Michael Phelps Father and Mother

Michael Phelps Father: Fred Phelps

Michael Phelps Mother: Debbie

Where's Phelps' dad?

Fair or not, nosy or simply curious, I think people back in the United States are watching Michael Phelps nightly on NBC and making note of the many shots they see of Debbie Phelps cheering from the stands. The omission is probably striking to some: We see Michael's mom, but what about dad?

Brief background: Fred and Debbie separated for good in 1993, and the divorce was finalized the next year, when Michael was 9. By all accounts, Fred Phelps wasn't an everyday figure in his children's lives for much of Phelps' adolescence. In my column yesterday, I mentioned that Phelps' older sisters, Hilary and Whitney, both played pivotal roles in his development, not just as a swimmer but as a young man.

They did reconcile with their father several years ago but have since drifted apart again. Fred Phelps was in Greece. He is not in Beijing. When I asked his daughters in the weeks leading up to these Olympics whether their father would be attending, they each said, "I don't know."

Our Sun colleague, Childs Walker, spoke with Fred Phelps this week to request an interview. Fred thought about it, and I think he probably handled the request as well as he could. He declined, saying he didn't want to take away from his son's accomplishments by delving into the family story.

"This is just about Michael," he said. "This is his glory, his time to shine, and I want him to get everything he wants."

Rest assured, while Phelps is in the Beijing pool, his father is paying close attention, cheering from back in Maryland.

"I'm just on pins and needles every time he hits the water," Fred Phelps said.

Source: www.baltimoresun.com

Photo Credit: www.latimes.com

Tags: michael phelps father,who is michael phelps father,does michael phelps have a dad,where is michael phelps father

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Alicia Sacramone Vogue

Shawn, Nastia, Chellsie Memmel, and Alicia Sacramone in Vogue as photographed by Annie Leibowitz.

Source: rawles.livejournal.com

Alicia Marie Sacramone (born December 3, 1987) is an American artistic gymnast. A member of the U.S. National Team, she is the 2005 World Champion on floor exercise, the 2008 U.S. National Champion on vault, and a seven-time medalist at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. She is also a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

Sacramone began gymnastics at the age of eight, began competing in the elite ranks in 2002 and joined the U.S. national team in 2003. Since 2005 she has been a key member of the U.S. team, and has won two World Championship titles and seven World Championships medals in total. Shannon Miller and Nastia Liukin are the only American gymnasts to hold more World Championships medals than Sacramone; 1970s gymnast Kurt Thomas also has seven. Sacramone has also become known as the "spiritual and social leader" of the U.S. gymnastics team, frequently rallying and supporting her teammates and offering advice in stressful situations.

Personal information

Full name: Alicia Marie Sacramone
Country Represented: United States
Date of birth: December 3, 1987 (1987-12-03) (age 20)
Place of birth: Boston, Massachusetts
Hometown: Winchester, Massachusetts
Height: 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m)
Discipline: Women's Artistic Gymnastics
Level: Senior International
Years on National Team: 6 (2002-2008)
Club: Brestyan's American Gymnastics
College team: Brown University
Head coach(es): Mihai Brestyan
Assistant coach(es): Sylvie Brestyan
Music: Santa Maria (gotan project)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org


Tags: alicia sacramone vogue.alicia sacramone,Alicia Sacramone in Vogue

Michael Phelps Diet

Michael Phelps' Diet

Breakfast: Three fried egg sandwiches; cheese; tomatoes; lettuce; fried onions; mayonnaise; three chocolate-chip pancakes; five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast; bowl of grits; two cups of coffee
Lunch: Half-kilogram (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches with mayonnaise on white bread; energy drinks
Dinner: Half-kilogram of pasta, with carbonara sauce; large pizza; energy drinks

Food for fuel: Olympian Phelps' unusual diet

Conversion process: A huge calorie intake provides Phelps with crucial energy

As US swimming sensation Michael Phelps sets his sights on more gold medal wins at the Beijing Olympics this weekend, the BBC's Michael Hirst examines the part an extraordinary diet has played in the sportsman's remarkable success.

