title: Jerry Lawler

text: On March 31, 2002, he reunited with his son, Brian, to defeat David Flair and Jim Cornette at the Tojo Yamamoto Memorial Show.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On November 8, 2003, in a match refereed by Mick Foley, Lawler defeated Al Snow for the JAPW Heavyweight Championship in Secaucus, New Jersey. He lost the title a month later to Dan Maff.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Also made appearances in Ohio Valley Wrestling, International Wrestling Cartel, and other promotions.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On November 11, 2005, he teamed with Brad Armstrong and Jeff Hardy to defeat The Midnight Express and Jim Cornette for CCW A Tribute for Starrcade.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On November 7, 2008, a tribute show was held for Lawler called Lawler 35 - A Tribute Fit For The King. it was held in Nashville. In the main event match, he defeated Sid Vicious.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On November 19, 2001 after a nine month hiatus from the company, Lawler returned to the WWF. He was reintroduced by Vince McMahon on "Raw" as the replacement for color commentator (and Alliance member) Paul Heyman, who had been (kayfabe) fired in the aftermath of the Alliance's loss at the previous night's "Survivor Series". As he had been before his departure, Lawler once again became color commentator on "Raw" and pay-per-view events alongside Jim Ross and "SmackDown!" with Michael Cole, until the brands were separated and Lawler became exclusive to Raw. Lawler stated that his well-worked chemistry with Jim Ross has been a result of their different styles; according to Lawler, Jim Ross is a fine storyteller and keeps fans well-versed with current storylines, whereas he provides reaction and emotion to liven the commentary.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In 2003, "Raw's" announce team of Lawler and Jim Ross feuded with "Sunday Night Heat"'s team of Jonathan Coachman and Al Snow. At Unforgiven, Lawler and Ross lost a match against Coachman and Snow, thus losing their right to do commentary on "Raw". In a rematch, however, Ross defeated Coachman, winning Lawler and Ross their position back.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In June 2006, Extreme Championship Wrestling was re-launched and began a small invasion within WWE again. ECW and WWE went head-to-head for several weeks on "Raw", which spanned to include the SmackDown! superstars. This created tension between the Raw and SmackDown! announce teams, as Tazz, an ECW alumnus, insulted and criticized Jim Ross until Lawler came to Ross' defense, reigniting their feud from 2000. The feud concluded when Tazz and Lawler faced each other in a match at ECW One Night Stand, which Tazz won in only 30 seconds by making Lawler pass out to the Tazzmission after a distraction from Joey Styles, who Lawler had slapped just prior to the match.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In July 2006, Randy Orton began a feud with Hulk Hogan. Lawler attacked Orton in defense of Hogan, which set up a match between them on "Raw". Orton defeated Lawler after a low blow and an RKO.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On March 31, 2007, Lawler was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by William Shatner, whom Lawler had a memorable altercation with on a January 1995 episode of "Raw". In August, King Booker claimed to be the only one entitled to be known as "King". After being beaten by Booker in the ring, Lawler was supposed to be forced to crown his opponent at a show of August 13 in Madison Square Garden. During the ceremony, however, Lawler announced another king as a new opponent for Booker, "The King of Kings" Triple H. This led to a worked brawl between Lawler and Booker.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the July 7, 2008 episode of "Raw," Lawler was attacked by Kane after saving Michael Cole from a similar attack, in which Kane repeatedly asked "Is he alive or is he dead?" Later that summer, he teamed with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to face Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes for the World Tag Team Championship but lost.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the March 23, 2009 episode of "Raw," Lawler challenged Chris Jericho to a match because of his disrespect and erratic behavior to WWE Hall of Famers, which Jericho accepted. The following week, Lawler lost to Jericho after submitting to the Walls of Jericho. After the match, Jericho outlined how he would remain supreme against WWE Hall of Famers at WrestleMania XXV.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the July 20 episode of "Raw," Lawler announced himself as the opponent against The Brian Kendrick. He went on to defeat Kendrick. On the November 16 episode of "Raw," after recent acquisition Sheamus attacked the timekeeper in frustration for not receiving an opponent, Lawler left the announce table to confront Sheamus and check on the victim, only to receive a kick to the head for his troubles. On June 7, 2010, during a Viewer's Choice edition of "Raw," Lawler lost his crown to IRS because he had apparently not paid his taxes, but it was regained by Quinton Jackson later on. At the end of the night, Lawler was one of the many employees at ringside that were brutally attacked by the season 1 NXT rookies. Lawler, however, was the only person at ringside that fought back, as he used punches and chops to attack the NXT rookies assaulting him until it was a 3-on-1 assault. The following week on Raw, Lawler and the Raw roster fought off the now-called "The Nexus" when they attempted to ambush John Cena a second time. On June 28, Lawler, Ricky Steamboat, Michael Hayes, Arn Anderson, Mike Rotunda and Dean Malenko were severely attacked by the Nexus, just as they were celebrating Steamboat's career. Josh Mathews replaced Lawler on color commentator for the remainder of the show.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the July 26 episode of "Raw," Lawler teamed with Mark Henry, Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu, Evan Bourne and The Hart Dynasty in a tag team elimination match versus the Nexus. Lawler was eliminated by Heath Slater.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the November 29 King of the Ring "Raw" special, Lawler (who was celebrating his 61st birthday) challenged The Miz to a WWE Championship match. It was granted by the Anonymous Raw General Manager, who made it a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match and it was Lawler's first shot at the title. Miz retained the championship after interference by Cole and Alex Riley. Cole's interference caused tension between the two, but when Lawler threatened to attack Cole, the Anonymous Raw General Manager issued a "cease and desist" order, which barred any physicality between them.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler continued to challenge with The Miz, where on the December 20 "Raw," Lawler teamed with Randy Orton and John Morrison to take on Miz, Riley and Sheamus in a 6-man tag match which Lawler won by pinning Miz. This led to a rematch between Miz and Lawler the following week, with Lawler once again getting the victory, this time by count-out after Morrison got involved. Lawler teamed with Orton again on the January 10, 2011 "Raw", facing The Miz and Riley, which Lawler won by pinning Riley. Lawler won a 7-man Raw Rumble match on the January 31 "Raw" with help from John Cena to earn a WWE Championship match against The Miz at Elimination Chamber, where he was unsuccessful in winning the title, ending the feud.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: The following night on "Raw," Lawler, after having enough of Cole's attitude, which included the mocking of Lawler's mother's recent death, challenged him to a match at WrestleMania XXVII, which Cole accepted on the February 28 "Raw" and announced that he would be trained in the coming weeks by Jack Swagger for the upcoming match. Stone Cold Steve Austin was announced as the guest referee for the match the following week. On the March 14 "Raw," Lawler was confronted by his son, Brian Lawler, who was invited to Raw to "expose" his father's character. Brian ranted about various problems he had with his father before slapping him and leaving. Cole continued to harass Lawler after Brian left, but was interrupted by a returning Jim Ross. Before JR could attack Cole, Swagger attacked Lawler from behind and then proceeded to attack and lock in the ankle lock on JR, while Cole harassed him. Lawler tried to stop the attack, but fell victim to the ankle lock as well.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: At WrestleMania, Lawler initially won by submission, but the Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision due to Stone Cold physically getting involved in the match by pushing Cole, making Cole the winner by disqualification. Lawler and Ross then faced Cole and Swagger at Extreme Rules in a Country Whipping match, where they were defeated. Lawler challenged Cole to one last match at Over the Limit, even going as far as to putting his Hall of Fame ring on the line and offered to personally induct Cole into the Hall of Fame itself. During the contract signing, Cole announced it would be a "Kiss My Foot" match. At the pay-per-view, Lawler defeated Cole. Afterwards, Ross, Eve Torres and Bret Hart helped Lawler by making Cole kiss his foot. Following the pay-per-view, Cole apologized to Lawler, ending the feud.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler competed in the 2012 Royal Rumble match as the number 12 entrant, but was eliminated by Cody Rhodes after 43 seconds. He, along with Booker T, eliminated Cole afterwards. On the April 30, 2012 episode of "Raw," Lawler competed in a "Beat the Clock" challenge to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship match at Over the Limit, but was defeated by Daniel Bryan, who went on to challenge for the title. On the July 9 episode of "Raw," Lawler went against Cole in a WrestleMania XXVII rematch, which he quickly won, but the anonymous "Raw" General Manager, who returned that night as the guest general manager, reversed the decision and Lawler lost to Cole by disqualification following interference by Booker T. Santino Marella came out to reveal that Hornswoggle was the Anonymous "Raw" General Manager, who was hiding underneath the ring.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the July 23 episode of "WWE Raw 1000," after CM Punk attacked The Rock, Lawler would mention on commentary that "CM Punk has turned his back on the WWE Universe." The following week on "Raw," Punk would confront Lawler about what he said before being interrupted by Big Show. On the August 20 episode of "Raw," after Cena wouldn't tell Punk he was the "Best in the World," Punk would ask for Lawler to get in the ring and say it for the WWE Universe. After Lawler refused to say Punk was the "Best in the World" too, Punk would attack Lawler from behind. The next week on "Raw," after Lawler demanded an apology from Punk, Punk would challenge Lawler to a match, which Lawler would accept later that night, where Punk would defeat Lawler in a Steel Cage match. Before the September 3 episode of "Raw", Punk and Lawler brawled backstage, with Punk getting the upper hand before officials stopped them, Lawler was kicked in the throat, which caused Lawler to miss commentary that night, with The Miz filling in for him.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On September 10, 2012 during "Raw" at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, not long after defeating Punk and Dolph Ziggler in a tag-team match with Randy Orton, Lawler legitimately collapsed at the announcers table while Kane and Daniel Bryan competed against Titus O'Neil and Darren Young. Cole continued to call that match alone, as well as the next match, before WWE (through Cole) announced the medical situation with Lawler. The remaining matches on the show went ahead as scheduled but without commentary and updates on Lawler's condition were provided by Cole. At the end of the broadcast, it was announced that he had received CPR, but was breathing independently and reacting to stimulation. Doctors said that Lawler was clinically dead for almost 30 minutes. It was later confirmed on WWE.com that Lawler had suffered a heart attack. On September 11, 2012, he underwent an angioplasty to improve blood flow to his heart. On September 12, 2012, Lawler was reported to be slowly being eased off sedation, his ventilator removed. He was able to blink, nod, and squeeze with his hands, and that same day, the results of several CT scans showed no signs of brain damage. By September 17, Lawler had returned to his home in Memphis. During Lawler's hospital stay, it was determined that his heart attack was not caused by a blocked artery, but was instead an unexplained cardiac arrest. Lawler was soon medically cleared to continue wrestling.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: It was announced on October 29 that Lawler would return to WWE on the November 12 episode of "Raw." He continued his rivalry with Punk after his emotional return was interrupted by Punk and Paul Heyman, who re-enacted his heart attack. Lawler continued to favor Punk's opponents, hoping that Punk would lose the WWE Championship, which he eventually did to The Rock at the Royal Rumble much to Lawler's delight.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On January 8, 2015, it was announced on WWE.com that Lawler would be a part of the "SmackDown" broadcast team as a color commentator along with Cole and Byron Saxton starting January 15, ending his 19-year run as a color commentator of "Raw" as he was replaced by Booker T.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the March 30 episode of "Raw," however, Lawler made a one-night return to commentary with Saxton to fill in for Cole, Booker T and JBL after they were assaulted by Brock Lesnar after Lesnar was refused his rematch against Seth Rollins. On June 17, 2016, Lawler was suspended following his arrest for domestic violence, with WWE stating they have "zero tolerance for matters involving domestic violence, and per our policy, Jerry Lawler was suspended indefinitely following his arrest", until July 1, when the charges were dropped and WWE lifted Lawler's suspension.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On July 7, 2016, Lawler returned to "SmackDown" resuming his commentary role. However, shortly afterwards, Lawler was taken off air and placed on the pre-show of both "Raw" and "SmackDown" as an analyst.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On December 5, 2016, it was announced that Lawler would no longer be used on pre-shows and instead be kept for special events such as the Hall of Fame ceremony.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On January 17, 2017, Lawler returned to "SmackDown Live" to host the return of The King's Court from his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. During his interview with Dolph Ziggler, Ziggler took credit for Lawler's real life heart attack in September 2012 before and kicking him in the chest and leaving the ring. Later that night on "Talking Smack," Renee Young announced that Lawler, Cole and Corey Graves will be the commentary team for the Royal Rumble match at the 2017 Royal Rumble. On August 28, Lawler filled in for Booker T on "Raw" commentary from his hometown of Memphis. Lawler, Ross and numerous other WWE Legends appeared on Raw 25 on January 22, 2018. On January 26, it was revealed that Lawler signed a new one-year deal with WWE. At the 2018 Royal Rumble, during the men's match, Lawler was the special guest commentator where he correctly predicted that Shinsuke Nakamura would win.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On March 21, 2018, Lawler suffered a stroke at his home in Memphis. He explained the incident on his podcast, which he revealed he couldn't speak for three days. He stayed in the hospital's ICU until he woke up three days later and regained his speech. The doctors said Lawler would make a full recovery. He was able to make all of his appearances during WrestleMania 34 weekend in New Orleans and was cleared to wrestle.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On April 8, 2018 at WrestleMania 34, Lawler called the fifth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 34 pre-show, alongside Ross and Saxton.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On April 27, 2018, Lawler served as part of the pre-show panel at the first WWE pay per view in Saudi Arabia called the Greatest Royal Rumble alongside Ross.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the special "SmackDown Live" 1000th episode on October 16, 2018, Lawler returned as a guest commentator alongside Booker T to provide commentary for the New Day–The Bar match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler returned as a guest commentator on the July 22, 2019 special episode of "Raw" called the Raw Reunion.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On the July 30, 2019, edition of "SmackDown Live," Lawler returned to host the Kings Court with Trish Stratus as his guest.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler returned on the August 19, 2019 edition of "Raw" to host the Kings Court and was attacked by "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On September 26, 2019, WWE announced as a part of their "WWE Premiere Week" that a new commentary team will be on "Raw." Lawler would return to full-time commentary on "Raw," as an analyst alongside Vic Joseph and Dio Maddin beginning on the September 30, 2019 edition of "Raw." By January 2020, Lawler had outlasted both Joseph and Maddin, who were replaced by Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton, respectively. Lawler was later replaced by Samoa Joe on the April 27, 2020 edition of "Raw." but has since been replaced by Corey Graves.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In 2003, Lawler made his debut for Memphis Wrestling. He defeated his rival Kamala by disqualification on May 17. He would occasionally teamed up with Bill Dundee and Brian Christopher. He had a short feud with King Mabel. On February 14, 2004, he lost to Brian Christopher in a Memphis Wrestling Television Title Vs. Jerry Lawler's Hummer match. On July 14, Brian and he won a tag team battle royal. Also, Lawler won a battle royal on Boxing Day 2004. He defeated Cassidy Reilly for the USACW United States Title on April 14, 2005.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On June 20, 2008, Lawler returned to Memphis to defeat Kevin White. He lost to Sid Vicious on February 28, 2009.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In 2007, it was announced that Lawler would be participating in a 'dream match' with Hulk Hogan which had been set to take place in the Memphis Wrestling promotion on April 27. The match had been heavily-hyped by promoter Corey Maclin as Hogan had competed in the Memphis territory early in his career. On April 12, however, Lawler pulled out of the event citing his contractual obligations to WWE rendering him unable to appear on a show that was due to be filmed by VH1 for the television show "Hogan Knows Best". On January 11, 2008, Maclin revealed that he filed a lawsuit against WWE, claiming that pressure on Lawler (and others) to withdraw from the event violated section two of the Sherman Antitrust Act.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In May 2010, Lawler announced a new TV wrestling show called, "Jerry Lawler's Memphis Wrestling". The show was set to debut on Ion Network channel 50 in Memphis on June 5 at the classic 11 am timespot. Three episodes were taped May 20, 2010 at the Vine in Memphis. On September 11, 2010, Lawler announced that there would no longer be any new shows, but that the talent was still available for fundraisers.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Since 2002, Lawler has wrestled for Northeast Wrestling. His first match was on November 9, 2002 when he defeated Syxx-Pac.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On April 30, 2005, he defeated King Kong Bundy with special guest referee Mick Foley in Bristol, Connecticut.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On January 15, 2011, he defeated Tommy Dreamer in a cage match. Then on October 1, 2011, he defeated Terry Funk in a No Disqualification No Holds Barred match.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In 2013, he returned to Northeast after a heart attack from 2012 where he defeated Matt Striker on September 21.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: From 2015 to 2019, he has been feuding with Brian Anthony. Lawler would team with Keith Youngblood defeating Anthony Battle and Daniel Evans on April 26, 2019 for the NEW Tag Team titles. They dropped the tiles to Brian Anthony and Daniel Evans on August 17.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: He returned to wrestling in 2013 nearly a year after his heart attack in an appearance in WWE. His first match back on May 25 in an 8 Tag team where he teamed with Dory Funk Jr. which they won at Funking Conservatory in Ocala, Florida. On July 7, 2014, he defeated Scott Steiner at Wild Fire Wrestling in Memphis. A week later, he went to World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico where he defeated Carlito.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On October 24, 2015, Lawler defeated Terry Funk by disqualification at "USA Championship Wrestling" in Jackson, Tennessee at the Oman Arena. He would feud with Tommy Rich from 2017–2018. On March 23, 2019, he teamed with Rikishi defeating Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell for the Grind City Tag Team titles at a Memphis Grizzlies game.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler remains an active wrestler in Northeast Wrestling in Connecticut, USA Championship Wrestling in Tennessee, and Championship Wrestling Arkansas.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: At 70, Lawler put his career on the line on January 18, 2020 against Arkansas Heavyweight Champion Matt Riviera in a "Title vs Career" match at Championship Wrestling of Arkansas' "No Surrender" event in North Little Rock, Arkansas, where he won the match and the title.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: On September 26, 2020, USA Championship Wrestling celebrated his 50th anniversary of his career where he teamed with the Rock 'n' Roll Express to defeat Matt Riviera, Tommy Rich, and Doug Gilbert at the Ballpark in Jackson, Tennessee.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler defeated Big Cass by disqualification at the main event of USA Championship Wrestling on May 8, 2021 in Jackson, Tennessee.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: He wrestled Scott Steiner to a draw at USA Pro 29th Anniversary Show on March 19, 2022 in Orlando, Florida.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler has created some musical recordings. Among these are two late-1970s singles: "Cadillac Man/Memphis", and "Bad News". During his feud with manager Jimmy Hart (Lawler is a factor for "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart entering professional wrestling; Lawler wanted to record a wrestling album with him singing, and since they had gone to school together, he called Hart and asked him to be a part of it) in the mid-1980s, Hart became known as "The Wimp", a nickname given to him by Lawler and chanted by fans. Hart was the subject of the song "Wimpbusters", which was sung by Lawler to the tune of the popular hit "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr.. A music video was also made, featuring Lawler, legendary announcer Lance Russell, and wrestlers such as Randy Savage, Jimmy Valiant, Dutch Mantel, Tommy Rich, and Rufus R. Jones, along with footage of "The King" beating Hart and his "First Family." A very young Brian Christopher also made an appearance as a young child being bullied, and another child is seen wearing a replica of Tully Blanchard's West Texas State jersey. He also recorded a CD titled "Memphis' Other King".


