title: Vera-Ellen

text: Vera-Ellen (born Vera-Ellen Westmeier Rohe; February 16, 1921 – August 30, 1981) was an American dancer and actress. She is remembered for her solo performances as well as her work with partners Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye, and Donald O'Connor. She is best known for her starring roles in "On the Town" (1949) with Gene Kelly and "White Christmas" (1954) with Danny Kaye.


title: Vera-Ellen

text: Vera-Ellen Westmeier Rohe was born in Norwood, Ohio, to Martin F. Rohe, a piano dealer, and Alma C. Westmeier. Both were descended from German immigrants. Her hyphenated first name originated in a dream that her mother had and that her mother saw it in the “Lights.”


title: Vera-Ellen

text: She began dancing at age 10 and quickly became proficient. One of her fellow dance students at Hessler Studio of Dancing was Doris Day. At age 13, she was a winner on the "Major Bowes Amateur Hour" and embarked upon a professional career.


title: Vera-Ellen

text: In 1939, she made her Broadway debut in the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein musical "Very Warm for May". She became one of the youngest Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. This led to roles on Broadway in "Panama Hattie", "By Jupiter", and "A Connecticut Yankee", where she was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn, who cast her opposite Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo in the 1945 film "Wonder Man".


title: Vera-Ellen

text: Starting in 1945 with "Wonder Man", her first film, her singing was dubbed. However, the Decca Broadway Original Cast Album of 1943's revival of "A Connecticut Yankee" has two vocals by Vera-Ellen, "I Feel at Home with You" and "You Always Love the Same Girl," both duets with Chester Stratton. Her style is of a comic soubrette.


title: Vera-Ellen

text: She danced with Gene Kelly in the Hollywood musicals "Words and Music" and "On the Town", while also appearing in the last Marx Brothers film, "Love Happy". She received top billing alongside Fred Astaire in the musicals "Three Little Words" and "The Belle of New York". She had a co-starring role with Donald O'Connor in the Ethel Merman vehicle "Call Me Madam". She also starred in the 1951 musical comedy 'Happy Go Lovely' alongside David Niven and Cesar Romero. Vera-Ellen's penultimate film role was the 1954 blockbuster hit "White Christmas", co-starring with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney. She starred in only one more film, the 1957 British production "Let's Be Happy".


title: Vera-Ellen

text: Vera-Ellen was a reasonably frequent guest on US variety programming in the mid-to-late 1950s. Her final performances were on a November 22, 1958, television episode of "The Perry Como Show" and a February 14, 1959, broadcast of "The Dinah Shore Show". Following that, Vera-Ellen retired from performing.


title: Vera-Ellen

text: Vera-Ellen was an extremely thin woman for much of her adult life. A Hollywood rumor that her neck was always covered during the filming of "White Christmas" because of wrinkling caused by supposed anorexia persists to this day. However, pictures and video taken at the same time show her neck appearing normal and undamaged.


title: Vera-Ellen

text: A friend, Bill Dennington, who knew her during the last 20 years of her life, dismissed the story about her neck and added that he hated "that people think of her as 'the dancer with anorexia' and not just the fabulous dancer who has been so overlooked."


title: Vera-Ellen

text: Her niece by marriage, Ileana Rothschild, born in 1967, remembered that her aunt "never stopped taking dance classes and maintained her slim figure always." She was also an "avid swimmer," who used a swimming program to recover from a mild stroke late in her life. According to Rothschild, she had no eating disorder.


title: Vera-Ellen

text: Vera-Ellen was married twice. Her first husband was a fellow dancer, Robert Hightower, to whom she was married from February 1941 to November 1946.


title: Vera-Ellen

text: Her second husband was millionaire Victor Rothschild of the Rothschild family. They were married from 1954 to 1966 when they divorced. While married to Rothschild, she gave birth to a daughter, Victoria Ellen, who died in 1963 at three months from SIDS. Following the death of her only child, she withdrew from public life.


title: Vera-Ellen

text: Vera-Ellen died at the Los Angeles County General Hospital on August 30, 1981, of ovarian cancer. She was 60 years old. She is buried at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Sylmar, Los Angeles.


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: The Ambassadors is a 1533 painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Also known as "Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve", after the two people it portrays, it was created in the Tudor period, in the same year Elizabeth I was born. Franny Moyle speculates that Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, then Queen of England, might have commissioned the painting as a gift for Jean de Dinteville, the ambassador portrayed on the left in the painting. As well as being a double portrait, the painting contains a still life of several meticulously rendered objects, the meaning of which is the cause of much debate. It also incorporates one of the best-known examples of anamorphosis in painting. "The Ambassadors" has been part of London's National Gallery collection since its purchase in 1890.


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: Although a German-born artist who spent much of his time in England, Holbein here displays the influence of Early Netherlandish painting. He used oils which for panel paintings had been developed a century before in Early Netherlandish painting, and just as Jan van Eyck and the Master of Flémalle used extensive imagery to link their subjects to religious concepts, Holbein used symbolic objects around the figures to suggest mostly secular ideas and interests.


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: Among the clues to the figures' associations are a selection of scientific instruments including two globes (one terrestrial and one celestial), a shepherd's dial, a quadrant, a torquetum, and a polyhedral sundial, as well as various textiles including the floor mosaic, based on a design from Westminster Abbey (the Cosmati pavement, before the High Altar), and the carpet on the upper shelf, an example of Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting. The figure on the left is in secular attire while the figure on the right is dressed in clerical clothes. They flank the table, which displays open books and symbols of religious knowledge, including a symbolic link to the Virgin. Near the top left corner, a crucifix can be seen, partially covered by the curtain.


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: In contrast, other scholars have suggested the painting contains overtones of religious strife. The conflicts between secular and religious authorities are here represented by Jean de Dinteville, a landowner, and Georges de Selve, the Bishop of Lavaur. The commonly accepted symbol of discord, a lute with a broken string, is included next to a hymnbook in Martin Luther's translation, suggesting strife between scholars and the clergy. For others, if the lute's broken string suggests the interruption of religious harmony, the Lutheran hymnal, open on facing pages reproducing a song on the Commandments (Law) and one on the Holy Spirit (Grace) may suggest their being in "harmony" with each other.


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: The terrestrial globe on the lower shelf repeats a portion of a cartographically imaginative map created in possibly 1530 and of unknown origin. The map is referred to as the Ambassadors' Globe due to its popularly known appearance in the painting.


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: The work has been described as "one of the most staggeringly impressive portraits in Renaissance art."


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: The most notable and famous of Holbein's symbols in the work is the distorted skull which is placed in the bottom centre of the composition. The skull, rendered in anamorphic perspective, another invention of the Early Renaissance, is meant to be a visual puzzle as the viewer must approach the painting from high on the right side, or low on the left side, to see the form as an accurate rendering of a human skull. While the skull is evidently intended as a "vanitas" or "memento mori", it is unclear why Holbein gave it such prominence in this painting. A simple explanation is that "memento mori" was de Dinteville's motto, while another possibility is that this painting represents three levels: the heavens as portrayed by the astrolabe and other objects on the upper shelf, the living world as evidenced by books and a musical instrument on the lower shelf, and death signified by the skull.


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: It has also been hypothesized that the painting was meant to hang beside a doorway, or even in a stairwell, so that persons entering the room or walking up the stairs and passing the painting on their left would be confronted by the appearance of the skull. A further possibility is that Holbein simply wished to show off his ability with the technique in order to secure future commissions. However, artists often incorporated skulls as a reminder of mortality. Holbein may have intended the skulls (one as a gray slash and the other as a medallion on Jean de Dinteville's hat) and the crucifix in the upper left corner to encourage contemplation of one's impending death and the resurrection.


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: Before the publication of Mary F. S. Hervey's "Holbein's Ambassadors: The Picture and the Men" in 1900, the identity of the two figures in the picture had long been a subject of intense debate. In 1890, Sidney Colvin was the first to propose the figure on the left as Jean de Dinteville, Seigneur of Polisy (1504–1555), French ambassador to the court of Henry VIII for most of 1533. Shortly afterwards, the cleaning of the picture revealed that his seat of Polisy is one of only four French places marked on the globe. Hervey identified the man on the right as Georges de Selve (1508/09–1541), Bishop of Lavaur, after tracing the painting's history back to a seventeenth-century manuscript. According to art historian John Rowlands, de Selve is not wearing episcopal robes because he was not consecrated until 1534. De Selve is known from two of de Dinteville's letters to his brother François de Dinteville, Bishop of Auxerre, to have visited London in the spring of 1533. On 23 May, Jean de Dinteville wrote: "Monsieur de Lavaur did me the honour of coming to see me, which was no small pleasure to me. There is no need for the "grand maître" to hear anything of it". The "grand maître" in question was Anne de Montmorency, the Marshal of France, a reference that has led some analysts to conclude that de Selve's mission was a secret one; but there is no other evidence to corroborate the theory. On June 4, the ambassador wrote to his brother again, saying: "Monsieur de Lavaur came to see me, but has gone away again".


