text: In 2002, Gardner received the Father of the Year Award from the NFI. He also received the 25th Annual Humanitarian Award from the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (LACAAW), and the 2006 Friends of Africa Award from the Continental Africa Chamber of Commerce.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner realized his story had Hollywood potential after an overwhelming national response to an interview he did with "20/20" in January 2002. He published his autobiography on May 23, 2006, before becoming an associate producer of the major motion picture "The Pursuit of Happyness", directed by Gabriele Muccino and released by Columbia Pictures on December 15, 2006. The unusual spelling of the film's title comes from a sign Gardner saw when he was homeless. In the film, "happiness" is misspelled (as ""happyness"") outside the daycare facility Gardner's son attends.


title: Chris Gardner

text: The movie, starring Will Smith, Thandiwe Newton and Jaden Smith, focused on Gardner's nearly one-year struggle with homelessness. The movie grossed $163 million domestically at the box office and over $300 million worldwide, making it one of Will Smith's consecutive $100 million blockbusters. As a result, it earned Will Smith an Academy Award-Nomination for Best Actor. The movie took some liberties with Gardner's true life story. Certain details and events that actually took place over the span of several years were compressed into a relatively short time and although eight-year-old Jaden portrayed Chris Jr. as a five-year-old, Gardner's son was just a toddler at the time. Chris Gardner reportedly thought Smith—an actor best known for his performances in action movies—was miscast to play him. However, he said his daughter Jacintha "set him straight" by saying, "If Smith can play Muhammad Ali, he can play you!" Gardner makes a cameo appearance in the film, walking past Will and Jaden in the final scene. Gardner and Will acknowledge each other; Will then looks back at Gardner walking away as his son proceeds to tell him knock knock jokes.


title: Chris Gardner

text: In the hope Gardner's story would inspire the down-trodden citizens of Chattanooga, Tennessee to achieve financial independence and to take greater responsibility for the welfare of their families, the mayor of Chattanooga organized a viewing of the film for the city's homeless. Gardner himself felt that it was imperative to share his story for the sake of its widespread social issues. "When I talk about alcoholism in the household, domestic violence, child abuse, illiteracy, and all of those issues—those are universal issues; those are not just confined to ZIP codes," he said.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner was noticeably absent from the movie's premiere on December 15, 2006. He chose, instead, to be the guest inspirational speaker at a Christmas party for JHT Holdings, Inc., in Kenosha, Wisconsin.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner was featured in the Canadian documentary "Come on Down: Searching for the American Dream" (2004), where he spoke about the American Dream at his office in downtown Chicago. The documentary also featured Bob Barker and Hunter S. Thompson.


title: Chris Gardner

text: Gardner also made a cameo appearance in the 2008 comedy film "The Promotion", where he played a community leader.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: The Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on 28 April 1996 at Port Arthur, a tourist town in the Australian state of Tasmania. The perpetrator, Martin Bryant, killed 35 people and wounded 23 others, the worst massacre in modern Australian history. The attack led to fundamental changes in Australia's gun laws.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Two of Bryant's victims were known to him personally and were killed at Seascape, a bed and breakfast property. The majority of his victims were killed in a shooting spree at the Port Arthur Historic Site, a popular tourist destination. Using two semi-automatic rifles, he began his attack at a small café before moving into a nearby gift shop, killing twenty people indiscriminately in a short amount of time. Many others were killed at the site's car park, including several children. After killing its four occupants, Bryant stole a vehicle at the site's tollbooth and drove to a nearby service station, where he killed a woman and abducted her partner. He continued to fire at passing vehicles before finally returning to Seascape with his hostage, who was then killed. He set fire to the property but was captured the following morning.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant pleaded guilty to the killings and received 35 life sentences without parole; his motives have been subject to debate. The massacre led to a reassessment of Australia's gun laws by the newly elected Howard government. The National Firearms Agreement between state and federal governments was announced within two weeks of the massacre, establishing heavy restrictions on the use of automatic and semi-automatic weapons and creating a gun buyback program, a national gun registry and a waiting period for firearm sales.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: The main location of the incident was the historic Port Arthur former prison colony, a popular tourist site in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: In 1992, Martin Bryant—then 25—was bequeathed about $570,000 in property and assets by a friend, Helen Harvey, who left her estate to him following her death in a car crash. He used part of this money to go on many trips around the world from 1993 onwards.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant's father had tried to purchase a bed and breakfast property called Seascape, but Noelene (also known as Sally) and David Martin bought this property before his father could ready his finances, much to the disappointment of Bryant's father, who often complained to his son of the "double dealing" the Martins had done to secure the purchase. Bryant's father offered to buy another property from the Martins at Palmers Lookout Road, but they declined the offer. Bryant apparently believed the Martins had deliberately bought the property to hurt his family and believed this event to be responsible for the depression that led to his father's 1993 suicide. Bryant later described the Martins as "very mean people" and as "the worse people in my life."