If it is true that you are what you eat, then here is the suggested intake if you want to become history's most successful Olympian:

For breakfast: three fried egg sandwiches, with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayonnaise, followed by three chocolate-chip pancakes; a five-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast and a bowl of grits (a maize-based porridge), washed down with two cups of coffee.

For lunch: half a kilogram (one pound) of enriched pasta; two large ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread smothered with mayonnaise, washed down by energy drinks.

For dinner: Another half-kilogram of pasta, perhaps with a carbonara sauce, followed by a large pizza and more energy drinks.

That combination may not sound very healthy, and at a staggering 10,000 calories, would feed five average men for a day.

But the menu is reportedly all in a training day's eating for champion swimmer Michael Phelps, who won six gold medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics and is aiming for eight this time round.

"Eat, sleep and swim, that's all I can do," said the US swimmer, after winning his 11th Olympic gold.

Judging by the amount he eats and swims, that is not altogether surprising.

Fruit and veg

Even though the 23-year-old spends a solid five hours of each day burning off those calories, the diet still seems excessive. Is he following some sort of dietician guru's programme?

Barbara Lewin, a nutritionist who has advised international athletes on their dietary health for almost two decades, thinks not.

"Health-wise, if he were eating like this long-term, he'd probably be having to see a cardiologist regularly," Mrs Lewin told the BBC.

She recommended cutting out the egg yolks, replacing the white bread with whole-wheat, throwing some fruit and vegetables into the mix, and spreading the food out over the day with regular snacking.

But while the quality of the calories consumed by the six-foot four-inch (1.93m) swimmer may not seem healthy, Ms Lewin suggested there are good reasons behind Mr Phelps' diet.

"I've worked with more than 1,000 endurance athletes - swimmers and runners - and one of the most common problems they have is glycogen depletion - the result of not getting enough carbohydrates," she said.

"Nine out of 10 times the reason an athlete doesn't reach their personal best is because they're not getting enough carbohydrates and that's what your muscles need for food."

Carb counting

Phelps won his sixth gold medal in Beijing in the 200m medley on Friday, and will be aiming to equal fellow American Mark Spitz's record of winning seven gold medals in a single Olympic games when he takes to the pool for Saturday's 100m fly.

He burns more calories sitting at a desk than a lot of people burn walking

Jeff Kotterman
Director of the US National Association of Sports Nutrition

He will break Spitz's 36-year record if his team qualify, and go on to win, Sunday's 4x100m relay.

The very process of challenging that record entails a hectic schedule of heats, semi-finals and finals.

Between winning his 10th gold medal in the 200m butterfly - which made him history's most successful Olympian - and his 11th in the men's 4x200m relay, Phelps had just an hour between races.

With that kind of turn-around, topping up his carbohydrate count is key, Ms Lewin suggested. The copious amount of refined carbohydrates consumed in the bread and pasta he eats will digest quickly and give the swimmer instant energy.

Phelps, who weighs around 85kg (187lbs), understands this. Asked what was needed to continue his gold-medal winning streak, he said simply: "Get some calories into my system and try to recover the best I can."

Keeping his carbohydrates topped up between races, said Ms Lewin, is important for avoiding what athletes call "hitting the wall" - that stage in an endurance competition when the body has used up all its carbohydrate fuel (sometimes known as muscle glycogen) and instead starts the much less efficient process of burning fat for energy.

Fat pile-on

The Phelps diet is not recommended for everyone. Due to his muscle-intensive physique, the swimmer's metabolism - the process of converting food into energy - far exceeds that of a more average man, said Jeff Kotterman, director of the US National Association of Sports Nutrition.

"It's a combination of peak performance coupled with the fact that he has an enormous metabolism - he burns more calories sitting at a desk than a lot of people burn walking," Mr Kotterman told the BBC.

He suggested Phelps, with an estimated 8% body fat, probably burns 1,000 calories per hour during his swimming training, compared to the equivalent exercise for an average person - vigorous walking - that would burn between 170 and 240 calories.

Consequently, trying to emulate the Phelps diet by consuming up to 12,000 calories a day in order to attain his physique would more than likely come to a wobbly end.