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: Hervey's identification of the sitters has remained the standard one, affirmed in extended studies of the painting by Foister, Roy, and Wyld (1997), Zwingenberger (1999), and North (2004), who concludes that "the general coherence of the evidence assembled by Hervey is very satisfying"; however, North also notes that, despite Hervey's research, "Rival speculation did not stop at once and is still not entirely dead". Giles Hudson, for example, has argued that the man on the right is not de Selve, but Jean's brother François, Bishop of Auxerre, a noted patron of the arts with a known interest in mathematical instruments. The identification finds support in the earliest manuscript in which the painting is mentioned, a 1589 inventory of the Chateau of Polisy, discovered by Riccardo Famiglietti. However, scholars have argued that this identification of 1589 was incorrect. John North, for example, remarks that "This was a natural enough supposition to be made by a person with limited local knowledge, since the two brothers lived on the family estates together at the end of their lives, but it is almost certainly mistaken". He points to a letter François de Dinteville wrote to Jean on 28 March 1533, in which he talks of an imminent meeting with the Pope and makes no mention of visiting London. Unlike the man on the right of the picture, François was older than Jean de Dinteville. The inscription on the man on the right's book is "AETAT/IS SV Æ 25" (his age is 25); that on de Dinteville's dagger is "AET. SV Æ/ 29" (he is 29).


title: The Ambassadors (Holbein)

text: North's book analyzes the painting and shows it to be representing Good Friday through various clues on the instruments.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: The Client is a 1994 American legal thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher, and starring Susan Sarandon, Tommy Lee Jones, Brad Renfro (his acting film debut), Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony LaPaglia, Anthony Edwards, and Ossie Davis. It is based on the 1993 novel by John Grisham. It was filmed in Memphis, Tennessee.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: "The Client" was theatrically released in the United States on July 20, 1994 and was a box-office hit, grossing $117.6 million against a $45 million budget. It received positive reviews from critics, with Sarandon's, Jones's and Renfro's performance in particular earning high praise.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his little brother, Ricky, are smoking cigarettes in the woods near their home when they encounter mob lawyer W. Jerome Clifford. Clifford tells Mark that he is about to kill himself to avoid being murdered by Barry "The Blade" Muldano, the nephew of notorious mob kingpin Johnny Sulari. Ricky becomes catatonic after witnessing the suicide and is hospitalized at Saint Peter Charity Hospital. Authorities – and the mob – realize that Clifford probably told Mark where a Louisiana senator, murdered by Muldano, is buried.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: Mark meets Regina "Reggie" Love, a lawyer and recovering alcoholic, who agrees to represent him. They quickly run afoul of "Reverend" Roy Foltrigg, a celebrated and vain US Attorney who is using the case as a springboard for his political ambitions. In the meantime, it is revealed that Sulari never authorized Muldano to kill the senator and wants Muldano to uncover how much the boys know. Muldano is also ordered to move the body, but he is unable to because it is buried in Clifford's boathouse, and police are still on the property investigating his suicide.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: Foltrigg continues to use legal means to get Mark to reveal where the body is hidden, while Sulari orders Muldano to kill the children and Reggie. He also orders the body to be moved once the investigation at Clifford's home is concluded. Mark is threatened in a hospital elevator by Mafia member Paul Gronke, and is unable to talk to Foltrigg.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: Mark and Reggie go to New Orleans to confirm that the body is on Clifford's property. Reggie intends to use this information to broker a deal with Foltrigg to get Ricky specialized medical care and place the family in the witness protection program. Reggie and Mark arrive at Clifford's house the same night as Muldano and his accomplices. They are digging up the body, but a melee follows when Mark and Reggie are discovered. Muldano and the others flee after Reggie trips the neighbors' alarm.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: Foltrigg agrees to Reggie's demands in exchange for information about the body's location. Before the Sway family leaves to restart their lives under new identities, Mark and Reggie share a heartfelt goodbye. While Muldano gets angry at his fellow mob members for messing up, Sulari becomes fed up with Muldano and sends him off to be killed. With the body recovered, Foltrigg is a lock-in for the media headlines he craves, and mentions that he intends to run for governor.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: "The Client" was a financial success, earning $92,115,211 at the North American domestic box office and an additional $25,500,000 internationally, for a worldwide total of $117,615,211.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: "The Client" received generally positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 80% from 40 reviews. The site's consensus states: ""The Client" may not reinvent the tenets of the legal drama, but Joel Schumacher's sturdy directorial hand and a high-caliber cast bring John Grisham's page-turner to life with engrossing suspense." Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on scale of A+ to F.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film a score of 2.5 out of 4 and "The New York Times" called "The Client" a film "with a fast, no-nonsense pace and three winning performances...that most clearly echoes the simple, vigorous Grisham style"; while the non-profit group Common Sense Media warned "that threats of violence and death, often directed against an 11-year-old boy, are constant here."


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: For her work in the film, Sarandon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. For his work in the film, Renfro won for an Young Artist Awards for Best Performance by a Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture and was nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association for Most Promising Actor.


title: The Client (1994 film)

text: The film spawned a TV series of the same name, starring JoBeth Williams and John Heard, while Ossie Davis reprises his role of Judge Harry Roosevelt. The show lasted one season (1995–1996).


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: The Deloitte Football Money League is a ranking of football clubs by revenue generated from football operations. It is produced annually by the accountancy firm Deloitte and released in early February of each year, describing the season most recently finished.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: The following table shows the clubs who have appeared in the rankings since the 1996–97 season, sorted by average annual rank, and drawn from the annual lists below.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: For the fourth year running, the top 4 teams were Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United and Bayern Munich, with Real Madrid becoming the first team to generate over €500 million in revenue. Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli continued their meteoric rises up the table.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: The total revenue of the 20 richest clubs in the footballing world was over a record €3.73 billion. No side could displace Real Madrid, who remain top of football's financial rankings for the third year running after seeing their revenues leap 20% to €351.8 million during the 2006–07 season.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: Manchester United displaced Barcelona in second place, the Spanish club moving down to third. Chelsea's revenue increase sees them return to the top five, into fourth place whilst Arsenal's move to the Emirates Stadium transformed their revenues moving them up to fifth place. This marked the first time any country has had three clubs in the top five of the Money League.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: European champions Milan moved up to sixth place while runners-up Liverpool moved two places up to eighth. Italian champions Internazionale moved down two places to 9th while Bayern Munich moved up a spot to seventh. Juventus' relegation into Serie B saw them move nine places down to 12th place.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: The total revenue of the top 20 richest clubs in the world is now over €3.3 billion. Barcelona gained four places in the ranking for this year, making the two richest clubs both from Spain. England has the largest number of clubs in the list. A club from Portugal was added to the list for the first time. Portugal's Benfica is the third club from the Iberian Peninsula among the top 20 in the world, after Spain's Real Madrid and Barcelona.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: In the rankings for the 2004–05 season, Real Madrid longs run at the top. Three clubs that had appeared in the previous season's top twenty (Marseille, Rangers, and Aston Villa) were replaced by Lyon, Everton, and Valencia.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: In the 2003–04 season, five clubs recorded revenues of over €200m with Manchester United once again being ranked as the club with the highest revenue in Europe.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: English clubs dominated the money league for the 2002–03 season, with five Premier League clubs occupying spots in the top 10.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: Record growth in Europe's top five leagues boosted revenue in the continent's football industry by 4 percent to an all-time high of 16.3 billion euros (£13.7 billion/$23.8 billion) in 2009-10. The "Big Five" had total revenue of 8.4 billion euros, a 5 percent increase over 2008-09, according to Deloitte.


title: Deloitte Football Money League

text: In addition to that a total of €754.1m was distributed to clubs participating in the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League, with the two finalists, Barcelona and Manchester United, receiving the largest amounts. Barcelona's triumphant run to the title at Wembley in May earned them a total of €51m. Despite the loss, Manchester United got even more €53m.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Jane Alexander (née Quigley; born October 28, 1939) is an American actress and author. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and nominations for four Academy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. From 1993 to 1997, Alexander served as the chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Alexander won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in the Broadway production of "The Great White Hope". Other Broadway credits include "6 Rms Riv Vu" (1972), "The Night of the Iguana" (1988), "The Sisters Rosensweig" (1993) and "Honour" (1998). She has received a total of eight Tony Award nominations and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1994.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Her film breakthrough came with the romantic drama "The Great White Hope" (1970), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her subsequent Oscar nominations were for her roles in "All the President's Men" (1976), "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979), and "Testament" (1983). An eight-time Emmy nominee, she received her first nomination for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in "Eleanor and Franklin" (1976), a role that required her to age from 18 to 60. She has won two Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for "Playing for Time" (1980) and "Warm Springs" (2005).


title: Jane Alexander

text: Alexander was born Jane Quigley in Boston, Massachusetts, daughter of Ruth Elizabeth (née Pearson), a nurse, and Thomas B. Quigley, an orthopedic surgeon. She graduated from Beaver Country Day School, an all-girls school in Chestnut Hill outside of Boston, where she discovered her love of acting.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Encouraged by her father to go to college before embarking on an acting career, Alexander attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she concentrated on theater, but also studied mathematics with an eye toward computer programming, in the event that she failed as an actress. Also while at Sarah Lawrence, she shared an apartment with Hope Cooke, who would become Queen Consort of the last king of Sikkim. Alexander spent her junior year studying at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where she participated in the Edinburgh University Dramatic Society. The experience solidified her determination to continue acting.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Alexander made her Broadway debut in 1963, replacing Phyllis Wynn as Sandy Dennis' standby in "A Thousand Clowns". She reportedly performed the role a handful of times. Alexander's major break in acting came in 1967 when she played Eleanor Backman in the original production of Howard Sackler's "The Great White Hope" at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. Like her co-star, James Earl Jones, she went on to play the part both on Broadway (1968), winning a Tony Award for her performance, and in the film version (1970), which earned her an Oscar nomination. Alexander's additional screen credits include "All the President's Men" (1976), "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979), and "Testament" (1983), all of which earned her Oscar nods, "Brubaker" (1980), "The Cider House Rules" (1999), and "Fur" (2006), in which she played Gertrude Nemerov, mother of Diane Arbus, played in the film by Nicole Kidman.


title: Jane Alexander

text: The play "The Time of Your Life" was revived on March 17, 1972, at the Huntington Hartford Theater in Los Angeles with Alexander, Henry Fonda, Gloria Grahame, Lewis J. Stadlen, Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Thompson, Strother Martin, Richard X. Slattery, and Pepper Martin among the cast with Edwin Sherin directing.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Alexander portrayed Eleanor Roosevelt in two television productions, "Eleanor and Franklin" (1976) and "" (1977); she also played FDR's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, in HBO's "Warm Springs" (2005) with Kenneth Branagh and Cynthia Nixon, a role which garnered her an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Alexander co-starred with Rachel Roberts in Steven Gether's teleplay and production of "A Circle of Children" (1977), based on Mary MacCracken's autobiographical book about emotionally disturbed children (with an emphasis on autism), which won Gether an Emmy. Alexander also starred in its sequel, "Lovey: A Circle of Children, Part II" (1978).