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: In late 1995, Bryant became suicidal after deciding he had "had enough". He stated, "I just felt more people were against me. When I tried to be friendly toward them, they just walked away". Although he had previously been little more than a social drinker, his alcohol consumption increased and, although he had not consumed any alcohol on the day of the massacre, had especially escalated in the six months prior.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: According to Bryant, he thought the plan for Port Arthur might have first occurred to him four to twelve weeks before the event.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant's suspected motivations for the massacre were the refusal of the sale of Seascape by owners David and Noelene Martin and to become notorious, as revealed by his lawyer, on the Channel 7 program "Sunday Night", air date Sunday, 6 March 2016. From the moment he was captured, he continually wanted to know how many people he had killed and seemed impressed by the number. Bryant is allowed to listen only to music on a radio outside his cell and is denied access to any news reports of his massacre. Photographers who took pictures of him in his prison cell were forced to destroy the film in his presence when the Governor found out.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: After storming out of a national gun summit in 1987, eight years before the massacre and following two mass shootings in Melbourne earlier in the year, Premier of New South Wales Barrie Unsworth said: "it will take a massacre in Tasmania before we get gun reform in Australia", referencing Tasmania's resistance to gun law changes. A redesign of the laws for all states and territories of Australia had been prepared by officers and presented at a meeting of police ministers in Launceston in 1995. It had been rejected by Tasmania.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: The events of this day were pieced together after investigation by police, then presented in court on 19 November 1996.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: David and Noelene Martin were the first victims, murdered at the Seascape property at some point within a 12 hour timeframe prior to the Port Arthur attack.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: A couple stopped at Seascape, and Bryant met them outside. When they asked if they could have a look at the accommodation, Bryant told them that they could not because his parents were away and his girlfriend was inside. His demeanour was described as quite rude and the couple felt uncomfortable. They left at about 12:35 p.m.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant drove to Port Arthur, taking the keys to the Seascape properties after locking the doors. Bryant stopped at a car which had pulled over due to overheating and talked with two people there. He suggested that they come to the Port Arthur café for some coffee later.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: He travelled past the Port Arthur historic site towards a Palmer's Lookout Road property owned by the Martins, where he came across Roger Larner. Larner had met him on some occasions more than 15 years previously. Bryant told Larner he had been surfing and had bought a property called Fogg Lodge and was now looking to buy some cattle from Larner. Bryant also made several comments about buying the Martins' place next door. He asked if Marian Larner was home and asked if he could continue down the driveway of the farm to see her. Larner said OK but told Bryant he would come also. "Bryant then responded that he might go to Nubeena first" and he was going to return in the afternoon.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: At around 1:10 p.m., Bryant paid the entry fee for the site and proceeded to park near the Broad Arrow Café, near the water's edge. The site security manager told him to park with the other cars because that area was reserved for camper-vans and the car park was busy that day. Bryant moved his car to another area and sat in his car for a few minutes. He then moved his car back near the water, outside the café. The security manager saw him go up to the café carrying a "sports-type bag" and a video camera, but ignored him. Bryant went into the café and purchased a meal, which he ate on the deck outside. He attempted to start conversations with people about the lack of wasps in the area and there not being as many Japanese tourists as usual. He appeared nervous and "quite regularly" looked back to the car-park and into the café.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: The café was very small, and was particularly busy that day as many people waited for the next ferry. Bryant pointed his rifle to the table beside him, fatally shooting Moh Yee (William) Ng and Sou Leng Chung, who were visiting from Malaysia. Bryant then fired a shot at Mick Sargent, grazing his scalp and knocking him to the floor. He then fatally shot Sargent's girlfriend, 21-year-old Kate Elizabeth Scott, hitting her in the back of the head.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: A 28-year-old New Zealand winemaker, Jason Winter, had been helping the busy café staff. As Bryant turned towards Winter's wife Joanne and their 15-month-old son Mitchell, Winter threw a serving tray at Bryant in an attempt to distract him. Joanne Winter's father pushed his daughter and grandson to the floor and under the table.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Forty-four-year-old Anthony Nightingale stood up after the sound of the first shots. Nightingale yelled "No, not here!" as Bryant pointed the weapon at him. As Nightingale leaned forward, he was fatally shot through the neck and spine.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant fired one shot that killed Kevin Vincent Sharp, 68. He then fired another shot at Walter Bennett, 66, which passed through his body and struck Raymond John Sharp, 67, Kevin Sharp's brother, killing both. The three had their backs towards Bryant, and were unaware what was happening . The shots were all at close range. Gerald Broome, Gaye Fidler and her husband John Fidley were all struck by bullet fragments, but survived.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Thelma Walker and Pamela Law were injured by fragments before being dragged to the ground by their friend, Peter Crosswell, as the three sheltered underneath the table. Also injured by fragments from these shots was Patricia Barker.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant moved just a few metres and began shooting at the table where Graham Colyer, Carolyn Loughton and her daughter Sarah were seated. Colyer was shot in the jaw. Sarah Loughton ran towards her mother, who had been moving between tables. Carolyn Loughton threw herself on top of her daughter. Bryant shot Carolyn Loughton in the back; her eardrum was ruptured by the muzzle blast from the gun going off beside her ear. Despite Carolyn's efforts, Sarah had been fatally shot in the head.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant pivoted around and fatally shot Mervyn Howard. The bullet passed through him, through a window of the café, and hit a table on the outside balcony. Bryant then fatally shot Mervyn Howard's wife, Mary Howard in the head and neck.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant was near the exit, preventing others from attempting to run past him and escape. Bryant moved across the café towards the gift shop area. As Bryant moved, Robert Elliott stood up. He was shot in the arm and head, though survived his injuries.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: From the first shot, all of these events took approximately fifteen seconds, during which Bryant fired seventeen shots, killed twelve people, and wounded ten more.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: As Bryant moved towards the gift shop area, many used the time to hide under tables and behind shop displays. He fatally shot the two local women who worked in the gift shop: 17-year-old Nicole Burgess, in the head, and 26-year-old Elizabeth Howard, in the arm and chest.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Coralee Lever and Vera Jary hid behind a hessian (burlap) screen with others. Lever's husband Dennis was fatally shot in the head. Pauline Masters, Vera Jary's husband Ron, and Peter and Carolyn Nash had attempted to escape through a locked door but could not open it. Peter Nash lay down on top of his wife to hide her from the gunman. Gwen Neander, trying to make it to the door, was shot in the head and killed.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant saw movement in the café and moved near the front door. He shot at a table and hit Peter Crosswell, who was hiding under it, in the buttock. Jason Winter, hiding in the gift shop, thought Bryant had left the building and made a comment about it to people near him before moving out into the open. Bryant saw him, with Winter exclaiming, "No, no" just prior to being shot, the bullet hitting his hand, neck and chest. Winter was then fatally shot in the head. Fragments from those shots struck American tourist Dennis Olson, who had been hiding with his wife Mary and Winter. Dennis Olson suffered fragment injuries to his hand, scalp, eye and chest, but survived.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: It is not immediately clear what happened next, although at some point, Bryant reloaded his weapon. Bryant walked back to the café and then returned to the gift shop, where he fatally shot Ronald Jary, Peter Nash and Pauline Masters. He did not see Carolyn Nash, who was lying under her husband. Bryant aimed his gun at an unidentified Asian man, but the rifle's magazine was empty. Bryant then moved to the gift shop counter, where he reloaded his rifle, leaving an empty magazine on the service counter, and left the building.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: In the café and gift shop combined, he fired twenty-nine shots, killed twenty people, and wounded twelve more.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant then moved towards the coaches. One of the coach drivers, Royce Thompson, was shot in the back as he was moving along the passengers' side of a coach. He fell to the ground and was able to crawl under the bus, but later died of his wounds. Brigid Cook was trying to guide people down between the buses and along the jetty area to cover. Bryant moved to the front of this bus and walked across to the next coach. People had quickly moved from this coach towards the back end, in an attempt to seek cover. As Bryant walked around it, he saw people trying to hide and shot at them. Cook was shot in the right thigh, causing the bone to fragment, the bullet lodging there.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant then quickly moved around another coach and fired at another group of people. Winifred Aplin, running to get to cover behind another coach, was fatally shot in the side. Another bullet grazed Yvonne Lockley's cheek, but she was able to enter one of the coaches to hide, and survived.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Some people then started moving away from the car park towards the jetty. However, someone shouted that Bryant was heading that way, so they doubled back around the coaches to where Brigid Cook had been shot. Bryant then moved to where Janet and Neville Quin, who owned a wildlife park on the east coast of Tasmania, were beginning to move away from the buses. Bryant shot Janet Quin in the back, where she fell, unable to move, near Royce Thompson.