One pound of fat has roughly 3,500 calories, so an ordinary man could put on almost three pounds of fat a day.

But then again, Michael Phelps - who has now won the 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4x100m free relay, 4x200m free relay and the 200m medley in world record times - is clearly no ordinary man.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

Tags: Michael Phelps Diet,Michael Phelps

Tallest Man In The World

New world's tallest man stands at a towering 8ft 5ins

He has spent years shrinking away from the limelight and at school his nickname was 'titch' because he was so tiny.

But Ukrainian Leonid Stadnyk has now officially become the world's tallest man standing at a towering 8ft 5ins in tall.

Measuring an impressive 8ins taller than the previous record holder, Mongolia's Bao Xishun, it has long been suspected that Stadnyk should hold the official title of the world's tallest man.

No, this isn't a toy, but at 8ft 5ins Leonid Stadnik makes this car look like a Mini

But until now the 37-year-old former veterinarian has always refused to be officially measured for the Guinness Book of Records as he hates his height and didn't want to be famous.

The towering giant who lives in Podoliantsi, a tiny village in Ukraine has called his height 'God's biggest punishment for me' and refuses to look in the mirror.

His extraordinary growth spurt started at the age of 14 after surgery on a benign brain tumour stimulated his pituitary gland, which is responsible for generating the hormones that boost growth.

Previously at school, the Ukrainian was one of the smallest boys in his class and he used to be known to fellow pupils as 'titch'.

But his condition known as acromegalic gigantism, saw him grow so fast that suit trousers which once fitted him perfectly were 12 inches too short within two years.

He now sleeps on two beds joined together lengthwise, weighs nearly 32 stone, and has 17-inch feet. His gargantuan palms measure more than a foot in diameter.

Despite persistent attempts by the Guinness Book of Records to officially measure him over the last three years, Stadnyk had always refused until he met London growth expert, Professor Michael Besser.

On examination, the specialist found to his surprise that the brain tumour which had haunted Stadnyk for more than 20 years had naturally died off - saving Stadnyk's life and finally halting his extraordinary growth spurt.

It was Professor Besser's discovery - filmed for a documentary on the Discovery Channel in December last year- that led to the emergence of his true height after it was measured officially in Kiev.

Now he has been added to the record books in America, although the 2008 Guinness Book of Records won't be published in the UK until September 28 this year.

The former veterinarian, now lives with his mother in a cramped three-room, one-storey house in northwestern Ukraine where he has to contort his frame to get in the doorway.

Stadnyk spends his days taking care of the family's house, cows and pigs, gardening and looking after a tiny pet parakeet.

Although he was once able to work on a cattle farm, he had to quit six years ago after his feet became frostbitten because he couldn't able afford to buy a pair of specially made size 27 shoes which cost £98 - the equivalent of seven months' worth of his pension- for his gigantic feet.

Professor Besser, from the London Clinic Centre for Endocrinology said: "He doesn't want to be famous. He lives like a hermit and he says he has done nothing to court fame and wants nothing to do with the Guinness Book of Records.

"His recovery from the tumour has been remarkable."

The former record holder was Mongolian Bao Xishun who was measured at 7 ft 8.95 in on January 15 2005 at Chifeng City Hospital, Inner Mongolia, China.

The UK's tallest man is Neil Fingleton, who was measured at 7ft 7.56ins at the Guinness World Records offices on January 29 2007.

The tallest ever man was American Robert Pershing Wadlow, who was born in Alton, Illinois on 22 February 1918 and was last measured at 8ft 11.1in tall on 27 June 1940.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Photo Credit: http://www.smh.com.au

Who is michael phelps father?

Michael phelps's father is Fred. Michael Phelps's parents divorced when he was 7.

Source: usatoday.com

Tags: who is michael phelps father,does michael phelps have a dad

RuneScape

RuneScape is a Java-based MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) operated by Jagex Ltd. It has approximately ten million active free accounts and is a browser-based game with some degree of 3D rendering. RuneScape was created by Andrew Gower, the creator of DeviousMUD, the forerunner to RuneScape, in 1998. Rewritten and renamed, the first version of RuneScape was released to the public on 4 January 2001 in beta form. It has a free-to-play option, and a simple interface that is accessible on most web browsers.

