Sketch of the Day - Nov 13th - Joe Mantegna

Joseph Anthony Mantegna (/mænˈteɪnjɑː/, Italian pronunciation: [manˈteɲɲa]; born November 13, 1947) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director.

Mantegna began his career on stage in 1969 with the musical Hair. He earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for portraying Richard Roma in the first American production of David Mamet's play Glengarry Glen Ross, the first of many collaborations with Mamet.^[1] Mantegna was awarded the Tony and Joseph Jefferson Awards for his role in David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize–winning play Glengarry Glen Ross. His long-standing association with Mamet includes the premieres of A Life in the Theatre, The Disappearance of the Jews and Speed-the-Plow on Broadway.

Mantegna has also directed a highly lauded production of Mamet's Lakeboat, which enjoyed a successful theatrical run in Los Angeles, and he later directed the film version.^[2] In addition to theatrical appearances directed by Mamet, Mantegna appeared in Mamet's films House of Games (1987), Things Change (1988), Homicide (1991), and Redbelt (2008).

Expanding to film and television, Mantegna is best known for his roles in box office hits including Three Amigos (1986), The Godfather Part III (1990), Forget Paris (1995), and Up Close and Personal (1996). Since 2007, he has starred in the CBS television series Criminal Minds as FBI Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi. Beginning with the 1991 episode "Bart the Murderer", Mantegna has voiced the recurring role of mob boss Fat Tony on the animated series The Simpsons, as well as The Simpsons Movie (2007).

Mantegna has starred in the television series First Monday (2002) and Joan of Arcadia (2003–2005). He earned Emmy Award nominations for his roles in three different miniseries: The Last Don (1997), The Rat Pack (1998), and The Starter Wife (2007). He has also served as executive producer for various movies and television movies, including Corduroy (1984), Hoods (1998), and Lakeboat (2000), which he also directed. Additionally, he played Robert B. Parker's fictional detective Spenser in three made-for-TV movies between 1999 and 2001, and has narrated a number of audiobook readings of the Spenser novels.

An avid firearms enthusiast, he is the host of MidwayUSA's Gun Stories on the cable television Outdoor Channel.^[3]

Sketch of the Day: Grace Kelly

Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American film actress who after starring in several significant films in the early- to mid-1950s became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956.

General George S. Patton - Happy Veterans Day

General George S. Patton
Sketch of the Day for Wednesday, November 15, 2017

General George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a senior officer of the United States Army who commanded the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean and European theaters of World War II, but is best known for his leadership of the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany following the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

Born in 1885 to a family with an extensive military background (with members having served in the United States Army and Confederate States Army), Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He studied fencing and designed the M1913 Cavalry Saber, more commonly known as the "Patton Sword", and partially due to his skill in the sport, he competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. Patton first saw combat during the Pancho Villa Expedition in 1916, taking part in America's first military action using motor vehicles. He later joined the newly formed United States Tank Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces and saw action in World War I, commanding the U.S. tank school in France before being wounded while leading tanks into combat near the end of the war. In the interwar period, Patton remained a central figure in the development of armored warfare doctrine in the U.S. Army, serving in numerous staff positions throughout the country. Rising through the ranks, he commanded the 2nd Armored Division at the time of the American entry into World War II.

Patton led U.S. troops into the Mediterranean theater with an invasion of Casablanca during Operation Torch in 1942, where he later established himself as an effective commander through his rapid rehabilitation of the demoralized U.S. II Corps. He commanded the U.S. Seventh Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily, where he was the first Allied commander to reach Messina. There he was embroiled in controversy after he slapped two shell-shocked soldiers under his command, and was temporarily removed from battlefield command for other duties such as participating in Operation Fortitude's disinformation campaign for Operation Overlord. Patton returned to command the Third Army following the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, where he led a highly successful rapid armored drive across France. He led the relief of beleaguered American troops at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, and advanced his Third Army into Nazi Germany by the end of the war.

After the war, Patton became the military governor of Bavaria, but he was relieved of this post because of his statements trivializing denazification. He commanded the United States Fifteenth Army for slightly more than two months. Patton died in Germany on December 21, 1945, as a result of injuries from an automobile accident twelve days earlier.

Patton's colorful image, hard-driving personality and success as a commander were at times overshadowed by his controversial public statements. His philosophy of leading from the front and his ability to inspire troops with vulgarity-ridden speeches, such as a famous address to the Third Army, attracted favorable attention. His strong emphasis on rapid and aggressive offensive action proved effective. While Allied leaders held sharply differing opinions on Patton, he was regarded highly by his opponents in the German High Command. A popular, award-winning biographical film released in 1970 helped transform Patton into an American hero.

Source: Wikipedia

Sketch of the Day: Jack Lord

Sketch of the Day:
Jack Lord

John Joseph Patrick Ryan
December 30, 1920 – January 21, 1998

Was best known by his stage name, Jack Lord, was an American television, film and Broadway actor, director and producer. He was known for his starring role as Steve McGarrett in the CBS television program Hawaii Five-O, which ran from 1968 to 1980.

Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel 1890 - 1975

Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (/ˈstɛŋɡəl/; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder, and manager, best known as the manager of both the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, of the expansion New York Mets. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.

Stengel was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1890. In 1910, he began a professional baseball career that would span over half a century. After almost three seasons in the minor leagues, Stengel reached the major leagues late in 1912, as an outfielder, for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His six seasons there saw some success, among them playing for Brooklyn's 1916 National League championship team; but he also developed a reputation as a clown. After repeated clashes over pay with the Dodgers owner, Charlie Ebbets, Stengel was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1918; however, he enlisted in the Navy that summer, for the remainder of World War I. After returning to baseball, he continued his pay disputes, resulting in trades to the Philadelphia Phillies (in 1919) and to the New York Giants (in 1921). There, he learned much about baseball from the manager, John McGraw, and had some of the glorious moments in his career, such as hitting an inside-the-park home run in Game 1 of the 1923 World Series to defeat the Yankees. His major league playing career ended with the Boston Braves in 1925, but he then began a career as a manager.

The first twenty years of Stengel's second career brought mostly poor finishes, especially during his MLB managerial stints with the Dodgers (1934–1936) and Braves (1938–1943). He thereafter enjoyed some success on the minor league level, and Yankee general manager George Weiss hired him as manager in October 1948. Stengel's Yankees won the World Series five consecutive times (1949–1953), the only time that has been achieved. Although the team won ten pennants in his twelve seasons, and won seven World Series, his final two years brought less success, with a third-place finish in 1959, and a loss in the 1960 World Series. By then aged 70, he was dismissed by the Yankees shortly after the defeat.

Stengel had become famous for his humorous and sometimes disjointed way of speech while with the Yankees, and these skills of showmanship served the expansion Mets well when they hired him in late 1961. He promoted the team tirelessly, as well as managing it to a 40–120 win–loss record, the most losses of any 20th century MLB team. The team finished last all four years he managed it, but was boosted by considerable support from fans. Stengel retired in 1965, and became a fixture at baseball events for the rest of his life. Although Stengel is sometimes described as one of the great managers in major league history, others have contrasted his success during the Yankee years with his lack of success at other times, and concluded he was only a good manager when given good players. Stengel is remembered as one of the great characters in baseball history.

Michael Strahan

https://pixels.com/featured/michael-strahan-greg-joens.html

Michael Strahan

(born November 21, 1971) is an American former football defensive end who spent his entire 15-year career with the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). Strahan set a record for the most sacks in a season in 2001, and helped the Giants win Super Bowl XLII over the New England Patriots in his final season in 2007. After retiring from the NFL, Strahan became a media personality. Strahan was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

He is currently a football analyst on Fox NFL Sunday, and co-host of ABC's Good Morning America and its spinoff, Strahan, Sara and Keke. He was previously on the syndicated daytime talk show Live! with Kelly and Michael with co-host Kelly Ripa from 2012 to 2016, where he was a two-time Daytime Emmy Award winner. In 2014, he became a regular contributor on Good Morning America, and in 2016 the network announced that Strahan would be leaving Live! to join GMA on a full-time basis.

Rachael Taylor

Rachael May Taylor (born 11 July 1984) is an Australian actress and model. Her first leading role was in the Australian series headLand (2005–2006). She then made the transition to Hollywood, appearing in films including Man-Thing (2005), See No Evil (2006), Transformers (2007), Bottle Shock (2008), Cedar Boys (2009), Splinterheads (2009), Shutter (2008), Red Dog (2011) and Any Questions for Ben? (2012).

She has also starred as Dr. Lucy Fields on Grey's Anatomy, as one of the Angels on the short-lived reboot Charlie's Angels (both 2011), as the main character on the ABC show 666 Park Avenue (2012–2013), and in the NBC action/thriller series Crisis (2014). She starred as Trish Walker in the Netflix exclusive Marvel Cinematic Universe streaming television shows Jessica Jones (2015–2019), Luke Cage (2016), and The Defenders (2017).