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant then continued along the car park as people tried to escape along the shore. Doug Hutchinson was attempting to get into a coach when he was shot in the arm.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant then went to his vehicle, which was just past the coaches, and exchanged his weapon for a self-loading rifle.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant moved back to the buses where Janet Quin lay injured from the earlier shot. He then fatally shot her in the back. Bryant then went onto one of the coaches and fatally shot Elva Gaylard in the arm and chest. At an adjacent coach, Gordon Francis saw what happened and moved down the aisle to try to shut the door of the coach he was on. He was seen by Bryant and shot from the opposite coach. He survived, but needed four major operations.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Neville Quin, husband of Janet, had escaped to the jetty area, but returned to look for his wife. He had been forced to leave her earlier after Bryant shot her. Bryant exited the coach and, spotting Quin, chased him around the coaches. Bryant fired at him at least twice before Quin ran onto a coach. Bryant entered the coach and pointed the gun at Neville Quin's face, saying, "No one gets away from me". Quin ducked when he realised Bryant was about to pull the trigger. The bullet missed his head but hit his neck, momentarily paralysing him.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Ahead of him were Nanette Mikac and her children, Madeline, 3, and Alannah, 6. Nanette was carrying Madeline, and Alannah was running slightly ahead. By this point, they had run approximately from the car park. Bryant opened his door and slowed down. Mikac moved towards the car, apparently thinking he was offering help. Bryant stepped out of the car, and told Nanette Mikac to get on her knees. She did so, and Bryant fatally shot her in the temple. He then fatally shot Madeline and Alannah.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant drove up to the toll booth, where there were several vehicles, and blocked a 1980 BMW 7 Series owned by Mary Rose Nixon. Inside were Nixon, driver Russell James Pollard and passengers Helene and Robert Graham Salzmann. An argument with Robert Salzmann ensued, and Bryant took out his rifle and fatally shot him. Pollard emerged from the BMW and moved towards Bryant before being fatally shot in the chest. Bryant then moved to the BMW and fatally shot Nixon and Helene Salzmann before removing them from the car. Bryant transferred ammunition, handcuffs, the AR-15 rifle and a fuel container to the BMW.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant drove up to the service station and cut off a white Toyota Corolla that was attempting to exit onto the highway. Glenn Pears was driving, with girlfriend Zoe Hall in the passenger seat. Bryant quickly exited the car with his rifle in hand and tried to pull Hall from the car. Pears got out of the car and approached Bryant. Bryant pointed the gun at Pears and pushed him backwards, eventually directing him into the now open boot of the BMW, locking Pears inside.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant then moved back to the passenger side of the Corolla as Hall attempted to climb over to the driver's seat. Bryant raised his rifle and fired three shots, killing her.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: As Bryant drove down to Seascape, he shot at a red Ford Falcon coming the other way, smashing its front windscreen. Upon arriving at Seascape, he got out of his car. A Holden Frontera 4WD vehicle then approached Seascape along the road. Those in the vehicle saw Bryant with his gun, but believed him to be rabbit hunting and slowed down as they passed him. Bryant fired into the car; the first bullet hit the bonnet and broke the throttle cable. He fired at least twice more into the car as it passed, breaking the windows. One bullet hit the driver, Linda White, in the arm.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Another vehicle then drove down the road, carrying four people. It was not until they were almost adjacent to Bryant that they realised he was carrying a gun. Bryant shot at the car, smashing the windscreen. Douglas Horner was wounded by pieces of the windscreen. The car proceeded ahead where White and Wanders tried to get in, but Horner did not realise the situation and drove on. When they saw that White had been shot, they came back and picked them up. Both parties then continued down to a local establishment called the Fox and Hounds Inn, where they called police.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Yet another car drove past and Bryant shot at it, hitting the passenger, Susan Williams, in the hand. The driver, Simon Williams, was struck by fragments.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Sometime after he stopped, Bryant removed Pears from the boot and handcuffed him to a stair rail within the house. At some point, he also set the BMW on fire.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant was captured the following morning, when a fire started in the guest house, presumably set by Bryant.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: It was discovered that Glenn Pears had been shot during or before the standoff and had died before the fire. The remains of the Martins were also found.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: The Port Arthur tourist site reopened a few weeks later, and since then a new restaurant has been built. The former Broad Arrow Café structure is now a "place for quiet reflection", with a monument and memorial garden dedicated at the site in April 2000. The "Australian Journal of Emergency Management" published several research articles on the response and the ongoing processes of recovery, including an article about caring for the social workers working with residents.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: A substantial community fund was given for the victims of the Port Arthur massacre. The murder of Nanette Mikac and her daughters Alannah and Madeline inspired Dr Phil West of Melbourne, who had two girls similar in age to the murdered children, to set up a foundation in their memory. The Alannah and Madeline Foundation supports child victims of violence and runs a national anti-bullying program.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: In 1996, Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe wrote "Port Arthur, In memoriam: for chamber orchestra", "...for the victims of the massacre at Port Arthur, 28 April 1996, for those who died, and for those who live with the memory of it." The work was first performed 24 June 1996, at Government House, Hobart, Tasmania, by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Porcelijn.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: In 2007, Tasmanian playwright Tom Holloway dealt with the massacre in his play "Beyond the Neck". Tasmanian composer Matthew Dewey also deals with these issues in his first symphony. The case was also covered by "Casefile True Crime Podcast" on 11 February 2017.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: The massacre at Port Arthur forged a kinship between that town and the Scottish town of Dunblane, which had suffered a similar event, the Dunblane school massacre, only weeks previously.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Paul Mullen, a forensic psychiatrist with extensive involvement following the string of massacres in Australia and New Zealand, attributes both the Port Arthur massacre and some of the earlier massacres to the copycat effect. In this theory the saturation media coverage provides both instruction and perverse incentives for dysfunctional individuals to imitate previous crimes. In Tasmania, a coroner found that a report on the current affairs program "A Current Affair", a few months earlier had guided one suicide, and might have helped create the expectation of a massacre. The coverage of the Dunblane massacre, in particular the attention on the perpetrator, is thought to have provided the trigger for Bryant to act.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Following the spree, the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, led the development of strict gun control laws within Australia and formulated the National Firearms Agreement, restricting the private ownership of semi-automatic rifles, semi-automatic shotguns and pump-action shotguns as well as introducing uniform firearms licensing. It was implemented with bipartisan support by the Commonwealth, states and territories. The massacre happened just six weeks after the Dunblane massacre, in Scotland, which claimed 18 lives, with UK Prime Minister John Major reaching out to his counterpart over the shared tragedies; the United Kingdom passed its own changes to gun laws the next year after a change of government.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Australians reacted to the event with widespread shock and horror, and the political effects were significant and long-lasting. The federal government led state governments to impose restrictions on the availability of firearms, despite some of them (notably Tasmania itself and Queensland) being generally opposed to new gun laws. Concern was raised within the Coalition Government that fringe groups such as the "Ausi Freedom Scouts", the Australian League of Rights and the Citizen Initiated Referendum Party, were exploiting voter anger to gain support. After discovering that the Christian Coalition and National Rifle Association of America were supporting the gun lobby, the government and media cited their support, along with the moral outrage of the community to discredit the gun lobby as extremists.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Under federal government co-ordination, all states and territories of Australia restricted the legal ownership and use of self-loading rifles, self-loading shotguns, and tightened controls on their legal use by recreational shooters. The government initiated a mandatory "buy-back" scheme with the owners paid according to a table of valuations. Some 643,000 firearms were handed in at a cost of $350 million which was funded by a temporary increase in the Medicare levy which raised $500 million.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Much discussion has occurred as to the level of Bryant's mental health. At the time of the offences he was in receipt of a Disability Support Pension on the basis of being mentally handicapped. Media reports also detailed his odd behaviour as a child. He was able to drive a car and obtain a gun, despite lacking a gun licence or a driver's licence.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Martin Bryant pleaded guilty to having carried out the shootings and was given 35 life sentences without parole. Since 2015, he has been imprisoned in the Risdon Prison Complex.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Bryant was held in Royal Hobart Hospital under heavy police guard while awaiting trial. According to a guard, there were at least two security guard job applications made by individuals seeking to exact retribution on Bryant.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: On 22 November 1996, Bryant was sentenced to 35 sentences of life imprisonment for each count of murder and sentenced to 25 years for the remaining 36 charges on 5 other offences (20 attempted murders, 3 counts infliction of grievous bodily harm, the infliction of wounds upon a further 8 persons, 4 counts of aggravated assault and 1 count of unlawfully setting fire to property). All sentences are to be served concurrently.