RuneScape takes place in the fantasy-themed realm of Gielinor, which is divided into several different kingdoms, regions, and cities.[1][2] Players can travel throughout Gielinor on foot, by using magical teleportation spells and devices, or mechanical means of transportation.[3] Each region offers different types of monsters, materials, and quests to challenge players. Unlike many other MMORPGs, there is no linear path that must be followed. Players appear on the screen as customizable avatars, setting their own goals and objectives. Players can combat both monsters and other players, complete quests, or increase their experience in any of the available skills.[4] Players interact with each other through trading, chatting, or playing combative or cooperative mini-games.

Source: wikipedia.org

Tags: runescape,runescape wiki,runescape 2

Latest Bigfoot sighting

Latest Bigfoot sighting might be true - or not

Dear Tom,

What did you think about that Bigfoot sighting last week? The guy was a

professional, for one thing, and he talked about how it smelled. It sounded pretty real. Are there any Bigfoots left in California? What do the Hoopas think?

- Kit Britt, Grass Valley

This is the story that keeps getting talked about at campfires, the reported Bigfoot sighting this month at Oregon Caves National Monument. Whether it's real or not, it's the best camp yarn in years.

The way it goes is that Matthew Johnson, a psychologist, was squatting in the woods near a trail at Oregon Caves National Monument, planning to surprise his wife and three children. Instead, he spotted a Bigfoot 60 feet away. To corroborate his story, Johnson's family told park rangers that although they didn't see a Bigfoot, they had smelled a pungent scent and heard some deep, guttural groans.

"It was very tall, it was very hairy," Johnson said, according to an Associated Press account. "It was nothing else but a Sasquatch. I swear to God."

This story was captivating to me because, believe it or not, I was once hired to find Bigfoot. The Examiner financed six months of preparation followed by a six-week expedition in Northern California and Southern Oregon, primarily scrambling off-trail, trying to live as Bigfoot would live.

I was joined for much of the trip by Michael Furniss, one of the nation's preeminent naturalists and watershed scientists, and Jeffrey Patty, an avid off-trail wilderness explorer and photographer.

We spent six months talking with scientists and primate specialists, and researching published accounts. I also spent much of a week with Hoopa tribal elders and medicine men, learning of their culture and their belief in Bigfoot.

We had also researched dozens of hoaxes, like the time a guy in a gorilla suit jumped into the woods from along a road - right as a Greyhound bus went by. A co-conspirator aboard the bus shouted, "Look! Bigfoot!" And just like that, there was a busload of eyewitness accounts, many of which include lengthy detail (to

the conspirators' glee).

After the latest sighting, the first response is that Cave Junction is an unlikely habitat for Bigfoot. Cave Junction is located near Highway 199, between Crescent City and Grants Pass, Oregon. The Oregon Caves are a major tourist destination, easy to reach and crowded, and outside the Monument the area has been heavily logged, both reasons for Bigfoot to never be there.

But a likely habitat is located about 20 miles to the west, in the interior of the extremely remote Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The lush interior of the Kalmiopsis, which produces the headwaters of the Chetco River, is surrounded by hot, craggy country like a moat surrounding a castle. That is why there are species here not found anywhere else in the world, such as the Kalmiopsis flower, for which the wilderness is named, and some of the biggest Jeffrey pines

anywhere.

If the Bigfoot sighting was true, there is one logic that supports it: A recent forest wildfire devoured much of the Kalmiopsis, and the logic is that Bigfoot could thus be forced out to more populous areas in search for food.

In our expedition, we identified ideal habitat for Bigfoot in the Kalmiopsis, but no Bigfoot. In fact, everything we saw that suggested Bigfoot could later be explained.

The footprints in a snowfield that were 17 inches long and 6 inches wide, which appeared to be from a Bigfoot tracking us, we figured out were my own size 13 boot prints. Over the course of a few days, the snow had melted out around them; we had figured it out by the distance of the stride, 18 to 19 inches from toe to heel, the stride of someone 6-1 or 6-2, not 8 or 9 feet tall.

