prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Who choreographed one who is said to be the last muse for the choreographer and starred in the Nutcracker?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
Lev Ivanov
Lev Ivanovich Ivanov (Russian: Лев Ива́нович Ива́нов; 2 March 1834, Moscow – 24 December 1901, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer and later, Second Balletmaster of the Imperial Ballet  As a performer with the Imperial Ballet, he achieved prominence after performing as an understudy in a benefit performance of La Fille Mal Gardée   He is most famous as the choreographer of Acts II and IV of Swan Lake, which include the Dance of the Little Swans, Act II of Cinderella, and The Nutcracker, which he choreographed alongside Marius Petipa 

Biography
Ivanov entered the Moscow School of Dance, but in 1844 moved to Saint Petersburg where he studied at the Imperial Ballet, becoming an official member of the Corps de ballet in 1852   Among his teachers during this time were Jean-Antoine Petipa, Alexandr Pimenov, Pierre Frédéric Malavergne and Emile Gredlu (Эмиль Гредлю) 
Historically, Ivanov is credited with choreographing the entirety of premiere of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker in 1892 due to the ill health of the ballet master, Marius Petipa  While some contemporary and modern accounts dispute this, Ivanov is still mentioned in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition with choreographing at least the majority of the ballet as Petipa had reportedly not progressed very far in his work  Regardless of the amount of work he actually did, Petipa's was the only name listed for choreography on posters for the first production in St  Petersburg Ivanov worked with Petipa on a new restaging of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet in 1895   Ivanov choreographed the entirety of the lakeside acts or "white acts", Act II and Act IV   This includes the Dance of the Little Swans, an iconic pas de quatre where the four cygnets huddle together and dance in unison, before breaking the chain and falling to the floor whilst attempting to fly  Ivanov also choreographed the Danse Vénitienne (Neapolitan/Venetian Dance) and the Pas Hongrois (Hungarian Dance) of the third bier scene In his last years Ivanov was in financial straits  On the strength of his 50 years' service he petitioned the Imperial Theatres for financial assistance 

Ballets
Original works
La Forêt enchantée (en  The Enchanted Forest)  Ballet-fantastique in one act  Music by Riccardo Drigo  Imperial Ballet School, 5 April [O S  24 March] 1887  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 15 May [O S  3 May] 1887 
revival by Marius Petipa  Peterhof, July 1889 
La Tulipe de Haarlem (en  The Harlem Tulip)  Ballet-fantastique in three acts  Music by Baron Boris Fitinhoff-Schell  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 16 October [O S  4 October] 1887 
revival by Claudia Kulichevskaya and Pavel Gerdt  Imperial Ballet School, 16 April [O S  3 April] 1902 
revival by Alexander Shiryaev  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 29 April [O S  16 April] 1903 
La Flûte magique (en  The Magic Flute)  Ballet-comique in one act  Music by Riccardo Drigo  Imperial Ballet School, 22 March [O S  10 March] 1889  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 23 April [O S  11 April] 1889 
La Ruse de Cupidon (en  Cupid's Prank)  Ballet-anacréontique in one act  Music by Alexander Friedman  Krasnoe Selo, 6 August [O S  24 July] 1890  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 23 November [O S  11 November] 1890 
La Beauté de Séville (en  The Beauty of Seville)  Divertissement-ballet in one act  Music by various composers  Krasnoe Selo, 10 August [O S  29 July] 1889 
La Fête des bateliers (en  The Boatman's Festival)  Divertissement-ballet in one act  Music by Alexander Friedman  Krasnoe Selo, 7 August [O S  26 July] 1890 
The Nutcracker  Ballet-féerie in two acts  Choreographed jointly with Marius Petipa   Music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 18 December [O S  6 December] 1892 
Cinderella (a k a  Zolushka)  Ballet-féerie in three acts  Staged jointly with Enrico Cecchetti and Marius Petipa  Music by Baron Boris Fitinhoff-Schell  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 17 December [O S  5 December] 1893 
revival by Lev Ivanov  Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, 12 March [O S  28 February] 1898
Swan Lake  Ballet-fantastique in three acts  Staged jointly with Marius Petipa  Music by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, revised by Riccardo Drigo  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 27 January [O S  15 January] 1895 
Acis et Galatée (en  Acis and Galatea)  Ballet-mythologique in one act  Music by Andrei Kadlets  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 2 February [O S  21 January] 1896 
revival by Alexander Shirayev  Imperial Ballet School, 3 May [O S  20 April] 1905 
La Fille du Mikado (en  The Mikado's Daughter)  Ballet-fantastique in three acts  Music by Baron Vasily Wrangell  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 21 November [O S  9 November] 1897 
Egyptian Nights (a k a  Une Nuit d'Egypte or Nuits égyptiennes)  Divertissement-ballet in one act  Music by Anton Arensky  Never premiered 
revival by Mikhail Fokine  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 8 March [O S  24 February] 1908 
revival by Mikhail Fokine as Cléopâtre for the Ballets Russes  Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, 2 June 1909 
Sylvia  Ballet-mythologique in three acts  Music by Léo Delibes  Staging completed by Pavel Gerdt due to Ivanov's final illness and death  Imperial Mariinsky Theatre, 15 December [O S  2 December] 1901 
Passage 2:
The Nutcracker (Willam Christensen)
Tchaikovsky's now-classic 1892 ballet The Nutcracker received its first complete production in the U S  on 24 December 1944, performed by the San Francisco Ballet  This production used the ballet's original plot and was choreographed by Willam Christensen, who danced the role of the Cavalier  Gisella Caccialanza, the wife of Lew Christensen, danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy  The staging was a huge success and one critic wrote: "We can't understand why a vehicle of such fantastic beauty and originality could be produced in Europe in 1892 with signal success [a factually erroneous claim] and never be produced in its entirety in this country until 1944  Perhaps choreographers will make up for lost time from now on " The company was the first in the U S  to make the ballet an annual tradition, and for ten years, the only company in the United States performing the complete ballet, until George Balanchine's production opened in New York in 1954  (Annual productions of the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker began in 1949 )
The San Francisco Ballet performs The Nutcracker annually to this day, though not necessarily with Christensen's choreography (their most recent version is choreographed by Helgi Tomasson)  Christensen's Nutcracker continues in Salt Lake City, where it is performed annually by Christensen's Ballet West  The stage success of the Christensen version marked the first step in making productions of The Nutcracker annual Christmas season traditions all over the world – a phenomenon that did not really come to flower until the late 1960s 
Passage 3:
Adam Cooper (dancer)
Adam Cooper (born 22 July 1971) is an English actor, choreographer, dancer and theatre director  He works as both a performer and choreographer in musical theatre, and has choreographed and/or starred in award-winning shows such as On Your Toes, Singin' in the Rain and Grand Hotel  He began his professional career as a dancer of classical ballet and contemporary ballet and is a former Principal of the Royal Ballet, a major international ballet company based in London  He became internationally recognised for creating the lead role of Swan/Stranger in Matthew Bourne's contemporary dance production of the ballet Swan Lake, a role that was briefly featured in the 2000 film Billy Elliot, in which Cooper played the adult version of the titular character 

Biography
Adam Cooper was born 22 July 1971 in Tooting, London to a musician father and a social worker mother  He has an older brother, Simon Cooper, who is also a dancer and they trained at the same schools  From a young age, he and his brother studied tap and ballet at the Jean Winkler School of Dance in Tooting  They also played various musical instruments and sang in a choir  At age 11, Cooper won a place at ArtsEd, a specialist performing arts school in London where he studied classical ballet, character, modern, tap, jazz and contemporary dance, as well as singing, acting and stage combat  After completing his secondary education at the school, aged 16, he was accepted into the Royal Ballet Upper School 
At his graduation performance he played the lead role of Young Man in Ashton's the Two Pigeons Cooper married Sarah Wildor in 2000  She was a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet She has become an Olivier-nominated actress  Their first child, a daughter, was born in 2008  They also have a  son 

Dance
Royal Ballet
In 1989 Cooper joined the Royal Ballet and was quickly promoted to First Artist and Soloist in 1991, First Soloist 1993 and Principal Dancer in 1994  He was recognized for his performances in the classic as well as dramatic and contemporary ballet works, and he excelled in playing cruel but sexy villains  While with the Royal Ballet he worked extensively with choreographers Kenneth MacMillan and William Tuckett partnering all the leading ballerinas of the company including Sylvie Guillem and Darcey Bussell  He also performed works choreographed by George Balanchine, Ashley Page, Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Christopher Wheeldon, Matthew Hart, and William Forsythe  He left the Royal Ballet in 1997 to freelance and expand his career opportunities 

Adventures in Motion Pictures
In 1995 Matthew Bourne recruited Cooper to join Adventures in Motion Pictures (now renamed New Adventures) for his radically re-interpreted production of Swan Lake  Together they created the basic Swan movement motifs and Cooper also contributed to the choreography  Cooper performed the dual Swan/Stranger role (the analog of the white and black swan in the classic version) all over the world and his performances won him international acclaim, multiple awards and a strong fan following  Cooper's performance was described as one of "tremendous excitement, subtlety,emotional depth and sheer sexiness"  The popular press embraced him and his photo appeared in many magazines For his performances as the Swan/Stranger he received the Time Out Award in 1995, the Evening Standard Dance Award in 1997 and the 1999 Astaire Award for Best Dancer  He was also nominated for the 1999 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical  He appeared briefly at the end of the 2000 film Billy Elliot as the adult version of the title character, who is seen performing the role of the Swan  A DVD recording of the Swan Lake with Cooper and the original cast was issued in 1996 and can be seen on Youtube com  Excerpts from Swan Lake (Bourne) appeared on the 1998 Royal Variety TV program and he repeated his Swan/Stranger role for the TV audience  His performance in the Billy Elliot film and in the Swan Lake (Bourne) DVD inspired at least one of the boys playing Billy Elliot in the stage production to join New Adventures in the hopes of performing The Swan role  In 2003 Cooper once again played the Swan/Stranger when AMP toured in Japan, and there was enormous enthusiasm for his performance and he acquired a large number of new fans 
In 1997 Cooper was invited by Bourne to take part in the initial planning of AMP's next show, Cinderella  This version of the dance took place in London during the Blitz, but used the same Prokofiev music as the classic version Cinderella (Prokofiev)  Cooper helped to create and performed the role of Pilot (the Prince analog) in the initial 1997 London run and also played the Angel (the Godmother analog), and Sarah Wildor was his partner when she played the title role 
The production was also performed in Los Angeles in 1999 

Freelance dancer and choreographer
In 1998 Cooper worked with the Scottish Ballet to choreograph Just Scratching the Surface  He also performed the Hoffmann role in their production of Tales of Hoffmann  Since then he has gone on to choreograph for other ballet companies and for musical theatre 
Cooper appeared as a dancer and choreographer at the Exeter Festival for 3 years, heading evenings of dance co-produced with Iain Webb  In 2002 Cooper and Sarah Wildor presented a tribute to Sir Kenneth MacMillan at Exeter and in Japan  The Adam Cooper Company represented the UK at the Washington International Ballet Festival in 2003 performing a revival of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Sea of Troubles Cooper has frequently danced as a guest artist with the Royal Ballet since leaving the company, performing lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, Ondine and Onegin  and others  In 2002 he created the role of Badger in William Tuckett's Wind in the Willows  In 2004 created the title role in Tuckett's The Soldier's Tale, which he reprised in 2005 and later performed in Japan in 2009 and 2015 In 2005 he realized a long-held vision with his own production of Les Liaisons dangereuses, a mixture of theater and dance  Co-directed and designed by Lez Brotherston, the production was choreographed by Cooper and he also played the lead role of Viscomte de Valmont  The piece premiered in Japan early in the year before a summer season at Sadler's Wells, with a cast which included Simon Cooper and Sarah Wildor In 2009 Cooper joined Russell Maliphant to dance in Maliphant's 2:4:10 contemporary dance program- an evening of works celebrating Maliphant's 10 years as a choreographer 

Musical theatre
2002 to 2010
In Cooper's first venture into the musical theatre he was both the choreographer and actor (playing the lead role of Junior Dolan) in On Your Toes  In 2002 it played at Leicester Haymarket, and was in transferred in 2003 to the Royal Festival in the West End of London  Sarah Wildor joined the production in 2003 to play the role of Vera Baronova  He was lauded by both the critics and the audience for his contributions and was rewarded with the Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Best Choreography and Most Popular Dancer  In 2004 the production also had a successful tour in Japan In 2002 Cooper provided the choreography for the Swedish production of Garbo-the Musical  Cooper also played the lead role of Don Lockwood and choreographed Paul Kerryson's Singin' in the Rain in 2004 at Sadler's Wells Theatre, Leicester Haymarket, and was nominated for Critic's Circle Award for Choreography of a Musical  He was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for his choreography of the 2004 Grand Hotel for The Donmar Warehouse  The production won the 2005 Olivier Award in the category of Outstanding Musical Production In 2005, Cooper and Wildor performed a two-person play, Wallflowering, at the Seven Oaks Playhouse  Their roles were primarily dialogue with intermittent bits of ballroom dancing  Following this, he designed the choreography for the revival of Promises, Promises at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre In 2006 Cooper appeared alongside Neil Morrissey and Patrick Swayze playing Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls at The Piccadilly Theatre, London and in 2007 he provided the musical staging for Side by Side by Sondheim for The Venue Theatre, London 2008 saw Cooper's return to the stage, creating the role of Ramon in Zorro the Musical for the UK tour  He also played the Tin Man in the Royal Festival Hall's summer staging of the musical The Wizard of Oz, after which he turned his attention back to choreography  First, he choreographed Carousel for director Lindsay Posner which had a very successful UK tour and West End run at the Savoy Theatre  Then Cooper was asked by Paul Kerryson to direct and choreograph the first new show, Simply Cinderella, at the brand new Curve Theatre, Leicester In 2009 Cooper unveiled Shall We Dance at Sadler's Wells, an ambitious all-dance show based on Richard Rodgers' songs  For this production he was the box-office star, director, creator, librettist and choreographer  Later that year, he provided choreography for Lindsay Posner's production of the Donizetti opera Roberto Devereux at the Holland Park Theatre, Kensington, London Cooper co-starred in the touring stage version of Irving Berlin's White Christmas during the Christmas season in 2009 2010 and 2011  He played the role of Phil Davis 

2011 to the present
Cooper was the above-the-title star playing the role of Don Lockwood in Jonathan Church's highly successful 2011–2013 production of Singin' in the Rain, with choreography by Andrew Wright  Its first sold-out run was at the Chichester Festival Theatre and then a longer run at West End's Palace Theatre  He also performed the iconic Singin' in the Rain scene on the 2011 Royal Variety Performance TV show  The stage show was nominated for the Best Musical Revival and several other Laurence Olivier and other awards  A cast recording of Singin' in the Rain was issued in 2012  Good Mornin' was performed at the 2012 Olivier Awards Ceremony  The show, starring Cooper, played in Japan for three weeks of November 2014 In 2013 Cooper choreographed Matthew White's well-received production of Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory  Reviewer Sam Smith wrote "Adam Cooper's choreography is racy, and the production finds a particular affinity with the 'Surrealism' of the piece " In late 2013 Cooper was invited to Denmark to choreograph Daniel Bohr's Danish language version of Evita at the Det Ny Teater (The New Theater) in Copenhagen  The show premiered in January 2014  For Evita, Adam Cooper created a choreography with continuous tango elements merged into the rest of the dance Cooper provided the "energetic" 60's choreography for Sunny Afternoon Musical at the Hampstead Theatre in London  The show ran from April to end of May in 2014 and then in October 2014 it transferred to The Harold Pinter Theatre (formerly The Comedy Theatre) 
at the West End  Its run was extended several times due to its popularity with the audience and positive critical reviews  It was nominated for numerous awards and won 4 Olivier Awards in 2015  Details are at Sunny Afternoon 
Cooper had another opportunity to present a stage version of Les Liaisons dangereuses (Gefährliche Liebschaften) in 2015   He choreographed and co-directed with Josef E  Köpplinger a German musical version of the novel with a newly commissioned book, lyrics and score for the itinerant Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz company in Munich, Germany 
In 2019, Cooper appeared in the UK Tour of New Adventures' The Red Shoes, playing the role of Boris Lermontov 

Films and TV
The Soldier's Tale (2010) TV Movie (The Soldier)
Bourne to Dance (2001) TV Movie (himself)
Billy Elliot (2000) Arts Council of England, BBC Films, Working Title Films (Billy, Aged 25)
Madame Bovary (2000) TV Movie (Vicomte)
The Sandman (2000) Channel 4 TV Movie
Jason and the Argonauts (2000) Hallmark Entertainment & Panfilm TV Movie (Eros)
Dance Ballerina Dance (1998) BBC2 TV (himself)
Swan Lake (Bourne) (1998) PBS Great Performances TV Series with Adventures in Motion Pictures (Swan/Stranger)
Royal Variety Performance TV Show (1998) Excerpts from Swan Lake (Bourne) (Swan/Stranger)
The South Bank show: Matthew Bourne's Adventures in Motion Pictures (1997) TV Documentary (himself)
Swan Lake (Bourne) (1996) BBC/NVC with Adventures in Motion Pictures (Swan/Stranger)
Mayerling (ballet) (1994) BBC with the Royal Ballet (Hungarian officer)
Gala Tribute to Tchaikovsky (1993) TV Special (Principal Dancer)
Winter Dreams (1992) BBC TV with the Royal Ballet (Staff Captain Vassily Vasilyevich Solyony)
La Bayadère, The Sleeping Beauty (ballet), Winter Gala with Royal Ballet for BBC TV
Prince of the Pagodas (1990) with the Royal Ballet
Merry Wives of Windsor (1982) BBC TV (fairy)