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In 1998, Lawler appeared in the film "Man on the Moon", starring Jim Carrey. According to Lawler's autobiography, "It's Good To Be The King... Sometimes", an incident involving Jim Carrey forgetting a line led to animosity between the two actors during filming. Between scenes Jim Carrey often remained in character as Andy Kaufman and at one point spit on Jerry, just as Kaufman had done in 1982. A 'stunned' Lawler reacted by grabbing Carrey by the hair and locked him in a sleeper hold and jerking his neck— sending Carrey to the hospital.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In 1999, Lawler ran for mayor of Memphis, Tennessee. His platform focused on making the streets safer for residents, beautifying the city, and improving the quality of education. In addition, he vowed to attract businesses to Memphis, improve the flow of traffic, create more parks, and decrease property taxes. Lawler ended up with 11.7% of ballots, beating twelve of the fifteen candidates. Ultimately, however, Mayor Willie Herenton was easily reelected.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In 2000, Lawler made a very brief cameo appearance in the music video of "I Can't Lie To Me" By Clay Davidson. On December 17, 2002; he released his autobiography titled "It's Good To Be The King... Sometimes". On July 8, 2009, Lawler again ran for the position of Mayor of Memphis in a special mayoral election; on October 15, 2009. He was in 5th with 4% of the vote.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler is also a commercial artist, designing graphics for various companies, including WWE. In 2007, he painted the cover of the wrestling comic book "Headlocked".