title: Port Arthur massacre (Australia)

text: Tasmanian Police records from the incident are in the care of the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Blue Velvet is a 1986 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by David Lynch. Blending psychological horror with film noir, the film stars Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, and is named after the 1951 song of the same name. The film concerns a young college student who, returning home to visit his ill father, discovers a severed human ear in a field. The ear then leads him to uncover a vast criminal conspiracy, and into a romantic relationship with a troubled lounge singer.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The screenplay of "Blue Velvet" had been passed around multiple times in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with several major studios declining it due to its strong sexual and violent content. After the failure of his 1984 film "Dune", Lynch made attempts at developing a more "personal story", somewhat characteristic of the surrealist style displayed in his first film "Eraserhead" (1977). The independent studio De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, owned at the time by Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis, agreed to finance and produce the film.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: "Blue Velvet" initially received a divided critical response, with many stating that its explicit content served little artistic purpose. Nevertheless, the film earned Lynch his second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director, and received the year's Best Film and Best Director prizes from the National Society of Film Critics. It came to achieve cult status. As an example of a director casting against the norm, it was credited for revitalizing Hopper's career and for providing Rossellini with a dramatic outlet beyond her previous work as a fashion model and a cosmetics spokeswoman. In the years since, the film has been re-evaluated, and it is now widely regarded as one of Lynch's major works and one of the greatest films of the 1980s. Publications including "Sight & Sound", "Time", "Entertainment Weekly" and "BBC Magazine" have ranked it among the greatest American films ever. In 2008, it was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest mystery films ever made.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Sometime during the 1980s, college student Jeffrey Beaumont returns home to Lumberton, North Carolina after his father, Tom, has a near-fatal, but never directly stated, medical condition. Jeffrey's father is confined in a bed and with some manner of constricting device, suggesting a seizure disorder. Walking home from the hospital, Jeffrey cuts through a vacant lot and discovers a severed human ear. Jeffrey takes the ear to police detective John Williams and becomes reacquainted with Williams' daughter, Sandy. Sandy tells Jeffrey that the ear somehow relates to a lounge singer named Dorothy Vallens. Intrigued, Jeffrey, posing as a pest exterminator, gains access to her apartment. While there, he steals a spare key while she is distracted by a man in a distinctive yellow sport coat, whom Jeffrey nicknames the "Yellow Man".