Other
(2000) National Portrait Gallery (London), portrait of Adam Cooper by Stuart Pearson Wrightoil on gesso on oak panel, NPG 6542
(2014) Imperial Classical Ballet Faculty Patrons, Adam Cooper and Sarah Wildor

Awards
(1988) Ursula Moreton Choreographic Competition
(1989) Professional Level Prize @ Prix de Lausanne
(1996) Time Out Award for Best Performance in AMP's Swan Lake
(1997) Evening Standard Award for his performance as The Swan in AMP's Swan Lake
(1997) Drama League Award for Best Performance as The Swan in AMP's Swan Lake (Los Angeles Season)
(1999) Astaire Award for outstanding Male Dancer for his performance as The Swan in AMP's Swan Lake
(1999) Nominated for Best Actor in a Musical Tony Award for the Broadway Season of Swan Lake
(2002) Nominated for Best Male Dancer by the Critics' Circle National Dance Awards for his performances with the Royal Ballet and On Your Toes 
(2003) Critics' Circle National Dance Awards for Best Choreography for On Your Toes
(2003) Critics' Circle National Dance Awards for Most Popular Dancer 
(2003) Nominated for Whatsonstage com Theatregoers' Choice Awards – for Best Choreographer and Best Actor in a Musical for On Your Toes
(2004) Nominated by Critics' Circle National Dance Awards for Best Choreography (Musical Theater) for Singin' in the Rain
(2005) Nominated for What's Onstage Award for choreography of the 2004 Grand Hotel for The Donmar Warehouse 
(2005) Nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award for choreography of the 2004 Grand Hotel for The Donmar Warehouse 
(2013) Nominated for What's Onstage Award as Best Actor in a Musical for Singin in the Rain
Passage 4:
The Nutcracker (1993 film)
The Nutcracker, also known as George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, is a 1993 American Christmas musical film based on Peter Martins's stage production and directed by Emile Ardolino  It stars Darci Kistler, Damian Woetzel, Kyra Nichols, Bart Robinson Cook, Macaulay Culkin, Jessica Lynn Cohen, Wendy Whelan, Margaret Tracey, Gen Horiuchi, Tom Gold, and the New York City Ballet 
The film was released by Warner Bros  under their Warner Bros  Family Entertainment label on November 24, 1993, four days after director Ardolino died  It received mixed reviews and was a box office failure, grossing only $2 million 

Plot
The film follows the traditional plot of the Nutcracker 

Act I
Scene 1: The Stahlbaum Home

It is Christmas Eve  Family and friends have gathered in the parlor to decorate the beautiful Christmas tree in preparation for the party  Once it is finished, the children are sent for  They stare in awe at it sparkling with candles and decorations 
The party begins  A march is played  Presents are given out to the children  Suddenly, as the owl-topped grandmother clock strikes eight, a mysterious figure enters the room  It is Herr Drosselmeyer, a local councilman, magician, and Marie's godfather  He is also a talented toymaker who has brought gifts for the children, including four lifelike dolls who dance to the delight of all  He then has them put away for safekeeping 
Marie and her brother, Fritz, are sad to see the dolls being taken away, but Drosselmeyer has yet another toy for them: a wooden nutcracker carved in the shape of a little man  The other children ignore it, but Marie immediately takes a liking to it  Fritz, however, breaks it, and she is heartbroken 
During the night, after everyone else has gone to bed, Marie returns to the parlor to check on her beloved nutcracker  As she reaches the little bed she put it on, the clock strikes midnight and she looks up to see Drosselmeyer perched atop it  Suddenly, mice begin to fill the room and the Christmas tree begins to grow to dizzying heights  The nutcracker also grows to life size  Marie finds herself in the midst of a battle between an army of gingerbread soldiers and the mice, led by their king  They begin to eat the soldiers 
The nutcracker appears to lead the soldiers, who are joined by tin soldiers, and dolls who serve as doctors to carry away the wounded  As the Mouse King advances on the still-wounded nutcracker, Marie throws her slipper at him, distracting him long enough for the nutcracker to stab him Scene 2: A Pine Forest
The mice retreat and the nutcracker is transformed into a handsome Prince  He leads Marie through the moonlit night to a pine forest in which the snowflakes come to life and dance around them, beckoning them on to his kingdom as the first act ends 

Act II
Scene 1: The Land of Sweets

Marie and the Prince travel to the beautiful Land of Sweets, ruled by the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Prince's place until his return  He recounts for her how he had been saved from the Mouse King by Marie and transformed back into himself 
In honor of the young heroine, a celebration of sweets from around the world is produced: chocolate from Spain, coffee from Arabia, tea from China, and candy canes from Russia all dance for their amusement; Danish shepherdesses perform on their flutes; Mother Ginger has her children, the Polichinelles, emerge from under her enormous hoop skirt to dance; a string of beautiful flowers perform a waltz  To conclude the night, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier perform a dance A final waltz is performed by all the sweets, after which the Sugar Plum Fairy ushers Marie and the Prince down from their throne  He bows to her, she kisses Marie goodbye, and leads them to a reindeer-drawn sleigh  It takes off as they wave goodbye to all the subjects who wave back 

Cast
Darci Kistler as The Sugar Plum Fairy
Damian Woetzel as The Sugar Plum Fairy's Cavalier
Kyra Nichols as Dewdrop
Wendy Whelan as Coffee
Margaret Tracey as Marzipan
Gen Horiuchi as Tea
Tom Gold as Candy Cane
Lourdes López as Hot Chocolate
Nilas Martins as Hot Chocolate
William Otto as Mother Ginger
Peter Reznick as Fritz
Karin von Aroldingen as Grandparent
Edward Bigelow as Grandparent
Heather Watts as Frau Stahlbaum
Robert LaFosse as Dr  Stahlbaum
Bart Robinson Cook as Herr Drosselmeyer
Jessica Lynn Cohen as Marie Stahlbaum
Macaulay Culkin as The Nutcracker/Prince/Drosselmeyer's Nephew
Kevin Kline as Narrator
Katrina Killian as Harlequin
Roma Sosenko as Columbine
Michael Byars as Soldier
Robert D  Lyon as Mouse King
Maureen C  McFadden Devlin as Drummer

Reception
Critical response
The film received generally mixed reviews from critics  Based on eight reviews, it holds a rotten rating of 50% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6/10  The film was criticized by James Berardinelli for not capturing the excitement of a live performance; he wrote that it "opts to present a relatively mundane version of the stage production   utilizing almost none of the advantages offered by the (film) medium " Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times was mixed on it, and gave it 2 out of 4 stars criticizing it for not adapting the dance for a film audience and also its casting of Culkin who, he writes, "seems peripheral to all of the action, sort of like a celebrity guest or visiting royalty, nodding benevolently from the corners of shots " In The Washington Post, Lucy Linfield echoed Ebert's criticism of Culkin, stating that "it's not so much that he can't act or dance; more important, the kid seems to have forgotten how to smile   all little Mac can muster is a surly grimace " She praised the dancing, however, as "strong, fresh and in perfect sync" and Kistler's Sugar Plum Fairy as "the Balanchinean ideal of a romantic, seemingly fragile beauty combined with a technique of almost startling strength, speed and knifelike precision " The New York Times' Stephen Holden also criticized Culkin, calling his performance the film's "only serious flaw", but praised the cinematography as "very scrupulous in the way it establishes a mood of participatory excitement, then draws back far enough so that the classic ballet sequences choreographed by Balanchine and staged by Peter Martins can be seen in their full glory "

Box office
During its theatrical run, the film grossed $2,119,994  In North America, it opened at number 16 in its first weekend with $783,721 

See also
List of Christmas films
Passage 5:
Dennis Courtney
Dennis H  Beaulne (born April 30, 1958), better known by his stage name Dennis Courtney, is an American stage director, choreographer, actor and teacher of master classes in auditioning for the theatre  As a director, he is notable for winning the 2008 Israeli National Theatre Prize (Israel's TONY Award equivalent) for his work in the Cameri Theatre production of Fiddler On The Roof, in Tel Aviv  The production closed on January 27, 2016 after a near 8-year run  As an actor, he made his Broadway debut in the 1979 production of Peter Pan with Sandy Duncan and George Rose  Subsequent Broadway/National Tour/Production credits include Shenandoah with John Raitt (1984), Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1984), Roza (1987) and Starlight Express (1989-1990)  He directed and choreographed a production of My Way, for the Riverside Center Theatre in Virginia and It Shoulda Been You starring Kim Zimmer and 8 Track: The Sounds of the 70's for Gretna Theatre in July and August 2016  In early 2017, he directed and choreographed Kiss Me, Kate at Kent State  In March 2017 he directed the pre-Broadway workshop production of The Last Adam, a new musical by George Alex Livings and Jonathan Hickey  He has collaborated with playwright David Brian Colbert on a new play with music about the life of legendary performer, Ethel Waters, entitled Still Waters: The Life of the Legendary Ethel Waters  The play is currently in development 

Personal life
Born Denis Beaulne in Detroit, Michigan to French Canadian parents, Albert Beaulne and Claudette Perron   He took the stage name Dennis Courtney with his first union acting job in 1978   Courtney has 2 siblings - a sister, Rachelle Beaulne McKevlin and a brother, Raymond Beaulne   He also has a step-sister, Lori Hurren Harrell and a step-brother, William Hurren  Dennis' parents divorced in 1967 and both remarried   His mother married Harry Parr and his father married Anna Pasternacki   Harry Parr died in 1986, Anna Pasternacki Beaulne died on December 5, 2011  Albert Beaulne is currently living in Cornelius, NC   Dennis' mother, Claudette, died on June 6, 2010  Dennis has been in a long term relationship with entrepreneur, Grant Wheaton, since 2000  Dennis and Grant became engaged on Christmas Day 2016 and married on July 29, 2017 
He graduated from Anderson High School in Cincinnati, Ohio and studied theatre at the University of Cincinnati   He currently resides in New York City and has homes in Sarasota, Florida and Palm Desert, California 

Notes
External links
Official Website - http://www denniscourtney com
Dennis Courtney (http://ibdb com/person php?id=92973) at the Internet Broadway Database
Dennis Courtney (http://www broadwayworld com/people/Dennis-Courtney/#) at BroadwayWorld com
Passage 6:
Stephen Nicholas (actor)
Stephen Charles Nicholas (born 23 August 1978)  music artist and presenter from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England 
As an actor Stephens first role was on Sky One's Dream Team, where he played Scott Ward  From there, he filmed the first in the trilogy Goal! (In which he played a Newcastle United Reserves player)  Following this, he moved to Los Angeles, where he played Smith in the feature film Futbaal: The Price of Dreams 
Stephen then returned to the UK to make a Bollywood film called Dhana Dhana Goal with John Abraham 
Stephen then experienced her first opportunity in reality TV with the show Premier League All Stars for Sky One, as well as playing a footballer, he was on-hand to present celebrity gossip and pitch side reports 
He then appeared in Celebrity Most Haunted and Date the Enemy  From there he then went on to star in Goal 3 where he not only acted in the film he also became the football choreographer and choreographed all the football scenes in the film 
Nicholas then starred in the film Damned United where he played Welsh international Alan Durban, the film was filmed in Chesterfield and Leeds and was directed by Oscar winner Tom Hooper and also starred Oscar nominated Michael Sheen 
Stephens next production was the feature film called 'No Way Back Now'about the notorious Manchester district of Moss Side, where Stephen played the lead actor Stuart Gavin  The feature is roughly based on the notorious Gooch gang that terrorised Manchester throughout the years 
The next move for Stephen was pantomime where he was part of the production Aladdin over the Christmas period of 2015 in Doncaster playing Abanaza the main villain which he did until 7 January 2016! 
He Was also in the Feature Film 'Whiteblade' where he will played Thurstan the head Warlord Whiteblade Stephen shot his scenes in August 2016 
In September 2016 Stephen presenting the Sky TV show 'Britz go Bollywood' the show consists of a group of Celebrities being dressed by The best Indian designers, stephen was the main presenter of the show 

Music
Nicholas instigated and was part of a group called U K  Flow  The group was made up of 14 celebrities from television and sport 

Football
Nicholas was a Sunday league footballer at various clubs

Filmography
External links
Official Site
Stephen Nicholas at IMDb
Passage 7:
The Nutcracker (Balanchine)
Choreographer George Balanchine's production of Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker has become the most famous stage production of the ballet performed in the U S  (Mikhail Baryshnikov's production is the most famous television version, although it too originated onstage ) It uses the plot of the Alexandre Dumas, père, version of E T A  Hoffmann's tale, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (1816)  Its premiere took place on February 2, 1954, at City Center, New York, with costumes by Karinska and sets by Horace Armistead  It has been staged in New York every year since 1954, and many other productions throughout the United States either imitate it, or directly use the Balanchine staging  However, although it is often cited as being the production that made the ballet famous in the U S , it was Willam Christensen's 1944 production for the San Francisco Ballet which first introduced the complete work to the United States 

Staging
In Balanchine's version, the leading roles of Clara (here called Marie) and the Nutcracker/Prince are danced by children, and so their dances are choreographed to be less difficult than the ones performed by the adults  Marie does not dance at all in the second act of this version  The Prince's dancing in Act II is limited to the pantomime that he performs "describing" his defeat of the Mouse King  Instead, Marie and the Prince sit out nearly all of Act II watching other dancers perform for them, and unlike most other versions, neither one of them takes part in the ballet's Final Waltz 
Because Marie and the Nutcracker / Prince are played by children approximately ten years old in the Balanchine Nutcracker, no adult romantic interest between them is even implied, although Marie and Drosselmeyer's nephew, who looks exactly like the Prince, are clearly drawn to each other during the Christmas party  However, the 1958 Playhouse 90 telecast of the Balanchine Nutcracker, which changed Marie's name back to Clara and stated that the Prince was Drosselmeyer's nephew, had narrator June Lockhart saying at the end that "From that day on, Drosselmeyer's nephew is Clara's Prince and Clara is his Princess, and I need not tell you that they lived happily ever after " (But Drosselmeyer's nephew is there when the Nutcracker is broken during the Christmas party, so it is difficult to believe that he is the Nutcracker/ Prince, unless Marie dreams her fantasy adventures, and it is unclear in this version whether she does or not ) Years later, movie critic Stephen Holden, in reviewing the 1993 film version of the Balanchine Nutcracker, referred to Marie as the Prince's sweetheart  And oddly enough, throughout Act II of the 1993 film of Balanchine's version, Marie does wear a veil that resembles a bridal veil 
The Balanchine version uses perhaps more real children than any other version  (In other versions, the children are sometimes played by adult women ) The rôles of Clara and the Nutcracker/ Prince are performed by adults in many other versions, and in these productions of the ballet, there is usually more than a hint of budding romance between the two 
The Journey Through the Snow sequence, in many other productions danced by Clara and the Nutcracker immediately after his transformation into a Prince, is not danced at all in the Balanchine version, although the music is played  Instead, Marie faints and falls on the bed after the battle, and the Nutcracker exits  Marie's bed moves by itself across the stage as the music plays, and at its climax, the Nutcracker reappears and through the use of a stage effect, turns into a Prince  He awakens Marie, places on her head one of the crowns that he took from the dead seven-headed Mouse King, and they exit  (In the 1993 film of Balanchine's Nutcracker, the bed flies through the air rather than simply moving across the stage  This is achieved by visual effects created by Industrial Light & Magic )

On the screen
Balanchine's Nutcracker has since been staged in New York every year, filmed once, and performed live on television three times – although its first television edition, telecast by CBS in 1957 on the TV anthology The Seven Lively Arts, was severely abridged  Some sources say it was complete, but it could not have been because The Seven Lively Arts was only an hour long  This marked the first telecast not only of the Balanchine version but of any staging of the ballet  CBS's Playhouse 90 broadcast a more complete (but still abridged) version of the Balanchine Nutcracker, narrated by actress June Lockhart, who was then starring as the mother in CBS's Lassie, on Christmas Day in 1958; it was the first Nutcracker (and only installment of the entire Playhouse 90 series) broadcast in color  There were only four commercial breaks  This television production starred Balanchine himself as Drosselmeyer, Diana Adams as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Bonnie Bedelia in an early role as Clara, and Robert Maiorano as the Nutcracker/ Prince Excerpts from the Balanchine production were performed several times on various television shows of the time, notably The Bell Telephone Hour and The Ed Sullivan Show The complete Balanchine version was eventually made into a poorly received full-length feature film by Elektra Entertainment and Regency Enterprises  It was distributed and released by Warner Bros  Family Entertainment in 1993, and starred Macaulay Culkin in his only screen ballet rôle, as the Nutcracker, the Prince, and Drosselmeyer's nephew  The film was directed by Emile Ardolino, with narration spoken by Kevin Kline  From the billing in this film, the Prince and the nephew would seem to be two different characters, though that may not have been what the filmmakers intended  Director Ardolino died of AIDS only a few days before the film's release  The other rôles in the film were played by members of the New York City Ballet, including Darci Kistler as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Damian Woetzel as the Fairy's Cavalier, Bart Cook as Drosselmeyer, Jessica Lynn Cohen as Marie (a k a  Clara), and Wendy Whelan as Coffee in the Arabian Dance During the 2011 Christmas season, PBS, for the very first time, presented the complete Balanchine Nutcracker on Live from Lincoln Center, although it was not seen on all PBS affiliates, since the affiliates have a choice of which programs they will air locally  This was not the 1993 film, but the production's latest revival, and the production was telecast by PBS on December 14, 2011  This presentation, directed by Alan Skog, marked the first U S  telecast of the Balanchine version (aside from cable and "on demand" showings of the 1993 theatrical film) in more than fifty years  It was nominated for an Emmy Award in July 2012 