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler has provided his voice for numerous WWE video games in which he has appeared as a commentator. He is also a playable character in a number of WWE games, "WWE All Stars" as a wrestler, "WWE '12" as both a wrestler and a commentator and "WWE '13", "WWE 2K14", "WWE 2K15", and "WWE 2K16", "WWE 2K17" and "WWE 2K Battlegrounds" simply as a commentator and "WWE 2K20" as a wrestler.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In 2016, Lawler and business partner Barry Aycock opened a wrestling-themed establishment "King Jerry Lawler's Hall of Fame Bar & Grille" on Beale Street, Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The next year Lawler opened King Jerry Lawler's Memphis BBQ Co. in Cordova, Tennessee.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In March 2017, Lawler launched the wrestling and pop-culture podcast "Dinner with the King". His co-host is Glenn Moore and the podcast is produced by Pod Avenue. The podcast ceased production after Moore was accused of scamming Lawler fans who tried to buy merchandise and artwork from Lawler. Lawler and new co-host Scott Reedy started a new podcast called "The Jerry Lawler Show" in 2019.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler is the cousin of fellow professional wrestler The Honky Tonk Man. Lawler has been married three times and had two sons with his first wife, Kay. His son Brian, who wrestled in WWF/E under the names "Brian Christopher" and "Grandmaster Sexay," died by suicide on July 29, 2018. His other son, Kevin, has been in professional wrestling as both a referee and wrestler under the names "Kevin Christian" and "Freddie Gilbert," the latter of which was used during a stint as the "brother" of Eddie Gilbert.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In his book, "It's Good To Be The King ... Sometimes", Lawler says he believes Kevin's short physical stature has prevented him from reaching success similar to Brian. In August 2008, Kevin was arrested on charges of trespassing and aggravated burglary. After divorcing Kay, Lawler was later married to Paula from February 14, 1982 to October 2, 1991.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: He met his third wife, Stacy "The Kat" Carter, at a charity softball game in Memphis, Tennessee on July 23, 1989. They married in September 2000. In mid-February 2001, Carter (who was a valet and has also made in-ring appearances) was released by the World Wrestling Federation. Lawler then left the company in protest. Carter and Lawler later separated shortly before Lawler rejoined the WWF in November 2001. Their divorce was finalized on October 15, 2003.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Though he has spent most of his life in Memphis, Lawler did spend a part of his childhood in Ohio after his father was transferred to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant in Lorain, Ohio. From the ages of 7 to 15 his family resided in the city of Amherst, Ohio, a suburb near Cleveland. Although this stay was brief, it would have an influence on Lawler throughout his life thereafter. He often cites Cleveland as his second-favorite city behind only Memphis and is a die-hard fan of the Cleveland Indians, the Cleveland Browns, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. When WWE performs in Cleveland, Lawler will usually wear a Browns jersey or a Indians jersey (at SummerSlam 1996 he teased Browns fans by wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey, because the original Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens), and during baseball season, he would throw out the first pitch at an Indians game.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler is a collector of Coca-Cola and Superman merchandise, and owns a replica of the Batmobile from the 1960s Batman series.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: In late 1993, Lawler was indicted in Jefferson County, Kentucky on charges of statutory rape and sodomy of a 15-year-old girl. The charges were later dropped after the alleged victim recanted her story. Lawler then returned to work for the World Wrestling Federation.


title: Jerry Lawler

text: Lawler's son Brian was found hanging in the Hardeman County Jail on July 29, 2018 and was pronounced dead later that day. On the one-year anniversary of his death, Lawler filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Hardeman County, Hardeman County Sheriff John Doolen and others for allegedly failing to protect him. He alleged that Doolen had personally promised to "keep an eye" on Brian after he was incarcerated.


title: Winston Duke

text: Winston Duke (born 15 November 1986) is a Tobagonian-born American actor. He made his feature film debut in the role of M'Baku in "Black Panther" (2018) and is best known for portraying the character in four films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.


title: Winston Duke

text: Duke was born in the village of Argyle, Tobago. With his sister and mother, Duke moved to Brooklyn at age nine. After graduating from the Yale School of Drama with a Master of Fine Arts in acting in 2013, Duke had small roles in theatre productions and television shows such as "Person of Interest" and "Modern Family". He portrayed M'Baku in four Marvel Studios films and also starred in Jordan Peele's horror film "Us" (2019). Duke's latest role was M'Baku in "" (2022).


title: Winston Duke

text: Winston Duke was born in the village of Argyle, Tobago in the country of Trinidad and Tobago on 15 November 1986. He was raised by single mother Cora Pantin, a Tobagonian government worker and restaurant owner. As a child, Duke showed the restaurant's customers to their tables and learned how to "charm" strangers at an early age. When he was nine, his mother sold the restaurant and their possessions. Duke, Pantin and his older sister, Cindy, then moved to a studio apartment in Brooklyn so that Cindy could attend medical school.


title: Winston Duke

text: Duke attended a public primary school in Crown Heights, and often frequented the local library and comic book store after school. He graduated from Brighton High School in Rochester, New York in 2004. He attended the University at Buffalo, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in theatre. He then moved on to Yale School of Drama where he received a Master of Fine Arts in acting and graduated in 2013.


title: Winston Duke

text: Duke started acting in theatre productions for Portland Stage Company and Yale Repertory Theatre before being cast in "Person of Interest". While at Yale, he befriended fellow actor Lupita Nyong'o, with whom he later starred in "Black Panther" and "Us". In 2012 Duke returned to his native Trinidad and Tobago to appear in the theatre production of "An Echo in the Bone" starring alongside actress Taromi Lourdes Joseph and directed by fellow Yale alumna Timmia Hearn Feldman.


title: Winston Duke

text: He was cast in small roles in television series, such as a football star who commits a hate crime in "", a gang leader in "Person of Interest" and a football player in "Modern Family". Duke was aware of how his casting may have been influenced racially and by his height of 6 ft 5 in (1.95 m). In September 2016, Duke was cast in the role of M'Baku for the upcoming film "Black Panther" after Marvel tested several actors for the role, including Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.


title: Winston Duke

text: Duke has supporting roles in Marvel Cinematic Universe's "Black Panther" (2018) and "" (2018) and a brief role "Avengers: Endgame" (2019) as M'Baku. Wesley Morris of "The New York Times" named his performance in "Black Panther" as one of the best in 2018, describing him as "funny, shameless [and] imposing".


title: Winston Duke

text: In 2019, Duke starred in the blockbuster horror film "Us", directed by Jordan Peele. In October 2019, Duke signed on to headline in the upcoming Apple TV+ drama series "Swagger", but was replaced by O'Shea Jackson Jr. due to an injury suffered on-set in February 2020. In September, Duke was named Actor of the Year by GQ Australia. He starred in "Nine Days" (2020), directed by Edson Oda, as a manager who interviews unborn souls and selects them to live on Earth. In March 2020, he starred alongside Mark Wahlberg in the Netflix thriller "Spenser Confidential".


title: Winston Duke

text: On October 24, 2021, Duke received the Maverick Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival. It was reported in July 2021 that Duke would be playing Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Spotify podcast audio drama "Batman Unburied", which was released in 2022. Although Duke worried that backlash from fans about a Black actor playing Wayne would surface, his role was instead met with support and intrigue. Duke reprised his role as M'Baku in "" (2022). He appeared in the latest Savage X Fenty fashion show.


title: Winston Duke

text: In October 2022, Duke's mother, with whom he was close, died at age 66. Duke mentioned about struggling with grief during the "Wakanda Forever" press tour. He does not have a relationship with his father. "Esquire" described Duke as an "art fanatic". He is 6 ft 5 in (1.95 m) tall.


title: Winston Duke

text: As his mother had eleven siblings, Duke has a large extended family. His cousin is the Tobagonian politician and Progressive Democratic Patriots leader Watson Duke.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Lev Ivanovich Yashin (; 22 October 1929 – 20 March 1990), nicknamed the "Black Spider" or the "Black Panther", was a Soviet professional footballer regarded by many as the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the sport. He was known for his athleticism, positioning, stature, bravery, imposing presence in goal, and acrobatic reflex saves.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Yashin earned status for revolutionising the goalkeeping position by imposing his authority on the entire defence. A vocal presence in goal, he shouted orders at his defenders, came off his line to intercept crosses and also ran out to meet onrushing attackers, done at a time when goalkeepers spent the 90 minutes standing in the goal waiting to be called into action. His performances made an indelible impression on a global audience at the 1958 World Cup, the first to be broadcast internationally. He dressed head to toe in apparent black (in truth very dark blue), thus earning his nickname the "Black Spider", which enhanced his popularity.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Yashin appeared in four World Cups from 1958 to 1970, and in 2002 was chosen on the FIFA Dream Team of the history of World Cups. In 1994, he was chosen for the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team, and in 1998 was chosen as a member of the World Team of the 20th Century. According to FIFA, Yashin saved over 150 penalty kicks in professional football — more than any other goalkeeper. He also kept over 270 clean sheets in his career, winning a gold medal at the 1956 Olympic football tournament, and the 1960 European Championships. In 1963, Yashin received the Ballon d'Or, the only goalkeeper ever to receive the award. He was additionally named posthumously to the Ballon d'Or Dream Team in 2020, a greatest all-time XI, and was voted the best goalkeeper of the 20th century by the IFFHS. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of Russia by the Russian Football Union as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Yashin was born in Moscow, in a Russian family of industrial workers. When he was 12, World War II forced him to work in a factory to support the war effort. However his health at the age of 18 (after he suffered a nervous breakdown) meant he was unable to work. Thus, he was sent to work in a military factory in Moscow. After being spotted playing for the factory team he was invited to join the Dynamo Moscow youth team.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Yashin’s debut for Dynamo Moscow came in 1950 in a friendly match. It was not the debut he would have hoped for, as he conceded a soft goal scored straight from a clearance by the opposing keeper. That year he played in only two league games, and did not appear in a senior match again until 1953. But he remained determined, and stayed at Dynamo in the reserves waiting for another opportunity. Yashin also played goalie for the Dynamo ice hockey team during those early years of trying to break into the senior squad. He managed to win a USSR ice hockey cup in 1953 and was third in the USSR ice hockey championship as goalkeeper.