title: Jane Alexander

text: In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Alexander's name and picture.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Alexander's other television films include Arthur Miller's "Playing for Time", co-starring Vanessa Redgrave, for which Alexander won another Emmy Award; "Malice in Wonderland" (as famed gossip-monger Hedda Hopper); "Blood & Orchids"; and "In Love and War" (1987) co-starring James Woods, which tells the story of James and Sybil Stockdale during Stockdale's eight years as a US prisoner of war in Vietnam. Alexander also played the protagonist, Dr. May Foster, in the HBO drama series "Tell Me You Love Me". Her character, a psychotherapist, serves as the connecting link between three couples coping with relational and sexual difficulties. The show's frank portrayal of "senior" sexuality and explicit sex scenes generated controversy, although it won a rare endorsement by the AARP. She also had a minor role as Dr. Graznik in "The Ring".


title: Jane Alexander

text: In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Alexander chairperson of the National Endowment for the Arts, the organization that had provided partial funding for "The Great White Hope" at Arena Stage. Alexander moved to Washington, DC, and served as chair of the NEA until 1997. Her book, "Command Performance: an Actress in the Theater of Politics" (2000), describes the challenges she faced heading the NEA at a time when the 104th U.S. Congress, headed by Newt Gingrich, unsuccessfully strove to shut it down. She was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1999.


title: Jane Alexander

text: In 2004, Alexander, together with her husband, Edwin Sherin, joined the theater faculty at Florida State University. She serves on various boards, including the Wildlife Conservation Society, the National Audubon Society, Project Greenhope, the National Stroke Association, and Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament, and she has received the Israel Cultural Award and the Helen Caldicott Leadership Award. Alexander is also a fellow of the International Leadership Forum. In 2009 Alexander starred in Thom Thomas's play "A Moon to Dance By" at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It was directed by her husband, Edwin Sherin.


title: Jane Alexander

text: Alexander met her first husband, Robert Alexander, in the early 1960s in New York City, where both were pursuing acting careers. They had one son, Jace Alexander, in 1964, and the couple divorced a decade later. Alexander had been acting regularly in various regional theaters when she met producer/director Edwin Sherin in Washington, DC, where he was artistic director at Arena Stage. Alexander starred in the original theatrical production of "The Great White Hope" under Sherin's direction at Arena Stage prior to the play's Broadway debut. The two became good friends and, once divorced from their respective spouses, became romantically involved, marrying in 1975. Between the two, they have four children, Alexander's son Jace and Sherin's three sons, Tony, Geoffrey, and Jon. Edwin Sherin died at the age of 87, on May 4, 2017.


title: For Honor

text: For Honor is an action game developed and published by Ubisoft. The game allows players to play the roles of historical forms of soldiers and warriors such as knights, samurai, vikings, controlled using a third-person perspective. The game was developed primarily by Ubisoft Montreal and released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2017.


title: For Honor

text: "For Honor" received generally favorable reviews, with the difficult and original combat mechanics being highlighted.


title: For Honor

text: "For Honor" is a fighting game set during a medieval, fantasy setting. Players can play as a character from one of five different factions, namely the Iron Legion (Knights), the Warborn (Vikings), the Dawn Empire (Samurai), and the Wu Lin (Ancient Chinese). The fifth faction was added in January 2022 and is named the Outlander faction which only has two characters at this time, The Pirate based around a stereotypical pirate lord from the Golden Age of Piracy and The Medjay, an Ancient Egyptian warrior. The Wu Lin faction was added in the "Marching Fire" expansion in October 2018. The Vanguard class is described as "well-balanced" and has excellent offense and defense. The Assassin class is fast and efficient in dueling enemies, but the class deals much less damage to multiple enemies. The Heavies (Tanks) are more resistant to damage and are suitable for holding capture points, though their attacks are slow. The last class, known as "Hybrid", is a combination of two of the three types, and is capable of using uncommon skills.


title: For Honor

text: All heroes are unique and have their own weapons, skills, and fighting styles. Players fight against their opponents with their class-specific melee weapons. When players perform certain actions, such as killing multiple enemies consecutively, they gain Feats, which are additional perks. These perks allow players to gain additional points and strengths, call in a barrage of arrows or a catapult attack, or heal themselves. In most missions, players are accompanied by numerous AI minions. They are significantly weaker than the player character, and do not pose much threat.


title: For Honor

text: A tactical combat system, known as "Art of Battle", is initiated when the player encounters other players or player-like AI in the multiplayer or higher health AI in the campaign. Players enter a dueling mode with them wherein players aim at their opponent with their weapon. Players then can choose how to place and position their weapons from three directions (from above, the right, and the left) when they are attacking their enemies. By observing on-screen hints and the movements of their opponents, which reflect their respective attack position, players are able to choose the correct position to block the other players' attacks. Players also have other special abilities, which vary depending on the character they choose, such as barging into enemies with their own shoulders and performing back-stepping swipes. The strength of each attack can also be decided by players. The system aims at allowing players to "feel the weight of the weapon in [their] hand".


title: For Honor

text: Similar to the single-player campaign, the multiplayer modes feature perks, AI minions, and the Art of Battle system. As the competitive multiplayer modes feature a structure similar to that of shooters, the creative director of the game called "For Honor" a "shooter with swords". Friendly fire is also featured in the game. Players can cause damage to their own teammates if they accidentally or intentionally hit them with their blades. The multiplayer aspect also allows players to customize their characters. For instance, the armor that the characters wear can be changed and modified. There are seven game modes: There is also a ranked duel game mode that is currently in beta:


title: For Honor

text: Each online multiplayer match awards War Assets based on the outcome and the player's performance. These War Assets are then deployed in the Faction War – which stretches across all platforms – where they are used either to defend an allied territory or conquer a neighbouring one occupied by an enemy faction, with the most war assets deployed in a given territory determining the victor. Territories controlled are updated every six hours, while rounds last for two weeks and seasons last for ten weeks (five rounds). As the war progresses and territories change, the changing front will determine which maps that are played and their appearance (each map has variants depending on whether it is under Samurai, Knight or Viking control.) Players who have distinguished themselves and helped their faction gain and defend ground earn higher quality equipment as spoils of war after each round and each season. After a season ends, the map is reset and a new season begins after an off-season period, but the outcome of the previous season impacts the story background of the new season.


title: For Honor

text: There are currently five factions in "For Honor:" Knights, Vikings, and Samurai, with a fourth faction, the Wu Lin, having been added with the "Marching Fire" expansion. The fifth faction, called The Outlanders, are a group of warriors introduced in Y5S4 who have no cultural links to the previous factions. There are 9 combatants in the Knight faction, 7 in the Viking faction, 8 in the Samurai faction, 5 in Wu Lin faction, and 2 in The Outlanders faction, making for a grand total of 31 currently playable heroes, with a further 2 additional characters for the Outlanders being confirmed to be in development for Year 6.


title: For Honor

text: After a natural catastrophe pitted the most fearsome warriors against one another in a fight for resources and territory, the bloodthirsty warlord Apollyon believes the people of the Knights, Vikings, and Samurai have grown weak and wants to create an age of all-out war through manipulation of each faction. To this end the perspectives of characters within each faction are shown as events unfold, battles are waged, and agendas are created as Apollyon works to ensure continuous sparks of conflict between the Legion, the Warborn, and the Chosen from the Myre. With a later DLC, the Wu-Lin, based on Chinese culture, were added, while in-game lore links the Romans fighting for the Legion to a fifth Roman-based faction not present in the game.


title: For Honor

text: The warmonger Apollyon takes control of the knights of the Blackstone Legion after murdering her rivals, who fight for the people of the land of Ashfeld, allowing her to sow the seeds of perpetual war and create stronger men to rule over the weak. During the Blackstone Legion's attempt to bring a dishonorable lord-turned-mercenary, Hervis Daubeny, to justice, his second-in-command, known as the Warden, helps to stop the Blackstone siege and battles the champion of the Blackstone knights. Upon defeating a Blackstone Legion captain, Ademar, the Warden is made a knight of the Legion by Holden Cross, Apollyon's lieutenant, and leaves with him. During his/her time in Apollyon's army, the Warden helps to defend against the Viking raiders of the Warborn, but soon realizes shortly after meeting with Apollyon that she cares nothing about protecting people and seeks to manipulate her enemies into endless battles. Starting with the Vikings, Apollyon and her warriors including Holden Cross, the Warden and fellow lieutenants Stone and Mercy, attack their settlements and sack their strongholds in the northern land of Valkenheim, leaving only enough food and supplies to fight over, and sparing those who would eagerly fight for those scraps or are strong enough to do so.


title: For Honor

text: Afterwards, in Valkenheim, the Viking clans fight among themselves, killing one another for the dwindling scraps left by Apollyon. This continues until a powerful warrior known as Raider comes down from the mountains, and begins uniting the warriors of the various clans under the Warborn banner, alongside Warlord friend Stigandr, Valkyrie warrior Runa and Berserker Helvar, first by killing the brutal raider Ragnar, who steals what little remains from those who cannot feed themselves, and then Siv the Ruthless, who seeks to conquer and plunder their own people. After killing their rivals, Raider's rapidly growing army retake a Warborn stronghold from knights of Apollyon's army, and then set out to the land of the Myre to raid the Dawn Empire of the Chosen, a group of powerful Samurai, to resupply and feed their people. The Raider then leads the assault on the Samurai, kills the Samurai General, Tozen, and causes the Samurai to retreat back to their greatest city. In the chaos, Apollyon kills the Dawn Empire's ruler and his "daimyōs" that refuse to fight.


title: For Honor

text: Into this chaos is brought the Orochi warrior known as the Emperor's champion, the strongest and most fearsome warrior in the Dawn Empire. The champion was imprisoned for speaking out of turn and was freed during the chaos of the Viking raid. The Orochi helps to push back the Vikings, but fails to prevent Apollyon from riding through the chaos and murdering the Imperial family, forcing the Daimyos to fight one another for supreme rulership as Emperor of the Dawn Empire. After learning of the devastation the Viking raid caused, the Orochi, fellow samurai Ayu, the Shugoki Okuma and Nobushi Momiji attempt to reunite the Daimyos under one banner, using Apollyon as a common enemy to rally against. The Emperor's Champion infiltrates the Emperor's palace with Momiji and confronts Seijuro, the Daimyo who took Apollyon's offer to become Emperor. After defeating Seijuro, the champion convinces him to join him against Apollyon. It is also during this time that the Emperor's Champion learns of Apollyon's manipulations of the various factions and rallies allies to stop Apollyon, invading Ashfeld to attack Blackstone Fortress. During a scouting mission with Momiji, the Orochi is met by the Warden, now leading the rebellious Iron Legion against Apollyon with Holden Cross, Stone and Mercy by his/her side, and after dueling him/her, realizes they are allied against the same enemy. Both armies besiege the castle on separate fronts, with the Orochi searching for Apollyon. After finding Apollyon, the Orochi fights with and kills her, but not before learning that she wanted to create eternal war to weed out the weak and create the strongest of men, making them evermore bloodthirsty. Despite her death, Apollyon got what she wanted: an age of bloodthirsty wolves.


