American postcard by Classico, San Francisco, no. 105-100, 1990. Photo: The Fourth New Line - Heron Venture, 1984. Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger.

American character actor and director Robert Englund (1947) achieved international fame as the iconic boogeyman and serial killer Freddy Krueger in the hit A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and its seven sequels plus a television series.

Robert Barton Englund was born in 1947 in Glendale, California, to Janis (MacDonald) and John Kent Englund, an aviation engineer who was involved in the development of the Lockheed U-2. At age 12, Robert began acting classes at California State University - Northridge in a youth program. While still in high school, he took acting classes at Cranbrook Theatre School, an initiative of the Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He then studied at California State University, where he received his bachelor's degree in Arts in theatre, and then at Oakland University, where he gained experience at the Meadow Brook Theatre, then a branch of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. His first major theatre role was in an adaptation of 'Godspell' in 1972. Afterward, Englund had five successful years performing in regional theatre including plays by William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. He auditioned for a role in the film Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973). He did not get the part but decided to stay in Los Angeles. In 1974, he made his film debut in the film Buster and Billie (Daniel Petrie, 1974), starring Jan-Michael Vincent. Since then, Englund has appeared in over 75 feature films and starred in four TV series. He played smaller parts in such productions as the crime film Hustle (Robert Aldrich, 1975) with Burt Reynolds and Catherine Deneuve, the comedy Stay Hungry (Bob Rafelson, 1976) with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jeff Bridges, and the adventure film St. Ives (J. Lee Thompson, 1976) with Charles Bronson. That year he also appeared in the Horror film Eaten Alive (Tobe Hooper, 1976) where Englund played a libidinous maniac. He then played Ranger in Galaxy of Terror (Bruce D. Clark, 1981), produced by Roger Corman. He gained his first fame for his role of Visitor technician and resistance fighter Willie in the Miniseries V (Kenneth Johnson, 1983) as well as the sequel V: The Final Battle (1984), and V: The Series, in which he was a regular cast member.

In 1984 Robert Englund achieved international fame as the iconic boogeyman, Freddy Krueger, in the hit horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984) opposite Johnny Depp. He also starred in its seven sequels. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for that role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (Chuck Russell, 1987) and in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (Renny Harlin, 1988). He also appeared in the television series Freddy's Nightmares (1988). His association with the genre led him to top-billed roles in other Horror films such as The Phantom of the Opera (Dwight H. Little, 1989) as the Phantom, The Mangler (Tobe Hooper, 1995), Urban Legend (Jamie Blanks, 1998) starring Jared Leto, and 2001 Maniacs (Tim Sullivan, 2005). Englund has also guest-starred in hundreds of hours of TV most recently Bones, Criminal Minds, and Hawaii 5-0. His memoir, 'Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street with the Man of Your Dreams,' which Alan Goldsher transcribed from his dictations, was published in 2009. In 2001, he received a Saturn Award for his entire oeuvre. In 1968, Englund married nurse Elizabeth Gardner. They divorced in 1972. He was then married to actress Roxanne Rogers from 1986 till 1988. He met his third wife, set decorator Nancy Booth while working on his feature directorial debut 976-EVIL (1988). They married that same year. In 2008, he directed his second film, Killer Pad, which was released directly on DVD.

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English), and IMDb.

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American postcard Classico, San Francisco /Winterland Productions / Rock Express, no. 460-053. Photo: Herb Ritts / Boy Toy Inc., 1991.

Madonna or Madonna Louise Ciccone (1958) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. During the MTV craze in the 1980s, Madonna pushed boundaries with her song texts and her provocative performances. She frequently reinvented herself and her music and stayed the 'Queen of Pop' for decades. Her global bestsellers were hits such as Like a Virgin (1984) and True Blue (1986), but for us she became more interesting with songs like Like a Prayer (1989), Vogue (1991) and Frozen (1998). And we're still fan, even of some of her films, including Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Truth or Dare (1991), and Evita (1996). The remarkable, hyper-ambitious Material Girl who never stops reinventing herself, Madonna is a seven-time Grammy Award-winner who has sold over three hundred million records and CDs to adoring fans worldwide.

Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone in 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. Her father is Italian, her mother was French-Canadian. Her siblings are Anthony Ciccone (1956), Martin Ciccone (1957), Paula Ciccone (1959), Christopher Ciccone (1960), and Melanie Henry (1962). In 1962, Madonna's mother, pregnant with her sixth child, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She delayed treatment until her baby was born, but by that time it was too late. A harrowing, yearlong battle with the disease ensued. She lost her battle with cancer in 1963. In 1978, Madonna moved to New York and studied with renowned choreographer Alvin Ailey. She joined up with the Patrick Hernandez Revue, formed a pop/dance band called 'Breakfast Club', and began working with then-boyfriend Stephen Bray on recording several disco-oriented songs. New York producer/D.J. Mark Kamins passed her demo tapes to Sire Records in early 1982 and the rest is history. The 1980s was Madonna's boom decade, and she dominated the music charts with a succession of multimillion-selling albums. Madonna first appeared on screen in two low-budget films marketed to an adolescent audience: A Certain Sacrifice (Stephen Jon Lewicki, 1979) and Crazy for You (Harold Becker, 1985), starring Matthew Modine. Her first film, A Certain Sacrifice (1979), was released in 1985, after she became a star, but was actually shot in two parts, the first in 1979, and the other, in 1981. However, she scored a minor cult hit with Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan Seidelman, 1985) starring alongside spunky Rosanna Arquette. In 1984, she started fashion trends with her unique look using rosaries and crosses as jewelry and black rubber typewriter bands as bracelets. Legions of adolescent girls mimicked her look and a Madonna clothing store was opened in New York. Again in 2001, another huge fashion trend was set off by the "Material Mom", this time with western wear - cowboy hats and mud-splattered jeans. In 1986, she starred with then-husband Sean Penn in Shanghai Surprise (Jim Goddard, 1986), which was savaged by critics. She managed to somewhat improve her standing in the cinema with her next two films, the off-beat Who's That Girl (James Foley, 1987) and the quirky Damon Runyon-inspired Bloodhounds of Broadway (Howard Brookner, 1989).

Madonna played in the big-budget and star-filled Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty, 1990) bad girl Breathless Mahoney flirting with Warren Beatty. The epic failed to catch fire at the box office. Taking an earthier role, Madonna was much more entertaining alongside Tom Hanks and Geena Davis in A League of Their Own (Penny Marshall, 1992), a story about female baseball players during W.W.II. However, she again drew the wrath of critics with the whodunit Body of Evidence (Uli Edel, 1992) with Willem Dafoe, an obvious attempt to cash in on the success of the sexy Sharon Stone thriller Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992). Several other minor screen roles followed, then Madonna starred as Eva Perón opposite Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Banderas in Evita (Alan Parker, 1996), a fairly well-received screen adaptation of the hugely successful Broadway musical, for which she received a Golden Globe for Best Actress. The Material Girl stayed away from the film cameras for several years, returning to co-star with Rupert Everett in the lukewarm romantic comedy The Next Best Thing (John Schlesinger, 2000), followed by the painful Swept Away (2002) for husband Guy Ritchie. If those films weren't bad enough, she was woefully miscast as a vampish fencing instructor in the James Bond adventure Die Another Day (Lee Tamahori, 2002) starring Pierce Brosnan. Madonna began a directing career in 2008 with the comedy Filth and Wisdom (Madonna, 2008), and a year later she reunited with Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991) director Alek Keshishian to develop a script about the relationship between the Duke of Windsor and the Duchess of Windsor that led to his abdication in 1936: the result, a movie named W.E. (Madonna, 2011), starring James D'Arcy and Andrea Riseborough as the infernal but still royal couple. The film was released in 2011 to lukewarm critics but it gathered one Oscar nomination for costumes and won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for 'Masterpiece'. Madonna has 6 children: daughter, Lourdes Leon (1996) with an ex-boyfriend, Carlos Leon, son, Rocco Ritchie (2000), and adoptive son, David Banda Mwale Ciccone Ritchie (2005) with ex-husband, Guy Ritchie, and adoptive daughters, Mercy James Ciccone (2006), Estere Ciccone and Stella Ciccone (2012).

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

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American postcard by Classico, San Francisco, no. 105-550. Photo: Boots Enterprises, 1997.

American singer and actress Nancy Sinatra (1940) is the daughter of singer/actor Frank Sinatra, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit These Boots Are Made for Walkin'.

Nancy Sandra Sinatra was born the first child of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Barbato Sinatra in 1940 in Jersey City, New Jersey. She is the older sister of Tina Sinatra and Frank Sinatra Jr. She attended and graduated from University High School in West Hollywood, California. Her first television appearance was with her father and Elvis Presley in 1959. Her debut single was 'Cuff Links and a Tie Clip' (1961). She first appeared as a film actress in For Those Who Think Young (Leslie H. Martinson, 1964) with James Darren, and Get Yourself a College Girl (Sidney Miller, 1964). Without a hit in the US by 1965, she was on the verge of being dropped by her label Reprise. Her singing career received a boost with the help of songwriter/producer/arranger Lee Hazlewood. Bolstered by an image overhaul - including bleached-blonde hair, frosted lips, heavy eye make-up, and Carnaby Street fashions -, Sinatra made her mark on the global music scene in early 1966 with 'These Boots Are Made for Walkin'. She also recorded that year 'Sugar Town' (1966), and her cover of Cher's 'Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)' (1966), which features during the opening sequence of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2003), starring Una Thurman.