title: Lev Yashin

text: He spent his entire professional football career with Dynamo Moscow, from 1950 to 1970, winning the USSR football championship five times and the Soviet Cup three times. Yashin's club teammate, rival and mentor was Alexei "Tiger" Khomich, the keeper of the Soviet national team, who had become famous for his role in Dynamo Moscow’s British tour. He also internally rivaled goalkeeper Valter Sanaya, who left the club in 1953.


title: Lev Yashin

text: In 1954, Yashin was called up to the Soviet national team, and would go on to gather 78 caps. With the national team he won the 1956 Summer Olympics as well as the first European championship, the 1960 European Nations' Cup. He also played in three World Cups, in 1958, 1962 and 1966. Yashin is credited with four clean sheets out of the 12 games he played in the World Cup finals.


title: Lev Yashin

text: The 1958 World Cup, played in Sweden, put Yashin on the map for his performances, with the Soviet Union advancing to the quarter-finals. In a group stage match against the eventual Cup winners Brazil, the Soviet team lost 2–0. Facing a Brazil team that featured Garrincha and a 17 year old Pelé in attack, Yashin's performance prevented the score from becoming a rout.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Yashin was nominated for Ballon d'Or in 1960 and 1961 and placed fifth and fourth, respectively. In 1962, despite suffering two concussions during the tournament, he once again led the team to a quarter-final finish, before losing to host country Chile. That tournament showed that Yashin was all too human, having made some uncharacteristic mistakes. In the game against Colombia, which the Soviet Union was leading 4–1, Yashin let in a few soft goals, including a goal scored by Marcos Coll directly from a corner kick (the first and the only goal scored directly from a corner in FIFA World Cup history). The game finished in a 4–4 tie, which led the French newspaper "L'Équipe" to predict the end of Yashin's career. He did, however, make an outstanding save against Chile in the quarter-final. Despite this, the Soviet Union suffered a 2–1 defeat and were eliminated from the World Cup.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Despite the disappointment of the 1962 World Cup, Yashin would bounce back to win the Ballon d'Or in December 1963. One of his best performances that year was the 1963 England v Rest of the World football match, where he made a number of spectacular saves. From that point onward he was known to the world as the "Black Spider" because he wore a distinctive all-black outfit and because it seemed as though he had eight arms to save almost everything. But to his fans, he was always the fearless "Black Panther". He often played wearing a cloth cap of burnt-brick colour. Yashin led the Soviet team to its best showing at the FIFA World Cup, a fourth-place finish in the 1966 World Cup held in England.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Always ready to give advice to his comrades, Yashin even made a fourth trip to the World Cup finals in 1970, held in Mexico, as the third-choice back-up and an assistant coach. The Soviet team again reached the quarter-finals. In 1971, in Moscow, he played his last match for Dynamo Moscow. Lev Yashin's FIFA testimonial match was held at the Lenin Stadium in Moscow with 100,000 fans attending and a host of football stars, including Pelé, Eusébio and Franz Beckenbauer.


title: Lev Yashin

text: After retiring from playing, Yashin spent almost 20 years in various administrative positions at Dynamo Moscow. A bronze statue of Lev Yashin was erected at the Dynamo Stadium in Moscow.


title: Lev Yashin

text: In 1986, following a thrombophlebitis contracted while he was in Budapest, Yashin underwent the amputation of one of his legs. He died in 1990 of stomach cancer, despite a surgical intervention in an attempt to save his life. He was given a state funeral as a Soviet Honoured Master of Sport.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Yashin was survived by wife Valentina Timofeyevna and daughters Irina and Elena; when Russia hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Valentina was still living in the Moscow apartment that the Soviet state had given her husband in 1964. Yashin has one granddaughter and one surviving grandson; another grandson died in 2002 at age 14 from injuries suffered in a bicycle accident. The surviving grandson, Vasili Frolov, played as a goalkeeper in Dynamo's youth section and was on the books of the senior side, but never played a game with the senior side, retiring from play at age 23. He now runs a goalkeeper training school in Moscow near Spartak Moscow's current stadium.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Considered by many in the sport to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the game, Yashin was an imposing presence in goal due to his tall stature, and was highly regarded for his athleticism, agility, positional sense, bravery, and exceptional reflexes, which enabled him to produce acrobatic and spectacular saves. Yashin remains the only goalkeeper to have won the Ballon d'Or, in 1963. He also stopped 151 penalty kicks during his career, more than any other goalkeeper in history, and kept over 270 clean sheets. For his outstanding service to the people and to his country, Yashin was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1967, the highest award of the USSR.


title: Lev Yashin

text: A vocal and authoritative figure between the posts, Yashin is known for revolutionizing the goalkeeping position: he shouted orders at his defenders, came off his line to intercept crosses, and also ran out to meet onrushing attackers, done at a time when goalkeepers spent the 90 minutes standing in the goal waiting to be called into action. Yashin would always organise the defensive game of his team, often so fiercely that even his wife accused him of yelling too much on the pitch. He rarely captained his teams, as the later accepted custom of appointing a goalkeeper captain was virtually unheard-of in that era, but his leadership on the field was always evident. Yashin was one of the goalkeepers who began the practice of punching balls out in difficult situations instead of trying to catch them. Other novel practices he developed were the quick throw of the ball to begin a counterattack, coming out of the penalty area to anticipate danger, and the command and organisation of the defenders – practices now quite common among goalkeepers. When asked what his secret was, he would reply that the trick was "to have a smoke to calm your nerves, then toss back a strong drink to tone your muscles."


title: Lev Yashin

text: In 1994, FIFA established the Lev Yashin Award for the best goalkeeper at the World Cup finals. FIFA polls named Yashin as the sole goalkeeper in World Team of the 20th Century. "World Soccer" magazine named him in their 100 Greatest Players of the 20th century. Many commentators consider Yashin the best goalkeeper in the history of football, which has resulted in him being chosen to be the goalkeeper in most of the world-all-time teams (including the FIFA World Cup All-Time Team and the FIFA Dream Team). In 2020 Yashin was named in the Ballon d'Or Dream Team, a greatest all-time XI.


title: Lev Yashin

text: Yashin also played ice hockey (also as a goalie) and he won the Soviet Cup in March 1953. He stopped playing ice hockey in 1954 to concentrate on his football career.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Bad Boys is a 1995 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Michael Bay in his first feature directorial debut, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. The film stars Martin Lawrence and Will Smith as two Miami narcotics detectives, Marcus Burnett and Mike Lowrey. The film received mixed reviews from critics, and was commercially successful and gained a strong cult following. It spawned two sequels, "Bad Boys II" (2003), and "Bad Boys for Life" (2020).


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Lifelong friends Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett are Miami police detectives investigating $100 million of seized Mafia heroin, which was stolen from a secure police vault. Internal Affairs suspects that it was an inside job and threatens to shut down the entire department unless they recover the drugs within 72 hours.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Mike asks one of his informants and ex-girlfriend Maxine "Max" Logan to look for people who are newly rich and therefore suspects. She gets herself and her best friend Julie Mott hired as escorts by Eddie Dominguez, a crooked former cop. The party is soon interrupted by Dominguez's French drug kingpin boss Fouchet and his henchmen Casper, Ferguson, and Noah. Dominguez and Max are killed, while Julie manages to escape. The madam who hired Julie and Max is disposed of by Noah, who then knocks out Mike as he investigates Max's death.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Frantically calling the police station, Julie insists on talking only to Mike, who is away. Knowing she never met Mike, captain Conrad Howard forces Marcus to impersonate Mike to talk to her. At her apartment, Marcus and Julie are attacked by some of Fouchet's henchmen, one of whom Marcus kills. When they rendezvous with Mike, Marcus and Mike have to impersonate each other, with Mike living at the Burnett residence while Marcus resides with Julie at Mike's apartment. The two struggle to keep it up in Julie's presence, and she quickly begins to suspect the truth.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Looking through mugshots, Julie identifies Noah as one of the henchmen. The trio go to Club Hell, one of Noah's known hangouts. After being spotted, Marcus knocks Casper unconscious during a bathroom fight. Julie tries to kill Fouchet but Marcus stops her. In the ensuing car chase, Mike kills Noah. The three manage to get away, but are caught on camera by a news helicopter and the report is later seen by Marcus's family, who were told that Marcus was temporarily reassigned to Cleveland.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Mike and Marcus meet their old informant Jojo and learn about the location of the chemist who is cutting the stolen drugs. The three return to Mike's apartment, where Marcus' wife Theresa confronts them and confirms Julie's suspicion they have been impersonating each other. Fouchet's gang shows up and kidnaps Julie.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Mike and Marcus' department is shut down by Internal Affairs. Despite being reassigned, Howard delays the order, giving Mike and Marcus more time to solve the case. They access Dominguez's private police database profile and learn that the police secretary Francine is Dominguez's former girlfriend, who was being blackmailed by Fouchet and Dominguez after they took nude photos of her, threatening to post them at her kids' school.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Mike, Marcus, and two other detectives, Sanchez and Ruiz, head to the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. After a fierce shootout, they kill the remainder of Fouchet's henchmen, including Casper and Ferguson, and rescue Julie. They chase a fleeing Fouchet and force his car into a concrete barrier. As Fouchet tries to flee, Mike shoots Fouchet in the leg and arrests him at gunpoint. After a tense conversation with Marcus, Fouchet surreptitiously draws a gun but is shot to death by Mike before he can kill Marcus, avenging Max's death. An exhausted Marcus leaves Julie with Mike and heads home, eager to be reunited with his wife.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Principal photography began on June 27, 1994, at the Dade Tire company near downtown Miami, the city chosen to replace the original New York locale. Filming continued throughout the area, including South Beach's Tides Hotel, the Mediterranean Biltmore Hotel, the Dade County Courthouse and a multimillion-dollar estate on a private island. The second floor of downtown Miami's Alfred DuPont building was converted into a police station; a freighter on the Miami River into a drug lab. "Bad Boys"' climactic scenes were filmed at the Opa-Locka Airport. Filming was quick due to the TV schedules of the stars with production wrapping on August 31. The opening sequence was written and shot during post-production. In the film's early stages of development, Simpson and Bruckheimer initially envisioned Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz in the roles. When the film was written for Carvey and Lovitz, the original title for "Bad Boys" was "Bulletproof Hearts". Arsenio Hall turned down the role of Lowrey and cites that choice as the worst mistake he has ever made. The role eventually went to Smith. Both Lawrence and Smith were starring in their own hit TV shows, "Martin" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", when filming "Bad Boys". "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" even references the film in an episode. In the season 6, episode 20, called "I Stank Horse", Nicholas "Nicky" Banks tells Will that his parents will not let him watch "Bad Boys", to which Will replies, ""Bad Boys", huh? What'cha gonna do?"


