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Entertainment Trivia

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John Lennon joined Elton John onstage at Madison Square Garden in 1974 to perform the song they co-wrote, "Whatever Gets You Through the Night." This was to be Lennon's final live performance.

Frank Sinatra was offered the male lead in the film Funny Girl (1968), but Barbra Streisand, who had performed the role successfully on Broadway, refused to take second billing, as did Sinatra. Even though this was her film debut, Streisand would not back down, and Sinatra, in a frustrated huff, dropped out. A film deal with David Janssen to take the role fell apart. The part was ultimately given to the exotic Omar Shariff, on the heels of his success in Doctor Zhivago.

John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, at Oxford Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, England, during an air raid.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were not permitted to dance together in public, according to their movie contracts.

Fred Astaire's favorite dance partner was Gene Kelly.

French leading man Gérard Dépardieu was so wild as a youth that he was encouraged to enter dramatics as therapy. Dépardieu made his film debut in a bit part in Le Beatnik et le minet (1965) at age 17.

Singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper won an Emmy for her guest performance on NBC's Mad About You.

Singer and TV personality Andy Williams's full name at birth was Howard Andrew Williams.

Singer Billie Holiday's real name was Eleanora Fagan (one source says McKay). Her father, Clarence Holiday — a guitarist who played with Fletcher Henderson's big band, never married her mother, Sadie Fagan, and eventually abandoned the family.

John Wayne was on the Top Ten Box Office List 25 times during his career, more often than any other film star in history. Between the years 1949 and 1974, there was only one year that Wayne did not appear on the list: 1956. Four times Wayne landed in the Number 1 Box Office spot – in 1950, 1951, 1954, and 1971.

Singer Billy Joel once played the piano at the Executive Lounge in Los Angeles under the name of William Martin.

Johnny Carson's reply to a reporter when asked what he would like his epitaph to be was "I'll be right back."

Singer Céline Dion was the youngest of 14 children in a working-class family in Quebec.

José Ferrer won several awards for portraying the title character in Cyrano de Bergerac in film and on the stage. He was awarded the Best Actor Oscar and the Best Dramatic Actor Golden Globe for his 1950 film portrayal, and the Best Actor Tony for his original stage performance of the lovesick poet with the large proboscis.

Singer Dionne Warwick's full name at birth was Marie Dionne Warwick.

Julia Roberts' father died of cancer when she was just 9 years old.

Singer Glen Campbell substituted for Beach Boy Brian Wilson during their 1965 tour.

Julianna Margulies, Emmy-winning dramatic actress of NBC's ER, has a gifted father. He was an ad executive who is credited for writing the famous Alka Seltzer "Plop-Plop, Fizz-Fizz" jingle some years back.

Singer Johnny Cash was born J.R. Cash. He chose the first name John when the military wouldn't accept just initials on its forms.

Just one episode of the macabre but popular Alfred Hitchcock Presents was never shown. It was titled "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," and was about a retarded boy who watched a magician saw a man in half and then killed someone trying to duplicate the trick. CBS refused to allow it on television, saying it was too morbid to air.

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