Casts
Original
NYCB revivals
Television
(1958)

Television
(2011)

Theatrical Film Version
(1993)

Music
Balanchine adds to Tchaikovsky's score an entr'acte that the composer wrote for Act II of The Sleeping Beauty, but which is now seldom played in productions of that ballet  In Balanchine's Nutcracker, it is used as a transition between the departure of the guests and the battle with the mice  During this transition, the mother of Marie (as she is usually called in this version) appears in the living room and throws a blanket over the girl, who has crept downstairs and fallen asleep on the sofa; then Drosselmeyer appears, repairs the Nutcracker, and binds the jaw with a handkerchief  In addition, the Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy is moved from near the end of Act II to near the beginning of the second act, just after the Sugar Plum Fairy makes her first appearance  To help the musical transition, the tarantella that comes before the dance is cut  In the 1993 film version of the Balanchine version, just as in the telecast of the Baryshnikov one, the Miniature Overture is cut in half, and the opening credits are seen as the overture is heard  The film's final credits feature a reprise of the Trepak and the Waltz of the Flowers 

Footnotes
External links
George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at the Balanchine Trust website
Passage 8:
Darci Kistler
Darci Kistler (born June 4, 1964) is an American ballerina   She is often said to be the last muse for choreographer George Balanchine 

Early life
Kistler was born in Riverside, California, the fifth child (with four older brothers) of a medical doctor and his wife   Her brothers excelled in amateur wrestling, and she followed them into water-skiing, basketball, football and horseback riding 

Ballet career
At age 4, Kistler received her first tutu and began ballet training that same year  She claimed although she was always athletic, she could never keep to her brothers—so ballet turned out to be one cornerstone she had mastered  After seeing a ballet performance of Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, she decided she wanted to take up ballet herself  She studied with Mary Lynn at Mary Lynn's Ballet Arts and later with Irina Kosmovska in Los Angeles 
In early 1979, Kistler was selected to study at New York City Ballet's School of American Ballet (SAB), where she met George Balanchine  She joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) corps de ballet in 1980, and was featured in a Time article before the end of the year Kistler was promoted to (NYCB) soloist in 1981 and principal dancer in 1982, the youngest ever at 17 years  Signature roles include Balanchine's Jewels (Diamonds), Agon, Prodigal Son and Symphony in C  She danced the rôle of the Sugarplum Fairy in City Ballet's 1993 film version of The Nutcracker  She eventually wrote her own autobiography "Ballerina: My Story" as a children's book 
Kistler joined the SAB's permanent faculty in 1994 
Throughout her career, she had numerous dance-related injuries, including a broken ankle that sidelined her for three years  She went through several surgeries, including for her back In February 2009, Kistler announced her retirement from New York City Ballet at the end of the 2010 season  Her farewell performance took place on June 27, 2010, and consisted of ballets choreographed by Balanchine and Martins:

Personal life
Kistler married New York City Ballet's balletmaster-in-chief Peter Martins in 1991  In July 1992, Martins was arrested and held for five hours after Kistler phoned the police for help  Kistler filed an affidavit accusing him of assaulting her, pushing and slapping her, and cutting and bruising her arms and legs, leading to a charge of third-degree assault (a misdemeanor)  Kistler dropped the charges a few days later, saying she preferred to resolve the matter without the court's intervention  When she next performed in a ballet two days later, she reportedly wore heavy makeup to conceal bruises she had suffered  Several people who knew the two well claimed it wasn't the first time Martins had hit Kistler Kistler and Martins have one daughter, Talicia Tove Martins, born June 13, 1996 

Jerome Robbins
Ulysses Dove
Red Angels

Robert La Fosse
Danses de Cour

Peter Martins
Featured roles
George Balanchine
Jerome Robbins
Peter Martins
Television
PBS Dance in America
Bournonville Dances William Tell pas de deux
Serenade
PBS Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Alexandra Danilova
Swan Lake pas de deux
PBS Dance in America The Balanchine Celebration
PBS Live from Lincoln Center New York City Ballet's Diamond Project: Ten Years of New Choreography, 2002
Them Twos
PBS Live from Lincoln Center Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine 100, 2004
Liebeslieder Walzer
Passage 9:
Gwen Verdon
Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon (January 13, 1925 – October 18, 2000) was an American actress and dancer  She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film  Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, having originated many roles in musicals, including Lola in Damn Yankees, the title character in Sweet Charity and Roxie Hart in Chicago  She is also strongly identified with her second husband, director-choreographer Bob Fosse, remembered as the dancer-collaborator-muse for whom he choreographed much of his work and as the guardian of his legacy after his death 

Early life
Verdon was born in Culver City, California, the second child of Gertrude Lilian (née Standring) and Joseph William Verdon, British immigrants to the United States by way of Canada  Her brother was William Farrell Verdon  Her father was an electrician at MGM Studios, and her mother was a former vaudevillian of the Denishawn dance troupe, as well as a dance teacher As a toddler, she suffered from rickets, which left her legs so badly misshapen she was called "Gimpy" by other children and spent her early years in orthopedic boots and rigid leg braces  At age three, her mother enrolled her in dance classes  Further ballet training strengthened her legs and improved her carriage 
By age six, she was dancing on stage  She went on to study multiple dance forms, ranging from tap, jazz, ballroom and flamenco to Balinese  She also studied juggling  At age 11, she appeared as a solo ballerina in the musical romance film The King Steps Out (1936), directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Grace Moore and Franchot Tone  She attended Hamilton High School in Los Angeles and studied under ballet enthusiast Ernest Belcher  While in high school, she was cast in a revival of Show Boat 
In 1942, Verdon's parents asked her to marry family friend and tabloid reporter James Henaghan after he got her pregnant at 17 years old, and she quit her dancing career to raise their child  In 1945, she appeared as a dancer in the movie musical Blonde From Brooklyn  After her divorce, she entrusted her son Jimmy to the care of her parents 

Career
Early on, Verdon found a job as assistant to choreographer Jack Cole, whose work was respected by both Broadway and Hollywood movie studios  During her five-year employment with Cole, she took small roles in movie musicals as a "specialty dancer"  She also taught dance to stars such as Jane Russell, Fernando Lamas, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe 
Verdon started out on Broadway going from one chorus line to another  Her breakthrough role finally came when choreographer Michael Kidd cast her as the second female lead in Cole Porter's musical Can-Can (1953), starring French prima donna Lilo  Out-of-town reviewers hailed Verdon's interpretation of Eve in the Garden of Eden ballet as a performance that upstaged the show's star, who reputedly demanded Verdon's role be cut to only two featured dance numbers  With her role reduced to little more than an ensemble part, Verdon formally announced her intention to quit by the time the show premiered on Broadway  But her opening-night Garden of Eden performance was so well-received that the audience screamed her name until the startled actress was brought from her dressing room in a towel to take a curtain call  Verdon received a pay increase and her first Tony Award for her performance 
Verdon's biggest critical and commercial success was her following show, George Abbott's Damn Yankees (1955), based on the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant  The musical ran for 1,019 performances  Verdon won another Tony and went to Hollywood to repeat her role in the 1958 movie version Damn Yankees, famously singing "Whatever Lola Wants"  (Fosse can be seen partnered with her in the original mambo duet "Who's Got the Pain" )
Verdon won another Tony for her performance in the musical New Girl in Town as a hard-luck girl fleeing from her past as a prostitute  She won her fourth Tony for the murder-mystery musical Redhead, Fosse's Broadway debut as a director/choreographer  In 1960, Fosse and Verdon wed 
In 1966, Verdon returned to the stage in the role of Charity in Sweet Charity, which like many of her earlier Broadway triumphs was choreographed and directed by husband Fosse  The show is loosely based on Federico Fellini's screenplay for Nights of Cabiria  It was followed by a movie version starring  Shirley MacLaine as Charity, featuring Ricardo Montalbán, Sammy Davis Jr  and Chita Rivera, with Fosse at the helm of his very first film as director and choreographer  Verdon helped with the choreography  The numbers include the famed "Big Spender", "Rhythm of Life", "If My Friends Could See Me Now", and "I'm a Brass Band"  Verdon also traveled to Berlin to help Fosse with Cabaret, the musical film for which he won an Oscar for Best Director 
Although estranged as a couple, Verdon and Fosse continued to collaborate on projects such as the musical Chicago (1975) (in which she originated the role of murderess Roxie Hart) and the musical Dancin' (1978), as well as Fosse's autobiographical movie All That Jazz (1979)  The helpmate/peer played by Leland Palmer in that film is based on the role Verdon played in Fosse's real life   She also developed a close working relationship with Fosse's partner, Broadway dancer Ann Reinking, and was an instructor for Reinking's musical theatre classes 
After originating the role of Roxie opposite Chita Rivera's Velma Kelly in Chicago, Verdon focused on film acting, playing character roles in movies such as The Cotton Club (1984), Cocoon (1985) and Cocoon: The Return (1988)  She continued to teach dance and musical theater and to act  She received three Emmy Award nominations for appearances on Magnum, P I  (1988), Dream On (1993) and Homicide: Life on the Street (1993)  Verdon appeared as the title character's mother in the Woody Allen movie Alice (1990) and as Ruth in Marvin's Room (1996), co-starring Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, and Leonardo DiCaprio  In 1999, Verdon served as artistic consultant on a Broadway musical designed to showcase examples of classic Fosse choreography   Called simply Fosse, the revue was conceived and directed by Richard Maltby Jr  and Ann Reinking and choreographed by Reinking and Chet Walker  Verdon's daughter Nicole received a "special thanks" credit  The show won a Tony Award for Best Musical 
In 1997 Verdon appeared in an episode of Walker Texas Ranger as Maisie Whitman  She reprised the role in 1999 
Verdon played Alora in the movie Walking Across Egypt (1999) and appeared in the film Bruno, released in 2000  Verdon received a total of four Tonys, for best featured actress for Can-Can (1953) and best leading actress for Damn Yankees (1955), New Girl in Town (1957) and Redhead (1959)  She also won a Grammy Award for the cast recording of Redhead Verdon was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1981  In 1998, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts 

Personal life
Verdon was married twice and had two children  She married tabloid reporter James Archibald Henaghan in 1942  They had a son, Jim, the following year and divorced in 1947  In 1960, Verdon married choreographer Bob Fosse  They had a daughter, Nicole, in 1963  Fosse's extramarital affairs put a strain on their marriage, and by 1971, Verdon and Fosse were separated, but never divorced  She was involved in relationships with actor Scott Brady and actor Jerry Lanning, son of Roberta Sherwood  Verdon was with Fosse when he suffered a fatal heart attack at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D C , in September 1987 Verdon was a cat fancier, having up to six cats at one time, with the pets carrying names such as "Feets Fosse", "Junie Moon", and "Tidbits Tumbler Fosse" Verdon was a mental health-care advocate; later in life, she openly spoke about the positive effects of mental-health counseling  Along with teaching dance as a form of therapy, she sat on the board of directors for the New York Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, and actively raised funds to support mental health-care research 

Popular culture
Fosse/Verdon is an 8-part American miniseries starring Sam Rockwell as Fosse and Michelle Williams as Verdon  The series, which tells the story of the couple's troubled personal and professional relationship, is based on the biography Fosse by Sam Wasson  It premiered in eight parts on April 9, 2019, on FX  At the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, Fosse/Verdon received seventeen nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series and acting nominations for Rockwell, Williams, and Margaret Qualley (as Ann Reinking)  Williams won the Emmy for Outstanding Actress in a Limited Series 

Death and legacy
Verdon died from a heart attack on October 18, 2000, aged 75, at her daughter's home in Woodstock, Vermont  Later that night, at 8 pm, all marquee lights on Broadway were dimmed in a tribute to Verdon 

Work
Stage
Film
Television
Music
In 1956, Verdon released an album titled The Girl I Left Home For  The album includes her covers of popular jazz standards of the time 

Awards and nominations
† Tied with co-star Thelma Ritter
 
†† Tied with Ethel Merman for Gypsy

††† Shared with Bob Fosse
Passage 10:
Mansi Aggarwal
Mansi Aggarwal is an Indian filmmaker, writer, producer and choreographer who has written, directed, produced films and choreographed songs in Indian film industry  She is best known for choreographing the song, "Bharat Mata ki Jai", from the movie Shanghai that starred actor Emraan Hashmi - the song gained a lot of popularity and became a hit in India  She has worked with path breaking actors - Priyanka Chopra in Mary Kom, Rajkumar Rao in Kai Po Che, and with Abhay Deol in the movie Dev D She has been nominated for the Filmfare award for the song "Bharat Mata ki Jai" from Shanghai starring the actor Emraan Hashmi, the song was loved by the audience and became popular in India  The song "Suno na Sangmarmar" from the movie Youngistaan was also nominated for Stardust and Filmfare awards She also choreographed commercials for big brands like Nykaa, Biba, Zandu Balm, etc  She was published as the youngest choreographer in the eminent magazine Femina   In 2018, she made her debut as a writer-director with her first short film The Handbag, which was posted on ‘Humara Movie’ YouTube channel  She came with her second film Raani, which got selected for Lift Off Global Networks, London and was also screened at the Darbhanga International Film Festival  It was a finalist at the Golden Jury International Film Festival and won the Best Actor award at the same  Raani released on Disney Hotstar and is streaming on MX Player  The films The Handbag and Raani were produced under the banner Yin Yang Films 

Early life and career
Mansi was born on 10 June 1984 and raised in Delhi where she also took training in Indian classical dance, Kathak  Her Kathak training started when she was only 7 years old and she later became a Visharad (graduate) in the dance form  She studied Economics at Hansraj College in Delhi University and after finishing her graduation she opened her dance institute in Delhi—Mansi Dance Creations Her career in Bollywood movies started when she was first spotted by the film director, Anurag Kashyap, during a dance performance in Delhi  Anurag offered her to choreograph the critically acclaimed film, Gulaal  However, the movie got delayed and Mansi shifted her focus to academics until Anurag came to her for the second time with the proposal of choreographing Abhay Deol-starrer, Dev D Mansi is married to cinematographer Arindam Bhattacharjee 

Choreography in Indian Film Industry
Mansi has choreographed the following Bollywood movies:

Filmography as Director, Producer and Writer
Context 2: Passage 1:
Bad Teacher
Bad Teacher is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan from a screenplay by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky  Starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, John Michael Higgins and Jason Segel, the film tells the story of a lazy  middle school teacher who hates her job, her students, and her co-workers but returns to teaching after her wealthy fiancé dumps her  Bad Teacher was released in the United States on June 24, 2011, by Columbia Pictures  It grossed $216 2 million 

Plot
Elizabeth Halsey is a lazy, immoral, manipulative, gold-digging teacher at John Adams Middle School in Chicago who curses at her students, drinks heavily, smokes marijuana and lets her kids watch movies so she can sleep through class  She plans to quit teaching and marry her wealthy fiancé, but he dumps her when his mother shows him that Elizabeth is only after his money, so she resumes her job  She tries to win over wealthy substitute teacher Scott Delacorte  Her dedicated and enthusiastic colleague Amy Squirrel also pursues him while Elizabeth rejects advances from the school's gym teacher, Russell Gettis 
Elizabeth plans to have her breasts enlarged and becomes more motivated to do so upon learning Scott's ex-girlfriend had large breasts  However, she cannot afford the $9,300 procedure  Elizabeth attempts to raise money for the surgery through the 7th-grade car wash, wearing provocative clothing and manipulating parents to give her money for more school supplies and tutoring, but her efforts are not enough  Amy informs the principal about Elizabeth's embezzlement, but he dismisses her claims when no evidence is provided  Scott also admits that he is attracted to Amy and only likes Elizabeth as a friend 
Discovering that the teacher of the class with the highest state test scores will receive a $5,700 bonus, Elizabeth decides to change her style of teaching, forcing the class to intensely study To Kill a Mockingbird for the test  However, since it is late in the school year, combined with her unorthodox teaching methods, the students score low on the book quizzes, further frustrating her  Meanwhile, she befriends Russell, as Amy and Scott start dating 
Elizabeth plans to steal the state test answers by impersonating a journalist and seducing Carl Halabi, a state professor in charge of creating and distributing the exams  She convinces Carl to go into his office to have sex, but drugs him and steals the answer key  A month later Elizabeth wins the bonus, completing her needed funds, and books her breast enlargement 
When Elizabeth learns that Amy and Scott are chaperoning an upcoming field trip, she smears an apple with poison ivy and leaves it for Amy, who ends up with blisters covering her face and cannot go  On the trip, Elizabeth seduces Scott  They dry hump and Elizabeth secretly leaves Amy a message through Scott's phone, recording all the action  However, Scott's ever-changing ideals disappoint Elizabeth  After her student Garrett is taunted by his classmates for confessing to an unrequited attraction to a superficial girl in the class named Chase, Elizabeth consoles him and helps make him popular, which prompts her to begin reflecting on her own superficial ways 
Back at the school, Amy switches Elizabeth's desk with her own to trick the janitor into unlocking Elizabeth's sealed drawer  The evidence Amy finds leads her to suspect Elizabeth cheated on the state exam  Amy informs the principal and gets Carl to testify against her  However, Elizabeth took embarrassing photos of Carl while he was drugged and uses them to blackmail him to say she is innocent  Having been informed that her desk was switched, Elizabeth states that teachers in the school use drugs  When the police bring a sniffer dog to search the school, they find Elizabeth's mini liquor bottles, marijuana and OxyContin pills in Amy's classroom, in Elizabeth's desk, leading to Amy getting arrested and transferred to another school by the superintendent  Scott asks Elizabeth to start over, but she rejects him in favor of Russell, having learned they have a lot in common 
When the new school year starts, Elizabeth has reformed  She is kinder to her co-workers, and has started a relationship with Russell, and did not get her breasts enlarged because she feels that it is unnecessary  Elizabeth also has a new position as the new guidance counselor 