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Director Bay did not like the script and often engaged Smith and Lawrence in discussions about how the dialogue and scenes could improve. He often allowed them to improvise while the cameras were rolling. He secretly told Smith to call Lawrence a bitch before the car scene. The whole "two bitches in the sea" was improvised, as was Lawrence's comment when Leoni called him gay. The scene in the convenience store, when the clerk puts a gun to Burnett and Lowrey's heads and yells, telling them to "Freeze, mother bitches!", is also improvised. They came up with: "No, "you" freeze, bitch! Now back up, put the gun down and get me a pack of Tropical Fruit Bubbalicious". "And some Skittles." According to Bay in the DVD commentary, at the end of the film when Mike and Marcus are recuperating, Mike says "I love you, man." Bay claims that Smith refused to say the line, causing the director and actor to argue back and forth over the line. Bay wanted Smith to say the line as he felt it summed up the friendship between the cops. After their argument had lasted for half of the day's shoot and much of the crew was ready to pack up, a fed up Bay told Smith to do whatever he wanted, after which Smith changed his mind and agreed to say the line.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: "Bad Boys" was commercially successful, grossing $141,407,024 worldwide — $65,807,024 in North America and $75,600,000 internationally.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, "Bad Boys" has an approval rating of 42% based on reviews from 64 critics, with an average rating of 5.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads: ""Bad Boys" stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have enjoyable chemistry; unfortunately, director Michael Bay too often drowns it out with set pieces and explosions in place of an actual story." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Most of the criticisms focused on the fact that despite the production of the film and the ability of the stars, the script did not diverge from the generic plot of a buddy-cop genre film, instead opting for repeated use of formulaic scenes.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Roger Ebert in his video review of the film on "At the Movies" noted that despite the highly energetic approach of the two lead actors and the visual style of the film, their acting talents were mostly "new wine in old bottles". He illustrated that many of the elements featured in the film including both the plot and characters had been recycled from other films, particularly those from the "Lethal Weapon" and "Beverly Hills Cop" series—recurrent stock-characters, police detective clichés and over-long action scenes. In describing the archetypal cop-buddy genre action scene adhered to by the film, Ebert noted "Whenever a movie like this starts to drag, there's always one infallible solution; have a car-chase and then blow something up real good." Ebert gave the film 2 out of 4 stars.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: Gene Siskel in his appraisal of the film said that he had lost interest in the film after its introduction due to the very formulaic approach, and repeated Roger Ebert's criticism that the talents of the lead actors were wasted; suggesting that the production company did not spend significant time producing a script which would be suitable for their talents. Siskel gave the film 2 out of 4.


title: Bad Boys (1995 film)

text: "Bad Boys" was released on DVD on June 27, 2000. A Blu-ray release followed on June 1, 2010. "Bad Boys" was released in a two movie pack that includes "Bad Boys II" on Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 4, 2018.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Friends with Benefits is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Will Gluck and starring Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. The film features Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman, Bryan Greenberg, Nolan Gould, Richard Jenkins, and Woody Harrelson in supporting roles. The plot revolves around Dylan Harper (Timberlake) and Jamie Rellis (Kunis), who meet in New York City, and naively believe adding sex to their friendship will not lead to complications. Over time, they begin to develop deep feelings for each other, only to deny it each time they are together.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Principal casting for "Friends with Benefits" took place over a three-month period from April to July 2010. Gluck reworked the original script and plot shortly after casting Timberlake and Kunis. Filming began in New York City on July 20, 2010, and concluded in Los Angeles in September 2010. Screen Gems distributed the film, which was released in North America on July 22, 2011. "Friends with Benefits" was generally well received by film critics, most of whom praised the chemistry between the lead actors. The film became a commercial success at the box office, grossing $149.5 million worldwide, against a budget of $35 million. It was nominated for two People's Choice Awards—Favorite Comedy Movie, and Favorite Comedic Movie Actress (Kunis)—and two Teen Choice Awards for Timberlake and Kunis.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Jamie Rellis, an executive headhunter in New York City, recruits Dylan Francis Harper Jr., a Los Angeles art director, to interview for a position with "GQ" magazine. Initially skeptical, he accepts the job after a night exploring the city with Jamie.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Dylan moves to New York, signing a one-year contract that earns Jamie a commission, and they become close platonic friends. One night, after agreeing that sex should not require emotional attachment, they have purely casual sex. After several trysts together, Jamie decides to start dating again, and she and Dylan return to simply being friends.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Jamie meets Parker, an oncologist. After five dates, they consummate their relationship, only for him to break up with her in the morning. When Jamie's free-spirited mother, Lorna, abandons their Fourth of July weekend plans, Dylan persuades Jamie to travel with him to Los Angeles. There, she meets his sister Annie, nephew Sammy, and his father, who suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Though Jamie and Dylan assure his family that they are merely friends, they spend an intimate night together and have sex again.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: The next day, Jamie overhears Dylan tell Annie that Jamie is too "damaged" for him to date. Hurt, she flies home and ignores Dylan's attempts to reach her. He finds her on the roof of a skyscraper – a place she showed him the day they met – where she reveals that she overheard everything he said, and ends their friendship.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Some time later, Jamie discovers that Dylan may be leaving "GQ" for another job before his contract ends, which would affect her commission. She confronts him, leading to another argument. Jamie spends time with her mother, while Dylan meets his father at Newark Liberty International Airport. In a moment of Alzheimer's-induced confusion, his father mistakes a passer-by for a woman from his past. Regaining his lucidity, he explains that he met "the love of my life" before marrying Dylan's mother, but let her go. Dylan's father urges him not to do the same, and to reconcile with Jamie.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Realizing his true feelings for Jamie, Dylan calls Lorna to set up an excuse for Jamie to go to Grand Central Station, where he surprises her with a flash mob dancing to "Jump" and "Closing Time". After confessing his feelings to her and sharing a passionate kiss, Dylan suggests they go on their first real date. They go across the street to the Pershing Square café, and are unable to keep their hands off each other.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: In a post-credits scene, Dylan and Jamie watch outtakes from the fictional romantic comedy seen throughout the film.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: In April 2010, Justin Timberlake became the first to sign on to the project. He was soon followed by Mila Kunis when she landed the female lead opposite him. Approximately two months later, "Variety" magazine announced that an ensemble cast consisting of Emma Stone, Patricia Clarkson, Richard Jenkins, Woody Harrelson, Andy Samberg and Jenna Elfman were set to join them in the film. Three days after principal filming began, Bryan Greenberg completed the cast. The film features cameo appearances from Shaun White, Jason Segel, and Rashida Jones. Production locations were set up as early as July 13, and principal filmography commenced on July 20, 2010 in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. Filming continued in Central Park and other sections of New York City from July to early August before the production relocated to Los Angeles, California.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Paramount Pictures dropped its original protest against the film after their director, Ivan Reitman, re-titled his film, "No Strings Attached". Screen Gems then moved forward with the title "Friends with Benefits". At the same time, NBC was developing a sitcom with the same title, but the movie production company stated that due to its production schedule, they didn't expect an issue to arise. Screen Gems chose to accelerate production fearing that they would lose their title to the competing Paramount project. Director Will Gluck spoke about the frustration of comparing the two films, stating: "I wish there was more space between them. The thing that's irking me now is people are saying we're remaking "No Strings Attached". We're not remaking it. The two movies were being made at the same time." Gluck, in an interview with "The New Zealand Herald", said that both films are different. Similar sentiments were expressed by Kunis, stating, "It's just two different movies. There's only ... so many stories you can tell in the world. This is just one of the many."