After stalking and waiting, the glimpse of the large furry creature turned out to be a large black bear with brown fur. The strange sound in the woods of Bigfoot striking a hollow log with a stick was actually the mating call of a blue grouse. The discolored pool of water, where Bigfoot had been washing had also turned out to be from a bear. Other less-striking but curious moments had also been explained.

At one point, I went to the Hoopa Valley and spent several days with Jimmy Jackson, a tribal elder, then 75.

"You will never see him," Jackson told me one day. "You will see only his footprints."

Jackson eventually explained that while Bigfoot is known among his people as Ohmahah, "Wild Man of the Woods," they believe he is a spirit in a metaphysical world who leaves only footprints. That is why they aren't surprised when they hear of giant footprints being discovered, but raise a skeptical eyebrow at tales of sightings.

As for me, well, we wrote a song on our expedition, and the last verse goes like this:

"Animals? We seen 'em all.

"But Bigfoot? Can't recall!" <

Source: http://www.sfgate.com

Tags: Bigfoot,Bigfoot sighting,Latest Bigfoot sighting

Bigfoot Sightings

Bigfoot

Has Bigfoot Been Found?


The world is waiting to know if the creature stuffed in a Georgia freezer is really a Bigfoot. Some have guessed it could be a gorilla, escaped from a nearby Gorilla Haven. Loren Coleman over on the Cryptomundo blog wants us to call it “The Georgia Gorilla” rather than “Ricmatt” after the two men who “discovered” it, Ric Dyer and Matthew Whitton.

Take a look at the Gorilla Haven website. There’s not much resemblance. Compare with the photograph of poor, dead “Ricmatt”. I refuse to put that corpse photo on my blog.

Loren Coleman is now oddly uncritical of Dyer and Whitton, who apparently burned a Coleman book on video (I didn’t watch it). He’s also ceased his formerly incessant criticisms of Tom Biscardi, a very controversial Bigfoot researcher that Dyer and Whitton invited to view the corpse and publicize the “discovery”.

Obviously Coleman wants a piece of the action and is willing to be nice, to get in on what may be a major event in his field. Go, Coleman! I wish we could all just get along, for a change. Wouldn’t it be cool if this creature ended all the antipathy that has been so much a part of Bigfoot research in the past?

Biscardi, a Vegas music promoter, is using his talents to promote the Bigfoot “discovery”. A press conference tomorrow promises to provide further insight. The press release is all over the Internet and I’m not going to reproduce it here. See it here if you haven’t read it already.

Last year I eradicated the Biscardi name from this blog. Basically, it was simple. My blog crashed when I tried to upgrade it and I didn’t load in all the old articles about when Tom Biscardi came to Happy Camp in 2005. I didn’t want to be reminded, or to remind anyone else that he’d been here. But now, I’ll break my silence to answer the question I’ve seen in many Internet Bigfoot venues today.

That question is: “Could this be a Biscardi-related hoax?”

Friends, I am not a big fan of Tom Biscardi. I met him, worked with him, filmed his infamous videos for online publication, and learned a lot about Bigfoot research from him. But finally I quit the job because I’m really not into his personality — especially his attitudes toward and treatment of women. No surprise there - I’m a woman and I FEEL for other women, even Ruby, who Tom was very critical of behind her back (and she funded the project!). So I’m not saying the following because I’m a friend of Tom’s.

But here’s the truth, as I see it. Tom is much more likely to be hoaxed than to be a hoaxer. This is what I believe to be true, after a summer of close observation on how he operates. Tom was so obsessed by being the one to find Bigfoot, he wanted to believe anything. That’s why he got hoaxed by a crazy lady in Stagecoach, Nevada who claimed she had one in captivity. He wanted it to be true, and his long-time friend Peggy Marx was the go-between for Biscardi and the lady in Nevada. Tom totally trusted Peggy (and probably still does). She’s the one woman I’ve seen him show utmost respect for.