Cast
Production
Bad Teacher is directed by Jake Kasdan based on a screenplay by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky  Columbia Pictures purchased Eisenberg and Stupnitsky's spec script in August 2008  In May 2009, Kasdan was hired to direct Bad Teacher  The following December, Cameron Diaz was cast in the film's lead role  Justin Timberlake was cast opposite Diaz in March 2010, and filming began later in the month 

Release
Box office
The film grossed $100 3 million in the U S  and Canada, while its worldwide total stands at $216 2 million The film was released in North America on June 20, 2011, in 3,049 theaters  It took in $12,243,987—$4,016 per theater—in its opening day, and grossed a total of $31,603,106 in its opening weekend, finishing second at the box office, behind Cars 2  In Germany, the film reached No  1 on the country's Cinema Charts in its opening week after 496,000 people saw the film  This caused Kung Fu Panda 2, which reached No  1 the week before, to fall to No  2 

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 45% based on 192 reviews and a rating average of 5 3/10  The site's critical consensus reads, "In spite of a promising concept and a charmingly brazen performance from Cameron Diaz, Bad Teacher is never as funny as it should be " Metacritic gave the film a score of 47 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews"  CinemaScore polls reported that moviegoers gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale 

Accolades
Home media
Bad Teacher was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and a combo pack on October 18, 2011 

Possible sequel and TV series
On June 20, 2013, Sony announced that it was working on Bad Teacher 2  The company hired Justin Malen to write the sequel  Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, who wrote the first film, will return as producers  A release from Sony studios said the project is "being developed for Cameron Diaz to star in the film, but no deal is yet set with the actress " Jake Kasdan will again be the director On May 23, 2013, CBS announced a TV series based on the movie, with CBS Studios and Sony Pictures Television as production partners  The show premiered on April 24, 2014, in the 9:30pm time slot  Ari Graynor played the Cameron Diaz role, while Sara Gilbert, Ryan Hansen, David Alan Grier, Kristin Davis and Sara Rodier also appeared  On May 10, 2014, CBS canceled Bad Teacher after airing only three episodes  Bad Teacher last aired during the spring TV season on May 22, 2014  However, in July 2014, CBS burned off the remaining unseen episodes by showing two episodes on Saturday nights 
Passage 2:
Pilot (New Girl)
"Pilot" is the first episode of the first season of New Girl  The episode was written by Elizabeth Meriwether, and directed by Jake Kasdan  The episode first aired on Fox in the United States on September 20, 2011 to positive reviews 

Plot
The show begins with Jessica "Jess" Day talking to her friend Cece, a model, about seducing her boyfriend by coming home early and stripping down for him  While talking to Cece on the phone, we hear that she is naked in the back of the cab wearing a big trench coat  When asked what her stripper name will be, she replies 'Rebecca Johnson', then 'Two Boobs Johnson', and later 'Tiger Boobs'  Jess comes home and her boyfriend Spencer is shocked to see her there, but he is cheating on her with another woman who comes out of the bedroom while Jess is attempting a striptease with pillows and bows  While doing a mediocre job on seducing him (taking off the trench coat and doing "sexy stuff' to various objects), the girl comes out and Jess is shocked  Now she lives with three single men (whom she found on Craigslist and thought they were women) called Nick, Schmidt and Coach in an apartment  During most of the week she lives there, she begins to have mood swings about her break up such as watching Dirty Dancing  Her roommates are sick of it and invite her to a bar to find a man on the rebound  She ends up on a date but her date bails on her and he goes to the same party as her roommates are at  They all go to the restaurant and cheer Jess up by singing "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" proving that they do care about her as a friend 

Production
The episode was written by Elizabeth Meriwether, and directed by Jake Kasdan  The episode first aired on Fox in the United States on September 20, 2011  Speaking of the show Zooey Deschanel claimed that her character in New Girl resembles a younger version of herself  She said "I think Jess as a person, and the way that her personality is, has some of myself and especially some of my younger self," she suggested  "[She resembles] my 13-year-old self " Deschanel added that Jess will explore her lost youth after she is dumped by her long-term boyfriend  "I have to find a new support system, so I'm basically living my 20s as I approach my 30s," she explained 

Reception
When the episode was first broadcast it pulled in more viewers than its lead in, the Fox comedy-drama Glee for the episode "The Purple Piano Project", which brought in 8 9m (5 4) in the 8:00 p m  hour, after which New Girl launched with 10 1m (4 7) 

Accolades
Jake Kasdan was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series for this episode 
Passage 3:
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes is a 2005 animated drama film by the Brothers Quay, featuring Amira Casar, Gottfried John, Assumpta Serna and Cesar Sarachu  It was the second feature-length film by the Brothers Quay and their first film in over ten years 

Plot
A 19th-century opera singer is murdered on-stage shortly before her forthcoming wedding  Soon after being slain by the nefarious Dr  Emmanuel Droz during a live performance, Malvina van Stille is spirited away to the inventor's remote villa to be reanimated and forced to play the lead in a grim production staged to recreate her abduction  As the time for the performance draws near, piano tuner of earthquakes Felisberto sets out to activate the seven essential automata who dot the dreaded doctor's landscape and make sure all the essential elements are in place  Once again instilled with life after her brief stay in the afterworld, amnesiac Malvina is soon drawn to the mysterious Felisberto as a result of his uncanny resemblance to her one-time fiancé Adolfo 

See also
List of stop-motion films

External links
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes at Metacritic
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes at Rotten Tomatoes
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes' at MovieScore Media
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes at IMDb
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes at AllMovie
Catsoulis, Jeannette (17 November 2006)  "Film in Review: The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes"  The New York Times  Retrieved 1 January 2018 
Passage 4:
Sex Tape (film)
Sex Tape is a 2014 American sex comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing  It was written by Jason Segel, Nicholas Stoller, and Kate Angelo and stars Segel, Cameron Diaz, Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper, and Rob Lowe  Its story follows a married couple who make a sex tape to spice up their relationship only to wake up the next morning to find that it has gone missing  This sparks a frantic search in an attempt to find it 
The film was produced by Columbia Pictures and was released on July 18, 2014  It grossed $14 6 million in its opening weekend and $126 1 million worldwide, against a budget of $40 million  It received generally negative reviews 

Plot
Jay and Annie Hargrove are a married couple who used to have sex at every opportunity  Now, after having two kids, they rarely are intimate  
Getting her mother to keep the kids overnight, the couple try roleplaying and trying having sex in less orthodox parts of the house, but then Jay struggles to get an erection  So, Annie suggests making a sex tape and they film themselves having sex in every position listed in The Joy of Sex on his tablet 
When done, Annie asks Jay to delete the recording to be safe, but an application on the tablet ends up instead inadvertently synchronizing the video to several iPads he had given away over time  After failing to get it out of the cloud, they set out to get back all of the gifted iPads, leading to a series of awkward encounters and close calls 
The couple relatively easily manage to delete the video on both her mother's and their son's tablets  Their close friends, Robbie and Tess, invite them in and then Annie and Jay end up having to explain themselves  Their friends, without any real plans, tag along as they seek the tablets  
Their most challenging recovery of a tablet is from the house of Annie's potential boss, Hank Rosenbaum  Under the guise of seeking money for a charity, Annie distracts him while Jay searches the house for the tablet  In the process, she tries cocaine for the first time and Jay battles with Hank's German shepherd  
In the end, Robbie and Tess are the ones who get it back 
After collecting the iPads and deleting the videos, their friend's son, Howard, threatens to upload a copy of their sex tape to YouPorn unless they give him $25,000  After failing to get the money, they break into the YouPorn headquarters and begin to destroy their web servers  
The couple's plan is quickly thwarted when an alarm sounds  The owner, his guards and his wife confront them and threaten to call the police  However, after explaining it was to protect their family, their two young  children come out  The owner's wife convinces him to take pity on them, so he agrees not to do so in exchange for $15,000 to cover the damage  Removing their video, he explains that all they had to do to have a video removed was send him an e-mail request to do so 
After they have deleted all videos, Howard comes over to the house and gives Jay the only remaining copy of the video on a USB flash drive  This is in exchange for being allowed to hang out with their son, Clive, since he is his only friend 
As the film comes to a close, Jay and Annie decide to watch the video once themselves  Afterwards, they take the USB flash drive and go outside to smash it with a hammer, blend it, burn it with fire, and bury the remains 

Cast
Production
Development
Sony Pictures acquired the script in June 2011, which was based on an original story created by Kate Angelo  Nicholas Stoller was in early talks to direct but eventually backed out with Jake Kasdan instead directing the picture   Before Diaz signed on, Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Rose Byrne, and Jennifer Garner were all considered for the female lead Principal photography began on September 12, 2013, in Newton, Massachusetts  Hank's house is situated in the western Greater Boston suburb of Weston 

Release
On March 17, 2014, the first poster and some photos from the film were released, followed by a red band trailer on April 2, 2014, and a green band trailer on April 24, 2014  On June 5, Sony UK released an international trailer of the film On May 30, 2014, the film's release date was pushed up from July 25, 2014 to July 18 On June 19, a final red band trailer was released, which was attached theatrically with the Melissa McCarthy comedy Tammy 

Indian censorship
The Examining Committee of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in India rejected its first version of the film  After some changes, they accepted the film and it was released in the country on August 29, 2014 

Box office
At the end of its box office run, Sex Tape earned a gross of $38 5 million in the US and Canada and $87 5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $126 1 million against a budget of $40 million The film was released in 2,457 theaters in North America and earned $1 1 million in its opening Thursday evening showings  In its opening weekend, the film grossed $14 6 million, finishing in fourth behind Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($36 2 million), as well as newcomers The Purge: Anarchy ($29 8 million) and Planes: Fire & Rescue ($17 5 million) The film topped the UK box office in its opening weekend with a gross of £1 43 million  It dropped to number 4 in its second week grossing £673,478  The film opened at #1 in markets like Bulgaria, Netherlands, Slovenia in their respective opening weekend  The biggest market in other territories being Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, where the film earned a gross of $12 14 million, $7 14 million and $6 9 million respectively 

Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 16% of 157 surveyed reviews gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4 1/10  The site's critical consensus reads, "With neither the conviction to embrace its smutty premise nor enough laughs to function as a worthwhile rom-com, the flaccid Sex Tape suffers from cinematic impotence " On Metacritic, the film has a score of 36 out of 100 based on 36 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews"  Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called the film "a timely naughty-but-nice romcom with too few laughs", giving it two out of five stars 

Accolades
See also
Passage 5:
Jake Kasdan
Jacob Kasdan (born October 28, 1974) is an American filmmaker and actor  He is best known for directing Walk Hard (2007), Bad Teacher (2011), Sex Tape (2014), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019) 

Early life
Kasdan was born and raised in a Jewish family, with little religious education in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Meg (née Goldman), a writer, and writer-director Lawrence Kasdan  His younger brother, Jon Kasdan, also works in the film and television industry as an actor and writer 

Career
Kasdan has directed seven theatrical films: Zero Effect (1998), Orange County (2002), The TV Set (2006), Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), Bad Teacher (2011), Sex Tape (2014), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)  He has also worked in television, most notably with Judd Apatow, as a consulting producer and director on Freaks and Geeks and as a director on Undeclared  He has also directed numerous stage productions  He is attached to direct John Grisham novel Calico Joe to a family film adaptation 
In 2008, Kasdan received his first Golden Globe nomination for Walk Hard in the Best Original Song category (shared with John C  Reilly, Judd Apatow, and Marshall Crenshaw), but lost to "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild (written by Eddie Vedder) 
As a child, he made several appearances in his father's movies such as The Big Chill and Silverado (in the former he is an autograph seeker at a funeral and in the latter a stable boy) 
After the success of New Girl, Kasdan announced that on July 11, 2012, that he had signed a deal with 20th Century Fox Television, through The Detective Agency, to pursue own projects In February 2015, Fox announced it had greenlit a pilot for the comedy The Grinder to be directed by Kasdan and starring Rob Lowe On March 26, 2019, The Detective Agency's producing partners Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar reupped, and signed a new overall deal at 20th Century Fox Television In October 2021, it was announced that Disney+ had given a series order to a television adaptation of graphic novel, American Born Chinese  It will be produced by 20th Century Television with Kelvin Yu and Charles Yu as writers and executive producers, Marvin Mar and Kasdan as executive producers, and Destin Daniel Cretton as director and executive producer  Most recently, he served as executive producer of the workplace comedy pilot XYZ at ABC 

Personal life
Kasdan is married to singer-songwriter Inara George of The Bird and the Bee  They have three children, including twins 

Filmography
Films
Acting credits

Soundtrack credits

Other credits

Television and web
Acting credits

Music video
Believe by Shawn Mendes (2015)

Awards
Passage 6:
Brothers Quay
Stephen and Timothy Quay ( KWAY; born June 17, 1947) are American identical twin brothers and stop-motion animators who are better known as the Brothers Quay or Quay Brothers  They received the 1998 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for their work on the play The Chairs 

Careers
The Quay Brothers reside and work in England, having moved there in 1969 to study at the Royal College of Art, London after studying illustration (Timothy) and film (Stephen) at the Philadelphia College of Art, now the University of the Arts in Philadelphia  In England they made their first short films, which no longer exist after the only prints were irreparably damaged  They spent some time in the Netherlands in the 1970s and then returned to England, where they teamed up with another Royal College student, Keith Griffiths, who produced all of their films  In 1980 the trio formed Koninck Studios, which is currently based in Southwark, south London 

Style
The Brothers' works from 1979 to the present show a wide range of often esoteric influences, starting with the Polish animators Walerian Borowczyk and Jan Lenica and continuing with the writers Franz Kafka, Bruno Schulz, Robert Walser and Michel de Ghelderode, puppeteers Wladyslaw Starewicz and Czech Richard Teschner and Czech composers Leoš Janáček, Zdeněk Liška and Polish Leszek Jankowski, the last of whom has created many original scores for their work  Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, for whom they named one of their films (The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer), is also frequently cited as a major influence, but they actually discovered his work relatively late, in 1983, by which time their characteristic style and preoccupations had been fully formed  In a panel discussion with Daniel Bird and Andrzej Klimowski at the Aurora festival in Norwich, they emphasized that a more significant influence on their work was Walerian Borowczyk, who made both animation shorts and live-action features 
Most of their animation films feature puppets made of doll parts and other organic and inorganic materials, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere  Perhaps their best known work is Street of Crocodiles (1986), based on the short story of the same name by the Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz  This short film was selected by director and animator Terry Gilliam as one of the ten best animated films of all time, and critic Jonathan Romney included it on his list of the ten best films in any medium (for Sight and Sound's critics' poll of 2002)  They have made two full-length live action films: Institute Benjamenta (1996), or This Dream People Call Human Life, produced by Keith Griffiths and Janine Marmot, and The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes (2005), produced by Keith Griffiths  They also directed an animated sequence in the film Frida (2002) 
With very few exceptions, their films have no meaningful spoken dialogue (most have no spoken content at all, while some, such as The Comb (From the Museums of Sleep) (1990) include multilingual background gibberish that is not intended to be coherently understood)  Accordingly, their films are highly reliant on their music scores, of which many have been written especially for them by the Polish composer Leszek Jankowski  In 2000, they contributed a short film to the BBC's Sound On Film series in which they visualised a 20-minute piece by the avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen  Whenever possible, the Quay Brothers prefer to work with pre-recorded music, though Gary Tarn's score for The Phantom Museum had to be added afterwards when it became impossible to license music by the Czech composer Zdeněk Liška They have created music videos for His Name Is Alive ("Are We Still Married", "Can't Go Wrong Without You"), Michael Penn ("Long Way Down (Look What the Cat Drug In)") and 16 Horsepower ("Black Soul Choir")  Their style has been mimicked to the point that audiences mistakenly believed that the Quay Brothers were responsible for several music videos for Tool but those videos were created by Fred Stuhr and member Adam Jones, whose work is influenced by the Quay Brothers  Although they worked on Peter Gabriel's seminal video "Sledgehammer" (1986) as animators, this was directed by Stephen R  Johnson and the Quay Brothers in order to support their personal projects 
Before turning to film, the Quay Brothers worked as professional illustrators  The first edition of Anthony Burgess' novel The Clockwork Testament, or Enderby's End, included their drawings before the start of each chapter  Nearly three decades before directly collaborating with Stockhausen, they designed the cover of the book Stockhausen: Conversations with the Composer (ed  Jonathan Cott, Simon & Schuster, 1973)  After designing book covers for Gothic and science fiction books while in Philadelphia, the Quay Brothers have created suggestive designs for a variety of publications that seem to reflect not only their own interests in particular authors, covers for Italo Calvino, Louis-Ferdinand Céline or Mark le Fanu's study of the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, but also in themes and motifs that these authors develop  Literary texts are inspirational sources for almost all of their film projects, whether they serve as a point of departure for their own ideas or as a textual basis for filmic scenarios, and not as scripts or screenplays  The prowess in illustration and calligraphy seeps increasingly into many formal elements in their later films, evident as graphic embellishment in the set decoration, or their particular use of patterns in the puppets' costume design  Titles, intertitles and credits appear in a variety of handwritten styles 
In an interview with Robert K  Elder for his book The Best Film You've Never Seen, the Quay Brothers discuss their creative process, stating that “If [a] project does eventually get approval, then we almost invariably chuck [the] original proposal out, not out of any cavalierness, but simply because we know that, as we start building the decors and the puppets, the script begins to grow and evolve very organically ”The critical success of Street of Crocodiles gave the Quay Brothers artistic freedom to explore a shift in subject matter, in part originating in literary and poetic sources that led to exploration of new aesthetic forms, but also because they were able to make extensive experiments in technique, both with cameras and on large stage sets  The Quay Brothers are best known for their puppet and feature-length films  Less known, but no less incisive in their creative development, is their intense engagement in stage design for opera, ballet and theatre: since 1988, the Quay Brothers have created sets and projections for performing arts productions on international stages  Their work at miniature scale has translated into large-scale designs for the theatre and opera productions of director Richard Jones: Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges; Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear"; Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa; and Molière's "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme"  Their set design for a revival of Ionesco's "The Chairs" was nominated for a Tony Award in 1998  The Quay Brothers' excursion into feature films and live-action dance films were not an indication of a move away from animation and the literature that inspires them—on the contrary, the film explores the potential which slumbers in the combination of these cinematic techniques  Their puppet animation set designs have been curated as an internationally touring exhibition called "Dormitorium" which toured the east coast of the United States in 2009, including the originating venue of the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, followed by Parsons The New School of Design, New York, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA and Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 
The Quay Brothers are strongly influenced by literature and the written word - from Eastern-European poetry to South American magic realism 