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Jeffrey and Sandy attend Dorothy's nightclub act, in which she sings "Blue Velvet", and leave early so Jeffrey can infiltrate her apartment. Dorothy returns home, stripping down to nothing, but when she hears Jeffrey, she finds him hiding in a closet and forces him to undress at knifepoint. She nearly fellates Jeffrey, but he retreats to the closet when Frank Booth, an aggressively psychopathic gangster and drug lord, arrives and interrupts their encounter. Frank then proceeds to beat and rape Dorothy while inhaling narcotic gas from a canister and alternating between fits of sobbing and violent rage. After Frank leaves, Jeffrey sneaks away and seeks comfort from Sandy.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: After surmising that Frank has abducted Dorothy's husband Don and son Donnie to force her into sex slavery, Jeffrey suspects Frank cut off Don's ear to intimidate her into submission. While continuing to see Sandy, Jeffrey enters into a sadomasochistic sexual relationship in which Dorothy encourages him to hit her. Jeffrey sees Frank attending Dorothy's show and later observes him selling drugs and meeting with the Yellow Man. Jeffrey then sees the Yellow Man meeting with a 'well dressed man.'


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: When Frank catches Jeffrey leaving Dorothy's apartment, he abducts them and brings them to the lair of Ben, a criminal associate who is holding both Don and Donnie hostage. Frank permits Dorothy to see her family and forces Jeffrey to watch Ben perform an impromptu lip-sync of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams", which moves Frank to tears. Afterwards, he and his gang take Jeffrey and Dorothy on a high-speed joyride to a sawmill yard, where he again attempts to sexually abuse Dorothy. When Jeffrey intervenes and punches him in the face, an enraged Frank and his gang pull him out of the car. Replaying the tape of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" Frank smears lipstick on his face and violently kisses Jeffrey, likewise smearing him with red lipstick. Frank savagely beats Jeffrey unconscious, while a woman dances on the roof of the car and Dorothy pleads for Frank to stop. Jeffrey awakes the next morning, bruised and bloodied.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Visiting the police station, Jeffrey realizes that Detective Williams' partner, Tom Gordon, is the Yellow Man, who has been murdering Frank's rival drug dealers and stealing confiscated narcotics from the evidence room for Frank to sell. After he and Sandy attend a party during which they profess their love for one another, they are pursued by a car which they assume belongs to Frank. As they arrive at Jeffrey's home, Sandy realizes the car belongs to her ex-boyfriend Mike Shaw. After Mike threatens to beat Jeffrey for stealing his girlfriend, Dorothy appears on Jeffrey's porch naked, beaten and confused. Mike backs down as Jeffrey and Sandy whisk Dorothy to Sandy's house to summon medical attention.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: When Dorothy calls Jeffrey "my secret lover", a distraught Sandy slaps him for cheating on her. Jeffrey asks Sandy to tell her father everything, and Detective Williams then leads a police raid on Frank's headquarters, killing his men and crippling his criminal empire. Jeffrey returns alone to Dorothy's apartment, where he discovers her husband dead and the Yellow Man mortally wounded. As Jeffrey leaves the apartment, the 'Well Dressed Man' arrives, sees Jeffrey in the stairs and chases him back inside. Jeffrey, realizing that the 'Well Dressed Man' is actually Frank Booth, uses the Yellow Man's walkie-talkie to say he is in the bedroom while he, in fact, hides in a closet. When Frank arrives, Jeffrey ambushes and kills him with the Yellow Man's gun, moments before Sandy and Detective Williams arrive for help.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The film's story originated from three ideas that crystallized in the filmmaker's mind over a period of time starting as early as 1973.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The second idea was an image of a severed, human ear lying in a field. "I don't know why it had to be an ear. Except it needed to be an opening of a part of the body, a hole into something else ... The ear sits on the head and goes right into the mind so it felt perfect," Lynch remarked in a 1986 interview to "The New York Times".