title: For Honor

text: In the aftermath, the armies of all three factions attacking the Blackstone Fortress; Knight, Samurai and Viking alike all turn on each other, resulting in a war lasting seven years. Realizing the war's futility, the Warden, now leader of the Iron Legion, sends Holden Cross to meet with the jarl of the vikings, Stigandr, and the samurai Ayu. Though all three realize that the prospect of peace may be futile, they all agree that peace is worth fighting for and striving for it will make for an unforgettable tale.


title: For Honor

text: "For Honor" was developed by Ubisoft Montreal. Blue Byte developed the game's PC version. It was announced during Ubisoft's E3 2015 press conference. A CGI trailer and a gameplay demo were shown during the conference. Development of the game began in 2012. "For Honor" was the company's first attempt at developing a strategy-action game. The structure of the game is inspired by shooter games. The game was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 14, 2017. The game's original score was written and produced by film composers Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans and Owen Wallis. A 20-track original soundtrack released alongside the game on February 14. On 27 July 2018, the game was announced to be joining the Xbox Games With Gold program.


title: For Honor

text: The documentary "Playing Hard" shows the development of the game, from an idea of Jason Vandenberghe up to release.


title: For Honor

text: The Warden was later included as a playable DLC character in SNK's 2019 fighting game "Samurai Shodown" on June 24, 2020.


title: For Honor

text: From October 21, 2021, to November 11, 2021, a "Dead by Daylight" crossover event called "Survivors of the Fog" was held. The event featured "Dead by Daylight"-inspired cosmetic items and a limited-time game mode that featured one of the game's original characters, the Trapper, as an AI-controlled enemy.


title: For Honor

text: "For Honor" received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.


title: For Honor

text: "PC Gamer" awarded it a score of 74/100, saying "A tense, tactical medieval brawler that will reward anyone with the patience and will to master it."


title: For Honor

text: "Eurogamer" ranked the game 25th on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017". The game won the People's Choice Award for "Best Fighting Game" in IGN's Best of 2017 Awards.


title: For Honor

text: In Japan, "For Honor" debuted as the top-selling video game during its first week of release (February 13 to February 19, 2017), selling 40,062 copies, according to Media Create. In the U.S., it was the top-selling video game of February 2017, according to The NPD Group's tracking of retail and some digital sales. In the UK, it was the best-selling game during the week ending February 18, 2017, according to Chart-Track data, which excludes digital sales. The game ranked seventh worldwide in digital sales of console games during February 2017, according to SuperData Research's digital sales report, selling over 700,000 digital copies for all three platforms.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The Virginian (later renamed The Men from Shiloh in its final year) is an American Western television series starring James Drury in the title role, along with Doug McClure, Lee J. Cobb, and others. It originally aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971, for a total of 249 episodes. Drury had played the same role in 1958, in an unsuccessful pilot that became an episode of the NBC summer series "Decision". Filmed in color, "The Virginian" became television's first 90-minute Western series (75 minutes excluding commercial breaks). Cobb left the series after four seasons, and was replaced over the years by mature character actors John Dehner, Charles Bickford, John McIntire, and Stewart Granger, all portraying different characters. It was set before Wyoming became a state in 1890, as mentioned several times as Wyoming Territory, although other references set it later,


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The series was loosely based on "The Virginian: Horseman of the Plains", a 1902 Western novel by Owen Wister that Hollywood had previously adapted for movies. Percy Faith composed the show's original theme.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The series ran for nine seasons, making it network television's third-longest running Western, behind "Bonanza" at 14 seasons and 430 episodes, and "Gunsmoke" at 20 seasons and 635 episodes.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: When Revue Productions' hour long series "Wagon Train" moved from the NBC network to ABC, "The Virginian" was proposed to replace it. From the beginning, the 90-minute series was filmed in


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The half-hour black and white pilot titled "The Virginian" aired in 1958 as part of the series "Decision", which in other weeks aired pilots for three other series.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: In the pilot, unlike in the later series, the Virginian had a noticeable Southern accent and wore a belt buckle marked "CSA", indicating service in the Confederate army. The portrayal of him as a young Civil War veteran would indicate that the time period of the pilot was decades earlier than that of the series. He arrived by invitation at the ranch of Judge Henry (Robert Burton) to be an accountant and manager. He soon becomes involved in unraveling a plot to destroy the judge's efforts to create a new town in the surrounding region. Other actors in the pilot, some of whom appeared in the series years later, included Andrew Duggan, Jeanette Nolan, and Dan Blocker (in a small, nonspeaking role).


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Set in the late 19th century, and loosely based on "The Virginian, A Horseman of the Plains", a 1902 novel by Owen Wister, the series revolved around the tough foreman of the Shiloh Ranch, played by Drury. His top hand, Trampas (McClure), and he were the only characters to remain with the show for the entire run, although Ross Elliott, as Sheriff Abbott, recurred throughout the run, appearing in 61 episodes over nine years. As in the book, the foreman went only by the name "the Virginian". The series was set in Medicine Bow, Wyoming. Various references in the first season indicate that setting is 1898:


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The series focused on the foreman's quest to maintain an orderly lifestyle at Shiloh Ranch. The ranch was named after the two-day American Civil War Battle of Shiloh, at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee. The show's white Appaloosa was named Joe D., and Trampas' buckskin horse was named Buck.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Several cast changes were made throughout the program's run. In the first four seasons (1962–1966), the owner of the ranch was Judge Henry Garth (Cobb). His "de facto" daughter Betsy (Roberta Shore) lived at the ranch with him, and had a sister relationship with the ranch hands. Ranch hand Steve Hill (Gary Clarke) joined in episode storylines. Randy Boone joined the show in the second season as a youthful ranch hand who played guitar and sang duets with Betsy.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: In 1965, Decca Records released an LP of songs from the two singing actors. In the episode "First to Thine Own Self" (February 12, 1964), Boone's character sings "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry", written by Hank Williams in 1949.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: In the third season, Clu Gulager, who had previously guest-starred twice in earlier seasons, was added to the show as deputy Emmett Ryker. At the end of season three, executive producer Frank Price was replaced by Norman Macdonnell. Conversely, season four's production was strained and troublesome. When Shore left the cast, Macdonnell added a new leading woman — Diane Roter, who played Jennifer, the judge's niece. When Cobb left the show in 1966, John Dehner, as Morgan Starr, was brought in as the manager of Shiloh when Judge Garth left to become the governor of Wyoming. His demanding presence and tough demeanor were poorly received.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Producer Frank Price returned for season five. The characters of Randy, Morgan Starr, and Jennifer were subsequently replaced with characters of a more familiar tone. John Grainger (played by Charles Bickford) became the new owner. Elizabeth Grainger (played by Sara Lane), was John Grainger's granddaughter. Her brother Stacey (Don Quine) rounded out this new cast.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Although Price later left again, the series continued smoothly in the pattern he set. Due to Charles Bickford's sudden death in November 1967, season six saw Clay Grainger (John McIntire), take ownership of Shiloh after his brother John's apparent departure "on business". The sixth season also added Holly Grainger (played by Jeanette Nolan, McIntire's real-life wife, with whom he often worked professionally) as Clay's wife. Season seven had the entrance of David Sutton, played by David Hartman. Sutton was replaced in season eight with a younger hand, Jim Horn (Tim Matheson).


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: In season 9 (1970–71), the name of the program was changed to "The Men from Shiloh" and the look of the series was completely redesigned. Ownership of the Shiloh Ranch was changed once more, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie (Stewart Granger) took over. Also Lee Majors joined as a new character, Roy Tate, introduced in the fifth episode of the season. Granger said of his character:


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: They had some idea of Col. Mackenzie against the West. I wanted no part of that. Englishmen were running cattle here from the beginning. The English have this thing for land; for animals and crops... I said this old cocker's out of India and the colonies: he can take the American West on his own terms.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: In several countries, including the United Kingdom, the show went under the extended title "The Virginian: Men From Shiloh."


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: A new opening theme song was composed by Ennio Morricone, and the look of the show was changed reflecting a style similar to spaghetti Westerns, which were popular at the time.<ref name="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xna6GjwSJ0"></ref> The hats worn featured much broader brims and higher crowns. The clothing was also jauntier and more imaginative, and mustaches and beards were more common.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: These changes brought a better ranking (number 18) in the top-30 primetime shows, after the previous year had the show slip out of the top-30 rankings for the first time. (It was one of only four Western series on in primetime.)


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The final season operated on a "rotating lead actor" basis of the four stars, with normally just one lead appearing each week. Two of the four lead actors (Lee Majors and Doug McClure) never appeared together in the last season. The ranch itself played a very nominal part in season 9, with most scripts featuring the four stars away from the ranch. Little seemingly could save it, as the final season brought in several big guest stars to the remaining episodes. The studio and network were set on ending the series, as evidenced by rivals CBS and ABC making demographic moves away from rural-oriented shows (see "rural purge"). The final episode aired on March 24, 1971, ending the show's nine-season run.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Played by James Drury,<ref name="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWet2qgieVc"></ref> the Virginian was the tough foreman of the Shiloh Ranch. Based loosely on the character in the Owen Wister novel, he always stood his ground firmly. Respected by the town citizens and the hands of the ranch, he was a prominent figure in Medicine Bow. In the series, the Virginian is the ranch foreman from the first episode. This way, the producers were able to establish a feeling that he had been there for a while, thus keeping a consistent story line; this differed from the book, where he was the deputy foreman, eventually promoted to foreman. The Virginian usually wore a black hat, black leather vest, black boots, a maroon red shirt and a single right-handed holster and revolver. He often ordered Monongahela brand whiskey in saloons.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: When making the show, the producers chose not to reveal the Virginian's real name, and little about his past was actually made known. This succeeded in making the Virginian an intriguing and mysterious character. The foreman worked under five ranch owners throughout the series: Judge Garth (Lee J. Cobb), Morgan Starr (John Dehner), John Grainger (Charles Bickford), Clay Grainger (John McIntire), and Col. Alan Mackenzie (Stewart Granger). Drury was the only cast member to appear in the pilot (aired as an episode of the series "Decision") and the entire nine season run of "The Virginian", with McClure the only other cast member to remain with the show for all nine seasons of "The Virginian", though not in the initial pilot.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Lee J. Cobb's Judge Garth was portrayed as a stern man with a soft side to his personality, acting as a father figure to the Virginian. Respected by all the townspeople as well as his employees, Garth was often looked to as mediator for certain matters. Cobb left the series near the end of season four. In the episode "Morgan Starr", the character was stated to have left Shiloh to become governor of Wyoming. Garth had previously said he would leave Shiloh to his daughter Betsy in "The Hero" (season three, episode four).