Lewis Carroll (Alice in Not So Wonderland)
Emma Hauck (In Absentia)
Felisberto Hernández (Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F H)
Franz Kafka (The Metamorphosis)
Stanisław Lem (Maska)
Rainer Maria Rilke (Eurydice: She, So Beloved)
Bruno Schulz (Street of Crocodiles)
Robert Walser (The Comb, Institute Benjamenta)Music is an essential part of the Quay Brothers' films, as they also find inspiration in Eastern European classical music  The Quay Brothers' films feature music by the following composers:

Stefan Cichoński (Nocturna Artificialia)
Trevor Duncan (Piano Tuner of Earthquakes)
Leoš Janáček (Leoš Janáček: Intimate Excursions, The Sandman, The Metamorphosis)
Lech Jankowski (Street of Crocodiles, Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies, Ex-Voto, The Comb, Institute Benjamenta, De Artificiali Perspectiva, or Anamorphosis)
Zygmunt Konieczny (Nocturna Artificialia)
György Kurtag (The Sandman)
Zdeněk Liška (The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer, The Phantom Museum)
Steve Martland (Songs for Dead Children)
Claudio Monteverdi (Eurydice: She, So Beloved)
Timothy Nelson (Wonderwood, Through The Weeping Glass, Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F H , Vade mecum)
Arvo Pärt (Duet)
Krzysztof Penderecki (Ein Brudermord, Inventorium of Traces, Maska)
Sergei Prokofiev (Alice in Not So Wonderland)
Christopher Slaski (Piano Tuner of Earthquakes)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (In Absentia)
Igor Stravinski (Igor, The Paris Years Chez Pleyel 1920-1929)
Gary Tarn (The Phantom Museum, Tempus Fugit)
Antonio Vivaldi (Piano Tuner of Earthquakes)

Legacy
In 2010 The College of Physicians of Philadelphia received a Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative grant through The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage for an exhibitions project that would include a new work by the Quay Brothers  The Quay Brothers produced a new film entitled Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum)  The film is their first made in the United States, produced by Edward Waisnis through his company PRO BONO films in collaboration with Atelier Koninck QBFZ, London and it focuses on the history and collections of the College's famed Mütter Museum  The film, with narration by Derek Jacobi and a musical score by Timothy Nelson, was shot on location in Philadelphia during the summer of 2010 and premiered in autumn 2011, with symposia, at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania; New York City's Museum of Modern Art; and the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles  The film was subsequently shown at the Wellcome Collection, London, England; the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto, Canada; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; and at the Wexner Center of the Arts at Ohio State University, Columbus, OH  It was reviewed in both Sight & Sound and Film Comment magazines  The 35mm negative and print were selected for inclusion in the film collection of the Museum of Modern Art 
The Quay Brothers were commissioned by Leeds Canvas, a group of eight cultural organisations in Leeds, UK, to create in May 2012 a major citywide art installation, OverWorlds & UnderWorlds  The commission was one of twelve 'Artists Taking the Lead' projects around the UK, Arts Council England's flagship contribution to the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad  Later in the same year, the Quay Brothers were the subject of a grand retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York entitled Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist's Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets which featured work spanning their entire career, tracing back as early as childhood, with much of the material shown for the first time  Organized by Ron Magliozzi, Associate Curator of MoMA's Film Department, the exhibition ran from August 12, 2012 through January 7, 2013 and included a full coinciding film program In 2013, the Quay Brothers were recipients of a residency program award at the Wexner Center of the Arts, Columbus, Ohio  The project they undertook coinciding with this residency was a puppet animation film entitled: Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F H –that revolves around the work and life of Uruguyan writer Felisberto Hernández, often referred to as the father of ‘magic realism’, and for whose work the Quay Brothers share an affinity
Context 3: Passage 1:
Band-e Amir National Park
Band-e Amir National Park (Persian: بند امیر) Afghanistan established its first national park on April 22, 2009, to promote and protect the natural beauty of a series of intensely blue lakes created by natural dams high in the Hindu Kush  Band-e-Amir is a chain of six lakes in the mountainous desert of central Afghanistan  The lakes formed from mineral-rich water that seeped out of faults and cracks in the rocky landscape  Over time, the water deposited layers of hardened mineral (travertine) that built up into walls that now contain the water  According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, who helped the Afghan government set up the park, Band-e-Amir is one of the few travertine systems in the world They were created by the carbon dioxide rich water oozing out of the faults and fractures to deposit calcium carbonate precipitate in the form of travertine walls that today store the water of these lakes  Band-e Amir is one of the few rare natural lakes in the world which are created by travertine systems  The site of Band-e Amir has been described as Afghanistan's Grand Canyon, and draws thousands of tourists a year  The river is part of the system of the Balkh River 

History
The name Band-e Amir literally means "the Ruler's Dam" which is believed by some to be a reference to Ali, the fourth Caliph of the Muslims  The area is dominated by ethnic Hazaras, who are estimated to make up about 40 percent of Afghanistan's population In her 1970 guide to Afghanistan, Nancy Dupree wrote that a full description about Band-e Amir would "rob the uninitiated of the wonder and amazement it produces on all who gaze upon it"  Parts of the 1975 Bollywood film Dharmatma, with Feroz Khan and Hema Malini, were filmed at the Band-e Amir National Park In 2004, Band-e Amir was submitted for recognition as a World Heritage site  Efforts to make Band-e Amir a national park started in the 1970s, but were then put on hold due to the wars  In April 2009, Band-e Amir was finally declared Afghanistan's first national park  As of 2013, about 6,000 local tourists visit the Band-e Amir National Park every year  The area is protected by a small number of park rangers 

Geography
Band-e Amir is situated at approximately 75 km to the north-west of the ancient city of Bamyan, close to the town of Yakawlang  Together with Bamyan Valley, they are the heart of Afghanistan's tourism, attracting thousands of tourists every year and from every corner of the world  The Band-e Amir lakes are primarily a late spring and summertime tourism destination, as the high elevation central Hazarajat region of Afghanistan is extremely cold in winter, with temperatures reaching as low as −20 °C (−4 0 °F)  The six constituent lakes of Band-e Amir are:

Band-e Gholaman (Lake of the slaves)
Band-e Qambar (Lake of Caliph Ali's slave)
Band-e Haibat (Lake of grandiose)
Band-e Panir (Lake of cheese)
Band-e Pudina (Lake of wild mint)
Band-e Zulfiqar (Lake of the sword of Ali)The white travertine dams created by fault lines, which are prevalent in the Band-e Amir Valley, form the barriers between the lakes  Band-e Haibat is the biggest and the deepest of the six, with an average depth of approximately 150 metres, as estimated by the Provincial Reconstruction Team diving team from New Zealand  Another comparable lake is Band-e Azhdahar (The Dragon), located a few kilometres southeast of the town of Bamyan, which has also been created as a result of carbon dioxide rich water oozing out of the faults underground and depositing calcium carbonate precipitate to form the travertine walls of Band-e Amir 

Climate
High in the Hindu Kush at approximately 2,900 metres (9,500 ft) above sea level, the national park has a subarctic climate (Dsc) closely bordering on a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dsb)  The climate is extremely severe and the lakes freezing over in winter 

Current status
After the formal establishment of the park in 2009, a park office with a park warden and a group of rangers was installed to manage the conservation and protection of park natural resources  Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is the only non-government organization with an office in the park  WCS supports park staff and works with the local community to promote conservation and sustainable use of natural resources  Ecotourism is expected to decrease local economic dependency on the park's natural resources  Tourists visit Band-e-Amir primarily in the summer months when the weather is warm  A poor local economy and limited outside investment have hampered efforts to attract winter tourism 
The local people in Band-e-Amir National Park rely heavily on the park's natural resources for their livelihood  Grazing of livestock, collection of shrubs for fuel and winter fodder and rain-fed farming is still widely practiced within the park boundary  Although the illegal hunting of birds and a few mammals living in the park is formally prohibited by the park office, there is no current data to evaluate the status of wildlife and biodiversity 

Important Bird Area
A 41,000 ha tract overlapping the national park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports populations of Himalayan snowcocks, Hume's larks, white-winged snowfinches, Afghan snowfinches and Eurasian crimson-winged finches 

See also
List of dams and reservoirs in Afghanistan
Natural areas of Afghanistan
Wakhan National Park
Nuristan National Park
Passage 2:
Qasim Oryakhail
Qasim Oryakhail (born 10 January 1992) is an Afghan cricketer  He made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 12 September 2017  He made his first-class debut for Speen Ghar Region in the 2017–18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament on 20 October 2017  He made his List A debut for Kabul Region in the 2018 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament on 15 July 2018 
Passage 3:
Samim Sultani
Samim Sultani is an Afghan cricketer  He made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 14 September 2017 
Passage 4:
Fitratullah Khawari
Fitratullah Khawari (born 29 January 1997) is an Afghan cricketer  He made his List A debut for Mis Ainak Region in the 2017 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament on 10 August 2017  He made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 18 September 2017  He made his first-class debut for Speen Ghar Region in the 2017–18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament on 20 October 2017 In September 2018, he was named in Kabul's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament 
Passage 5:
Ikram Faizi
Ikram Alikhil (Pashto: اکرام فيضي عليخېل; born 29 September 2000) is an Afghan cricketer  He made his international debut for the Afghanistan cricket team in March 2019



ground_truth: George Balanchine

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Who won more awards, Brothers Quay or Jake Kasdan?

The following are given passages.
Context 2:  The production was overseen by Edward Waisnis through PRO BONO films, in collaboration with Atelier Koninck QBFZ, and the support of the Fundación Felisberto Hernández, and features a score composed by Timothy Nelson, who has worked with the Quay Brothers previously  As of January 2014, the Quay Brothers have been in production with The Digital Toy Company on a joint film/video-game project entitled Asleep: I Hear My Name The Quay Brothers' work was exhibited in two further major international exhibitions in 2013/2014  The first, The Quay Brothers' Universum was the Quay Brothers' first 'solo' exhibition in Europe and took place at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Amsterdam from December 15, 2013 - March 9, 2014  The second, Metamorfosis  Visiones Fantásticas de Starewitch, Švankmajer y Los Hermanos Quay was held at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona (25 March - 7 September 2014) and La Casa Encendida (2 October 2014 - 11 January 2015), Madrid, respectively  The exhibition was curated by Spanish animation curator, programmer and historian Carolina López Caballero and was a major exploration of the art of stop motion animation, placing the Quay Brothers' work alongside Russian-born puppet animation godfather Ladislas Starewitch and Czech surrealist master Jan Švankmajer 
Hollywood director Christopher Nolan revealed himself to have been an admirer of the Quay Brothers' work since coming across their films late at night when they were originally screened on Channel 4 in the UK  In 2015 Nolan curated a theatrical tour showcasing newly restored 35mm prints of the Quay's films In Absentia, The Comb and Street of Crocodiles  The programme also included the eight-minute 'documentary' Quay (2015) which Nolan directed as an homage to the twins  The programme and Nolan's short received critical acclaim, with Indiewire writing in their review that the Quay Brothers "will undoubtedly have hundreds, if not thousands more fans because of Nolan, and for that The Quay Brothers in 35mm will always be one of latter's most important contributions to cinema" Directly after the launch of the 35mm programme in the states, the Quay Brothers were celebrated at the Bristol Festival of Puppetry, UK (August - September 2015)  A retrospective of their work was curated by animation director Joseph Wallace, who also hosted a conversation with the Quay Brothers about the relationship between their animation and stage work at Watershed (Bristol)  Wallace, along with Puppet Place(the organisation behind the festival), also commissioned the Quay Brothers to create an installation which ran for the duration of the festival and was displayed in a disused control room on a bridge in the centre of Bristol entitled: Homage To The Framed Perspective of an Abridged Conversation Between the Painters Sassetta & Uccello and the Mystical Occurrence that Happened Before Your Arrival  
The Quay Brothers collaborated with Louis Andriessen in 2016 and designed decors for his opera Theatre of The World which premiered at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles  before playing at the Carré Theatre in Amsterdam as part of the Holland Festival  As well as the design, the Quay Brothers also produced animated projections which accompanied the performance 
In October 2016 a two disk Blu-ray collection of the Quay Brothers films dating 1979-2013 entitled "Inner Sanctums" was released by the British Film Institute  The edition includes 24 of the Quay Brothers' short films, of which three are UK premieres and five are world premieres, along with a disk of special features including footnotes, interviews, rare behind the scenes films and Christopher Nolan's short portrait of the brothers; Quay (2015) 

Awards and honours
Filmography
Feature films

Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life (1995)
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes (2005)Short films

Nocturne Artificialia: Those Who Desire Without End (1979)
Rain Dance (1980) – a short film for Sesame Street 
Punch And Judy: Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy (1980)
Ein Brudermord (1980)
The Eternal Day of Michel de Ghelderode (1981)
Igor, The Paris Years Chez Pleyel (1983)
Leoš Janáček: Intimate Excursions (1983) 
The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer (1984)
The Epic of Gilgamesh, or This Unnameable Little Broom (1985) Full title: Little Songs of the Chief Officer of Hunar Louse, or This Unnameable Little Broom, being a Largely Disguised Reduction of the Epic of Gilgamesh
Street of Crocodiles (1986)
Rehearsals For Extinct Anatomies (1988)
Stille Nacht I: Dramolet (1988)
Ex-Voto (1989)
The Comb (From The Museums Of Sleep) (1990)
De Artificiali Perspectiva, or Anamorphosis (1991)
The Calligrapher (1991) – an ident commissioned by BBC2 which was later rejected and never broadcast 
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? (1991)
Stille Nacht III: Tales From Vienna Woods (1992)
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You (1993)
The Summit (1995)
Duet (2000)
The Sandman (2000)
In Absentia (2000)
Stille Nacht V: Dog Door (2001)
Frida (2002) - animated contribution (dir: Julie Taymor)
Songs For Dead Children (2003)
The Phantom Museum: Random Forays Into the Vaults of Sir Henry Wellcome's Medical Collection (2003)
Alice in Not So Wonderland (2007)
Eurydice: She, So Beloved (2007)
Inventorium of Traces (2009)
Maska (2010)
Bartók Béla: Sonata for Solo Violin (2011)
Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting (Limbos & Afterbreezes in the Mütter Museum) (2011)
The Metamorphosis (2012)
Unmistaken Hands: Ex Voto F H  (2013)
The Doll's Breath (2019)
Vade mecum (2020)
11 Preliminary Orbits Around Planet Lem (2021)Music videos

Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel (1986) - animated contribution (dir: Stephen R  Johnson)
Stille Nacht II: Are We Still Married? - His Name is Alive (1991)
Long Way Down (Look What The Cat Drug In) - Michael Penn (1992)
Stille Nacht IV: Can't Go Wrong Without You - His Name is Alive (1993)
"Black Soul Choir - 16 Horsepower (1996)
Stille Nacht V: Dog Door - Sparklehorse (2001)
Ubu Roi - Pere Ubu (2008) - projected music video for live show
Muslingauze - DJ Spooky (2008-2010)
Stille Nacht V: Starman - Sabisha (2008-2010)Commercials

The Repeat Prescription Report (2017) Pharmacy2U
Tempus Fugit (2016) Slow Time, Leffe
Wonderwood (2010) Comme des Garçons
Kinoteka, 1st Polsk Filmfestival ident (2009) Polish Institute, London
Mistletoe Kisses (2007) Galaxy, Mars, Inc 
NHL, Laundromat (2001) Fox Sports
NHL, Library (2001) Fox Sports
Magnets (2001) Chili's
Rice Krispies Treats - Float (2000) Kellogg's
Pitney Chairs (1999) Pitney
Northern Rock (1999) Northern Rock
Mars Celebration (1998) Mars, Inc 
Fox and Crow (1998) Badoit
Lion and Zebra (1998) Badoit
Weed Families (1998) Roundup
Weeds (1998) Roundup
Doritos idents (1997) Frito-Lay
The Wooden Box That Collapses (title sequence) (1997) The End
Lockets Metallica (1996) Mars, Inc 
Swallow (1996) Murphy's Irish Stout
Warriors (1996) Murphy's Irish Stout
Brainfreeze (1995) 7-Eleven Slurpee
Blue Cross (1995) Blue Cross Blue Shield Association 
Dolls (1994) The Partnership for a Drug Free America
Trees (1993) Coca-Cola
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (title sequence) (1993) The End
Fun Touch (1989) Nikon
Zenith (1988) MTV
MTV ident (1988) MTV
BFI ident (1998) British Film Institute
Skips (1988) K P  Skips
Dulux (1987) Dulux
Walkers Crisps (1986) Walkers
Honeywell (1986) Honeywell Computers Appearances