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The third idea was Bobby Vinton's classic rendition of the song "Blue Velvet" and "the mood that came with that song a mood, a time, and things that were of that time."


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The scene in which Dorothy appears naked outside was inspired by a real-life experience Lynch had during childhood when he and his brother saw a naked woman walking down a neighborhood street at night. The experience was so traumatic to the young Lynch that it made him cry, and he had never forgotten it.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: After completing "The Elephant Man" (1980), Lynch met producer Richard Roth over coffee. Roth had read and enjoyed Lynch's "Ronnie Rocket" script, but did not think it was something he wanted to produce. He asked Lynch if the filmmaker had any other scripts, but the director only had ideas. "I told him I had always wanted to sneak into a girl's room to watch her into the night and that, maybe, at one point or another, I would see something that would be the clue to a murder mystery. Roth loved the idea and asked me to write a treatment. I went home and thought of the ear in the field." Production was announced in August 1984. Lynch wrote two more drafts before he was satisfied with the script of the film. The problem with them, Lynch has said, was that "there was maybe all the unpleasantness in the film but nothing else. A lot was not there. And so it went away for a while." Conditions at this point were ideal for Lynch's film: he had made a deal with Dino De Laurentiis that gave him complete artistic freedom and final cut privileges, with the stipulation that the filmmaker take a cut in his salary and work with a budget of only $6 million. This deal meant that "Blue Velvet" was the smallest film on De Laurentiis's slate. Consequently, Lynch would be left mostly unsupervised during production. "After "Dune" I was down so far that anything was up! So it was just a euphoria. And when you work with that kind of feeling, you can take chances. You can experiment."


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Lynch met Isabella Rossellini at a restaurant, and offered her the role of Dorothy Vallens. Rossellini had gained some exposure before the film for her Lancôme ads in the early 1980s and for being the daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini. After completion of the film, during test screenings, ICM Partners—the agency representing Rossellini—immediately dropped her as a client. Furthermore, the nuns at the school in Rome that Rossellini attended in her youth called to say they were praying for her.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Kyle MacLachlan had played the central role in Lynch's critical and commercial failure "Dune" (1984), a science fiction epic based on the novel of the same name. MacLachlan later became a recurring collaborator with Lynch, who remarked: "Kyle plays innocents who are interested in the mysteries of life. He's the person you trust enough to go into a strange world with."


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Dennis Hopper was the biggest "name" in the film, having starred in "Easy Rider" (1969). Hopper—said to be Lynch's third choice (Michael Ironside has stated that Frank was written with him in mind)—accepted the role, reportedly having exclaimed, "I've got to play Frank! I am Frank!" as Hopper confirmed in the "Blue Velvet" "making-of" documentary "The Mysteries of Love", produced for the 2002 special edition. Harry Dean Stanton and Steven Berkoff both turned down the role of Frank because of the violent content in the film.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Laura Dern (then 18 years old) was cast, after various already successful actresses had turned it down; among these had been Molly Ringwald.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Principal photography of "Blue Velvet" began in August 1985 and completed in November. The film was shot at EUE/Screen Gems studio in Wilmington, North Carolina, which also provided the exterior scenes of Lumberton. The scene with a raped and battered Dorothy proved to be particularly challenging. Several townspeople arrived to watch the filming with picnic baskets and rugs, against the wishes of Rossellini and Lynch. However, they continued filming as normal, and when Lynch yelled cut, the townspeople had left. As a result, police told Lynch they were no longer permitted to shoot in any public areas of Wilmington.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The Carolina Apartments on 5th and Market St in downtown Wilmington served as the location central to the story, with the adjacent Kenan fountain featured prominently in many shots. The building is also the birthplace and deathplace of noted artist Claude Howell. The apartment building stands today, and the Kenan fountain was refurbished in 2020 after sustaining heavy damage during Hurricane Florence.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Lynch's original rough cut ran for approximately four hours. He was contractually obligated to deliver a two-hour movie by De Laurentiis and cut many small subplots and character scenes. He also made cuts at the request of the MPAA. For example, when Frank slaps Dorothy after the first rape scene, the audience was supposed to see Frank actually hitting her. Instead, the film cuts away to Jeffrey in the closet, wincing at what he has just seen. This cut was made to satisfy the MPAA's concerns about violence. Lynch thought that the change only made the scene more disturbing. In 2011, Lynch announced that footage from the deleted scenes, long thought lost, had been discovered. The material was subsequently included on the Blu-ray Disc release of the film. The final cut of the film runs at just over two hours.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Because the material was completely different from anything that would be considered mainstream at the time, De Laurentiis Entertainment Group's marketing employees were unsure of how to promote the film, or even if it would be promoted at all; it wasn't until the positive reception the film received at various film festivals that they began to promote it.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Despite "Blue Velvet"s initial appearance as a mystery, the film operates on a number of thematic levels. The film owes a large debt to 1950s film noir, containing and exploring such conventions as the femme fatale (Dorothy Vallens), a seemingly unstoppable villain (Frank Booth), and the questionable moral outlook of the hero (Jeffrey Beaumont), as well as its unusual use of shadowy, sometimes dark cinematography. "Blue Velvet" represents and establishes Lynch's famous "askew vision", and introduces several common elements of Lynch's work, some of which would later become his trademarks, including distorted characters, a polarized world, and debilitating damage to the skull or brain. Perhaps the most significant Lynchian trademark in the film is the depiction of unearthing a dark underbelly in a seemingly idealized small town; Jeffrey even proclaims in the film that he is "seeing something that was always hidden", alluding to the plot's central idea. Lynch's characterization of films, symbols, and motifs have become well known, and his particular style, characterised largely in "Blue Velvet" for the first time, has been written about extensively using descriptions like "dreamlike", "ultraweird", "dark", and "oddball". Red curtains also show up in key scenes, specifically in Dorothy's apartment, which have since become a Lynch trademark. The film has been compared to Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960) because of its stark treatment of evil and mental illness. The premise of both films is curiosity, leading to an investigation that draws the lead characters into a hidden, voyeuristic underworld of crime.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The film's thematic framework hearkens back to Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, and early gothic fiction, as well as films such as "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943) and "The Night of the Hunter" (1955) and the entire notion of film noir. Lynch has called it a "film about things that are hidden—within a small city and within people."