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Played by Doug McClure, the character of Trampas took on a completely different personality from the character in the novel. In Wister's book, Trampas was a villain throughout the story and at the end was shot by the Virginian. In the series, producers chose to make Trampas a fun-loving and rowdy character; McClure fit the part perfectly. Trampas, a sandy-haired, rowdy cowhand who eventually settled down on the ranch, was by far the most developed character in the series, as compared to the minimal history on the title character. Several episodes were made detailing his past. McClure added a touch of light comedy to the series to counterbalance the Virginian's serious manner. For part of season 9, the Trampas character wore a thick mustache and broader brimmed hat.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Played by Gary Clarke, Steve was a good friend of both Trampas' and the Virginian's. He was constantly getting Trampas in and out of his usual scrapes. The on-screen chemistry that Gary Clarke and Doug McClure possessed reflected their good friendship off screen, and was loved by fans worldwide. Although he was with the show at the beginning, Clarke was being phased out of the show at the end of season two, but remained as a guest star for a few episodes in season three, before departing for good.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Played by Roberta Shore from seasons 1-4, Betsy was the only daughter of Judge Garth. Early in the series, she was made clear to be adopted, but nevertheless, the judge treated her as his own. Betsy and the ranch hands had a sort of brother–sister relationship. Trampas and Steve had a particular soft spot for her, often jumping to protect her, and looking out for her wellbeing. At the start of the series, Betsy was said to be 15 years old. In a season-four episode, "The Awakening", she married a minister (Glenn Corbett), and moved to Pennsylvania, reflecting Shore's departure from the show.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Played by Randy Boone from seasons 2-4, Randy was a young ranch hand who played guitar and sang. He came into the show as Steve Hill was being phased out as a regular cast member. Before the new Grainger family was brought in for season five, his character was discontinued.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: At the beginning of season three, a new cast regular was introduced. Clu Gulager played the restless deputy Emmett Ryker. Ryker was the first cast regular not to live on Shiloh. A former lawman turned hired gun, because the pay was better, Ryker decided to settle in Medicine Bow before he took his new profession too far. He was hired by Sheriff Abbott, with whom he had been acquainted, after solving the murder of a prominent rancher in the introductory episode "Ryker". He became the sheriff in season four. Gulager remained with the show for four seasons, leaving briefly at the beginning of season five, then returning for the rest of season five before leaving for good toward the end of season six.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: After Roberta Shore's departure, Diane Roter was brought in as the judge's niece. At the end of season four, along with Boone and Dehner, she left, making room for the new owners.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Halfway through season four, Morgan Starr was brought in to run the ranch for Judge Garth because of Garth's appointment as governor of Wyoming. John Dehner played a tough and demanding man, who was hard to befriend, as the Virginian and Trampas soon found out. Fans disliked Dehner's character, and he left the show at the end of the season.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: At the beginning of season five, with Judge Garth, Betsy, and Jennifer gone, a new character was brought in to run Shiloh.<ref name="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr0KSr-RVZM"></ref> Charles Bickford played a stern but loving grandfather to his two grandchildren, Stacey and Elizabeth. Although the Virginian and Mr. Grainger never quite had the father–son relationship that the Virginian and Judge Garth had, they got along well. Charles Bickford's death on November 9, 1967, was a shock to the cast. He was replaced by John McIntire as his brother Clay.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Played by Don Quine, Stacey Grainger, the grandson of John Grainger, lived at Shiloh, beginning in season five.<ref name="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr0KSr-RVZM"></ref> He worked alongside Trampas, and the two become good friends. Stacey's sister Elizabeth looked up to him as a big brother, and he filled the role more than competently. Quine's two seasons on "The Virginian" were the only ones that finished in the Nielsen rating top-15 yearend rankings.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Stacey's younger sister Elizabeth (Sara Lane) was the granddaughter of John Grainger, starting in season five.<ref name="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr0KSr-RVZM"></ref> Trampas, the Virginian, and Stacey all look out for her wellbeing. Elizabeth was cast as a teenaged girl enjoying her life on the frontier. She loved horses, riding the range, and going to the ever-present Saturday-night dances. Sara Lane left the series in season eight.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: After the death of Charles Bickford, John McIntire was hired as his brother, Liz and Stacey's great uncle. Clay had a wife, Holly (Jeanette Nolan), and was the ranch owner for seasons five through eight. McIntire had earlier taken over the lead role in "Wagon Train" upon the death of Ward Bond, assuming the role of the new wagonmaster. In season 9, "The Virginian" was revamped, and McIntire, along with Nolan, Lane, David Hartman, and Tim Matheson, left the show.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Well-known guest stars from film and television included Claude Akins, Eddie Albert, Lloyd Bochner, Charles Bronson, Robert Culp, Joan Crawford, Jim Davis, Bette Davis, Troy Donahue, Patty Duke, Robert Duvall, Nina Foch, Harrison Ford, James Gregory, Pat Hingle, Robert Lansing, Jack Lord, Lee Marvin, Eve McVeagh, Vera Miles,Ricardo Montalban, Leonard Nimoy, Edmond O'Brien, Ryan O'Neal, Slim Pickens, Robert Redford, John Saxon, George C. Scott, William Shatner, Franchot Tone, Tom Tryon and James Whitmore, Peter Whitney. William Windom.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The first episode "The Executioners", features Hugh O'Brian. It also included Jack Warden (episode 1.3, "Throw a Long Rope"), Ricardo Montalbán (episode 1.4, "The Big Deal"), Aldo Ray (episode 1.6, "Big Day, Great Day"), Lee Marvin (episode 1.9, "It Tolls for Thee"), Charles Bickford, Joan Freeman, and Charles Aidman (episode 1.11, "The Devil's Children"), Bette Davis, Harold Gould (episode 1.13, "The Accomplice"), Carol Lynley (1.14, "The Man from the Sea"), Brian Keith (1.15, "Duel at Shiloh"), Vera Miles (1.16, "The Exiles"), (1.17, The Judgment) Clu Gulager (1.19, "The Man Who Wouldn't Die"), David Wayne (1.21, "The Small Parade"), John Dehner (1.26, "Echo of Another Day"), Paul Richards, Skip Homeier, Arthur Hunnicut, Richard Anderson, and Harry Morgan (1.27, "Strangers at Sundown"), and Dolores Hart (1.30, "The Mountain of the Sun").


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The first episode of season two ("Ride a Dark Trail") featured Royal Dano. After that, such stars as Broderick Crawford (2.4, "A Killer in Town"), Robert Redford (2.5, "The Evil That Men Do"), Albert Salmi (2.7, "Brother Thaddeus"), Warren Oates (2.10, "Stopover in a Western Town"), Yvonne De Carlo (2.12, "A Time Remembered"), Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley (2.14, "A Man Of Violence"), Leo Genn (2.18, "The Thirty Days of Gavin Heath"), Bruce Dern (2.20, "First to Thine Own Self"), John Agar, Sheree North, Dennis Holmes, and Ross Elliott (2.24, "Another's Footsteps"), and Peter Breck and Bruce Dern (2.25, "Rope of Lies") were listed.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: With season three, a new cast regular was introduced. Clu Gulager played the young deputy Emmett Ryker, but even with the expanding cast, more guest stars were brought on to the show. In the first episode, (3.1, "Ryker") in which Gulager was introduced, Leslie Nielsen played a corrupt land grabber. Other actors included Victor Jory and Katharine Ross (3.2, "Dark Challenge"), Robert Culp and Jena Engstrom (3.3, "The Stallion"), Steve Forrest, (3.4, "The Hero"), Mariette Hartley (3.5, "Felicity's Spring", a popular episode in which The Virginian is almost wed), Barbara Eden (3.6, "The Brazos Kid"), young Kurt Russell (3.8, "A Father For Toby"), George Kennedy (3.12, "A Gallows For Sam Horn"), John Gavin (3.13, "Portrait of a Widow"), and Lloyd Nolan (3.14, "The Payment"). Following the switch to Universal Studios from Revue, Fabian Forte starred as a young man suffering from schizophrenia in Episode 3.17, "Two Men Named Laredo". Others included Forrest Tucker and Andrew Prine (3.18, "Hideout"), Warren Oates (3.21 "A Slight Case of Charity"), Jack Warden (3.23, "Shadows of the Past"), Tom Simcox (3.26, "Dangerous Road"), Rhonda Fleming, William Smith, Neville Brand, and Peter Brown (3.30, "We've Lost a Train"). ("We've Lost a Train" also served as the pilot episode for the series "Laredo".).


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Susan Oliver, Albert Salmi and Bruce Dern guest starred in episode 4.3, "A Little Learning". William Shatner played an old buddy of Trampas' in episode 4.4, "The Claim". Glenn Corbett played a young minister who marries Betsy in episode 4.5, "The Awakening". Others included Earl Holliman (4.6, "Ring of Silence"), Charles Bronson (4.8, "Nobility of Kings"), Leonard Nimoy (4.9, "Show Me a Hero"), Harold J. Stone (4.12, "The Laramie Road"), James Best (4.14, "Letter of the Law"), Telly Savalas (4.17, "Men With Guns"), John Cassavetes (4.18, "Long Ride to Wind River"), Tony Bill (4.19, "Chaff in the Wind"), John Dehner (4.21, "Morgan Starr"), Warren Oates (4.24 "One Spring Like Long Ago") and Andrew Duggan (4.29, "A Bald Faced Boy").