The Falls (1980)

Opera, ballet and stage
The Birthday Party (2018) By Harold Pinter, directed by Ian Rickson at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London 
Theatre of the World (2016) By Louis Andriessen, directed by Pierre Audi  Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam/Holland Festival, Amsterdam 
An Evening at the Talk House (2015) By Wallace Shawn, directed by Ian Rickson at the National Theatre, London 
Overworlds & Underworlds (2012) A Leeds Canvas initiative for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Leeds 
I looked back when I reached halfway (2011) Collaboration with violinist Alina Ibragimova on Béla Bartók's Sonata for Violin (1944)  Chetham's School of Music/Manchester International Festival, Manchester; Wilton's Music Hall, London 
Bring Me the Head of Ubu Roi (2008) Projections for Pere Ubu  Queen Elizabeth Hall, London 
Paul Bunyan (2007) By Benjamin Britten, directed by Nicholas Broadhurst  Theater am Kornmarkt Bregenz/Theater Luzern 
Pinocchio (2006) By Martin Ward, choreographed and directed by Will Tuckett  Royal Opera House, London 
The Cricket Recovers (2005) By Richard Ayres, directed by Nicholas Broadhurst  Aldeburgh Festival, Suffolk, and Almeida Opera, London 
The Anatomy of a Storyteller (2004) Ballet by Kim Brandstrup  Royal Opera House, London 
Death and Resurrection (2003) By J  S  Bach and Steve Martland, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Steve Martland  Four short films illustrating Martland's Street Songs  Tate Modern and St  Paul's Cathedral, London 
The Wind in the Willows (2002) Ballet by Will Tuckett  Royal Opera House, London 
Queen of Spades (2001) Ballet by Kim Brandstrup  Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Montreal 
Baa-Laamsfest (1999) By Olga Neuwirth, directed by Nicholas Broadhurst  Wiener Festwochen, Vienna 
The Chairs (1997) By Eugène Ionesco, directed by Simon McBurney  Theatre de Complicité and Royal Court, London and John Golden Theater, New York  (The Quay Brothers won the 1998 Drama Desk Award for Best Design and were also nominated for a Tony award)
Cupid & Psyche (1997) Ballet by Kim Brandstrup  Royal Danish Ballet, Copenhagen 
The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other (1996) By Peter Handke  Theater ballet directed by Kim Brandstrup  Malmo Dramatiska Theatre, Sweden 
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1996) By William Shakespeare, directed by Jonathan Miller  Almeida Theatre, London 
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1992) By Molière, directed by Richard Jones  Royal National Theatre, London
Mazeppa (1991) By Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, directed by Richard Jones  Bregenz Festival/Nederlands Opera
A Flea in Her Ear (1989) By Georges Feydeau, directed by Richard Jones  Old Vic, London 
The Love For Three Oranges (1988) By Sergei Prokofiev, directed by Richard Jones  Opera North, Leeds/English National Opera, London 
Dybbuk (1988) Ballet by Kim Brandstrup  The Place, London 
Passage 7:
Speechless (TV series)
Speechless is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 21, 2016, to April 12, 2019  Created by Scott Silveri and co-executive produced with Christine Gernon, Jake Kasdan, and Melvin Mar, the 20th Television/ABC Signature co-production was greenlighted to series order on May 13, 2016  A first-look trailer was released on the same day  Starring Minnie Driver, John Ross Bowie and Micah Fowler, the sitcom explores the serious and humorous challenges a family faces with a teenager with a disability  On September 29, 2016, the series was picked up for a full 22-episode season  An additional episode was ordered on December 13, 2016, for a 23-episode season  On May 10, 2019, ABC cancelled the series after three seasons 

Plot
The series follows the DiMeo family, each with a unique personality: Maya, a take-charge British mother with a no-holds-barred attitude; her husband Jimmy, who does not seem to care what others think; Dylan, their no-nonsense athletic daughter; Ray, their scholarly middle child who acts as the "voice of reason" in the family; and their oldest son, JJ — a high schooler who has a biting wit and sense of humor, and is diagnosed with cerebral palsy  JJ communicates by using headgear with a laser pointer to indicate various words, letters, and numbers on a board attached to his wheelchair  One of the reasons the DiMeos move frequently, is due to an attempt to find a good educational environment for JJ  They believe they have found an optimal choice when they discover a school that prides itself on being inclusive and where JJ will have an aide support him throughout the school day  Because the school is in an upscale part of town, Jimmy and Maya move the family into the cheapest, most rundown house in an otherwise nice neighborhood  Though they quickly find that not everything is as good as it could be  JJ enjoys having Kenneth, a gentle, well-meaning school groundskeeper with a deep and resonant speaking voice, work as his aide 

Cast and characters
Main
Minnie Driver as Maya DiMeo, the fierce and determined mother of the family
John Ross Bowie as Jimmy DiMeo, the fun-loving, easily persuadable father of the family who is a supervisor of baggage handlers at the airport
Mason Cook as Raymond "Ray" DiMeo, the middle child  Slender and nerdy, he faces constant harassment, mostly from Dylan 
Micah Fowler as Jimmy "JJ" DiMeo Jr , The eldest child with cerebral palsy  He is non-speaking (thus the show's title) and uses a wheelchair  He has a crush on Emma Watson, which serves as a running gag on the show 
Kyla Kenedy as Dylan DiMeo, the athletic youngest child, and only daughter  She enjoys pulling pranks and harassing others, especially Ray 
Cedric Yarbrough as Kenneth Clements, the good-natured aide to JJ who serves as his voice  Although he and Maya tend to butt heads, she is appreciative of his work 

Recurring
Pepper, the happy Golden Retriever who's supposed to be Dylan's pet, but acts like he's more fond of the others
Marin Hinkle as Dr  Ava Miller, the principal of the kids' school who is easily influenced by Maya
Jonathan Slavin as Mr  Powers, one of JJ's teachers
Liz Cackowski as Joyce, JJ's physiotherapist
Sarah Chalke as Melanie Hertzal, Taylor's mother
Kayla Maisonet as Izzy, JJ's girlfriend
Jack Dylan Grazer as Rev
David Lengel as Tad
Sedona Cohen as Taylor, Ray's ex-girlfriend
Cole Massie as Logan, Melanie's son, Taylor's brother, and JJ's nemesis
Karly Rothenberg as Crossing Guard

Special guests
Rob Corddry as Billy, Jimmy's brother
Andrea Anders as Audrey, Billy's wife
Julianne Hough as Miss Bloom, the new choir teacher at the kids' school
Jamie Denbo as Janet, the DiMeos' insurance agent
Jim O'Heir as Stu, the DiMeos' former insurance agent
Ken Marino as Ethan, Maya's ex-boyfriend
Michaela Watkins as Becca, a new mom at the group of families with disabled kids
Zach Anner as Lee, a wheelchair-using young man who Maya asks to speak with JJ about living on his own
Holland Taylor as Andrea, Maya's pretentious mother
Keith David as Colonel Clements, Kenneth's father
John Cleese as Martin, Maya's father who lives in London
Julie White as Helen, Lee's over protective mother
Niecy Nash as Kiki, Kenneth's sister
Lisa Leslie as Kendall, Kenneth's sister
Tricia O'Kelley as Candy Kensington
Rondi Reed as Nina
Christopher Thornton as Chris
Bella Thorne as Cassidy
Jay Chandrasekhar as Coach

Episodes
Production
Development
On January 11, 2016, it was announced that ABC had given the production a pilot order as Speechless  The episode was written by Scott Silveri who was expected to executive produce alongside Christine Gernon, Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar  Production companies involved with the pilot include Silver and Gold Productions, The Detective Agency, ABC Studios and 20th Century Fox Television  On May 13, 2016, ABC officially ordered the pilot to series  A few days later, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fall of 2016 and air on Tuesdays at 9:30 P M  EST  On September 23, 2016, ABC picked up the series for a full season of 22 episodes and on December 13, they get only one episode  On May 12, 2017, ABC renewed the series for a second season which premiered on September 27, 2017  On May 11, 2018, ABC renewed the series for a third season and announced it would air on Fridays at 8:30 P M  EST and premiered on October 5, 2018 

Casting
On February 24, 2016, it was announced that Cedric Yarbrough had been cast in the pilot  In March 2016, it was reported that Minnie Driver and John Ross Bowie had also joined the pilot's main cast 

Cancellation
Speechless aired on the network ABC for about three years before the ultimate decision to cancel it  The final decision to cancel the show was made due to the fact that it was the lowest-rated series on the network  Variety explains that the last, and concluding season, ranked the lowest within the network with only around 2 3 million live viewers  Deadline notes that former ABC president, Karey Burke explained that the cancellation of the show Speechless was "gut wrenching" decision  Ultimately, the choice was made due to the low number of viewers, as well as the introduction of a new show, Fresh Off The Boat 
One of the main actors, Minnie Driver, notes that while it is saddening that the show has been canceled, the main hope is that the show left a lasting impact on its audience  Minnie Driver, who plays JJ's mom, continued to explain she believes that conversations regarding disability, love, as well as family have been left in better terms than they were found  Another main actor, Micah Fowler, who portrays JJ on the show, took to Twitter to express his gratitude towards the fans, and staff, for the amazing life changing opportunity  While the show was only on air for three years, it left a lasting impression on its audience 

Reception
Critical response
Speechless received largely positive reviews from critics  On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a rating of 98%, based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 8 2/10  The site's critical consensus reads, "Speechless speaks to a sensitive topic with a heartfelt lead performance and a fine balance of sensitivity and irreverence " On Metacritic, the series has a score of 79 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews" The editors of TV Guide placed Speechless seventh among the top ten picks for the most anticipated new shows of the 2016–17 season  In its review from writer Liam Matthews, "ABC has another worthwhile addition to its strong lineup of modern families with Speechless," adding "It's a clear-eyed and empathetic exploration of life in a special-needs family that makes plenty of room for hilarity "

Representation
Speechless is one of the few shows that portrays the life of a teenager with a disability  It is also one of the few shows that has a disabled actor play the character  According to Bond, there are approximately 21 million children, between the ages of 5 and 15, that have a disability  If television, and the media, were able to mirror the demographics of the U S  then about 14% of characters would be disabled  Speechless was just one example, however it was cancelled after a couple of seasons due to 'low ratings' despite a good audience reception  Bond notes that media representation of disability, both mental and physical, may impact audiences in a more profound manner than telling them what disability is like  Through the introduction of physical disabilities, there is hope to integrate individuals into society, without prejudice and biases  Bond continues to explain that children begin to distinguish and detect differences as young as 4 years of age  Marquis notes that representations in movies like Still Alice and The Theory of Everything are two popular examples that perpetuate inconsistencies about the disabled body  These authors explain that there is disability representation in the media, however it is lacking authenticity and adequate portrayal  Shows like Speechless should be given a platform, for the actors and production team, to speak on the issues surrounding representation 

Ratings
Accolades
Home media
Passage 8:
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan, and written by Kasdan and co-producer Judd Apatow  It stars John C  Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows and Kristen Wiig  A parody of the biopic genre, Walk Hard is the story of a fictional early rock and roll star played by Reilly 
Walk Hard primarily references the musical biopics Ray (2004) and Walk the Line (2005); in addition to Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, the "Dewey Cox" character includes elements of the lives and careers of other notable musicians including Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Donovan, John Lennon, James Brown, Jim Morrison, Conway Twitty, Neil Diamond, Hank Williams, and Brian Wilson  The film portrays fictional versions of artists Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles; some artists appear as themselves, including Eddie Vedder, Jewel and Ghostface Killah  In addition, the film parodies or pays tribute to the musical styles of David Bowie, Billy Joel, Van Dyke Parks, the Gun Club, and seventies punk rock 
The film was released in North America on December 21, 2007  It received positive reviews from critics but was a box office bomb, grossing only $20 million against a $35 million budget  The film has since become a cult classic 

Plot
In Springberry, Alabama, 1946, young Dewey Cox accidentally cuts his brother Nate in half with a machete  The trauma causes him to lose his sense of smell  Dewey meets a blues guitarist who discovers his life experience instilled in him a natural affinity for playing blues 
In 1953, Dewey performs at a school talent show and drives the crowd wild with his song "Take My Hand," and his father kicks him out of the house, calling it the "Devil's music"  A 14-year-old Dewey leaves Springberry with his 12-year-old girlfriend Edith; they soon marry and have a baby  
Working at an all-African American nightclub, Dewey replaces singer Bobby Shad onstage and impresses Hasidic Jew record executive L'Chaim  While recording a rockabilly rendition of "That's Amore", he is berated by an executive  A desperate Dewey performs "Walk Hard," a song inspired by a speech he gave Edith, which restores the executive's belief in Judaism and rockets him to superstardom 
The song quickly becomes a hit and Dewey becomes caught up in the rock 'n' roll lifestyle  He soon performs his first concert as the following act to Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and The Big Bopper  Dewey is introduced to marijuana by his drummer Sam and becomes unfaithful to Edith  Dewey's father informs him that his mother has died while dancing to Dewey's song and blames Dewey's music for her death  
Distraught, Dewey finds Sam using cocaine and partakes, resulting in a cocaine-fueled punk rock performance  Choir-girl Darlene Madison enters Dewey's life, and he produces several sexually suggestive hit records amid their courtship  He weds Darlene while still married to Edith, which leads to both women leaving him, after which Dewey purchases drugs from an undercover cop  After he serves time in prison and in rehab, Darlene returns 
They move to Berkeley, California in 1966 during the counterculture movement  Dewey's new singing style is compared to that of Bob Dylan, which he angrily denies  In the next scene, a music video shows that Dewey's new song mimics Dylan's style, including opaque lyrics ("The mouse with the overbite explained/how the rabbits were ensnared/ and the skinny scanty sylph/ trashed the apothecary diplomat/ inside the three-eyed monkey/ within inches of his toaster-oven life ")  On a band visit to India, Dewey takes LSD with the Beatles, leading to a Yellow Submarine-esque hallucination  
Dewey becomes consumed with creating his masterpiece Black Sheep (a homage to Brian Wilson's Smile)  The band resents his insane musical style and abusive behavior and breaks up; Darlene, also unable to deal with him, leaves him for Glen Campbell  During another stint in rehab, Dewey is visited by the ghost of Nate, who ridicules his self-pity and tells him to start writing songs again 
In the 1970s, Dewey now hosts a CBS variety television show but is unable to compose a masterpiece for his brother  Nate reappears and urges him to reconcile with their father  Dewey and his father wind up dueling with machetes; despite having trained years for this moment, his father cuts himself in half, forgives Dewey for Nate's death, tells him to be a better father, and dies  Dewey breaks down and destroys almost everything in his home 
Dewey is approached by one of his illegitimate children and decides to reconnect with his many offspring  In 1992, a divorced Darlene returns to him  Finally realizing what is most important, Dewey regains his sense of smell and remarries her 
In 2007, L'Chaim's son Dreidel informs Dewey of his popularity with young listeners through rapper Lil' Nutzzak's sampling of "Walk Hard " Dewey learns he is to receive a lifetime achievement award  They want him to sing a song at the ceremony, but Dewey is reluctant, fearing his old temptations  However, with his family's support, he reunites with his band and is finally able to create one great masterpiece, summing up his entire life with his final song, "Beautiful Ride "
A title card reveals that Dewey died three minutes after this final performance, which then also reads "Dewford Randolph Cox, 1936–2007 " A post-credits scene is a short black-and-white clip of "the actual Dewey Cox, April 16, 2002" (still played by Reilly) 

Cast
Production and development
Jake Kasdan brought the idea to his friend and fellow director Judd Apatow  They then began writing the film together  The tongue-in-cheek references in this fake biopic were drawn from various sources  Apatow and Kasdan noted that they watched various types of biopics for inspiration, including those of Jimi Hendrix and Marilyn Monroe  Despite the humorous approach, the film was crafted in the serious tone of films earmarked for an Oscar, adding to the irony John C  Reilly, who actually sings and plays guitar, was chosen to play the title role  "We took the clichés of movie biopics and just had fun with them," Reilly said  The "deliberate miscasting" of celebrity cameos, such as Elvis Presley and the Beatles, was intended to enhance the comedy  The film's poster is a reference to the "young lion" photos of Jim Morrison 

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 74% based on 134, classifying it as "certified fresh"  The site's consensus states: "A parody that pokes fun at rock stars and reductive biopics alike, this comedy sings in large part because of stellar performances and clever original music " On Metacritic the film has a score of 63 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote: "Instead of sending everything over the top at high energy, like Top Secret! or Airplane!, they allow Reilly to more or less actually play the character, so that, against all expectations, some scenes actually approach real sentiment " Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine wrote: "The tricky thing about parody movies is that the jokes get old fast and they're hit-and-miss  Walk Hard, a spoof of every musical biopic from Ray to Walk the Line, is guilty on both counts  How lucky that when the jokes do hit, they kick major ass " A 2022 review of the best comedy films of the 21st century placed this at sixth The film was not commercially successful, taking $18 million at the US box office which was less than the film's $35 million budget John C  Reilly received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance in a Musical or Comedy and a nomination for Best Original Song 

Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 8, 2008  In the opening weekend, 263,001 DVD units were sold, generating revenue of $5,110,109  As of May 2010, DVD sales have gathered revenue of $15,664,735 