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Feminist psychoanalytic film theorist Laura Mulvey argues that "Blue Velvet" establishes a metaphorical Oedipal family—"the child", Jeffrey Beaumont, and his "parents", Frank Booth and Dorothy Vallens—through deliberate references to film noir and its underlying Oedipal theme. Michael Atkinson claims that the resulting violence in the film can be read as symbolic of domestic violence within real families. For instance, Frank's violent acts can be seen to reflect the different types of abuse within families, and the control he has over Dorothy might represent the hold an abusive husband has over his wife. He reads Jeffrey as an innocent youth who is both horrified by the violence inflicted by Frank, but also tempted by it as the means of possessing Dorothy for himself. Atkinson takes a Freudian approach to the film; considering it to be an expression of the traumatised innocence which characterises Lynch's work. He states, "Dorothy represents the sexual force of the mother [figure] because she is forbidden and because she becomes the object of the unhealthy, infantile impulses at work in Jeffrey's subconscious."


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Symbolism is used heavily in "Blue Velvet". The most consistent symbolism in the film is an insect motif introduced at the end of the first scene, when the camera zooms in on a well-kept suburban lawn until it unearths a swarming underground nest of bugs. This is generally recognized as a metaphor for the seedy underworld that Jeffrey will soon discover under the surface of his own suburban, Reaganesque paradise. The severed ear he finds is being overrun by black ants. The bug motif is recurrent throughout the film, most notably in the bug-like gas mask that Frank wears, but also the excuse that Jeffrey uses to gain access to Dorothy's apartment: he claims to be an insect exterminator. One of Frank's sinister accomplices is also consistently identified through the yellow jacket he wears, possibly reminiscent of the name of a type of wasp. Finally, a robin eating a bug on a fence becomes a topic of discussion in the last scene of the film.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The severed ear that Jeffrey discovers is also a key symbolic element, leading Jeffrey into danger. Indeed, just as Jeffrey's troubles begin, the audience is treated to a nightmarish sequence in which the camera zooms into the canal of the severed, decomposing ear.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The "Blue Velvet" soundtrack was supervised by Angelo Badalamenti (who makes a brief cameo appearance as the pianist at the Slow Club where Dorothy performs). The soundtrack makes heavy usage of vintage pop songs, such as Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet" and Roy Orbison's "In Dreams", juxtaposed with an orchestral score inspired by Shostakovich. During filming, Lynch placed speakers on set and in streets and played Shostakovich to set the mood he wanted to convey. The score alludes to Shostakovich's 15th Symphony, which Lynch had been listening to regularly while writing the screenplay. Lynch had originally opted to use "Song to the Siren" by This Mortal Coil during the scene in which Sandy and Jeffrey share a dance; however, he could not obtain the rights for the song at the time. He would go on to use this song in "Lost Highway", eleven years later.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: "Entertainment Weekly" ranked "Blue Velvet" soundtrack on its list of the "100 Greatest Film Soundtracks", at the 100th position. Critic John Alexander wrote, "the haunting soundtrack accompanies the title credits, then weaves through the narrative, accentuating the noir mood of the film." Lynch worked with music composer Angelo Badalamenti for the first time in this film and asked him to write a score that had to be "like Shostakovich, be very Russian, but make it the most beautiful thing but make it dark and a little bit scary." Badalamenti's success with "Blue Velvet" would lead him to contribute to all of Lynch's future full-length films until "Inland Empire" as well as the cult television program "Twin Peaks". Also included in the sound team was long-time Lynch collaborator Alan Splet, a sound editor and designer who had won an Academy Award for his work on "The Black Stallion" (1979), and been nominated for "Never Cry Wolf" (1983).


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: "Blue Velvet" premiered in competition at the Montréal World Film Festival in August 1986, and at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on September 12, 1986, and a few days later in the United States. It debuted commercially in both countries on September 19, 1986, in 98 theatres across the United States. In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $789,409. It eventually expanded to another 15 theatres, and in the US and Canada grossed a total of $8,551,228. "Blue Velvet" was met with uproar during its audience reception, with lines formed around city blocks in New York City and Los Angeles. There were reports of mass walkouts and refund demands during its opening week. At a Chicago screening, a man fainted and had to have his pacemaker checked. Upon completion, he returned to the cinema to see the ending. At a Los Angeles cinema, two strangers became engaged in a heated disagreement, but decided to resolve the disagreement to return to the theatre.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: "Blue Velvet" was released to a mixed reception in the United States. The critics who did praise the film were often vociferous. "The New York Times" critic Janet Maslin directed much praise toward the performances of Hopper and Rossellini: "Mr. Hopper and Miss Rossellini are so far outside the bounds of ordinary acting here that their performances are best understood in terms of sheer lack of inhibition; both give themselves entirely over to the material, which seems to be exactly what's called for." She called it "an instant cult classic". Maslin concluded by saying that "Blue Velvet" "is as fascinating as it is freakish. It confirms Mr. Lynch's stature as an innovator, a superb technician, and someone best not encountered in a dark alley."