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: At the start of season five, three new cast regulars were introduced, the Grainger family. Guest stars included Angie Dickinson, Warren Oates (5.2, "Ride to Delphi"), Aldo Ray (5.5, "Jacob Was a Plain Man"), Dan Duryea (5.6, "The Challenge"), Diane Baker and Frank McGrath (5.12, "Linda"), Pernell Roberts (5.13, "The Long Way Home"), Tom Tryon (5.14, "The Girl on the Glass Mountain"), Andy Devine (5.17, "Yesterday's Timepiece"), Harrison Ford (5.19, "The Modoc Kid"), Michael Shea (5.25, "Bitter Harvest"), Robert Fuller (5.26, "A Welcoming Town"), Vivi Janiss and R. G. Armstrong (5.27, "The Girl on the Pinto"), and Myrna Loy (5.28, "The Lady of the House").


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Season six featured Charles Bronson and Dick Foran in 6.1, "The Reckoning". It then continued with David Hartman (6.6, "Masquerade"), Edmond O'Brien (6.7, "Ah Sing vs. Wyoming"), Jeanette Nolan (6.8, "Bitter Autumn"), John McIntire (6.9, "A Bad Place to Die"), James Whitmore (6.10, "Paid in Full"), Malachi Throne (6.11, "To Bear Witness"), John Lupton (6.13, "Execution at Triste"), Susan Oliver (6.14, "A Small Taste of Justice"), Tim McIntire (6.16, "The Death Wagon"), Sammy Jackson (6.17, "Jed"), Peter Deuel (6.20, "The Good-Hearted Bad Man"), and Michael Burns (6.26, "Seth"). In episode 6.8, "Bitter Autumn", John McIntire was brought in as the brother of John Grainger. (Charles Bickford was gravely ill at the time.) McIntire was added to the cast ride-in in episode 6.17, "Jed".


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Season seven's guests included William Smith (7.2, "Silver Image"), Burgess Meredith (7.3, "The Orchard"), John Saxon (7.4, "A Vision of Blindness"), Ricardo Montalbán (7.5, "The Wind of Outrage"), Susan Oliver (7.9, "The Storm Gate"), Hugh Beaumont (7.12, "Nora"), Steve Ihnat (7.16, "Last Grave at Socorro Creek"), James Brolin (7.17, "Crime Wave in Buffalo Springs"), Peter Deuel (7.18, "The Price of Love"), Jennifer Gan (7.19, "The Ordeal"), Jack Albertson (7.24, The Girl In The Shadows"), Troy Donahue (7.25, "Fox, Hound, And The Widow McCloud"), and Shelly Novack (7.26, "The Stranger").


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Season eight had the return of William Shatner (8.14, "Black Jade"), along with Joan Crawford (8.16, "Nightmare"), Tony Franciosa (8.17, "Holocaust"), Patrick Macnee (8.21, "A King's Ransom"), Tim McIntire and Terry Wilson (8.22, "The Sins of the Fathers"), and Julie Gregg (8.24, "The Gift")


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Guest stars in the final season included Desi Arnaz and Katy Jurado (9.2, "The Best Man"); Janet Leigh (9.3, "Jenny"); Anne Francis (9.6, "Gun Quest"); Susan Strasberg (9.7, "Crooked Corner"); Noah Beery Jr. (9.11, "Follow the Leader"); James Gregory and Ricardo Montalbán (9.12, "Last of the Comancheros"); Susan Oliver, Lisa Gerritsen and Peter Breck (9.13, "Hannah"); Terry Wilson and Tom Skerritt (9.14, "Nan Allen") (Wilson also appeared two other times -9.21 "The Regimental Line" and 9.23 "Wolf Track"); Randolph Mantooth (9.21 "The Regimental Line"); Robert Fuller, Burgess Meredith, and Tisha Sterling (9.19 "Flight from Memory"); Michael Burns, Ross Elliott, Alan Hale, Jr., Peter Mark Richman, and Craig Stevens (9.20 "Tate, Ramrod"); and Lloyd Bochner, Howard Duff, L.Q. Jones, and Peter Lawford (9.22 "The Town Killer"). The series ended with episode 9.24, "Jump-Up".


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: "The Virginian" prevailed or held steady against its network competition, topping in its first season Dwayne Hickman's "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis", which ceased production in 1963. In its fifth season, "The Virginian" faced competition from another Western, one also set in Wyoming: ABC's "The Monroes", starring Michael Anderson Jr. and Barbara Hershey as orphans trying to hold their family of siblings together in the wilderness. In its sixth season, "The Virginian" also rated higher than ABC's "Custer" starring Wayne Maunder in the title role of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. "Custer" was cancelled late in 1967 after 17 episodes. "The Virginian" had these rankings in the top-30 TV programs:


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Drury was an active advocate of the series since the end of the original airings. He traveled across the United States, Ireland, and several other countries, appearing in Western-themed conventions, festivals, celebrations, news programs, and TV specials to promote "The Virginian." Along with Gary Clarke and Roberta Shore, he participated in interviews for the Encore Westerns channel. Drury also reunited with key cast members Randy Boone, Gary Clarke, and Roberta Shore at these events.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: In 2012, Drury also reunited with L.Q. Jones, Clu Gulager, Diane Roter, Sara Lane, and Don Quine in addition to Boone, Clarke, and Shore. Three events were held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of "The Virginian", at the Memphis Film Festival on May 31, 2012, the Western Legends Roundup on August 16, 2012, and the Autry National Center and Museum on September 22, 2012. During the 50th-anniversary event, INSP, the exclusive cable home to current reruns of "The Virginian" filmed content with the surviving cast to use in the "Cast Favorites Marathon", which continues to be aired several times each year. In 2017, INSP began airing "The Men From Shiloh" during their Saddle Up Weekends programming block.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: In April 1965, an episode of "The Virginian" called "We've Lost a Train" served as a backdoor pilot for the TV series "Laredo".


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The cable channels of Encore Westerns, MoviePlex, and RetroPlex began airing complete, uncut commercial free episodes of "The Virginian" starting with a premier marathon in January 2010 and ending in December 2011. Seasons one through eight were shown.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: The Inspiration Network cable channel began a three-year agreement to run "The Virginian" starting with a marathon of episodes on September 22, 2012, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the show. Cozi TV, the NBCUniversal classic television digital specialty network, began airing episodes in 2013. The show later returned to Encore Westerns and continues to air every weekday; a marathon of Drury-centric episodes was run shortly after his death in April 2020.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Timeless Media Group (under license from NBCUniversal) has released all seasons of "The Virginian" on DVD in Region 1. All episodes on all releases have been fully restored and digitally remastered in full color and are available in special collectors' edition tin cases. They also each include a bonus disk with interviews from the actors.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Euro Video of Germany released season one, part one, in Germany, on October 14, 2010. Season one, part two, was released June 16, 2011. The release is presented with original English audio with German subtitles, as well as a German-dubbed soundtrack.


title: The Virginian (TV series)