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: The first theatrical trailer was released on March 16, 2011. The trailer had a subsequent release on YouTube and attracted over a million views in 48 hours, becoming the second most watched video of the day and the most viewed video in the film category. Promotion for "Friends with Benefits" subsequently grew, including promotional videos from Facebook and Twitter. Timberlake and Kunis also landed on the cover of "Elle" in support of the film.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Will Gluck stated that the concept of the story began with the idea that he wanted to work with Kunis and Timberlake, explaining that he rewrote the script for the two actors. Following those changes, Gluck expressed that he wanted to attract a more adult audience and that he "wanted to do more of an adult movie about sex, too, and about relationships". He went on to compare the storyline of "Friends with Benefits" to the relationship in films between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: In an interview with "Movieline", Gluck further discussed the film's plot saying that "Friends with Benefits" would relate largely with a younger generation. He added: "They comment about these romantic comedies throughout the movie, and as they go through their storyline, they realize that they're in a romantic comedy story — as two regular people who aren't in a movie would comment on. They're very cognizant that they're in this story ... but they end up embracing the fact that they're going through a romantic comedy moment." In an interview with the "Los Angeles Times", Timberlake explained that he and Gluck held authorship of humor and tone in regard to "Friends with Benefits". Timberlake and Kunis workshopped the script for more than a month before the movie went into production. Gluck would meet with the actors with 20 pages of script in front of him and the three would beat it up, changing lines, and defending each character's perspective.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: In June 2011, it was announced that Madison Gate Records would be distributing the album which featured fifteen songs. The album for "Friends with Benefits" was released on July 19, 2011.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in the United States on December 2, 2011 and in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2012.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 68% based on 170 reviews with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Friends with Benefits" adds nothing new to its well-worn rom-com formula, but the chemistry between Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis is almost enough to carry the movie by itself." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" praised "Friends with Benefits" for its "breezy, speedy and funny comedy" and complimented the chemistry between the lead actors. Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three stars, and remarked about the film, "What not every rom-com has, however, is good dialogue, well-delivered at a fast clip." He added, "Kunis fast-talks her way through the opening scenes as if she's channeling "Juno", and Timberlake easily keeps up. At some fundamental level, I simply enjoyed watching them." Peter Debruge of "Variety" found the plot to be predictable and benign; however, he complimented the cast, calling Kunis "a natural with comedy", while Timberlake "exudes the kind of star wattage that put Will Smith on top." Likewise, "Salon" Andrew O'Hehir asserted that despite a disappointing conclusion to the film, it was nonetheless a "rewarding summer diversion." "The Guardian" writer Peter Bradshaw reacted negatively to the film, expressing that there "was no benefit to watching it." Bradshaw gave the film a one-out-of-five-star rating.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: "The Daily Telegraph" Sukhdev Sandhu felt that Timberlake held his own when working with Mila Kunis. Concluding his review, Sandhu presented "Friends with Benefits" a three out of five stars. Betsey Sharkey of the "Los Angeles Times" praised the acting in the film, opining that "it [brought] a lot of natural life to the party." Michael Rechtshaffen of "The Hollywood Reporter" gave the film a positive review, stating that there was "palpable chemistry" between Timberlake and Kunis. "Entertainment Weekly" writer Owen Gleiberman gave "Friends with Benefits" a 'B−' grade, exclaiming that while he enjoyed much of the film, he felt that it was inconsistent.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Mary Pols of "Time" applauded the film, and wrote that despite the plot being predictable, the film was "elevated by energetic dialogue, the sexual chemistry between the leads and the fact that the miscommunication that keeps bliss at bay ... is plausible." Giving "Friends with Benefits" a three-star rating, "The Boston Globe" journalist Ty Burr opined that the film "works like a charm." He added that it mostly keeps its manic energy in check, and that it plays to chick-flick formulas without ever groveling – which is due almost entirely to the leads." Similar sentiments were expressed by Peter Paras of E!. Giving it a 'B' grade, Paras asserted that the film was the best romantic comedy film in a long time. Melissa Leong of the "National Post" wrote, "While the film takes jabs at the Hollywood fairy tale, ... Gluck adheres to the formula."


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: According to "The New York Times", "Friends with Benefits", a film "about love and sex in the age of social networking, gets some of its juice and tang partly by trash-talking its own genre. The setup is familiar, as are the essential elements: a single man and a single woman, two battered hearts yet a pair of resilient, eager, pretty bodies ... "Friends with Benefits" starts from the premise that its characters, and you, are sick of the romantic comedy clichés they may secretly, or not so secretly, adore." Drew Pinsky, an addiction medicine specialist felt that the film's central characters, both of whom were raised by a single parent in the film, "start looking for ways to solve that problem because they were never given the opportunity to grow an emotional landscape from a nurturing, available parent. They were just quickly parentalized and became a caretaker. And the caretaking is all part of the 'going for a broken person' and trying to fix them." He further added that "love addiction ending in 'happily ever after' is not a great message."


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: Timberlake added that "Friends with Benefits" is a film for "our generation; people that are between 25 and 30 years of age that are moving into a different part of their life. They are not sure what type of commitment they are comfortable with or what they're gonna do for the rest of their life".


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: "Friends with Benefits" was released in North America on July 22, 2011, in 2,926 theaters. It collected $6,801,594 on its opening day and then grossed a total of $18,622,150 in its opening weekend, finishing third at the box office, behind "" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2". The film grossed $55.8 million in the United States and Canada.


title: Friends with Benefits (film)

text: The film had similar success internationally. In Australia, it premiered on August 18, 2011, and earned $2.4 million during its opening weekend, charting above "Green Lantern" to finish first at the box office. The film expanded into Europe in September 2011. It grossed $10.6 million from over 20 territories in its first weekend. "Friends with Benefits" topped first place in France, where it opened with $1.8 million. The film performed highest in the United Kingdom and Germany, where it grossed $3.1 million and $2.6 million in its first weekend upon release, respectively. By mid-September, the film had grossed over $29.6 million internationally. It went on to gross over $149.5 million worldwide, with international grosses standing at $93.7 million.


title: Port wine

text: Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro Valley of northern Portugal. It is typically a sweet red wine, often served with dessert, although it also comes in dry, semi-dry, and white varieties.


title: Port wine

text: Other port-style fortified wines are produced outside Portugalin Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, India, South Africa, Spain, and the United Statesbut under the European Union Protected Designation of Origin guidelines, only wines from Portugal are allowed to be labelled "port".


title: Port wine

text: Port is produced from grapes grown and processed in the demarcated Douro region. The wine produced is then fortified by the addition of a neutral grape spirit known as aguardente to stop the fermentation, leaving residual sugar in the wine, and to boost the alcohol content. The fortification spirit is sometimes referred to as brandy, but it bears little resemblance to commercial brandies. The wine is then stored and aged, often in barrels stored in a lodge (meaning "cellar") as is the case in Vila Nova de Gaia, before being bottled. The wine received its name, "port", in the latter half of the 17th century from the seaport city of Porto at the mouth of the Douro River, where much of the product was brought to market or for export to other countries in Europe. The Douro valley where port wine is produced was defined and established as a protected region, and the name "Douro" thus an official appellation, in 1756, making it the third oldest wine after Chianti (1716) and Tokaj (1730).


title: Port wine

text: The reaches of the valley of the Douro River in northern Portugal have a microclimate that is optimal for cultivation of olives, almonds, and especially grapes important for making port wine. The region around Pinhão and São João da Pesqueira is considered to be the centre of port production, and is known for its picturesque "quintas" – estates clinging on to almost vertical slopes dropping down to the river.


title: Port wine

text: The demarcation of the Douro River Valley includes a broad swath of land of pre-Cambrian schist and granite. Beginning around the village of Barqueiros (about upstream from Porto), the valley extends eastward almost to the Spanish border. The region is protected from the influences of the Atlantic Ocean by the Serra do Marão mountains. The area is sub-divided into three official zones: the Baixo (lower) Corgo, the Cima (higher) Corgo and the Douro Superior.


title: Port wine

text: Over a hundred varieties of grapes ("castas") are sanctioned for port production, although only five (Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Touriga Francesa, and Touriga Nacional) are widely cultivated and used. Touriga Nacional is widely considered the most desirable port grape but the difficulty in growing it and the small yields cause Touriga Francesa to be the most widely planted grape. White ports are produced the same way as red ports, except that they use white grapes – Donzelinho Branco, Esgana-Cão, Folgasão, Gouveio, Malvasia Fina, Rabigato and Viosinho. While a few shippers have experimented with Ports produced from a single variety of grapes, all Ports commercially available are from a blend of different grapes. Since the Phylloxera crisis, most vines are grown on grafted rootstock, with the notable exception of the Nacional area of Quinta do Noval, which, since being planted in 1925, has produced some of the most expensive vintage ports.


title: Port wine

text: Grapes grown for port are generally characterized by their small, dense fruit which produce concentrated and long-lasting flavours, suitable for long aging. While the grapes used to produce port made in Portugal are strictly regulated by the Instituto do Vinho do Porto, wines from outside this region which describe themselves as port may be made from other varieties.


title: Port wine

text: In 2013, there were 8.7 million cases of port sold, 3.6% less than the previous year, at a value of $499 million. Port sales have been declining since 2005 and are down 16% from that year. Declining sales are attributed by some to increasing prices, due to the increased cost of alcohol used in the production process. Declining sales have also been attributed to the global rise in alcohol levels of table wines. As of 2014, the leading brand in Portugal is Cálem, which sells 2.6 million bottles annually.


title: Port wine

text: Port is produced from grapes grown in the Douro valley. Until 1986 it could only be exported from Portugal from Vila Nova de Gaia near Porto, Portugal's second-largest city. Traditionally, the wine was taken downriver in flat-bottom boats called 'barcos rabelos', to be processed and stored. In the 1950s and 1960s, several hydroelectric power dams were built along the river, ending this traditional conveyance. Currently, the wine is transported from the vineyards by tanker trucks and the "barcos rabelos" are only used for racing and other displays.


title: Port wine

text: Port wine is typically richer, sweeter, heavier, and higher in alcohol content than unfortified wines. This is caused by the addition of distilled grape spirits that fortify the wine, but also halt fermentation before all the sugar is converted to alcohol, and results in a wine that is usually 19% to 20% alcohol.


title: Port wine

text: Port is commonly served after meals as a dessert wine in English-speaking countries, often with cheese, nuts, and/or chocolate; white and tawny ports are often served as an apéritif. In Europe all types of port are frequently consumed as apéritifs.


title: Port wine

text: Port from Portugal comes in several styles, which can be divided into two broad categories: wines matured in sealed glass bottles, and wines that have matured in wooden barrels.