In the cinema, Nancy Sinatra appeared alongside Peter Fonda in the biker picture The Wild Angels (Roger Corman, 1966) and with Elvis Presley in the musical comedy Speedway (Norman Taurog, 1968). She also had another United States chart-topper, a duet with her father called 'Somethin' Stupid' (1967). She also had a hit with the John Barry / Leslie Bricusse penned theme song to the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (Lewis Gilbert, 1967), starring Sean Connery. By the early 1970s, she was covering new ground by recording songs from other writers such as Bob Dylan, Smokey Robinson, Lynsey de Paul, and Roy Wood. In 1985, she wrote the book 'Frank Sinatra, My Father'. In 2004 she collaborated with former Los Angeles neighbour Morrissey to record a version of his song 'Let Me Kiss You', which was featured on her autumn release 'Nancy Sinatra'. She was married twice. Her first husband was pop star Tommy Sands (1960-1965) and her second husband was Hugh Lambert, with whom she was married from 1970 till his death in 1985. They had two children, A.J. Lambert, and photographer Amanda Lambert.

Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.

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American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 312-009. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967).

It was Walt Disney's lead story man and writer Bill Peet who first suggested making an animated version of Rudyard Kipling's 'Jungle Book'. In the film version, The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967), baby Mowgli is abandoned in the jungle after an accident. He is taken and raised by a family of wolves. As the boy grows older, the wise panther Bagheera realises he must be returned to his own kind in the nearby man-village. Baloo the bear however thinks differently, taking the young Mowgli under his wing and teaching him that living in the jungle is the best life there is. Bagheera realises that Mowgli is in danger, particularly from Shere Khan the tiger who hates all people. When Baloo finally comes around, Mowgli runs off into the jungle where he survives a second encounter with Kaa the snake, and finally, with Shere Khan. It's the sight of a pretty girl however that gets Mowgli to go to the nearby man-village and stay there.

The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967) was the 19th animated feature by the Disney studio, and the last to be personally supervised by Walt Disney himself. Disappointed by the muted reception to The Sword in the Stone (1963), Walt Disney was determined to come back with a universally well-regarded film. He told his animation crew to "throw away" Rudyard Kipling's book 'The Jungle Book' because the original concept storyboards were too dark and dramatic. During pre-production, Disney assigned animator Larry Clemmons to head story development on the project. He gave Clemmons a copy of 'The Jungle Book' and told him, "The first thing I want you to do is not read it." Terry Gilkyson had written a full score initially, but Walt Disney found it also too dark. At the last minute, he threw it away and asked the Sherman brothers to replace it with a more 'fun' score. However, 'Bare Necessities' stayed on at the insistence of others involved in the film and went on to be nominated for the Academy Award. The xerographic system, which had been used since 101 Dalmatiërs (1961), was further refined to combine both Xeroxed cels with hand-inked details. For example, while the basic animation on the village girl at the end of the film was with Xeroxed cels, her mouth was inked by hand. The backgrounds also moved back towards the more traditional look of earlier films. Ken Anderson storyboarded this scene, the final scene almost at the same time that Richard and Robert Sherman had finished 'My Own Home'. Everything that the Sherman brothers had envisioned while writing the song was up on the storyboards. They brought Anderson up to their office and played him the song and he immediately began to cry.

Source: IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

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American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 312-003. Image: Walt Disney Productions. Publicity still for The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967).

It was Walt Disney's lead story man and writer Bill Peet who first suggested making an animated version of Rudyard Kipling's 'Jungle Book'. In the film version, The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967), baby Mowgli is abandoned in the jungle after an accident. He is taken and raised by a family of wolves. As the boy grows older, the wise panther Bagheera realises he must be returned to his own kind in the nearby man-village. Baloo the bear however thinks differently, taking the young Mowgli under his wing and teaching him that living in the jungle is the best life there is. Bagheera realises that Mowgli is in danger, particularly from Shere Khan the tiger who hates all people. When Baloo finally comes around, Mowgli runs off into the jungle where he survives a second encounter with Kaa the snake, and finally, with Shere Khan. It's the sight of a pretty girl however that gets Mowgli to go to the nearby man-village and stay there.

The Jungle Book (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1967) was the 19th animated feature by the Disney studio, and the last to be personally supervised by Walt Disney himself. Disappointed by the muted reception to The Sword in the Stone (1963), Walt Disney was determined to come back with a universally well-regarded film. He told his animation crew to "throw away" Rudyard Kipling's book 'The Jungle Book' because the original concept storyboards were too dark and dramatic. During pre-production, Disney assigned animator Larry Clemmons to head story development on the project. He gave Clemmons a copy of 'The Jungle Book' and told him, "The first thing I want you to do is not read it." Terry Gilkyson had written a full score initially, but Walt Disney found it also too dark. At the last minute, he threw it away and asked the Sherman brothers to replace it with a more 'fun' score. However, 'Bare Necessities' stayed on at the insistence of others involved in the film and went on to be nominated for the Academy Award. The xerographic system, which had been used since 101 Dalmatiërs (1961), was further refined to combine both Xeroxed cels with hand-inked details. For example, while the basic animation on the village girl at the end of the film was with Xeroxed cels, her mouth was inked by hand. The backgrounds also moved back towards the more traditional look of earlier films. Ken Anderson storyboarded this scene, the final scene almost at the same time that Richard and Robert Sherman had finished 'My Own Home'. Everything that the Sherman brothers had envisioned while writing the song was up on the storyboards. They brought Anderson up to their office and played him the song and he immediately began to cry.

Source: IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

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