text: Acorn Media UK released the first season of "The Virginian" on DVD in the UK on April 4, 2011. The DVD also contains an interview with James Drury.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and it never completely satisfied this requirement.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The Typhoon was originally designed to mount twelve .303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns and be powered by the latest engines. Its service introduction in mid-1941 was plagued with problems and for several months the aircraft faced a doubtful future. When the "Luftwaffe" brought the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 into service in 1941, the Typhoon was the only RAF fighter capable of catching it at low altitudes; as a result it secured a new role as a low-altitude interceptor.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The Typhoon became established in roles such as night-time intruder and long-range fighter. From late 1942 the Typhoon was equipped with bombs and from late 1943 RP-3 rockets were added to its armoury. With those weapons and its four 20mm Hispano autocannons, the Typhoon became one of the Second World War's most successful ground-attack aircraft.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: Even before Hurricane production began in March 1937, Sydney Camm had embarked on designing its successor. Two preliminary designs were similar and larger than the Hurricane. These later became known as the "N" and "R" (from the initial of the engine manufacturers), because they were designed for the newly developed Napier Sabre and Rolls-Royce Vulture, engines respectively. Both engines used 24 cylinders and were designed for over ; the difference between the two was primarily in the arrangement of the cylinders – an H-block in the Sabre, and an X-block in the Vulture. Hawker submitted these preliminary designs in July 1937, but were advised to wait until a formal specification for a new fighter was issued.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: In March 1938, Hawker received from the Air Ministry, Specification F.18/37 for a fighter which would be able to achieve at least at and specified a British engine with a two-speed supercharger. The armament fitted was to be twelve .303 inch Browning machine guns with 500 rounds per gun, with a provision for alternative combinations of weaponry. Camm and his design team started formal development of the designs and construction of prototypes.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The basic design of the Typhoon was a combination of traditional Hawker construction, as used in the earlier Hawker Hurricane, and more modern construction techniques; the front fuselage structure, from the engine mountings to the rear of the cockpit, was made up of bolted and welded duralumin or steel tubes covered with skin panels, while the rear fuselage was a flush-riveted, semi-monocoque structure. The forward fuselage and cockpit skinning was made up of large, removable duralumin panels, allowing easy external access to the engine and engine accessories and most of the important hydraulic and electrical equipment.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The wing had a span of , with a wing area of . It was designed with a small amount of inverted gull wing bend; the inner sections had a 1° anhedral, while the outer sections, attached just outboard of the undercarriage legs, had a dihedral of °. The airfoil was a NACA 22 wing section, with a thickness-to-chord ratio of 19.5% at the root tapering to 12% at the tip.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The wing possessed great structural strength, provided plenty of room for fuel tanks and a heavy armament, while allowing the aircraft to be a steady gun platform. Each of the inner wings incorporated two fuel tanks; the "main" tanks, housed in a bay outboard and to the rear of the main undercarriage bays, had a capacity of 40 gallons; while the "nose" tanks, built into the wing leading edges, forward of the main spar, had a capacity of 37 gallons each. Also incorporated into the inner wings were inward-retracting landing gear with a wide track of 13 ft in.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: By contemporary standards, the new design's wing was very "thick", similar to the Hurricane before it. Although the Typhoon was expected to achieve over in level flight at 20,000 ft, the thick wings created a large drag rise and prevented higher speeds than the 410 mph at achieved in tests. The climb rate and performance above that level was also considered disappointing. When the Typhoon was dived at speeds of over , the drag rise caused buffeting and trim changes. These compressibility problems led to Camm designing the Typhoon II, later known as the Tempest, which used much thinner wings with a laminar flow airfoil.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The first flight of the first Typhoon prototype, "P5212", made by Hawker's Chief test Pilot Philip Lucas from Langley, was delayed until 24 February 1940 because of the problems with the development of the Sabre engine. Although unarmed for its first flights, "P5212" later carried 12 .303 in (7.7 mm) Brownings, set in groups of six in each outer wing panel; this was the armament fitted to the first 110 Typhoons, known as the Typhoon IA. "P5212" also had a small tail-fin, triple exhaust stubs and no wheel doors fitted to the centre-section. On 9 May 1940 the prototype had a mid-air structural failure, at the join between the forward fuselage and rear fuselage, just behind the pilot's seat. Philip Lucas could see daylight through the split but instead of bailing out, landed the Typhoon and was later awarded the George Medal.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: On 15 May, the Minister of Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook, ordered that resources should be concentrated on the production of five main aircraft types (the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters and the Whitley, Wellington and Blenheim bombers). As a result, development of the Typhoon was slowed, production plans were postponed and test flying continued at a reduced rate.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: As a result of the delays the second prototype, "P5216", first flew on 3 May 1941: "P5216" carried an armament of four belt-fed 20 mm (0.79 in) Hispano Mk II cannon, with 140 rounds per gun and was the prototype of the Typhoon IB series. In the interim between construction of the first and second prototypes, the Air Ministry had given Hawker an instruction to proceed with the construction of 1,000 of the new fighters. It was felt that the Vulture engine was more promising, so the order covered 500 Tornadoes and 250 Typhoons, with the balance to be decided once the two had been compared. It was also decided that because Hawker was concentrating on Hurricane production, the Tornado would be built by Avro and Gloster would build the Typhoons at Hucclecote. Avro and Gloster were aircraft companies within the Hawker Siddeley group. As a result of good progress by Gloster, the first production Typhoon "R7576" was first flown on 27 May 1941 by Michael Daunt, just over three weeks after the second prototype.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: In 1941, the Spitfire Vs, which equipped the bulk of Fighter Command squadrons, were outclassed by the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and suffered many losses. The Typhoon was rushed into service with Nos. 56 and 609 Squadrons in late 1941, to counter the Fw 190. This decision proved to be a disaster, several Typhoons were lost for unknown reasons, and the Air Ministry began to consider halting production of the type.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: In August 1942, Hawker's second test pilot, Ken Seth-Smith, while deputising for Chief Test Pilot Philip Lucas, carried out a straight and level speed test from Hawker's test centre at Langley, and the aircraft broke up over Thorpe, killing the pilot. Sydney Camm and the design team immediately ruled out pilot error, which had been suspected in earlier crashes. Investigation revealed that the elevator mass-balance had torn away from the fuselage structure. Intense flutter developed, the structure failed and the tail broke away. Modification 286 to the structure and the control runs partially solved the structural problem. (The 1940 Philip Lucas test flight incident had been due to an unrelated failing.) Mod 286, which involved fastening external fishplates, or reinforcing plates, around the tail of the aircraft, and eventually internal strengthening, was only a partial remedy, and there were still failures right up to the end of the Typhoon's service life. The Sabre engine was also a constant source of problems, notably in colder weather, when it was very difficult to start, and it suffered problems with wear of its sleeve valves, with consequently high oil consumption. The 24-cylinder engine also produced a very high-pitched engine note, which pilots found very fatiguing.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The Typhoon did not begin to mature as a reliable aircraft until the end of 1942, when its excellent qualities – seen from the start by S/L Roland Beamont of 609 Squadron – became apparent. Beamont had worked as a Hawker production test pilot while resting from operations, and had stayed with Seth-Smith, having his first flight in the aircraft at that time. During late 1942 and early 1943, the Typhoon squadrons were based on airfields near the south and south-east coasts of England and, alongside two Spitfire XII squadrons, countered the "Luftwaffe"s "tip and run" low-level nuisance raids, shooting down a score or more bomb-carrying Fw 190s. Typhoon squadrons kept at least one pair of aircraft on standing patrols over the south coast, with another pair kept at "readiness" (ready to take off within two minutes) throughout daylight hours. These sections of Typhoons flew at or lower, with enough height to spot and then intercept the incoming enemy fighter-bombers. The Typhoon finally proved itself in this role; for example, while flying patrols against these low-level raids, 486(NZ) Squadron claimed 20 fighter-bombers, plus three bombers shot down, between mid-October 1942 and mid-July 1943.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The first two Messerschmitt Me 210 fighter-bombers to be destroyed over the British Isles fell to the guns of Typhoons in August 1942. During a daylight raid by the "Luftwaffe" on London on 20 January 1943, four Bf 109G-4s and one Fw 190A-4 of JG 26 were destroyed by Typhoons. As soon as the aircraft entered service, it was apparent the profile of the Typhoon resembled a Fw 190 from some angles, which caused more than one friendly fire incident involving Allied anti-aircraft units and other fighters. This led to Typhoons first being marked up with all-white noses, and later with high visibility black and white stripes under the wings, a precursor of the markings applied to all Allied aircraft on D-Day.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: By 1943, the RAF needed a ground attack fighter more than a "pure" fighter and the Typhoon was suited to the role (and less-suited to the pure fighter role than competing aircraft such as the Spitfire Mk IX). The powerful engine allowed the aircraft to carry a load of up to two bombs, equal to the light bombers of only a few years earlier. The bomb-equipped aircraft were nicknamed "Bombphoons" and entered service with No. 181 Squadron, formed in September 1942.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: From September 1943, Typhoons were also armed with four "60 lb" RP-3 rockets under each wing. In October 1943, No. 181 Squadron made the first Typhoon rocket attacks. Although the rocket projectiles were inaccurate and took considerable skill to aim and allow for ballistic drop after firing, "the sheer firepower of just one Typhoon was equivalent to a destroyer's broadside". By the end of 1943, eighteen rocket-equipped Typhoon squadrons formed the basis of the RAF Second Tactical Air Force (2nd TAF) ground attack arm in Europe. In theory, the rocket rails and bomb-racks were interchangeable; in practice, to simplify supply, some 2nd TAF Typhoon squadrons (such as 198 Squadron) used the rockets only, while other squadrons were armed exclusively with bombs (this also allowed individual units to more finely hone their skills with their assigned weapons).


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: By the Normandy landings in June 1944, 2 TAF had eighteen operational squadrons of Typhoon IBs, while RAF Fighter Command had a further nine. The aircraft proved itself to be the most effective RAF tactical strike aircraft, on interdiction raids against communications and transport targets deep in North Western Europe prior to the invasion and in direct support of the Allied ground forces after D-Day. A system of close liaison with the ground troops was set up by the RAF and army: RAF radio operators in vehicles equipped with VHF R/T travelled with the troops close to the front line and called up Typhoons operating in a "cab rank", which attacked the targets, marked for them by smoke shells fired by mortar or artillery, until they were destroyed.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: Against some of the "Wehrmacht's" heavier tanks, the rockets needed to hit the thin-walled engine compartment or the tracks to have any chance of destroying or disabling the tank. Analysis of destroyed tanks after the Normandy battle showed a hit-rate for the air-fired rockets of only 4%. In Operation Goodwood (18–21 July), the 2nd Tactical Air Force claimed 257 tanks destroyed. A total of 222 were claimed by Typhoon pilots using rocket projectiles. Once the area was secured, the British "Operational Research Section 2" analysts could confirm only ten out of the 456 knocked out German AFVs found in the area were attributable to Typhoons using rocket projectiles.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: At Mortain, in the Falaise pocket, a German counter-attack (Operation Luttich) that started on 7 August threatened Patton's break-out from the beachhead; this counter-attack was repulsed by 2nd Tactical Air Force Typhoons and the 9th USAAF. During the course of the battle, pilots of the 2nd Tactical Air Force and 9th USAAF claimed to have destroyed a combined total of 252 tanks. Only 177 German tanks and assault guns participated in the battle and only 46 were lost – of which nine were verified as destroyed by Typhoons, four percent of the total claimed.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: However, after-action studies at the time were based on random sampling of wrecks rather than exhaustive surveys, and the degree of overclaim attributed to Typhoon pilots as a result was statistically improbable in view of the far lower known level of overclaim by Allied pilots in air-to-air combat, where claims were if anything more likely to be mistaken. Allied and German witness accounts of Typhoon attacks on German armour indicate that RPs did kill tanks with fair probability. Horst Weber, an SS panzergrenadier serving with Kampfgruppe Knaust south of Arnhem in the later stages of Operation Market Garden, recalled that, during a battle with British 43rd Wessex Division on 23 September 1944, "We had four Tiger tanks and three Panther tanks ... We were convinced that we would gain another victory here, that we would smash the enemy forces. But then Typhoons dropped these rockets on our tanks and shot all seven to bits. And we cried... We would see two black dots in the sky and that always meant rockets. Then the rockets would hit the tanks which would burn. The soldiers would come out all burnt and screaming with pain."


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The effect on the morale of German troops caught up in a Typhoon RP and cannon attack was decisive, with many tanks and vehicles being abandoned, in spite of superficial damage, such that, at Mortain, a signal from the German Army's Chief of Staff stated that the attack had been brought to a standstill by 13:00 "due to the employment of fighter-bombers by the enemy, and the absence of our own air-support". The 20 mm cannon also destroyed a large number of (unarmoured) support vehicles, laden with fuel and ammunition for the armoured vehicles. On 10 July at Mortain, flying in support of the US 30th Infantry Division, Typhoons flew 294 sorties in the afternoon that day, firing 2,088 rockets and dropping of bombs. They engaged the German formations while the US 9th Air Force prevented German fighters from intervening. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, said of the Typhoons; "The chief credit in smashing the enemy's spearhead, however, must go to the rocket-firing Typhoon aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force ... The result of the strafing was that the enemy attack was effectively brought to a halt, and a threat was turned into a great victory."