title: Port wine

text: The former, without exposure to air, experience what is known as "reductive" ageing. This process leads to the wine losing its color very slowly and produces a wine which is smoother on the palate and less tannic.


title: Port wine

text: The latter, being matured in wooden barrels, whose permeability allows a small amount of exposure to oxygen, experience what is known as "oxidative" aging. They too lose color, but at a faster pace. They also lose volume to evaporation (angel's share), leaving behind a wine that is slightly more viscous.


title: Port wine

text: The IVDP ("Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e Porto") further divides port into two categories: normal ports (standard rubies, three-year-old tawnies, and white ports) and "Categorias Especiais", special categories, which include everything else.


title: Port wine

text: The most common type, ruby port is stored in tanks of concrete or stainless steel after fermentation, to prevent oxidative aging and preserve its bright red color and full-bodied fruitiness. The wine is usually blended to match the style of the brand to which it is to be sold. The wine is fined and cold filtered before bottling and does not generally improve with age, although premium rubies are aged in wood from four to six years.


title: Port wine

text: Reserve ruby is a premium ruby port approved by the IVDP's tasting panel, the "Câmara de Provadores". In 2002 the IVDP prohibited the use of the term "vintage character", as reserve ruby port had neither a single vintage (usually being a blend of several vintages of ruby) nor the typical character of vintage port.


title: Port wine

text: Rose port is a very recent variation on the market, first released in 2008 by Poças and by Croft, part of the Taylor Fladgate Partnership. It is technically a ruby port, but fermented in a similar manner to a rosé wine, with a limited exposure to the grape skins, thus creating the rose color.


title: Port wine

text: Tawny ports are wines usually made from red grapes that are aged in wooden barrels exposing them to gradual oxidation and evaporation. As a result of this oxidation, they mellow to a golden-brown color. The exposure to oxygen imparts "nutty" flavours to the wine, which is blended to match the house style. They are sweet or medium dry and typically consumed as a dessert wine, but can also pair with a main course.


title: Port wine

text: When a port is described as tawny, without an indication of age, it is a basic blend of wood-aged port that has spent time in wooden barrels, typically at least three years.


title: Port wine

text: Reserve tawny port (produced by Borges, Calem, Croft, Cruz, Graham, Kopke and other houses) has been aged about seven years.


title: Port wine

text: Above this are tawnies with an indication of age, which represent a blend of several vintages. The target age profile, in years in wood, is stated on the label, usually 10, 20, 30 or 40 years. These ports are produced by most houses.


title: Port wine

text: It is also possible to produce an aged white port in this manner, with some shippers now marketing aged white ports.


title: Port wine

text: In some places, such as Canada and Australia, tawny may also be used to describe any port-style wine that is not produced in Portugal as per agreement with EU.


title: Port wine

text: Colheita port is a single-vintage tawny port aged for at least seven years, with the vintage year on the bottle instead of a category of age (10, 20, etc.). Colheita port should not be confused with vintage port: a vintage port will spend only about 18 months in barrels after harvest and will continue to mature in bottle, but a Colheita may have spent 20 or more years in wooden barrels before being bottled and sold. White Colheitas have also been produced.


title: Port wine

text: Unusual and rare, vintage dated Garrafeira combines the oxidative maturation of years in wood with further reductive maturation in large glass demijohns. It is required by the IVDP that wines spend some time in wood, usually between three and six years, followed by at least a further eight years in glass, before bottling. In practice the times spent in glass are much longer. The style is associated with the company Niepoort, although others do exist. Their dark green demijohns, known as bon-bons, hold approximately each. Some connoisseurs describe Garrafeira as having a slight taste of bacon, the reason being that, during the second phase of maturation, certain oils may precipitate, causing a film to form across the surface of the glass.


title: Port wine

text: Confusingly, the word Garrafeira may also be found on some very old tawny labels, where the contents of the bottle are of exceptional age.


title: Port wine

text: White port is made from white grapes, such as "Malvasia Fina", "Donzelinho", "Gouveio", "Codega" and "Rabigato", and can be made in a wide variety of styles, although until recently few shippers have produced anything other than a standard product. Ordinary white ports make an excellent basis for a cocktail while those of greater age are best served chilled on their own. Sweet white port and tonic water is a commonly consumed drink in the Porto region. There is a range of styles of white port, from dry to very sweet. Taylor's introduced Chip Dry, a new style of white apéritif Port, in 1934. Made from traditional white grape varieties, it is fermented for longer than usual to give it a crisp dry finish. Lágrima, which means "tears", is the name for the sweetest style of white Port. In addition to this type of wine, there is the White Port Colheita, which is obtained from a single harvest and ages in huge tanks acquiring a straw color, has mature and elegant aromas and flavours, featuring fruity and wooden notes, and the White Port with an indication of age, which is an elegant, full-bodied and rich Port, obtained from the blend of different wines with the same average age. When white ports are matured in wood for long periods, the color darkens, eventually reaching a point where it can be hard to discern (from appearance alone) whether the original wine was red or white.


title: Port wine

text: Late bottled vintage (often referred to simply as LBV) was originally wine that had been destined for bottling as vintage port, but because of lack of demand was left in the barrel for longer than had been planned. Over time it has become two distinct styles of wine, both of them bottled between four and six years after the vintage, but one style is fined and filtered before bottling, while the other is not.


title: Port wine

text: The accidental origin of late bottled vintage has led to more than one company claiming its invention. The earliest known reference to a style of port with this name in a merchant's list is to be found in The Wine Society's catalogue from 1964, which includes Fonseca's Quinta Milieu 1958, bottled in the UK, also in 1964. By the 1962 vintage, LBV was being produced in Portugal and bottled as LBV.


title: Port wine

text: LBV is intended to provide some of the experience of drinking a vintage port but without the need for lengthy bottle ageing. To a limited extent it succeeds, as the extra years of oxidative ageing in barrel does mature the wine more quickly.


title: Port wine

text: Unfiltered LBVs are mostly bottled with conventional driven corks and need to be decanted. After decanting they should be consumed within a few days. Recent bottlings are identified by the label "unfiltered", or "bottle matured", or both. Since the 2002 regulations, bottles that carry the words "bottle matured" must have enjoyed at least three years of bottle maturation before release. Before 2002 this style was often marketed as '"traditional", a description that is no longer permitted. Unfiltered LBV will usually be improved by extra years in the bottle. It can age as long as Vintage Ports and are very difficult to identify as LBVs when inserted into blind tastings of Vintage Ports.


title: Port wine

text: The filtered wine has the advantage of being ready to drink without decanting and is usually bottled in a stoppered bottle that can be easily resealed. However, many wine experts feel that this convenience comes at a price and believe that the filtration process strips out much of the character of the wine.


title: Port wine

text: Typically ready to drink when released, filtered LBV ports tend to be lighter bodied than a vintage port. Filtered LBVs can improve with age, but only to a limited degree.


title: Port wine

text: Crusted port is usually a blend of several vintages. Unlike vintage port, which has to be sourced from grapes from a single vintage, crusted port affords the port blender the opportunity to make best use of the varying characteristics of different vintages.


title: Port wine

text: Crusted port is bottled unfiltered, and sealed with a driven cork. Like vintage port it needs to be decanted before drinking.


title: Port wine

text: Vintage ports may be aged in barrels or stainless steel for a maximum of two and a half years before bottling, and generally require another 10 to 40 years of aging in the bottle before reaching what is considered a proper drinking age. Since they are potentially aged in cask for only a short time, they retain their dark ruby color and fresh fruit flavours. Particularly fine vintage ports can continue to gain complexity for many decades after they were bottled. It is not uncommon for 19th-century bottles to still be in perfect condition for consumption. The oldest known vintage port still available from a shipper is the 1815 Ferreira. A tasting in 1990 described it as having an "intensely spicy aroma – cinnamon, pepper and ginger – hints of exotic woods, iodine and wax."


title: Port wine

text: Vintage port is made entirely from the grapes of a declared vintage year. While it is by far the most renowned type of port, from a volume and revenue standpoint, vintage port accounts for only about two percent of overall port production. Not every year is declared a vintage in the Douro. The decision on whether to declare a vintage is made early in the second year following the harvest. The decision to declare a vintage is made by each individual port house, often referred to as a "shipper."


title: Port wine

text: Much of the complex character of aged vintage port comes from the continued slow decomposition of grape solids in each bottle. These solids are undesirable when port is consumed, and thus vintage port typically requires a period of settling before decanting and pouring.


title: Port wine

text: Single quinta vintage ports are wines that originate from a single estate, unlike the standard bottlings of the port wine houses which can be sourced from a number of quintas. Single quinta bottlings are used in two ways by producers. Most of the large port wine houses have a single quinta bottling which is only produced in some years when the regular vintage port of the house is not declared. In those years, wine from their best quinta is still bottled under a vintage designation, rather than being used for simpler port qualities.


title: Port wine

text: The term vintage has a distinct meaning in the context of vintage port. While a vintage is simply the year in which a wine is made, most producers of vintage port restrict their production of year-labelled bottlings to only the best years, a few per decade. Contrast with second wines, where (primarily) Bordeaux producers release a year-labelled top wine almost every year, but also lesser quality wines in some years.


title: Port wine

text: If a port house decides that its wine is of quality sufficient for a vintage, samples are sent to the IVDP for approval and the house declares the vintage. In very good years, almost all the port houses will declare their wines.


title: Port wine

text: In intermediate years, the producers of blended vintage ports will not declare their flagship port, but may declare the vintage of a single quinta, e.g., the 1996 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim and Taylor's Quinta de Vargellas. Some houses declare their wines in all but the worst years: Quinta do Vesuvio has declared a vintage every year with the exceptions of 1993, 2002 and 2014.


title: Port wine

text: Improved wine-making technologies and better weather forecasts during the harvest have increased the number of years in which a vintage can be declared. Although there have been years when only one or two wines have been declared, it has been over thirty years since there was a year with no declarations at all.