But as for hoaxing, I really didn’t see Tom ever do anything like that. In fact, he was carefully checking facts and being very reserved about statements made during the time he was investigating Happy Camp sightings. If anything I thought he was too eager to believe, to the point of being child-like, in a way, in his acceptance. He’d apparently seen Bigfoot several times and naturally thought others who claimed to see it were being totally truthful. Child-like trust and acceptance of the claims of others do not make Tom a hoaxer.

I’ll have to admit I’ve had my doubts and suspicions, and didn’t like how the organization he was working with in 2005 operated. I also thought at least one of the old Marx photographs was possibly a fake. Seeing how faked it looked was the last nail in the coffin for my relationship with Tom Biscardi. I totally lost heart for what was going on, and quit my job as web designer and camera person for them.

On the positive side, there’s one thing Tom has going for him… and that’s his co-worker in his new organization, JavaBob Schmalzbach. JavaBob is my next-door-neighbor, sort of. He still owns the property next to mine, but he hasn’t been there in a couple of years. For some odd reason, JavaBob and Tom hit it off. They were both born and raised in New York City…. maybe that has something to do with it. When JavaBob left here it was to go work with Tom in their new organization, Searching For Bigfoot.

Now I may have my doubts and personality divergences with Tom, but I totally trust JavaBob. I believe he’s of excellent character, and I say that after knowing him not only as a neighbor but as a member of several community organizations he participated in. Just before he left here he was president of our local chamber of commerce for a year. I can fairly well guarantee you that if JavaBob Schmalzbach says this is a real Bigfoot, it is.

Sometimes I wonder why Tom Biscardi wants to always be the one seen. He’s the one who gets the interviews, who promotes himself as the “number one Bigfoot researcher of America” (or something like that)… but I see that many if not most other Bigfoot researchers have no trust in him. If JavaBob would come out of the shadows and be a spokesperson, I believe it would give the organization a lot more credibility.

Sorry, Tom… just telling my views of the situation.

With Tom as spokesperson, I’m wondering what proof there will ever be that will be enough to convince all the skeptics. Already shadows of doubt are being cast.

For example, the two men who “discovered” this dead Bigfoot - Ric Dyer and Matthew Whitton - are also very controversial. I just finished reading an article published in Australia: Doubt Thrown On Bigfoot Discovery. This article says they’ve admitted hoaxing the public by producing a faked video with a fake scientist. Even though they’ve apparently already hoaxed, we’re now supposed to accept their evidence. Hmmmm… kind of hard, isn’t it?

It might be easier if these were two backwoods country bumpkins that somehow stumbled over a corpse and didn’t know what to do with it, but according to Tom’s publicist, Robert Barrows, who issued a press release, these two men are an off duty cop and a correctional officer. They are not total idiots and to see them doing things like burning books and producing faked interviews with “scientists” is downright weird.

All that aside, the Bigfoot research world is waiting for word on the creature’s DNA. Tom Biscardi was big on having scientific proof, and even back when he was here in Happy Camp he had someone lined up to provide this proof in case he ever did have a Bigfoot in captivity.

Tags: Bigfoot,Bigfoot Sightings

Source: bigfootsightings.org

Kim Novak Biography

Kim Novak Bio

Date of Birth : 13 February 1933, Chicago, Illinois, USA


Birth Name : Marilyn Pauline Novak


Nickname : The Lavender Girl


Height : 5' 6" (1.68 m)