Promotional appearances
Along with a backing band "The Hardwalkers", Reilly made seven musical appearances as Dewey Cox in the weeks prior to the film's release date 
December 5, 2007 – Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland, OH)
December 6, 2007 – The Cubby Bear (Chicago, IL)
December 7, 2007 – Stubb's BBQ (Austin, TX)
December 8, 2007 – Mercy Lounge (Nashville, TN)
December 10, 2007 – Great American Music Hall (San Francisco, CA)
December 11, 2007 – The Blacksheep (Colorado Springs, CO)
December 13, 2007 – Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd  (Los Angeles, CA)
December 19, 2007 – Knitting Factory (New York, NY)
December 19, 2007 – Performed in the character of Dewey Cox on Good Morning America Several fake commercials were aired including one with John Mayer, hinting Dewey might be his father 

Soundtrack
Singer-songwriters Dan Bern and Mike Viola (of the Candy Butchers) wrote most of the film's songs, including "There's a Change a Happenin'", "Mulatto", "A Life Without You (Is No Life at All)", "Beautiful Ride" and "Hole in My Pants"  Charlie Wadhams and Benji Hughes wrote the song "Let's Duet"  Marshall Crenshaw wrote the title song, and Van Dyke Parks penned the Brian Wilson-esque 1960s-styled psychedelic jam "Black Sheep" (the recording session seems to be a specific parody of Wilson's Smile album sessions, on which Van Dyke Parks worked)  Antonio Ortiz wrote "Take My Hand"  A number of critics noted the unusually high quality of many of the individual songs on the soundtrack, how well they reflected the styles and times they were attempting to parody, and how well they stood on their own as quality compositions  The soundtrack was nominated for both a Grammy and Golden Globe Award and was nominated and won the Sierra Award for Best Song in a Motion Picture from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society  John C  Reilly sang on all the tracks and played guitar on most of them 
Passage 9:
Weird Loners
Weird Loners is an American sitcom that was created by Michael J  Weithorn   The 6-episode first season was ordered straight-to-series by the Fox network in 2014   The series is executive produced by Weithorn and Jake Kasdan  The series premiered on March 31, 2015 On May 11, 2015, Fox canceled the series after one season  Kevin Reilly, the network President who had ordered the series from Weithorn's spec script in 2013, was fired a few months later leaving the series without a champion at the network 

Premise
Four people who fear personal relationships are unexpectedly thrust into one another's lives and form an unlikely bond while living in a townhouse in Queens, New York 

Cast
Becki Newton as Caryn Goldfarb, a high-strung dental hygienist who was engaged to be married but suddenly decides to call off her engagement after a brief fling with Stosh 
Zachary Knighton as Stosh Lewandowski, Eric's sleazy cousin, whose womanizing lifestyle has recently cost him his job  With no job and nowhere to live, he is forced to move in with his cousin Eric 
Nate Torrence as Eric Lewandowski, a toll collector who is suddenly on his own for the first time after his father unexpectedly passes away  After the funeral, his estranged cousin Stosh offers to move in with him 
Meera Rohit Kumbhani as Zara Sandhu, an angst-ridden artist, who befriends Eric after he buys one of her paintings 

Recurring
Susie Essman as Evelyn Goldfarb, Caryn's mother 
David Wain as Howard, Caryn's ex-fiancé 

Critical reception
Weird Loners received mixed reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes giving the series a score of 44% based on reviews from 25critics and an average rating of 5 5 out of 10  The website’s consensus reads: " Weird Loners strands its veteran stars in an overly familiar sitcom structure burdened with a preponderance of humdrum humor "Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times gave the series a positive review, stating: "[Weird Loners is] not loud or frenetic  It’s not particularly cutting-edge  It’s just funny, in a relaxed way that’s welcome somehow in a television spectrum full of pushiness and intensity "Gwen Ihnat of The A V  Club wrote a positive review giving the series a "B+" grade  She observed that "What Weird Loners has in its corner is an appealing cast and some hard-hitting TV vets" and remarked that "Since [Jake] Kasdan and [Michael J ] Weithorn both know their way around a sitcom set, it’s not a surprise that Weird Loners soon adds more gravity than most new shows boast from right out of the gate "

Episodes
Context 3: 

Domestic and U19 career
He made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 14 September 2017  Prior to his T20 debut, he was part of Afghanistan's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup  He also scored an unbeaten century in the final of the 2017 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup and helped Afghanistan to win their maiden ACC Under-19 Cup title In December 2017, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup He made his first-class debut for Speen Ghar Region in the 2018 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament on 1 March 2018  He made his List A debut for Speen Ghar Region in the 2018 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament on 10 July 2018 In September 2018, he was named in Balkh's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament 

International career
In December 2018, he was named in Afghanistan's under-23 team for the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup In February 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's Test and One Day International (ODI) squads for their series against Ireland in India  He made his ODI debut for Afghanistan against Ireland on 2 March 2019  He made his Test debut for Afghanistan against Ireland on 15 March 2019 On 6 June 2019, he was added to Afghanistan's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup  He replaced Mohammad Shahzad, who was ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury 
Passage 6:
Arif Khan (cricketer)
Arif Khan (born 5 June 2001) is an Afghan cricketer  He made his List A debut for Band-e-Amir Region in the 2017 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament on 10 August 2017  He made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 17 September 2017  He made his first-class debut for Speen Ghar Region in the 2017–18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament on 7 November 2017 
Passage 7:
Muslim Musa
Muslim Musa (born 15 January 1997) is an Afghan cricketer  He made his List A debut for Amo Region in the 2017 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament on 10 August 2017  Before his List A debut, he was part of Afghanistan's squad for the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup He made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 12 September 2017  He made his first-class debut for Speen Ghar Region in the 2017–18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament on 20 October 2017 In September 2018, he was named in Kabul's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament 
Passage 8:
Band-e-Amir Dragons
Band-e-Amir Dragons (Pashto: بند امير ښاماران Band-e-Amīr Khāmārān / Shāmārān; Dari: بند امیر شاماران) or Band-e-Amir Region is one of eight regional first-class cricket teams in Afghanistan  In the 2017 Shpageeza team auction, the Band-e-Amir Dragons team was bought by Paragon Business Group, a Finance and investment company, and it will play as the Paragon Band-e-Amir Dragons in this competition  The Region represents the following provinces in the centre of Afghanistan: Ghazni, Bamyan, Daykundi, and Maidan Wardak  The team is named after Band-e Amir, a series of six deep blue lakes in Bamyan Province 
Band-e-Amir Region compete in the Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament, which has had first-class status from 2017 onwards  In October 2017, they lost their opening fixture of the tournament, against Mis Ainak Region, by 262 runs They also play in the Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament, which was granted List A status from 2017  and the Afghan Shpageeza Cricket League Twenty20 competition (which has Twenty20 status from 2017) using the name Band-e-Amir Dragons 
Passage 9:
Shahidullah (cricketer)
Shahidullah (born 6 February 1999) is an Afghan cricketer  He made his List A debut for Afghanistan A against Zimbabwe A during their tour to Zimbabwe on 27 January 2017  Prior to his List A debut, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup  He made his international debut for the Afghanistan cricket team in March 2021 

Career
Shahidullah made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 12 September 2017  He made his first-class debut for Mis Ainak Region in the 2017–18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament on 19 November 2017  He was the leading run-scorer for Mis Ainak Region in the 2018 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament, with 663 runs in eight matches In September 2018, Shahidullah was named in Kabul's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament  In December 2018, he was named in Afghanistan's under-23 team for the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup In August 2019, Shahidullah was named in Afghanistan's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for the 2019–20 Bangladesh Tri-Nation Series  In November 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh  In February 2021, he was named in Afghanistan's Test squad for their series against Zimbabwe  He made his Test debut for Afghanistan, against Zimbabwe, on 10 March 2021 In July 2021, Shahidullah was named in Afghanistan's One Day International (ODI) squad for their series against Pakistan  In January 2022, he was named in Afghanistan's ODI squad for their series against the Netherlands in Qatar  He made his ODI debut on 21 January 2022, for Afghanistan against the Netherlands 
Passage 10:
Javeed Khan
Javeed Khan is an Afghan cricketer  He made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 21 September 2017 



ground_truth: Brothers Quay

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: Band-e-Amir Dragons is named after the lakes in which Afghan national park?

The following are given passages.
Context 4:  Regardless of danger he personally reconnoitred the line ahead of his troops, and got them on to the objective before dawn  During the three following days he again made forward reconnaissances, and leading his battalion gradually on, advanced the line 800 yards and gained a canal bank  It is impossible to speak too highly of this officer's initiative 
He was also mentioned in despatches eight times during the war 

Inter-war years
Gort was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 21 October 1919  After attending a short course at the Staff College, Camberley, in 1919 he joined Headquarters London District and, having been promoted to brevet lieutenant-colonel on 1 January 1921, he returned to the College as an instructor  He left the Staff College in May 1923 Gort was promoted to colonel in April 1926 (with seniority backdated to 1 January 1925)  In 1926 he became a staff officer at London District before becoming a chief instructor at the Senior Officers' School at Sheerness  In January 1927, he went to Shanghai, returning in August to give a first-hand account of the Chinese situation to the King and the Prince of Wales  He returned home to be a staff officer at Headquarters 4th Infantry Division at Colchester in July 1927 In June 1928, Gort was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire  He went on to command the Guards Brigade for two years from 1930 before overseeing training in India with the temporary rank of brigadier  In 1932, he took up flying, buying the de Havilland Moth aircraft Henrietta and being elected chairman of the Household Brigade Flying Club  On 25 November 1935, he was promoted, at the relatively young age (in peacetime, where promotion was painfully slow) of 49, to major-general  He returned to the Staff College in 1936 as its Commandant In May 1937, Gort was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath  In September 1937, he became Military Secretary to the War Minister, Leslie Hore-Belisha, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-general  On 6 December 1937, as part of a purge by Hore-Belisha of senior officers, Gort was appointed to the Army Council, made a general and replaced Field Marshal Sir Cyril Deverell as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS)  On 1 January 1938, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath  His appointment was generally well received in the army, although there was some resentment in his having passed over a number of much older and more senior officers, among them John Dill, Archibald Wavell and Alan Brooke, who would later become an outspoken critic of Gort  He was not especially highly regarded for his intelligence and so Major General Ronald Adam was appointed to be Gort's Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff As CIGS, Gort advocated the primacy of building a land army and defending France and the Low Countries over Imperial defence after France had said she would not be able on her own to defend herself against a German attack On 2 December 1938 Gort submitted a report on the readiness of the British Army  He observed that Nazi Germany, as a result of the acquisition of Czechoslovakia, was in a stronger position than the previous year and that as a result of the government's decision in 1937 to create a "general purpose" army, Britain lacked the necessary forces for the defence of France On 21 December Gort recommended to the Chiefs of Staff that Britain would need to help France defend the Netherlands and Belgium and that for that purpose the British Army needed complete equipment for four Regular army infantry divisions and two mobile armoured divisions, with the Territorial army armed with training equipment and then war equipment for four divisions  The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Roger Backhouse, replied that Britain's continental commitment might not be a limited liability  Gort replied: "Lord Kitchener had clearly pointed out that no great country can wage a 'little' war"  He also attacked as a fallacy the theory of strategic mobility by the use of seapower because in modern war land transport was faster and cheaper than transport by sea  The experience of David Lloyd George's 1917 Alexandretta project "proved that [maritime side-shows] invariably led to vast commitments out of all proportion to the value of the object attained"  If a purely defensive position was taken the Maginot Line would be broken, and the British Army (with anti-aircraft defence) was only getting £277 million out of a total £2,000 million spent on defence 

Second World War
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Gort was appointed by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain as the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, arriving there on 19 September 1939 During this time Gort played a part in a political manoeuvre, the Pillbox affair, that led to the dismissal of War Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha  Unimpressed by his qualities for command, Hore-Belisha described Gort as: "utterly brainless and unable to grasp the simplest problem"  Gort dismissed his subordinates' critiques of the Allies' Plan D, including his former friend Alan Brooke's correct prediction that it would allow the Wehrmacht to outflank the Allied forces, as defeatist Following the period of the "Phoney War", the Wehrmacht's attack and breakthrough in the Ardennes in May 1940 succeeded in splitting the Allied Armies, and surrounding the French First Army and BEF, Gort took the unilateral decision to abandon his orders received from the British Government for a southward attack to be made to support the French Army, instead on 25 May 1940 ordering a retreat by the BEF northwards to the French coast  On reaching the coast Gort oversaw the en masse retirement of the BEF back to the British Isles, involving the Battle of Dunkirk and the Dunkirk evacuation, while France was defeated and surrendered to Nazi Germany four weeks later With regard to his conduct as C -in-C  in France in 1940, Gort is credited by some historians as reacting efficiently to the crisis and saving the BEF, while others hold a more critical view of his leadership, seeing his decision to abandon France during Germany's attack into the west as defeatist Gort went on to serve in various positions for the remainder of the war, but the chaotic rout of the BEF under his command from France had convinced Winston Churchill, the newly installed British Prime Minister, that he was undesirable as a field commander, and he was side-lined to non-combatant posts  On the day of his return to England from France on 1 June 1940 he was appointed an ADC General to George VI  On 25 June he went by flying boat, with Duff Cooper, to Rabat, Morocco, to rally anti-Nazi French cabinet ministers, but was instead held on his flying boat  He quickly returned to Britain 
Gort was given the post of Inspector of Training and the Home Guard, and with nothing constructive to do visited Iceland, Orkney and Shetland   He went on to serve as Governor of Gibraltar (1941–42)  In 1943 he succeeded Lord Galway as Colonel Commandant of the Honourable Artillery Company, a position he held until his death 
As Governor of Malta (1942–44), Gort's courage and leadership during the siege was recognised by the Maltese giving him the Sword of Honour  He pushed ahead with extending the airfield into land reclaimed from the sea, against the advice of the British government, but was later thanked by the War Cabinet for his foresight when the airfield proved vital to the British Mediterranean campaign  The King gave Gort his field marshal's baton on 20 June 1943 at Malta   On 29 September, Gort, together with Generals Dwight D  Eisenhower and Harold Alexander, witnessed Marshal Pietro Badoglio signing the Italian surrender in Valletta harbour Gort was present when his son-in-law, Major William Sidney, received the Victoria Cross from General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Allied Armies in Italy, on 3 March 1944 in Italy 
Gort ended the war as High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan  He served in this office for only one year  In 1945 he nominated William James Fitzgerald, Chief Justice of Palestine, to enquire into the Jewish-Arab conflict in Jerusalem  Chief Justice Fitzgerald issued his report in which he proposed to divide the city into separate Jewish and Arab Quarters  Despite growing tensions in Palestine, Gort strove to cultivate good personal relations with both Jews and Arabs, and was greatly admired and respected by the Jewish and Arab communities 
During his time in Palestine, Gort's health deteriorated, and he was suffering from great pain and discomfort in his abdomen  He was in fact suffering from liver cancer, but the doctors he consulted in London were unable to properly diagnose his condition  Gort ruled Palestine at the time that the Jewish insurgency was beginning  Despite his efforts, he was unable to stem the growing confrontation between the Yishuv (Jewish community) and British authorities  On 5 November 1945, he stepped down as High Commissioner and returned to Britain  Commenting on his departure, The Palestine Post wrote that "No High Commissioner in the twenty-five years of British rule in Palestine enjoyed greater popular trust and none repaid it with greater personal kindness "

Death
After leaving Palestine and returning to England, Gort was admitted to Guy's Hospital in London, where exploratory surgery revealed that he was dying from inoperable liver cancer  In February 1946 he was created a Viscount in the Peerage of the United Kingdom under the same title as his existing Viscountcy in the Peerage of Ireland  On 31 March 1946, he died in Guy's Hospital at the age of 59 years  As he did not have a surviving son, the Irish Viscountcy of Gort passed to his brother, Standish Vereker, and the British creation became extinct  His body was entombed in the Sidney family vault at St  John the Baptist Church, Penshurst, in the county of Kent 

Film portrayal
Gort was portrayed by Cyril Raymond in the film Dunkirk (1958) 
Passage 3:
Richard O'Connor
General Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor,  (21 August 1889 – 17 June 1981) was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First and Second World Wars, and commanded the Western Desert Force in the early years of the Second World War  He was the field commander for Operation Compass, in which his forces destroyed a much larger Italian army – a victory which nearly drove the Axis from Africa, and in turn, led Adolf Hitler to send the Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel to try to reverse the situation  O'Connor was captured by a German reconnaissance patrol during the night of 7 April 1941 and spent over two years in an Italian prisoner of war camp  He eventually escaped after the fall of Mussolini in the autumn of 1943  In 1944 he commanded VIII Corps in the Battle of Normandy and later during Operation Market Garden  In 1945 he was General Officer in Command of the Eastern Command in India and then, in the closing days of British rule in the subcontinent, he headed Northern Command  His final job in the army was Adjutant-General to the Forces in London, in charge of the British Army's administration, personnel and organisation 
In honour of his war service, O'Connor was recognised with the highest level of knighthood in two different orders of chivalry  He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order (twice), the Military Cross, the French Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour, and served as aide-de-camp to King George VI  He was also mentioned in despatches nine times for actions in the First World War, once in Palestine in 1939 and three times in the Second World War 

