Alice O'Connor, better known by her pen name Ayn Rand, was a Russian-born American author and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system she named Objectivism. Born and educated in Russia, she moved to the United States in 1926. After two early novels that were initially unsuccessful and two Broadway plays, Rand achieved fame with her 1943 novel The Fountainhead. In 1957, she published her best-selling work, the novel Atlas Shrugged. Afterward, until her death in 1982, she turned to non-fiction to promote her philosophy, publishing her own periodicals and releasing several collections of essays.
Robert John Downey Jr. is an American actor. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Downey's career has been characterized by some early success, a period of drug-related problems and run-ins with the law, and a surge in popular and commercial success since the late 2000s. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. From 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.
James Kirkwood Jr. was an American playwright, author and actor. In 1976 he received the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the Broadway hit A Chorus Line.
Leslie Clark Stevens IV was an American producer, writer, and director. He created two television series for the ABC network, The Outer Limits (1963–1965) and Stoney Burke (1962–63), and Search (1972–73) for NBC. Stevens was the director of the horror film Incubus (1966), which stars William Shatner, and was the second film to use the Esperanto language. He wrote an early work of New Age philosophy, est: The Steersman Handbook (1970).
Married to the Mob is a 1988 American crime romantic comedy film directed by Jonathan Demme, written by Barry Strugatz and Mark R. Burns, and starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Modine, Dean Stockwell, Mercedes Ruehl, and Alec Baldwin. Pfeiffer plays Angela de Marco, a gangster's widow from Brooklyn, opposite Modine as the undercover FBI agent assigned the task of investigating her mafia connections.
William Hope is a Canadian actor, best known for his numerous roles in the Alien and Alien vs. Predator franchises, portraying Lieutenant Scott Gorman in Aliens (1986) and Alien: River of Pain (2017), the Xenomorphs (Aliens) and Yautja (Predators) in Aliens Versus Predator (1999) and Aliens Versus Predator 2 (2001), Doctor H. G. Groves in Aliens vs. Predator (2010), and Colonial Marshal Waits in Alien: Isolation (2014) and its 2019 animated miniseries adaptation.
Christina Pickles is a British-born American actress. She is known for her role as Nurse Helen Rosenthal in the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere (1982–1988), for which she received five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. She is also known for her recurring role as Judy Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, for which she was nominated for the 1995 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.
O.C. and Stiggs is a 1987 American teen comedy film directed by Robert Altman, based on two characters that were originally featured in a series of stories published in National Lampoon magazine. The film stars Daniel H. Jenkins and Neill Barry as the title characters. Other members of the cast include Paul Dooley, Jane Curtin, Martin Mull, Dennis Hopper, Ray Walston, Louis Nye, Melvin Van Peebles, Tina Louise, Cynthia Nixon, Jon Cryer and Bob Uecker.
The Randian hero is a ubiquitous figure in the fiction of 20th-century novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, most famously in the figures of The Fountainhead's Howard Roark and Atlas Shrugged's John Galt. Rand's self-declared purpose in writing fiction was to project an "ideal man"—a man who perseveres to achieve his values, and only his values.
Grant Bowler is a New Zealand-Australian actor and television presenter who has worked in American, Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian film, television, and theatre.
Philip Jerome Quinn Barry was an American dramatist best known for his plays Holiday (1928) and The Philadelphia Story (1939), which were both made into films starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.
Friends & Lovers is a 1999 American romantic-drama film directed and co-written by George Haas about a group of twentysomethings on a ski trip. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Claudia Schiffer and Robert Downey Jr.
Atlas Shrugged: Part I is a 2011 American political science fiction drama film directed by Paul Johansson. An adaptation of part of the philosopher Ayn Rand's 1957 novel of the same name, the film is the first in a trilogy encompassing the entire book. After various treatments and proposals floundered for nearly 40 years, investor John Aglialoro initiated production in June 2010. The film was directed by Paul Johansson and stars Taylor Schilling as Dagny Taggart and Grant Bowler as Hank Rearden.
John Galt is a character in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged (1957). Although he is not identified by name until the last third of the novel, he is the object of its often-repeated question "Who is John Galt?" and of the quest to discover the answer. Also, in the later part it becomes clear that Galt had been present in the book's plot all along, playing several important roles though not identified by name.
Atlas Shrugged is a 1957 novel by Ayn Rand. It is her longest novel, the fourth and final one published during her lifetime, and the one she considered her magnum opus in the realm of fiction writing. She described the theme of Atlas Shrugged as "the role of man's mind in existence" and it includes elements of science fiction, mystery and romance. The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism, including reason, property rights, individualism, libertarianism and capitalism, and depicts what Rand saw as the failures of governmental coercion. Of Rand's works of fiction, it contains her most extensive statement of her philosophical system.
Joey is a 1986 film written and directed by Joseph Ellison, based on a story by Ellen Hammill. The rock and roll movie features songs by Tim Worman and the Polecats, The Ramones and Electric Light Orchestra and performances by the Ad-Libs, the Silhouettes, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and others.
Atlas Shrugged: Part II is a 2012 American drama film based on the 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged by the philosopher Ayn Rand. It is the second installment in the Atlas Shrugged film series and the first sequel to the 2011 film Atlas Shrugged: Part I, continuing the story where its predecessor left off. Directed by John Putch, the film stars Samantha Mathis, Jason Beghe, Esai Morales, Patrick Fabian, Kim Rhodes, Richard T. Jones, and D. B. Sweeney. The film was released on October 12, 2012.
Atlas Shrugged Part III: Who Is John Galt? is a 2014 American science fiction-drama film based on the philosopher Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged. It is the third installment in the Atlas Shrugged film series and the sequel to the 2012 film Atlas Shrugged: Part II, continuing the story where its predecessor left off. The release, originally set for July 4, occurred on September 12, 2014. The film used a completely different cast and crew from the second film, which itself used a completely different cast from the first film. Directed by J. James Manera, it stars Laura Regan, Kristoffer Polaha, and Joaquim de Almeida.
American actor Robert Downey Jr. made his acting debut in 1970's Pound, directed by his father Robert Downey Sr., at the age of five. In the 1980s, Downey was considered a member of the Brat Pack after appearing in the films Weird Science with Anthony Michael Hall (1985), Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield (1986), Less than Zero with Andrew McCarthy (1987), and Johnny Be Good again with Hall (1988). Downey also starred in the films True Believer (1989) and Chances Are (1989), and was a regular cast member on the late-night variety show Saturday Night Live in 1985.
