Jewish Celebrities

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor said neither Todd nor Fisher were the reason for her conversion, that she had wanted to become Jewish “for a long time” and that there was “comfort and dignity and hope for me in this ancient religion that [has] survived for four thousand years … I feel as if I have been a Jew all my life.”[SDJW staff]

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Winehouse Statue in London Defaced with Palestinian Sticker

LONDON (JNS) — A sculpture of Amy Winehouse in the town of Camden, in northern London, was defaced over the weekend with a Palestinian flag sticker covering the late Jewish singer’s Star of David necklace. “This is disgusting. Amy Winehouse was a famous Jewish singer who was proud of her Jewish heritage,” wrote the National

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International, Israel, Jewish Celebrities, JNS, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Obituaries & memorials

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Adam Lambert

Lambert’s big break came in 2009  when he finished as runner-up to singer Kris Allen in Season Eight of American Idol, covering such songs as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” “Black or White,” “The Tracks of My Tears,” “Mad World,” “If I Can’t Have You,” “One,” “Cryin’,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and “No Boundaries. [SDJW staff]

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Ralph Lauren Willed Himself Into the Good Life

After he decided to market the ties on his own, executives at Bloomingdale’s wanted him to narrow the tie slightly and Lauren daringly refused. Although winning Bloomingdales’ account, in anyone else’s eyes, would have been a big victory, Lauren had larger ambitions to become himself a name brand. Lauren found other stores to sell the wide tie to, and as their popularity increased, Bloomingdale’s resistance correspondingly decreased. Whereas thin ties sold at the time for $5, Lauren’s ties commanded between $7.50 and $15. The more people paid for them, the more they valued them. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Paul Newman

In 1955, his first movie was The Silver Chalice with Pier Angeli. Two years later, he played Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me. In 1958, he starred with Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. He also starred with Woodward that same year in The Long Hot Summer. In 1960, he starred in Exodus, the story of Israel’s independence, and costarred with Woodward in From the Terrace. [SDJW Staff]

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Mary Weiss, singer of hit-making The Shangri-Las, dies at 75

Published by New York Daily News Mary Weiss, the Queens-born lead singer of the hit-making 1960s girl group the Shangri-Las, has died at age 75, her representative confirmed. A cause of death was not released for Weiss, whose New York-bred band is known for songs such as “Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and the chart-topping

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Jon Stewart is returning to ‘The Daily Show’ during US election cycle

Published by Reuters By Helen Coster NEW YORK (Reuters) – Political comedian Jon Stewart is returning to “The Daily Show” as executive producer and will host every Monday starting Feb. 12, through the 2024 election cycle, Paramount announced on Wednesday. The show will feature a rotating lineup of hosts for the other three nights it

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Neil Diamond

In 1966, he recorded the first of many hits as a solo artist, “Solitary Man,” and followed that year with “Cherry, Cherry” and “Kentucky Woman.” Subsequent years brought songs as “Sweet Caroline,” “Holly Holy,” “Cracklin’ Rosie” and “Song Sung Blue,” “I Am…I Said,” “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers,” “Forever in Blue Jeans.” [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Piper Laurie

At age 17, she signed a contract with Universal Studios, at that time changing her name to Piper Laurie. She starred with Ronald Reagan in 1950 in Louisa, and claimed to have had her first sexual relationship with the future President of the United States. She acted with Donald O’Connor, Tony Curtis and Rory Calhoun in subsequent films. [SDJW staff report]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: George Burns

In 1926, he married Gracie Allen, who was Catholic, and  subsequently appeared with her in comic short films which had such stars as Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Jack Benny, Frest Astaire, Joan Fontaine, Bob Hope, Martha Raye, Eleanor Powell, and Robert Young. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Danny Kaye

Most of Kaye’s films were light-hearted including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Inspector General, White Christmas, On the Riviera, The Court Jester, and the biographical Hans Christian Andersen and The Five Pennies about jazz musician Red Nichols. But he also had a serious side, playing a Holocaust survivor in the TV film Skokie. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Shari Lewis

In 1960, the NBC network signed her for The Shari Lewis Show, which stayed on the air through September 1963. Among her many puppet friends were Lamb Chop, a sock with eyes; Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy.  [SDJA Staff]

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Noah Schnapp Addresses Israel-Hamas Comments

Published by Radar Online Noah Schnapp says his “thoughts and beliefs” on the Israel-Hamas war “have been so far misconstrued” amid calls for him to be canceled, RadarOnline.comhas learned. Addressing the backlash, the Stranger Things star defended himself in a TikTok video on Monday evening. “I feel like my thoughts and beliefs have been so

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