Mini Biography

Kim Novak was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 13, 1933 with the birth name of Marilyn Pauline Novak. She was the daughter of a former teacher turned transit clerk and his wife, also a former teacher. Throughout elementary and high school, Kim did not get along well with teachers. She even admitted that she didn't like being told what to do and when to do it. Her first job, after high school, was modeling teen fashions for a local department store. Kim, later, won a scholarship in a modeling school and continued to model part time. Kim later worked odd jobs as an elevator operator, sales clerk, and a dental assistant. The jobs never seemed to work out so she fell back on modeling, the one job she did well. After a stint on the road as a spokesperson for an appliance company, Kim decided to go to Los Angeles and try her luck at modeling there. Ultimately, her modeling landed her an uncredited role in the RKO production of The French Line (1954). The role encompassed nothing more than being seen on a set of stairs. Later a talent agent arranged for a screen test with Columbia Pictures and won a small six month contract. In truth, some of the studio hierarchy thought that Kim was Columbia's answer to Marilyn Monroe. Kim, who was still going by her own name of Marilyn, was originally going to be called "Kit Marlowe". She wanted to at least keep her family name of Novak, so the young actress and studio personnel settled on Kim Novak. After taking some acting lessons, which the studio declined to pay for, Kim appeared in her first film opposite Fred MacMurray in Pushover (1954). Though her role as "Lona McLane" wasn't exactly a great one, it was her classic beauty that seemed to capture the eyes of the critics. Later that year, Kim appeared in the film, Phffft (1954) with Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday. Now more and more fans were eager to see this bright new star. These two films set the tone for her career with a lot of fan mail coming her way. Her next film was as "Kay Greylek" in 5 Against the House (1955). The film was well-received, but it was her next one for that year that was her best to date. The film was Picnic (1955). Although Kim did a superb job of acting in the film as did her costars, the film did win two Oscars for editing and set decoration. Kim's next film was with United Artists on a loan out in the controversial Otto Preminger film The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). Her performance was flawless, but it was was Kim's beauty that carried the day. The film was a big hit. In 1957, Kim played "Linda English" in the hit movie Pal Joey (1957) with Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth. The film did very well at the box-office, but was condemned by the critics. Kim really didn't seem that interested in the role. She even said she couldn't stand people such as her character. That same year, Novak risked her career when she embarked upon an affair with singer/actor Sammy Davis Jr.. The interracial affair alarmed studio executives, most notably Harry Cohn, and they ended the relationship in January of the following year. In 1958, Kim appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's, now classic, Vertigo (1958) with Jimmy Stewart. This film's plot was one that thoroughly entertained the theater patrons wherever it played. The film was one in which Stewart's character, a detective, is hired to tail a friend's wife (Kim) and witnesses her suicide. In the end, Stewart finds that he has been duped in an elaborate scheme. Her next film was Bell Book and Candle (1958) which was only a modest success. By the early 1960s, Kim's star was beginning to fade, especially with the rise of new stars or stars that were remodeling their status within the film community. With a few more nondescript films between 1960 and 1964, she landed the role of "Mildred Rogers" in the remake of Of Human Bondage (1964). The film debuted to good reviews. While filming The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965), she had a romance with co-star Richard Johnson, whom she married, but the marriage failed the following year. Kim stepped away from the cameras for a while, returning in 1968 to star in The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968). It was a resounding flop, perhaps the worst of her career. However, after that, Kim, basically, was able to pick what projects she wanted. After The Great Bank Robbery (1969) in 1969, Kim was away for another four years until she was seen in a television movie called The Third Girl from the Left (1973) (TV), playing a veteran Las Vegas showgirl experiencing a midlife crisis. Subsequent films were not the type to get the critics to sit up and take notice. In 1981, Kim played, of all people, "Kit Marlowe" in the TV series "Falcon Crest" (1981). Her last film, on the silver screen, was Liebestraum (1991), in which she played a terminally ill woman with a past.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson

Spouse

Dr. Robert Malloy (12 March 1976 - present)
Richard Johnson (15 March 1965 - 23 April 1966) (divorced)

Trivia

Raises horses and llamas in Oregon and California

Went on a personal strike in 1957 protesting her current salary of $1,250 per week.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#92). [1995]

On July 24 2000, she watched her memento-filled house in Eagle Point, Oregon, go up in flames. A deputy fire marshal said that the blaze was probably the result of a tree that fell across an electrical power line. Included in the loss were scripts to some of her movies (Vertigo (1958) and Picnic (1955)), as well as her computer, which contained her long-gestating autobiography. Spared, however, were her menagerie of animals, including horses and llamas, as well as the star's husband of 24 years, veterinarian Bob Malloy.