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: Another form of attack carried out by Typhoons was "Cloak and Dagger" operations, using intelligence sources to target German HQs. One of the most effective of these was carried out on 24 October 1944, when 146 Typhoon Wing attacked a building in Dordrecht, where senior members of the German 15th Army staff were meeting; 17 staff officers and 36 other officers were killed and the operations of the 15th Army were adversely affected for some time afterwards.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: On 24 March 1945, over 400 Typhoons were sent on several sorties each, to suppress German anti-aircraft guns and Wehrmacht resistance to Operation Varsity, the Allied airborne crossing of the Rhine that involved two full divisions of 16,600 troops and 1,770 gliders sent across the river. On 3 May 1945, the "Cap Arcona", the , and the "Deutschland", large passenger ships in peacetime now in military service, were sunk in four attacks by RAF Hawker Typhoon 1Bs of No. 83 Group RAF, 2nd Tactical Air Force: the first by 184 Squadron, second by 198 Squadron led by Wing Commander John Robert Baldwin, the third by 263 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Martin T. S. Rumbold and the fourth by 197 Squadron led by Squadron Leader K. J. Harding.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The top-scoring Typhoon ace was Group Captain J. R. Baldwin (609 Squadron and Commanding Officer 198 Squadron, 146 (Typhoon) Wing and 123 (Typhoon) Wing), who claimed 15 aircraft shot down from 1942 to 1944. Some 246 Axis aircraft were claimed by Typhoon pilots during the war.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: 3,317 Typhoons were built, almost all by Gloster. Hawker developed what was originally an improved Typhoon II, but the differences between it and the Mk I were so great that it was effectively a different aircraft, and was renamed the Hawker Tempest. Once the war in Europe was over Typhoons were quickly removed from front-line squadrons; by October 1945 the Typhoon was no longer in operational use, with many of the wartime Typhoon units such as 198 Squadron being either disbanded or renumbered.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: By 1943, with its change of role to ground attack, the Typhoon was constantly operating over enemy territory: inevitably some flyable examples fell into German hands. The first Typhoon to be flown by the "Luftwaffe" was "EJ956" SA-I of 486 (NZ) Sqn. On 23 March 1943, two aircraft flown by F/O Smith and F/S Mawson were on a "Rhubarb" over France. Just as they were crossing the coast at low altitude, Mawson's Typhoon was hit by light flak. He managed to belly-land in a field near Cany-Barville but the aircraft was captured before he could destroy it. The Typhoon was repaired and test flown at Rechlin a German equivalent to RAE Farnborough, and later served as T9+GK with "Zirkus Rosarius". EJ956 overturned and was written off during a forced landing near Meckelfeld, on 10 August 1944. On 14 February 1944, another Typhoon was captured and later flown in Zirkus Rosarius. JP548 of 174 Squadron force landed after engine failure near Blois, France; the pilot, F/O Proddow, evaded capture. This Typhoon crashed at Reinsehlen on 29 July 1944, killing Feldwebel Gold.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: As was usual with many front line Second World War RAF aircraft, the Typhoon was modified and updated regularly, so that a 1945 production example looked quite different from one built in 1941. In the last months of the war, a number of older aircraft were taken out of storage and overhauled, sometimes seeing active service for the first time; for example, R7771 was from one of the first production batches, built in 1942 with the car-door canopy and other early production features. This Typhoon was delivered to, and served on the Fighter Interception Unit in 1942. In February 1945 "R7771" was listed as being in front line service on 182 Sqn.; by then it was fitted with a clear-view "bubble" hood, rocket rails and other late series features.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The first problem encountered with the Typhoon after its entry into service was the seepage of carbon monoxide fumes into the cockpit. In an attempt to alleviate this, longer exhaust stubs were fitted in November 1941 ("Mod [modification] 239"), and at about the same time the port (left) cockpit doors were sealed. The Pilot's Notes for the Typhoon recommended that "Unless Mod. No. 239 has been embodied it is most important that oxygen be used "at all times" as a precaution against carbon monoxide poisoning." Despite the modifications, the problem was never entirely solved, and the standard procedure throughout the war was for Typhoon pilots to use oxygen from engine start-up to engine shut down. In addition to carbon monoxide seepage, pilots were experiencing unpleasantly high cockpit temperatures; eventually a ventilation tube helped alleviate, but did not solve the problem. In addition two small, rear opening vents were added below the port side radio hatch, just below the canopy.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: A major problem, afflicting early production Typhoons in particular, was a series of structural failures leading to loss of the entire tail sections of some aircraft, mainly during high-speed dives. Eventually a combination of factors was identified, including harmonic vibration, which could quickly lead to metal fatigue, and a weak transport joint just forward of the horizontal tail unit. The loss of the tailplane of R7692 (having only 11 hours of flight recorded) on 11 August 1942, in the hands of an experienced test pilot (Seth-Smith), caused a major reassessment which concluded that the failure of the bracket holding the elevator mass balance bell crank linkage had allowed unrestrained flutter which led to structural failure of the fuselage at the transport joint.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: Starting in September 1942, a steel strap was fitted internally across the rear fuselage transport joint, although this was soon superseded by Mod 286 (modification number 286), in which 20 alloy "fishplates" were riveted externally across the rear fuselage transport joint, while internally some of the rear fuselage frames were strengthened. This was a permanent measure designed to stop rear fuselage structural failures and was introduced on the production line from the 820th aircraft; between December 1942 and March 1943, all Typhoons without Mod 286 were taken out of service and modified. Modified balance weight assemblies were fitted from May 1943. Finally the entire unit was replaced with a redesigned assembly from August 1944.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: Although these modifications reduced the numbers of Typhoons being lost due to tail assembly failure, towards the end of the Typhoon's life there were more tail failures, this time caused by a change to the undercarriage latch mechanism in late 1944; in high-speed flight the undercarriage fairings were pulled into the slipstream, creating an uneven airflow over the elevators and rudder resulting in tailplane and then rear fuselage structural failure. In total 25 aircraft were lost and 23 pilots killed due to tail failures.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: The Typhoon was first produced with forward-opening "car door" style cockpit doors (complete with wind-down windows), with a transparent "roof" hinged to open to the left. The first 162 Typhoons featured a built-up metal-skinned dorsal fairing behind the pilot's armoured headrest; the mast for the radio aerial protruded through the fairing. From mid- to late 1941 the solid metal aft dorsal fairing was replaced with a transparent structure (later nicknamed "The Coffin Hood"), the pilot's head armour plate was modified to a triangular shape and the side cut-outs were fitted with armoured glass; the first production Typhoon to be fitted with this new structure was "R7803". All earlier aircraft were quickly withdrawn and modified. From early 1942 a rear-view mirror was mounted in a perspex blister moulded into the later "car-door" canopy roofs. This modification was not very successful, because the mirror was subject to vibration. Despite the new canopy structure, the pilot's visibility was still restricted by the heavy frames and the clutter of equipment under the rear canopy; from August 1943, as an interim measure, pending the introduction of the new "bubble" canopy and cut-down dorsal fairing, the aerial mast and its associated bracing was removed and replaced with a whip aerial further back on the rear fuselage.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: Starting in January 1943, "R8809" was used to test a new, clear, one piece sliding "bubble" canopy and its associated new windscreen structure which had slimmer frames which, together with the "cut-down" rear dorsal fairing, provided a far superior all-around field of view to the car-door type. From November 1943 all production aircraft, starting with "JR333", were to be so fitted. However, the complex modifications required to the fuselage and a long lead time for new components to reach the production line meant that it took some time before the new canopy became standard. In order to have as many Typhoons of 2nd TAF fitted before "Operation Overlord" as possible, conversion kits were produced and used by Gloster, Hawker and Cunliffe-Owen to modify older Typhoons still fitted with the car-door canopy.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: From early 1943 the wings were plumbed and adapted to carry cylindrical drop tanks, increasing the Typhoon's range from to up to . This enabled Typhoons to range deep into France, the Netherlands and Belgium. Some units, such as 609 Squadron and 198 Squadron, were able to achieve notable success in air combat and ground attack operations using these long-range Typhoons.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: As production continued, the Typhoon's role changed from a low-level interceptor fighter to a fighter bomber. Racks capable of carrying bombs were fitted to the wings from October 1942 and were first used operationally by 181 Squadron. By mid-1943, all Typhoons off the production line were capable of carrying bombs. Bigger, solid rubber, grooved "anti-shimmy" tail wheel tyres were introduced in March 1943 on all Typhoons from the 1,001st production aircraft, "EK238". The new tyres helped to make heavier, bomb-laden Typhoons more manageable during ground manoeuvres. With the introduction of the bomb racks, small extensions were added to the cannon shell case ejector slots. These allowed the casings to drop clear of bombs or drop tanks suspended from the wing racks. Because of the vulnerability of the Typhoon's liquid-cooled engine cooling system to ground fire, some of armour was added, lining the sides and bottom of the cockpit and engine compartments, as well as the radiator bath.


title: Hawker Typhoon

text: With the added weight of the bombs and armour, bigger brake discs were fitted to the main wheels. At first this only applied to "Bombphoons", but eventually all Typhoons used these brakes. After tests conducted in 1943, it was determined that the Typhoon was capable of carrying a bomb under each wing. With the increased load, it was decided that the extra take-off performance conferred by a four-bladed propeller was an advantage. This led to the adoption of a four-bladed propeller unit (de Havilland or Rotol) from early 1944. Coinciding with the new propeller, it was also decided that the larger tailplanes of the Hawker Tempest were to be fitted when tests showed that they improved the handling characteristics of the Typhoon when carrying bombs. Problems were experienced with oil seal leaks from the new propeller unit and a growing number of Typhoons were held in Maintenance Units (MUs) awaiting the arrival of new seals from the U.S. Some 200 Typhoons were manufactured with the new Tempest tails and the three-bladed propeller. A modification programme was inaugurated but it took several months before a majority of operational Typhoons had the four-bladed propeller and enlarged tailplane.