Early life
Richard Nugent O'Connor was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, on 21 August 1889  His father, Maurice O'Connor, was a major in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and his mother, Lilian Morris, was the daughter of a former governor of India's central provinces  He attended Tonbridge Castle School in 1899 and The Towers School in Crowthorne in 1902  In 1903, aged 13, and after his father's death in an accident, he moved to Wellington College  "His career there was not distinguished in any way", however, although he enjoyed his time there Following this, he went to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in January 1908  Despite his success in later life, his time there, as at Wellington (only a few miles away from Sandhurst), was not remarkable, and he did not mention his time there even in his later life   A year ahead of him at the college was a man who would play a significant role in O'Connor's future military career and life  This was Bernard Montgomery, about two years older than O'Connor, although it is unknown if the two men knew of each other at this very early stage of their military careers Passing out 38th in the order of merit, in September of the following year O'Connor, anxious to join a Scottish regiment, was commissioned, as a second lieutenant and posted to the 2nd Battalion of his new regiment, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), the regiment of his choice, recruiting from Glasgow and Lanarkshire, and with which he was to maintain close ties with for the rest of his life  The battalion was initially stationed in Aldershot when O'Connor joined them in October 1909 before being rotated, in January 1910, to Colchester  It was here where he received signals and rifle training, after attending courses for both, resulting in his being appointed a regimental signals officer for the former, and becoming a distinguished marksman after attending the Small Arms School at Hythe, Kent  In September 1911 the battalion sailed for Malta where it was to remain for the next three years as part of a Malta brigade, with O'Connor, now a lieutenant (having been promoted to that rank in May), continuing in his role as regimental signals officer   By now it was becoming obvious that a war in Europe was on the horizon  As a result, for O'Connor, who at some point was appointed the Malta brigade's signal officer, the years of 1913 and 1914 were spent in training the men under his command for the duties that they would one day have to perform in battle 

First World War
During the First World War, O'Connor initially served as signals officer of the 22nd Brigade in the 7th Division and captain in command of the 7th Division's Signals Company  From October 1916, as a captain and later as a brevet major, he served as brigade major of 91st Brigade, 7th Division  He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in February 1915  In March of that year he saw action at Arras and Bullecourt  O'Connor was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and appointed brevet lieutenant-colonel while he was in command of the 2nd Infantry Battalion of the Honourable Artillery Company, part of the 7th Division, in June 1917  The citation for his DSO reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and resource  In consequence of a change in the situation a revision of plans became necessary, but, owing to darkness and heavy shelling, confusion arose  By his courage and promptness he quickly restored order, and organised a successful attack 
In November of that year, the division was ordered to support the Italians against the Austro-Hungarian forces at the River Piave which then formed part of the Italian Front  In late October 1918 the 2nd Battalion captured the island of Grave di Papadopoli on the Piave River for which O'Connor received the Italian Silver Medal of Military Valor and a Bar to his DSO At the end of the war, O'Connor reverted to his rank of captain and served as regimental adjutant from April to December 1919 

Between the wars
O'Connor attended the Staff College, Camberley in 1920  O'Connor's other service in the years between the world wars included an appointment from 1921 to 1924 as brigade major of the Experimental Brigade (or 5 Brigade) under the command of J  F  C  Fuller, which was formed to test methods and procedures for using tanks and aircraft in co-ordination with infantry and artillery 
He returned to his old unit, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), as adjutant from February 1924 to 1925  From 1925 to 1927 he served as a company commander at Sandhurst  He returned to the Staff College, Camberley as an instructor from October 1927 to January 1930  In 1930 O'Connor again served with the 1st Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in Egypt and from 1931 to 1932 in Lucknow, India  From April 1932 to January 1935 he was a general staff officer, grade 2 at the War Office  He attended the Imperial Defence College in London in 1935  In April 1936 O'Connor was promoted to full colonel and appointed temporary brigadier to assume command of the Peshawar Brigade in north west India  In September 1938 O'Connor was promoted to major-general and appointed General Officer Commanding 7th Infantry Division in Palestine, along with the additional responsibility as Military Governor of Jerusalem  For his services in Palestine O'Connor was mentioned in despatches In August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, the 7th Division was transferred to the fortress at Mersa Matruh, Egypt, where O'Connor was concerned with defending the area against a potential attack from the massed forces of the Italian Tenth Army over the border in Libya  The 7th Division later converted to become the 6th Division in November 1939  He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in July 1940 

Second World War
Italian Offensive and Operation Compass
Italy declared war on Britain and France on 10 June 1940 and, soon after, O'Connor was appointed commander of the Western Desert Force  He was tasked by Lieutenant-General Henry Maitland Wilson, commander of the British troops in Egypt, to push the Italian force out of Egypt, to protect the Suez Canal and British interests from attack On 13 September, Graziani struck: his leading divisions advanced sixty miles into Egypt where they reached the town of Sidi Barrani and, short of supplies, began to dig in  O'Connor then began to prepare for a counterattack  He had the 7th Armoured Division and the Indian 4th Infantry Division along with two brigades  British and Commonwealth troops in Egypt totalled around 36,000 men  The Italians had nearly five times as many troops along with hundreds more tanks and artillery pieces and the support of a much larger air force  Meanwhile, small raiding columns were sent out from the 7th Armoured and newly formed Long Range Desert Group to probe, harass, and disrupt the Italians (this marked the start of what became the Special Air Service)  The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force supported by bombarding enemy strongpoints, airfields and rear areas 
 During November, O'Connor was appointed an acting lieutenant-general in recognition of the increased size of his command The counteroffensive, Operation Compass, began on 8 December 1940  O'Connor's relatively small force of 31,000 men, 275 tanks and 120 artillery pieces, ably supported by an RAF wing and the Royal Navy, broke through a gap in the Italian defences at Sidi Barrani near the coast  The Desert Force cut a swath through the Italian rear areas, stitching its way between the desert and the coast, capturing strongpoint after strongpoint by cutting off and isolating them  The Italian guns proved to be no match for the heavy British Matilda tanks and their shells bounced off the armour  By mid-December the Italians had been pushed completely out of Egypt, leaving behind 38,000 prisoners and large stores of equipment The Desert Force paused to rest briefly before continuing the assault into Italian Libya against the remainder of Graziani's disorganised army  At that point, the Commander-in-Chief Middle East General Sir Archibald Wavell ordered the 4th Indian Division withdrawn to spearhead the invasion of Italian East Africa  This veteran division was to be replaced by the inexperienced 6th Australian Division, which, although tough, was untrained for desert warfare  Despite this setback, the offensive continued with minimal delay  By the end of 6 December the Australians besieged and took Bardia along with 40,000 more prisoners and 400 guns 
In early January 1941, the Western Desert Force was redesignated XIII Corps  On 9 January, the offensive resumed  By 12 January the strategic fortress port of Tobruk was surrounded  On 22 January it fell and another 27,000 Italian POWs were taken along with valuable supplies, food, and weapons  As Tobruk fell it was decided to have XIII Corps answerable directly to Wavell at HQ Middle East Command, removing HQ British troops Egypt from the chain of command  On 26 January the remaining Italian divisions in eastern Libya began to retreat to the northwest along the coast  O'Connor promptly moved to pursue and cut them off, sending his armour southwest through the desert in a wide flanking movement, while the infantry gave chase along the coast to the north  The lightly armoured advance units of 4th Armoured Brigade arrived at Beda Fomm before the fleeing Italians on 5 February, blocking the main coast road and their route of escape  Two days later, after a costly and failed attempt to break through the blockade, and with the main British infantry force fast bearing down on them from Benghazi to the north, the demoralised, exhausted Italians unconditionally capitulated  O'Connor and Eric Dorman-Smith cabled back to Wavell, "Fox killed in the open   "In two months, the XIII Corps/Western Desert Force had advanced over 800 miles (1,300 km), destroyed an entire Italian army of ten divisions, taken over 130,000 prisoners, 400 tanks and 1,292 guns at the cost of 500 killed and 1,373 wounded  In recognition of this, O'Connor was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath 

Reversal and capture
In a strategic sense, however, the victory of Operation Compass was not yet complete; the Italians still controlled most of Libya and possessed forces which would have to be dealt with  The Axis foothold in North Africa would remain a potential threat to Egypt and the Suez Canal so long as this situation continued  O'Connor was aware of this and urged Wavell to allow him to push on to Tripoli with all due haste to finish off the Italians  Wavell concurred as did Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, now the military governor of Cyrenaica, and XIII Corps resumed its advance  However, O'Connor's new offensive would prove short-lived: when the corps reached El Agheila, just to the southwest of Beda Fomm, Churchill ordered the advance to halt there  The Axis had invaded Greece and Wavell was ordered to send all available forces there as soon as possible to oppose this  Wavell took the 6th Australian Division, along with part of 7th Armoured Division and most of the supplies and air support for this ultimately doomed operation  XIII Corps HQ was wound down and in February 1941 O'Connor was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief the British Troops in Egypt Matters were soon to become much worse for the British  By March 1941, Hitler had dispatched General Erwin Rommel along with the Afrika Korps to bolster the Italians in Libya  Wavell and O'Connor now faced a formidable foe under a commander whose cunning, resourcefulness, and daring would earn him the nickname "the Desert Fox"  Rommel wasted little time in launching his own offensive on 31 March  The inexperienced 2nd Armoured Division was soundly defeated and on 2 April Wavell came forward to review matters with Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Neame, by now the commander of British and Commonwealth troops in Cyrenaica (Wilson having left to command the Allied expeditionary force in Greece)  O'Connor was called forward and arrived from Cairo the next day, but declined to assume Neame's command because of his lack of familiarity with the prevailing conditions  However, he agreed to stay to advise On 6 April O'Connor and Neame, while travelling to their headquarters which had been withdrawn from Maraua to Timimi, were captured by a German patrol near Martuba 

Captivity and escape
O'Connor spent the next two and a half years as a prisoner of war, mainly at the Castello di Vincigliata near Florence, Italy  Here he and Neame were in the company of such figures as Major-General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart and Air Vice Marshal Owen Tudor Boyd  Although the conditions of their imprisonment were not unpleasant, the officers soon formed an escape club and began planning a break-out  Their first attempt, a simple attempt to climb over the castle walls, resulted in a month's solitary confinement  The second attempt, by an escape tunnel built between October 1942 and March 1943, had some success, with two New Zealander brigadiers, James Hargest and Reginald Miles, reaching Switzerland  O'Connor and Carton de Wiart, travelling on foot, were at large for a week but were captured near Bologna in the Po Valley  Once again, a month's solitary confinement was the result It was only after the Italian surrender in September 1943 that the final, successful, attempt was made  With help from the Italian resistance movement, Boyd, O'Connor and Neame escaped while being transferred from Vincigliati  After a failed rendezvous with a submarine, they arrived by boat at Termoli, then went on to Bari where they were welcomed as guests by General Sir Harold Alexander, commanding the Allied Armies in Italy (AAI), then fighting on the Italian Front, along with the American General Dwight D  Eisenhower, on 21 December 1943  Upon his return to Britain, O'Connor was presented with the knighthood he had been awarded in 1941 and promoted to lieutenant-general  Montgomery suggested that O'Connor be his successor as British Eighth Army commander, but that post was instead given to Oliver Leese and O'Connor was given a corps to command 

VIII Corps and Normandy
On 21 January 1944 O'Connor became commander of VIII Corps, which consisted of the Guards Armoured Division, 11th Armoured Division, 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, along with 6th Guards Tank Brigade, 8th Army Group Royal Artillery and 2nd Household Cavalry Regiment  The corps formed part of the British Second Army, commanded by Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey, which itself was part of the Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group, commanded by General Sir Bernard Montgomery, a friend who had also been a fellow instructor at the Staff College, Camberley in the 1920s, in addition to having served together in Palestine some years before  O'Connor's new command was to take part in Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of German-occupied France, although it was not scheduled for the initial landings as it was to form part of the second wave to go ashore On 11 June 1944, five days after the initial landings in Normandy, O'Connor and the leading elements of VIII Corps arrived in Normandy in the sector around Caen, which would be the scene of much hard fighting during the next few weeks  O'Connor's first mission (with the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division under command, replacing the Guards Armoured Division) was to mount Operation Epsom, a break out from the bridgehead established by the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, cross the Odon and Orne rivers, then secure the high-ground positions northeast of Bretteville-sur-Laize and cut Caen off from the south  The break-out and river crossings were accomplished promptly  The army group commander, Montgomery, congratulated O'Connor and his VIII Corps on their success  But cutting off Caen would prove much harder  VIII Corps was pushed back over the Orne  O'Connor tried to re-establish a bridgehead during Operation Jupiter with the 43rd (Wessex) Division, but met with little success  Although the operation had failed to achieve its tactical objectives, Montgomery was pleased with the strategic benefits in the commitment and fixing of the German armoured reserves to the Caen sector After being withdrawn into reserve on 12 July, the next major action for VIII Corps would be Operation Goodwood, for which the corps was stripped of its infantry divisions but had a third armoured division (7th Armoured Division) attached  The attack began on 18 July with a massive aerial bombardment by the 9th USAAF, and ended on 20 July with a three-pronged drive to capture Bras and Hubert-Folie on the right, Fontenay on the left, and Bourguébus Ridge in the centre  However, the attack ground to a halt in pouring rain, turning the battlefield into a quagmire, with the major objectives still not taken, notably the Bourguebus Ridge which was the key to any break-out 
Restored to its pre-invasion formation but with British 3rd Infantry Division attached, the corps was switched to the southwest of Caen to take part in Operation Bluecoat  15th (Scottish) Division attacked towards Vire to the east and west of Bois du Homme in order to facilitate the American advance in Operation Cobra (O'Connor, 5/3/25 July 29 1944)  A swift drive was followed by fierce fighting to the south during the first two days of the advance, with both sides taking heavy losses As the allies prepared to pursue the Germans from France, O'Connor learned that VIII Corps would not take part in this phase of the campaign  VIII Corps was placed in reserve, and its transport used to supply XXX Corps and XII Corps  His command was reduced in mid-August, with the transfer of the Guards Armoured Divisions and 11th Armoured Division to XXX Corps and 15th (Scottish) Division to XII Corps  While in reserve, O'Connor maintained an active correspondence with Montgomery, Hobart and others, making suggestions for improvements of armoured vehicles and addressing various other problems such as combat fatigue  Some of his recommendations were followed up; such as for mounting "rams" on armoured vehicles in order to cope with the difficult hedgerow country (O'Connor, 5/3/41- 5/3/44 Aug 24, 26 1944) 

Operation Market Garden and India
O'Connor remained in command of VIII Corps, for the time being, and was given the task of supporting Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks' XXX Corps in Operation Market Garden, the plan by Montgomery to establish a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Netherlands  Following their entry into Weert at the end of September, VIII Corps prepared for and took part in Operation Aintree, the advance towards Venray and Venlo beginning on 12 October However, on 27 November O'Connor was removed from his post and was ordered to take over from Lieutenant-General Sir Mosley Mayne as GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, India  Smart's account says that Montgomery prompted the move for, "not being ruthless enough with his American subordinates", although Mead states that the initiative was taken by Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), but Montgomery made no attempt to retain O'Connor  He was succeeded as GOC VIII Corps by Major-General Evelyn Barker, a much younger man and formerly the GOC of the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division who had been one of O'Connor's students at the Staff College at Camberley in the late 1920s  This marked the end of a long and distinguished combat career, although the new job was an important one, controlling the lines of communication of the Fourteenth Army  O'Connor was mentioned in despatches for the thirteenth and final time of his career on 22 March 1945 Having been promoted to full general in April 1945, O'Connor was appointed GOC-in-C North Western Army in India in October that year (the formation was renamed Northern Command in November of that year)  By now the war was over 

Post-war
From 1946 to 1947 he was Adjutant-General to the Forces and aide-de-camp general to the King  His career as adjutant general was to be short-lived, however  After a disagreement over a cancelled demobilisation for troops stationed in the Far East, O'Connor offered his resignation in September 1947, which was accepted  Montgomery, by then the CIGS in succession to Brooke, maintained that he had been sacked, rather than resigned, for being, "not up to the job " Not long after this he was installed as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath 

Retirement and final years
O'Connor retired in 1948 at the age of fifty-eight  However, he maintained his links with the army and took on other responsibilities  He was Commandant of the Army Cadet Force in Scotland from 1948 to 1959; Colonel of the Cameronians, 1951 to 1954; Lord lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty from 1955 to 1964 and served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1964  His first wife, Jean, died in 1959, and in 1963 he married Dorothy Russell In July 1971, he was created Knight of the Order of the Thistle  O’Connor was interviewed concerning North African operations in episode 8, "The Desert: North Africa (1940–1943)”, of the acclaimed British documentary television series, The World at War  O'Connor died in London on 17 June 1981, just two months shy of his 92nd birthday  There was a small funeral, attended only by his family  There were also two memorial services, one held in London on 15 July, with O'Connor's great friend and admirer, Field Marshal Lord Harding, as he was now known, giving the address, where he stated the following:

Dick O'Connor was my ideal of a commander in battle; always approachable and ready to listen, yet firm and decisive and always fair in his judgement of people and events; modest to a degree, shunning the limelight and embarassed by praise; calmly resolute and courageously determined 
The second memorial service was held in Edinburgh on 11 August, where Lieutenant General Sir George Collingwood, who had been O'Connor's aide-de-camp in the late 1930s, made the address  Making references to O'Connor's campaign in the desert some forty years earlier, he then mentioned his numerous attempts to escape from captivity, along with his happy private life and his two "wonderful partners in the home", before ending his address with:

So there is in a sense a picture of three different people  The dedicated soldier and brilliant fighting Commander, a prisoner of war exerting all his energies and taking great risks to escape and return to serve his Country, and the quiet, unassuming little country gentleman with the kindly smile and charming manners, who was a wonderful host and a wonderful guest, but of course it was one and the same person and the chief facets of his character were, I think, great courage and determination, an impelling sense of duty, loyalty, extreme personal modesty, kindness and generosity and a delightful sense of humour  I think the jokes he liked best were those against himself 

Notes



ground_truth: Band-e Amir National Park