For a scene in Picnic (1955) in which she had to cry, she asked director Joshua Logan to pinch her black and blue off screen, telling him, "I can only cry when I'm hurt."

Measurements: 37-23-37 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Turned down the female lead in both Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and The Hustler (1961).

As a starlet with Columbia Pictures, she resisted pressure to change her name to "Kit Marlowe". Years later, the name was used for the character she played on the television series "Falcon Crest" (1981). (She did agree to change her first name from Marilyn to Kim, as the public associated her given name with Marilyn Monroe).

In "Popular" (1999), the main girl's bathroom in the high school is called "The Novak" which holds all the pictures of the homecoming queens. The name is inspired by when movie stars would donate money to schools (often an alma mater). The writers found out that Kim Novak donated money to a school in the Santa Monica area (where the school/show is set), so they named this room after her.

Is portrayed by Terri Lynn in Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess (1983) (TV)

She arrived in Hollywood as The Lavendar Girl. When she became a star at Columbia Pictures, the studio had her blonde hair tinted with lavender highlights.

In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta. At the beginning of her career, she was also dubbed by Dhia Cristiani. Lidia Simoneschi and Rita Savagnone also lent their voice to Novak at some point, in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) respectively.

Was the original choice to play "Mrs. Wormer" in Animal House (1978).

Visited Sammy Davis Jr. in hospital shortly before his death.

Ex-stepmother of Sorel Johnson.

1953 Deb Star.

Personal Quotes

The head of publicity of the Hollywood studio where I was first under contract told me: You're a piece of meat, that's all. It wasn't very nice but I had to take it. When I made my first screen test, the director explained to everyone: Don't listen to her, just look.

Storms come down, houses are wiped out, people drown, but every last little palm is there after the storm. Man is always saying, 'I will overwhelm'. Why can't he bend like the little palms? And rise again. Isn't that better than being washed away?

For every answer, I like to bring up a question. Maybe I'm related to Alfred Hitchcock or maybe I got to know him too well, but I think life should be that way.

Harry Cohn did not make me. But I also feel that I probably didn't make me, either. I think it was a combination. I think that's what made it work.

Hitchcock, contrary to what I'd heard about him, allowed me very much to have my own interpretation and everything.

I always felt Jimmy (Stewart) was trapped in Hollywood. He felt it himself. He loved aviation so much and he wanted to be able to do more of that. He somehow just got stuck here.

I didn't want to start relying on what someone else thought was right. It was easier to go away all together.

I don't feel that I was a Hollywood-created star.

I don't think you want to give all the answers, but I think every answer you do give should bring up another question, and not all questions should be answered.

I had a lot of resentment for a while toward Kim Novak. But I don't mind her anymore. She's okay. We've become friends. I even asked her before this trip for some beauty tips.

I had never had a director who was particular about the costumes, the way they were designed, the specific colors.

I knew Rita Hayworth only enough to know that she was just a tender, sensitive, beautiful human being. A lovely person. Very gentle. She would never stand up for her rights.

I live way out in the country, so there's not a lot of people around to remind me. And my friends don't think of me as 'Kim Novak' anymore anyway. It's like they forgot, too. And so it's nice.

I loved acting, which was never about money, the fame. It was about a search for meaning. It was painful.

I think it will be helpful to people because I know the expectations that are put on you as a sex symbol, and how Marilyn Monroe suffered and so on, and I was able to get free of that.

I was always opinionated.

Why I loved working with Hitchcock was that he allowed me that creativity and input.

Well, I'm Czech, but Polish, Czech, no matter, it's my name

The thing I loved about Alfred Hitchcock is that he left a lot of open ends there, a lot of clues that didn't really add up the way you think they would, and sometimes, not at all.

My security comes from my senses, my sensing the direction I should go and suddenly I felt out of tune, out of step with what other people wanted or what other people expected of me.

If you're wanting glamorous or really beautiful or really sexy, well then, I wasn't really the one, but I could do all of that. You could just get really lost in that kind of image.

Salary

Jeanne Eagels (1957) $13,000

Picnic (1955) $100 a week

Source: imdb.com

Photo Credit: hitchcock.tv

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