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Sheila Benson of the "Los Angeles Times" called the film "the most brilliantly disturbing film ever to have its roots in small-town American life," describing it as "shocking, visionary, rapturously controlled". Film critic Gene Siskel included "Blue Velvet" on his list of the best films of 1986, at the fifth spot. Peter Travers, film critic for "Rolling Stone", named it the best film of the 1980s and referred to it as an "American masterpiece". Upon its initial release, Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese called Blue Velvet the "Best Film of The Year".


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: On the other hand, Paul Attanasio of "The Washington Post" said "the film showcases a visual stylist utterly in command of his talents" and that Angelo Badalamenti "contributes an extraordinary score, slipping seamlessly from slinky jazz to violin figures to the romantic sweep of a classic Hollywood score," but stated that Lynch "isn't interested in communicating, he's interested in parading his personality. The movie doesn't progress or deepen, it just gets weirder, and to no good end." A general criticism from US critics was "Blue Velvet"s approach to sexuality and violence. They asserted that this detracted from the film's seriousness as a work of art, and some condemned the film as pornographic. One of its detractors, Roger Ebert, praised Isabella Rossellini's performance as "convincing and courageous" but criticized how she was depicted in the film, even accusing David Lynch of misogyny: "degraded, slapped around, humiliated and undressed in front of the camera. And when you ask an actress to endure those experiences, you should keep your side of the bargain by putting her in an important film." While Ebert in later years came to consider Lynch a great filmmaker, his negative view of "Blue Velvet" remained unchanged after he revisited it in the 21st century.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: The film is now widely considered a masterpiece and has a score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 80 reviews with an average rating of 8.8/10. The website's critical consensus states: "If audiences walk away from this subversive, surreal shocker not fully understanding the story, they might also walk away with a deeper perception of the potential of film storytelling." The film also has a score of 76 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Looking back in his "Guardian/Observer" review, critic Philip French wrote, "The film is wearing well and has attained a classic status without becoming respectable or losing its sense of danger."


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Mark Kermode walked out on the film and gave the film a poor review upon its release, but revised his view of the film over time. In 2016, he remarked, "as a film critic, it taught me that when a film really gets under your skin and really provokes a visceral reaction, you have to be very careful about assessing it ... I didn't walk out on "Blue Velvet" because it was a bad film. I walked out on it because it was a really good film. The point was at the time I wasn't good enough for it."


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Lynch was nominated for a Best Director Oscar for the film. Dennis Hopper was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance. Isabella Rossellini won an Independent Spirit Award for the Best Female Lead in 1987. David Lynch and Dennis Hopper won a Los Angeles Film Critics Association award in 1987 for "Blue Velvet" in categories Best Director (Lynch) and Best Supporting Actor (Hopper). In 1987, National Society of Film Critics awarded Best Film, Best Director (David Lynch), Best Cinematography (Frederick Elmes), and Best Supporting Actor (Dennis Hopper) awards.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: "Blue Velvet" was released on DVD in 1999 and 2002 by MGM Home Entertainment. The film made its Blu-ray debut on November 8, 2011, with a special 25th-anniversary edition featuring never-before-seen deleted scenes. On May 28, 2019, the film was re-released on Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection, featuring a 4K digital restoration, the original stereo soundtrack and other special features, including a behind-the-scenes documentary titled "Blue Velvet Revisited".


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: Although it initially gained a relatively small theatrical audience in North America and was met with controversy over its artistic merit, "Blue Velvet" soon became the center of a "national firestorm" in 1986, and over time became an American classic. In the late 1980s, and early 1990s, after its release on videotape, the film became a widely recognized cult film, for its dark depiction of a suburban America. With its many VHS, LaserDisc and DVD releases, the film reached broader American audiences. It marked David Lynch's entry into the Hollywood mainstream and Dennis Hopper's comeback. Hopper's performance as Frank Booth has itself left an imprint on popular culture, with countless tributes, cultural references and parodies. The film's success also helped Hollywood address previously censored issues, as "Psycho" (1960) had. "Blue Velvet" has been frequently compared to that ground-breaking film. It has become one of the most significant, well-recognized films of its era, spawning countless imitations and parodies in media. The film's dark, stylish and erotic production design has served as a benchmark for a number of films, parodies and even Lynch's own later work, notably "Twin Peaks" (1990–91), and "Mulholland Drive" (2001). Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" magazine cited it as one of the most "influential American films", as did Michael Atkinson, who dedicated a book to the film's themes and motifs.


title: Blue Velvet (film)

text: "Blue Velvet" now frequently appears in various critical assessments of all-time great films, also ranked as one of the greatest films of the 1980s, one of the best examples of American surrealism and one of the finest examples of David Lynch's work. In a poll of 54 American critics ranking the "most outstanding films of the decade", "Blue Velvet" was placed fourth, behind "Raging Bull" (1980), "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) and the German film "Wings of Desire" (1987). An "Entertainment Weekly" book special released in 1999 ranked "Blue Velvet" 37th of the greatest films of all time. The film was ranked by "The Guardian" in its list of the 100 Greatest Films. "Film Four" ranked it on their list of 100 Greatest Films. In a 2007 poll of the online film community held by "Variety", "Blue Velvet" came in at the 95th-greatest film of all time. "Total Film" ranked "Blue Velvet" as one of the all-time best films in both a critics' list and a public poll, in 2006 and 2007, respectively. In December 2002, a UK film critics' poll in "Sight & Sound" ranked the film fifth on their list of the 10 Best Films of the Last 25 Years. In a special "Entertainment Weekly" issue, 100 new film classics were chosen from 1983 to 2008: "Blue Velvet" was ranked at fourth.