title: Port wine

text: 2016 was declared a vintage year by most producers, as was 2011. The quality of the grape harvest was attributed to ideal rainfall and temperature. Other recent widely declared vintage years were 2007, 2003, 2000, 1997 and 1994.


title: Port wine

text: The wine-producing Douro region is the second oldest protected wine region in the world after Chianti, in 1716.


title: Port wine

text: In 1756, during the rule of the Marquis of Pombal, the Companhia Geral da Agricultura das Vinhas do Alto Douro (C.G.A.V.A.D., also known as the General Company of Viticulture of the Upper Douro or Douro Wine Company), was founded to guarantee the quality of the product and fair pricing to the end consumer. The C.G.A.V.A.D. was also in charge of regulating which port wine would be for export or internal consumption and managing the protected geographic indication.


title: Port wine

text: In 1678, a Liverpool wine merchant sent two new representatives to Viana do Castelo, north of Oporto, to learn the wine trade. While on a vacation in the Douro, the two gentlemen visited the Abbot of Lamego, who treated them to a "very agreeable, sweetish and extremely smooth" wine," which had been fortified with a distilled spirit. The two Englishmen were so pleased with the product that they purchased the Abbot's entire lot and shipped it home.


title: Port wine

text: Port became very popular in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, when merchants were permitted to import it at a low duty, while war with France deprived English wine drinkers of French wine. British importers could be credited for recognising that a smooth, already fortified wine that would appeal to English palates would survive the trip to London.


title: Port wine

text: The continued British involvement in the port trade can be seen in the names of many port shippers and brands: Broadbent, Cockburn, Croft, Dow, Gould Campbell, Graham, Osborne, Offley, Sandeman, Taylor, and Warre being amongst the best known. Shippers of Dutch and German origin are also prominent, such as Niepoort and Burmester. The British involvement grew so strong that they formed a trade association that became a gentlemen's club. A few port shippers and producers were also established by native Portuguese families: Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto are among the best. Both Ferreira and Quinta do Crasto can be credited for pioneering the Douro as a table-wine-producing region, Ferreira making Barca Velha since 1952 and Quinta do Crasto becoming the second producer of note, starting in the early 1990s.


title: Port wine

text: Port, like other wine, should be stored in a cool but not cold, dark location (as light can damage the port), at a steady temperature (such as a cellar), with the bottle laid on its side if it has a cork, or standing up if it is stoppered. With the exception of white port, which can be served chilled, port should be served at between . Tawny port may also be served slightly cooler.


title: Port wine

text: Port wines that are unfiltered (such as vintage ports, crusted ports and some LBVs) form a sediment (or crust) in the bottle and require decanting. This process also allows the port to breathe (allowing the wine to mix with oxygen).


title: Port wine

text: A traditional method of opening vintage port is with port tongs. The tongs are heated over a flame and applied to the bottle's neck. The bottleneck is cooled with cold water, causing a clean break. This avoids the use of a corkscrew on an older cork, which would otherwise break apart and crumble into the wine.


title: Port wine

text: Once opened, port generally lasts longer than unfortified wine, but it is still best consumed within a short period of time. Tawny, ruby, and LBV ports may keep for several months once opened; because they are aged longer in barrels, these ports have already been exposed to some degree of oxidation. Old Vintage ports are best consumed within several days of opening, but young Vintage Ports can be kept open for several weeks, if not months when very young.


title: Port wine

text: Tradition in the United Kingdom calls for port being served at a formal dinner to be passed to the left ("pass the port to port") and for the bottle or decanter not to touch the table on its way around, though some cultures reject this tradition. If a diner fails to pass the port, others at the table may ask "Do you know the Bishop of Norwich?"the question acts as a reminder to pass the port, for those who know the story, and an opportunity to tell the story to those who have not heard it.


title: Port wine

text: The Port and Douro Wines Institute is an official body belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture of Portugal and is a key institution in promoting the industry and knowledge of making port wine. It was previously known as the Instituto do Vinho do Porto.


title: Port wine

text: Producers of port wine are often called "shippers". In the early history of the port wine trade, many of the most powerful shipping families were British (English and Scottish) and Irish; this history can still be seen in the names of many of the most famous port wines. Over the years Portuguese, as well as Dutch and German owned shippers have also become prevalent in the port industry.


title: Port wine

text: Porto, a World Heritage Site, is home to many famous port houses located near the Douro River, making the shipping of port wine easy. Some of these port houses are private, while others are open to public tours and visits.


title: Port wine

text: Port has been used in the past as a healing agent in earlier remedies. The British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger was given port for gout as a boy. He began at the age of 14 (1773) with a bottle a day according to J. Ehrman (1969): "The Younger Pitt". Heavy alcohol consumption is known to exacerbate gout.


title: Port wine

text: A recurring theme in the novels of Anthony Trollope is the partiality of respectable elderly ladies for port, which they excuse on the grounds that it is "medicinal".


title: Port wine

text: Aged port wine contains a family of bluish phenolic pigments called portosins (vinylpyranoanthocyanins) and oxovitisin A, an oxovitisin, a type of pyranoanthocyanin with a 2-pyrone component.


title: Matthew Morrison

text: Matthew James Morrison (born October 30, 1978) is an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter, best known for his role as Will Schuester on the Fox television show "Glee" (2009–2015). He has starred in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including appearing as Link Larkin in the original Broadway cast of "Hairspray" (2002), Fabrizio Nacarelli in the original Broadway cast of the musical "The Light in the Piazza" (2005, for which he received a Tony Award nomination), and the starring role of J.M. Barrie in the original Broadway cast of "Finding Neverland" (2015-2016).


title: Matthew Morrison

text: He starred as the Grinch in NBC's 2020 production "Dr. Seuss' The Grinch Musical Live!". He has also been a judge on two reality dance competition shows on TV: "The Greatest Dancer" on BBC One, and "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox.


title: Matthew Morrison

text: Morrison signed with Adam Levine's 222 Records in 2012, and has released three solo albums: "Matthew Morrison" (2011), "Where It All Began" (2013), and "Disney Dreamin' with Matthew Morrison" (2020).


title: Matthew Morrison

text: Morrison was born in Fort Ord, California, the son of Mary Louise (Fraser) and Thomas Morrison. Morrison was raised in Chico, California, and has Scottish and English ancestry. He was a member of Buena Park Youth theater, located in Buena Park. He was part of the Collaborative Arts Project 21 (CAP21) and the Orange County School of the Arts, while at the Los Alamitos High School campus. While in high school, Morrison did a musical with actress Jodie Sweetin. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts for two years before dropping out and joining the Broadway adaptation of "Footloose".


title: Matthew Morrison

text: In 1999, while still at NYU, Morrison appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman" and "Total Request Live" as one of five members of the fictional parody boy band "Fresh Step", an act that was conceived by several "Late Show" writers. The choreographer hired for "Fresh Step" was also the choreographer for the Broadway musical "Footloose", and helped Morrison to get cast in "Footloose" later that year. Morrison dropped out of NYU to begin appearing in the show.


title: Matthew Morrison

text: In 2001, Morrison was recruited to join the boy band LMNT, turning it from a trio into a quartet. He stayed in the band for one year, then left and was replaced by Jonas Persch; he left before the recording of the group's sole album, "All Sides". In a 2010 interview, Morrison stated about the experience, "It was the worst year of my life. You know when you're a performer and you're out there on stage and you're embarrassed that you're doing something wrong. It was pretty bad."


title: Matthew Morrison

text: Morrison briefly appeared in a revival of "The Rocky Horror Show" in 2002. He then starred in the original cast of the musical "Hairspray" as Link Larkin from its opening in 2002 through January 2004. In 2005, Morrison starred as Fabrizio Nacarelli in the Broadway premiere of Adam Guettel's musical "The Light in the Piazza"; he was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance. He left the show on August 28, 2005.


title: Matthew Morrison

text: Morrison started working in television, guest-starring on shows such as "Ghost Whisperer", "Numbers", "" and "Hack". Morrison also had small roles in films including "Marci X" (2003). He also appeared as Sir Harry in the 2005 ABC-TV production of "Once Upon a Mattress", starring Tracey Ullman, Zooey Deschanel and Carol Burnett.


title: Matthew Morrison

text: Morrison joined the cast of the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" as Adam Munson on October 24, 2006, but left abruptly soon after due to a "scheduling conflict", last airing on the soap on November 27. Morrison appeared in a benefit performance celebrating Andrew Lippa, and the 25th Anniversary of the performing troupe The Kids in the Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California in December 2006. The performance benefited The California Conservatory of the Arts, a non-profit arts education organization focusing on pre-professional training for young students, grades six through twelve, in Orange County, California.


title: Matthew Morrison

text: He earned a Drama Desk Nomination for his role in the Off Broadway show "10 Million Miles" which ran at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2007. That same year he appeared in two films: "Dan in Real Life", followed by "Music and Lyrics" as Cora Corman's manager. In 2008, he played Lieutenant Cable in a Lincoln Center production of the musical "South Pacific". He left the production at the end of 2008 and in early 2009 returned to California to shoot the first season of "Glee".


title: Matthew Morrison

text: Morrison played Will Schuester in the Fox Broadcasting television series "Glee", which had its television preview on May 19, 2009. Schuester is a high school Spanish (later History) teacher who takes on the task of restoring the school's glee club to its former glory. He made his directorial debut with the third season's ninth episode.


title: Matthew Morrison

text: In January 2010, Morrison signed a solo record deal with Mercury Records. His first studio album, "Matthew Morrison", was released on May 10, 2011. Two singles were released from the album, "Summer Rain" and "Still Got Tonight". The album also includes duets with Elton John (a medley of "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" and "Rocket Man"), Gwyneth Paltrow ("Over the Rainbow") and Sting ("Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot"). On June 16, 2010, Morrison joined Leona Lewis—appearing at London's O2 Arena as part of her world tour—for a one-off performance to sing "Over the Rainbow".


title: Matthew Morrison

text: In March 2012, Morrison was featured in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, "8"—a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage—as Paul Katami. The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights.