Aristophanes (circa 448-385 BC), Athenian playwright, considered one of the greatest writers of comedy in literary history. His plays have been produced through the centuries and, because of their wit, comic invention, and poetic language, have remained popular. Aristophanes is believed to have been born in the deme, or township, of Cydathenaeum, in Athens, the son of one Philippos. He was, presumably, well educated and may have had property on the island of Aegina. He had three sons, Philippos, Araros, and Nikostratos, all of whom were comic poets. Aristophanes was noted for his conservatism. He favored aristocratic rather than democratic rule and the established philosophical and theological ideas rather than the new ideas of the Sophists. In his opposition to new ideas, however, Aristophanes did not distinguish between destructive and progressive ideas. His opposition to novelty and reform was more emotional than intellectual. Aristophanes wrote more than 40 plays, of which 11 are extant. His first three plays were produced under pseudonyms. One of these was The Acharnians (425 BC), a plea for ending the war with Sparta. The Knights (424 BC), the first of the plays of Aristophanes to be presented under his own name, is a devastating satire about the Athenian politician and military leader Cleon, champion of the democratic forces and leader of the war party. The Clouds (423 BC) is a satire on the Greek philosopher Socrates, whose penetrating analysis of established values Aristophanes considered inimical to the interests of the state. In The Wasps (422 BC) Aristophanes satirized the courts of justice of the day, and in The Peace (421 BC) he again argued for peace between Athens and Sparta. The Birds (414 BC) ridicules the Athenian fondness for litigation. Lysistrata (411 BC), another satire on war in which women strike for peace by practicing celibacy, is his most famous work. Thesmorphoriazusae (411 BC) and The Frogs (405 BC) include attacks on Euripides. Ecclesiazusa (393 BC) is a satire on the idea of communal ownership of property, and Plutus (388 BC) reduced to absurdity the concept of redistribution of wealth in Athens. These works, basically fantasies, were written in a form less strict than that of contemporary tragedy; they include dialogue scenes, long choral harangues, lyric passages, and a great deal of music and dance. The plays of Aristophanes exerted considerable influence on English satire, notably that of Ben Jonson in the 17th century and Henry Fielding in the 18th century. "Aristophanes," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.

      

Marceau, Marcel (1923- ), French mime, born in Strasbourg, considered to have almost single-handedly revived the ancient art of pantomime. One of his first opportunities to perform came shortly after World War II, when he entertained French occupation troops in Germany. In 1946 he enrolled at the School of Dramatic Arts in Paris, at which he studied with ɴienne Decroux. In 1947 he created his famous mime character Bip, a white-faced clown clothed in culottes, a middy, and wearing a battered top hat. In a great variety of poignant and comic sketches, Bip is beloved by theatergoers around the world. Marceau's one-man show was probably the outstanding success of the 1955-56 theatrical season in New York City, and he has since toured the U.S. many times. He has also appeared frequently on television. "Marceau, Marcel," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.

      

Oakley, Annie (1860-1926), American markswoman and performer, who was associated with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show from 1885 to 1902. She was born Phoebe Anne Oakley Mosee in a pioneer log cabin in Darke County, Ohio. She was the sensation of America and Europe because of her almost uncanny accuracy with a rifle, a weapon she began to use at the age of six to help provide food for her family. As a young woman she was one of the best-known professional game hunters in the country. Performing with a rifle, she could hit a playing card thrown into the air a dozen times before it finally touched the ground. She was the model for the protagonist in the musical comedy Annie Get Your Gun (1946) by Irving Berlin. "Oakley, Annie," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.

      

Olivier, Laurence Kerr, 1st Baron Olivier of Brighton(1907-1989), English actor, producer, and director, noted as one of the most accomplished actors of the 20th century. Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, in 1907. Nine years later he made his first stage appearances in amateur performances of plays by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. He made his professional debut at Letchworth in 1925. He was a member of the Birmingham Repertory Company from 1926 to 1928. Olivier made his American theatrical debut in a short-lived melodrama in New York City in 1929. In 1930 and 1931 he appeared in Private Lives, by English playwright Noel Coward, in both London and New York City. In 1937 and 1938 he was a member of the Old Vic Shakespearean repertory company in London. Olivier was codirector of the Old Vic company from 1944 to 1949; in 1946 he appeared triumphantly with the company in the United States. In the theater Olivier played classical roles ranging from Greek tragedy to Restoration comedy; he also appeared in various contemporary plays. In 1939 Olivier made his first important film, Wuthering Heights. In 1946 a film version of Shakespeare's Henry V was released; produced, directed by, and starring Olivier, it became a major film classic. He produced, directed, and starred in film versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1948), for which he received Academy Awards for best actor, best director, and best picture of the year, and Richard III (1956), and he performed the title role in a film version of Othello (1965). He appeared in a wide variety of roles; his other films include Rebecca (1940), The Entertainer (1960), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976), and The Boys from Brazil (1978)?for all five he received Oscar nominations. He won further acclaim for his television performances playing the role of Lord Marchmain in the ?Masterpiece Theatre? presentation Brideshead Revisited (1981), and in the title role in a production of King Lear (1983). A theatrical producer and director as well as actor, Olivier was head of the National Theatre of Great Britain from 1962 until 1973. He was knighted in 1947 and created Baron Olivier in 1970. After his marriage to the actor Vivien Leigh ended in divorce, he married the actor Joan Plowright. He wrote Confessions of an Actor (1982) and On Acting (1986). "Olivier, Laurence Kerr, 1st Baron Olivier of Brighton," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.

      

Williams, Tennessee (1911-83), American playwright and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, whose works are set largely in the American South. Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi, on March 26, 1911, and named Thomas Lanier Williams. He spent most of his youth in Saint Louis, Missouri. After intermittent attendance at the University of Missouri and Washington University, he received a B.A. degree from the University of Iowa in 1938. He worked at a variety of odd jobs until 1945, when he first appeared on the Broadway scene as the author of The Glass Menagerie. This evocative ?memory play? won the New York Drama Critics' Circle award as the best play of the season. It was filmed in 1950 and has been performed on the stage throughout the world. The emotion-charged A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) has been called the best play ever written by an American. It was successfully filmed (1952), and it won Williams his first Pulitzer Prize in drama. He was awarded another Pulitzer for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (stage, 1954; film, 1958). All three of these plays contain the poetic dialogue, the symbolism, and the highly original characters for which Williams is noted and are set in the American South, a regional background which the author used to create a remarkable blend of decadence, nostalgia, and sensuality. Other successful plays by Williams are Summer and Smoke (1948), rewritten as Eccentricities of a Nightingale (produced 1964); The Rose Tattoo (1950); the long one-act Suddenly Last Summer (1958); Sweet Bird of Youth (1959); and Night of the Iguana (1961). Although Williams continued to write for the theater, he was unable to repeat the success of most of his early works. One of his last plays was Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1980), based on the American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda. Williams died in New York City, February 25, 1983. Two collections of Williams's many one-act plays were published: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1946) and American Blues (1948). Williams's fiction includes two novels, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1950) and Moﳥ and the World of Reason (1975) and four volumes of short stories?One Arm and Other Stories (1948), Hard Candy (1954), The Knightly Quest (1969), and Eight Mortal Ladies Possessed (1974). Nine of his plays were made into films, and he wrote one original screenplay, Baby Doll (1956). In his provocative Memoirs (1975), Williams described his own dramatic problems with drugs and alcohol and his latterly avowed homosexuality. "Williams, Tennessee," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1994 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation.