text:
"Laura Witherspoon" redirects here. For other uses, see Witherspoon (surname).
American film and television actress and producer
Witherspoon at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon
New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Ryan Phillippe
(m. 1999; div. 2007)
Jim Toth (m. 2011)
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress, producer, and entrepreneur. The recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, she is among the highest-paid actresses in the world, as of 2019. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2015, and Forbes listed her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2019.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Witherspoon began her career as a teenager, making her screen debut in The Man in the Moon (1991). Following a leading role opposite Mark Wahlberg in Fear (1996), her breakthrough came in 1999 with a supporting role in Cruel Intentions and for her portrayal of Tracy Flick in the black comedy Election. She achieved wider recognition with her role as Elle Woods in the comedy Legally Blonde (2001) and its 2003 sequel, and for her starring role in the romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama (2002). In 2005, her portrayal of June Carter Cash in the biographical musical film Walk the Line garnered critical acclaim and won her the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Following a career downturn, during which her sole commercial success was the romantic drama Water for Elephants (2011), Witherspoon made her career comeback when she produced the thriller Gone Girl and the drama Wild (both 2014), under her production company Hello Sunshine. She also starred as Cheryl Strayed in the latter, for which she received a second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Witherspoon ventured into television by producing and starring in the HBO drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019), the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show (2019), and the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere (2020). For the first of these, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.
Witherspoon also owns a clothing company Draper James, and she is actively involved in children's and women's advocacy organizations. She serves on the board of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) and was named Global Ambassador of Avon Products in 2007, serving as honorary chair of the charitable Avon Foundation. She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010.
2.1 1991–1998: Career beginnings
2.2 1999–2000: Breakthrough and rise to prominence
2.3 2001–2006: Worldwide recognition
2.4 2007–2012: Career decline
2.5 2013–2016: Resurgence and professional expansion
2.6 2017–present: Success with television ventures
2.6.1 Upcoming projects
3 Other ventures
3.1 Production work
3.2 Other activities
3.3 Philanthropy
5 In the media
6 Works and publications
7 Accolades
Witherspoon was born on March 22, 1976[1] at Southern Baptist Hospital, in New Orleans, Louisiana, while her father, John Draper Witherspoon, was a student at Tulane University medical school.[2][3] Witherspoon was born in Georgia and served as a lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve.[4][5] He was in private practice as an otolaryngologist until 2012.[6] Her mother, Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Witherspoon (née Reese), is from Harriman, Tennessee. Betty Witherspoon earned three degrees in total, including a Ph.D in education. She became a professor of nursing[7] at Vanderbilt University.[8] Witherspoon has claimed descent from Scottish-born John Witherspoon, who signed the United States Declaration of Independence;[9][10] however, this claim has not been verified by the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence genealogists.[11] Her parents are still legally married, although they separated in 1996.[12]
Witherspoon was raised as an Episcopalian, and has said she is proud of the "definitive Southern upbringing" which she received. She said that it gave her "a sense of family and tradition" and taught her about "being conscientious about people's feelings, being polite, being responsible and never taking for granted what you have in your life".[13][14][15] At the age of seven, Witherspoon was selected as a model for a florist's television advertisements, which motivated her to take acting lessons.[16] At age eleven, she took first place in the Ten-State Talent Fair.[16] Witherspoon received high grades in school,[16] loved reading, and considered herself "a big dork who read loads of books".[3] On mentioning her love for books, she said, "I get crazy in a bookstore. It makes my heart beat hard because I want to buy everything."[17] She has been described as a "multi-achiever" and was given the nickname "Little Type A" by her parents.[18][19] Witherspoon attended middle school at Harding Academy and graduated from the all-girls' Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, during which time she was a cheerleader.[20][13] She later attended Stanford University as an English literature major,[21] but left the school prior to completing her studies to pursue an acting career.[13]
Main article: List of Reese Witherspoon performances
Witherspoon has cited actresses Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, Holly Hunter, Susan Sarandon, Frances McDormand, Debra Winger, Diane Ladd, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Aniston, Goldie Hawn, Sally Field, Sigourney Weaver, Lucille Ball, Carole Lombard, Judy Holliday, Gena Rowlands, and actors Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, and Michael Keaton as influences on her acting.[16][17][22][23][24][25] Her favorite films are Splendor in the Grass, Waiting for Guffman, Broadcast News, Raising Arizona, and Overboard.[23][26][27][28]
1991–1998: Career beginnings
In 1991, Witherspoon attended an open casting call for The Man in the Moon, intending to audition as a bit player;[13] she was instead cast for the lead role of Dani Trant, a 14-year-old country girl who falls in love for the first time with her 17-year-old neighbor. According to The Guardian, her performance made an early impression.[29] On her performance, Roger Ebert commented, "Her first kiss is one of the most perfect little scenes I've ever seen in a movie."[16] For this role, Witherspoon was nominated for the Young Artist Award Best Young Actress.[30] Later that year, she made her television debut role in Wildflower with Patricia Arquette.[4][9] In 1992, Witherspoon appeared in the TV movie Desperate Choices: To Save My Child, portraying a critically ill young girl.[4]
In 1993, she played a young wife in the CBS miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove, Nonnie Parker in the Disney film A Far Off Place and had a minor role in Jack the Bear, which garnered her the Young Artist Award for Best Youth Actress Co-star.[4][31] The next year, Witherspoon had another leading role as Wendy Pfister in the 1994 film S.F.W., directed by Jefery Levy.[32] In 1996, Witherspoon starred in two major films: the thriller Fear alongside Mark Wahlberg,[33][34] as Nicole Walker, a teenage girl who starts dating a man with obsessive tendencies, and the black-comedy thriller Freeway, alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Brooke Shields, where she held the lead role.[35] Her character in Freeway, Vanessa Lutz, is a poor girl living in Los Angeles, who encounters a serial killer on the way to her grandmother's home in Stockton.[13] The film received positive reviews from the press. Among them was the San Francisco Chronicle, with Mick LaSalle commenting, "Witherspoon, who does a Texas accent, is dazzling, utterly believable in one extreme situation after the other."[36] Witherspoon's performance won her the Best Actress Award at the Cognac Police Film Festival and helped establish her as a rising star.[13][37] The making of the film also gave Witherspoon significant acting experience; as she said, "Once I overcame the hurdle of that movie – which scared me to death – I felt like I could try anything."[21]
In 1998, Witherspoon had major roles in three movies: Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville and Twilight.[9][38] In Pleasantville, she starred with Tobey Maguire in a tale about 1990s teenage siblings who are magically transported into the setting of a 1950s television series. She portrayed Jennifer, the sister of Maguire's character who is mainly concerned about appearances, relationships and popularity. Her performance received good reviews and garnered her the Young Hollywood Award for Best Female Breakthrough Performance.[39] Director Gary Ross applauded her efforts saying, "she commits to a character so completely and she understands comedy".[21]
1999–2000: Breakthrough and rise to prominence
In 1999, Witherspoon starred alongside Alessandro Nivola in the drama thriller Best Laid Plans; she played Lissa, a woman who schemes with her lover Nick to escape a small dead-end town.[4] Also that year co-starred with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe in the drama film Cruel Intentions, a modern take on the 18th-century French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses. The San Francisco Chronicle praised her performance as Annette Hargrove: "Witherspoon is especially good in the least flashy role, and even when called upon to make a series of cute devilish faces, she pulls it off."[40] She also appeared in a music video by Marcy Playground for the film's soundtrack. The film became a box office success and a cult classic.
Next came perhaps Witherspoon's career-defining role: starring with Matthew Broderick in Election, based on Tom Perrotta's novel;[4] for her portrayal of Tracy Flick, she received vast critical acclaim and won the Best Actress Award from the National Society of Film Critics and the Online Film Critics Society, a first Golden Globe nomination and an Independent Spirit Award nomination.[41][42] Witherspoon also received a rank on the list of 100 Greatest Film Performances of All Time by Premiere.[43] Director Alexander Payne said of her, "She's got that quality that men find attractive, while women would like to be her friend. But that's just the foundation. Nobody else is as funny or brings such charm to things. She can do anything."[14]
In spite of her success with Election, Witherspoon noted in an interview that she struggled to find work after completing the film due to typecasting.[44] Analyzing the reasons behind her difficulty to find work, Witherspoon commented, "I think because the character I played was so extreme and sort of shrewish—people thought that was who I was, rather than me going in and creating a part. I would audition for things and I'd always be the second choice—studios never wanted to hire me and I wasn't losing the parts to big box office actresses but to ones who I guess people felt differently about."[5] In 2000, Witherspoon played a supporting role in American Psycho as Patrick Bateman's trophy girlfriend, and made a cameo appearance in Little Nicky as the mother of the Antichrist.[38] She also guest starred in season six of Friends as Rachel Green's sister Jill.[45]
2001–2006: Worldwide recognition
The 2001 film Legally Blonde marked a turning point in Witherspoon's career; she starred as Elle Woods, a fashion-merchandising major who decides to become a law student in order to follow her ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law School. Witherspoon said about the role, "When I read Legally Blonde, I was like, 'She's from Beverly Hills, she's rich, she's in a sorority. She has a great boyfriend. Oh yeah, she gets dumped. Who cares? I still hate her.' So we had to make sure she was the kind of person you just can't hate."[14] Legally Blonde was a box-office hit, grossing US$96 million domestically.[46] Witherspoon's performance earned her praise from critics as the press began referring to her as "the new Meg Ryan".[47] Roger Ebert commented, "Witherspoon effortlessly animated this material with sunshine and quick wit",[48] and Salon.com noted that "she [Witherspoon] delineates Elle's character beautifully".[49] Meanwhile, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer concluded, "Witherspoon is a talented comedian who can perk up a scene just by marching in full of pep and drive and she powers this modest little comedy almost single-handedly."[50] For her work, Witherspoon garnered her second Golden Globe Best Actress nomination and an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance.
In 2002, after the success of Legally Blonde, Witherspoon starred in several roles, such as Greta Wolfcastle in The Simpsons episode "The Bart Wants What It Wants", and as Cecily in the comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, a film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play in which she received a Teen Choice Award nomination.[51][52] Later that year, she starred with Josh Lucas and Patrick Dempsey in Andy Tennant's film Sweet Home Alabama, where she played Melanie Carmichael, a young fashion designer who intends to marry a New York politician but must return to Alabama to divorce her childhood sweetheart, from whom she has been separated for seven years. Witherspoon regarded this as a "personal role" in that it reminded her of experiences she had when she moved from her hometown Nashville to Los Angeles.[53] The movie became Witherspoon's biggest live-action box office hit, earning over $35 million in the opening weekend and grossing over $127 million in the U.S.[46][54] Despite the commercial success, critics gave Sweet Home Alabama negative reviews. It was called "a romantic comedy so rote, dull and predictable" by The Miami Herald,[55] and the press widely agreed that Witherspoon was the only reason the movie attracted such a large audience.[56][57] When describing Witherspoon's role in the movie, The Christian Science Monitor concluded, "She is not the movie's main attraction, she is its only attraction."[58]
In 2003, Witherspoon followed up the success of Legally Blonde by starring in the sequel Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde. Elle Woods has become a Harvard-educated lawyer who is determined to protect animals from cosmetics industry science tests. The sequel was not as financially successful as the first film and it generated mostly negative reviews. USA Today considered the movie "plodding, unfunny and almost cringe-worthy", but also noted that "Reese Witherspoon still does a fine job portraying the fair-haired lovable brainiac, but her top-notch comic timing is wasted on the humorless dialogue."[59] Meanwhile, Salon.com concluded that the sequel "calcifies everything that was enjoyable about the first movie".[60] Despite being panned by critics, the sequel took in over $39 million in its first five days in the U.S. box office charts and eventually grossed $90 million in the US.[61] Witherspoon received a $15 million paycheck for the role—a starting point to make her consistently one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses from 2002 until 2010.[14][62]
In 2004, Witherspoon starred in Vanity Fair, adapted from the 19th-century classic novel Vanity Fair and directed by Mira Nair. Her character, Becky Sharp, is a poor woman with a ruthless determination to find fortune and establish herself a position in society. Witherspoon was carefully costumed to conceal that during the filming she was pregnant with her second child.[63] This pregnancy was not a hindrance to her work as Witherspoon believed the gestation had in fact helped her portrayal of Sharp's character: "I love the luminosity that pregnancy brings, I love the fleshiness, I love the ample bosom—it gave me much more to play with", she said.[64][65] The film and Witherspoon's portrayal of Sharp received mixed reviews, as The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Nair's cast is splendid. Witherspoon does justice to the juicy role by giving the part more buoyancy than naughtiness."[66] At the same time, The Charlotte Observer called her work "an excellent performance that's soft around the edges" and the Los Angeles Times concluded that Becky is "a role Reese Witherspoon was born to play".[67][68] However, LA Weekly wrote "[Witherspoon] ends up conveying so little of what's at once appalling and perversely attractive about the would-be mistress of Vanity Fair" and states that it may have to do with Witherspoon's vanity, "with an Oscar-less young star's need to be loved more than anyone could conceivably love the "real" Becky Sharp.".[69] Others have stated she was miscast.[70]
In late 2004, Witherspoon began working alongside Mark Ruffalo on the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven. Her character, Elizabeth Masterson, is an ambitious young doctor who gets into a car accident on her way to a blind date and is left in a coma; her spirit returns to her old apartment where she later finds true love.[71]
Witherspoon at the premiere of Walk the Line at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival
Earlier that year Witherspoon was chosen to portray June Carter Cash, the second wife of country music singer-songwriter Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix), in Walk the Line. She never had the chance to meet Carter Cash, as Witherspoon was filming Vanity Fair at the time the singer died.[5] Witherspoon performed her own vocals in the film and her songs had to be performed in front of a live audience, she was so worried about needing to perform live that she asked her lawyer to terminate the film contract.[72] "That was the most challenging part of the role," she later recalled in an interview. "I'd never sung professionally."[73] Subsequently, she had to spend six months learning how to sing for the role, including from the help of vocal coach Roger Love.[72][74][75] Witherspoon's portrayal of Carter Cash was well received by critics, and Roger Ebert wrote that her performance added "boundless energy" to the movie.[76] She won several awards for her performance, including the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild, the BAFTA and the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role. Besides critical success in the movie industry, Witherspoon and Phoenix received a nomination for "collaborative video of the year" from the CMT Music Awards.[77][78] Witherspoon expressed her passion for the movie: "I really like in this film that it is realistic and portrays sort of a real marriage, a real relationship where there are forbidden thoughts and fallibility. And it is about compassion in the long haul, not just the short easy solutions to problems."[79] She also stated that she believed Carter Cash was a woman ahead of her time: "I think the really remarkable thing about her character is that she did all of these things that we sort of see as normal things in the 1950s when it wasn't really acceptable for a woman to be married and divorced twice and have two different children by two different husbands and travel around in a car full of very famous musicians all by herself. She didn't try to comply to social convention, so I think that makes her a very modern woman."[79]
Witherspoon's first post-Oscar role came in the modern-day fairy tale Penelope, as Annie, the best friend of Penelope (Christina Ricci), a girl who has a curse in her family. The film was produced by her company Type A Films, with filming commencing in March 2006, immediately following Witherspoon's Oscar win for Walk the Line.[80] Although the movie premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival,[72][81] the final release date of Penelope was delayed twice before an eventual February 2008 release.[82][83]
2007–2012: Career decline
Following her critical success with Walk the Line, Witherspoon admits to spending several years "kind of floundering career-wise". Reflecting on this period of time in a December 2014 interview, Witherspoon attributed it to her separation from her first husband in October 2006 and their subsequent divorce, stating that she spent "a few years just trying to feel better. You know, you can't really be very creative when you feel like your brain is scrambled eggs." She claims that she "wasn't making things I was passionate about. I was just kind of working, you know. And it was really clear that audiences weren't responding to anything I was putting out there."[84]
This period of Witherspoon's career began with the filming of the abduction thriller Rendition in November 2006. In the film, she plays Isabella El-Ibrahim, the pregnant wife of a bombing suspect. The film was released in October 2007 and marked Witherspoon's first appearance in theaters since the 2005 release of Walk the Line.[85] The movie received mostly mixed reviews and was generally considered a disappointment at the Toronto International Film Festival.[86] Witherspoon's performance was also criticized: "Reese Witherspoon is surprisingly lifeless", Claudia Puig of USA Today wrote. "She customarily injects energy and spirit into her parts, but here, her performance feels tamped down."[87]
Witherspoon was also the announcer of the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel, from March 31, 2007 to February 14, 2011.
In December 2007, Witherspoon began working with Vince Vaughn, filming the holiday comedy Four Christmases, a story about a couple who must spend their Christmas Day trying to visit all four of their divorced parents.[88] The film was released in November 2008. Despite being panned by critics, the movie became a box office success, earning more than $120 million domestically and $157 million worldwide.[89] In 2009, Witherspoon voiced Susan Murphy, lead character in DreamWorks' computer-animated film Monsters vs. Aliens, released in March 2009, becoming her biggest hit at the time.[90] She also co-produced the Legally Blonde spin-off Legally Blondes, starring Milly and Becky Rosso.[91]
Witherspoon at the premiere of Water for Elephants in May 2011
However, Witherspoon did not appear in a live-action film for two years after the 2008 release of Four Christmases. She told Entertainment Weekly that the "break" was unplanned, stating that, "I just didn't read anything I liked... There are a lot of really, really, really big movies about robots and things—and there's not a part for a 34-year-old woman in a robot movie."[92] Witherspoon returned with three films released in 2010, 2011 and 2012, all centered on her as a woman caught in a love triangle between two men. In a 2012 interview with MTV, Witherspoon jokingly referred to this trio of films as her "love triangle period".[93]
The first film was James L. Brooks' romantic comedy How Do You Know[94][95][96] which starred Witherspoon as a former national softball player who struggles to choose between a baseball-star boyfriend (Owen Wilson) and a business executive being investigated for white-collar crime (Paul Rudd). The movie was filmed in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. during the summer and fall of 2009[97][98][99] and released on December 17, 2010. The movie was both a critical and box office failure. Despite a budget of more than $100 million the film earned only $7.6 million in its opening weekend, leading the Los Angeles Times to call it "one of the year's biggest flops".[100] The movie earned mainly negative reviews from critics, scoring 35% on Rotten Tomatoes with 111 reviews as of late December 2010.[101]
Witherspoon's second love-triangle movie was the film adaptation of the 1930s circus drama Water for Elephants. She began circus training in March 2010 for her role as Marlena, a glamorous performer stuck in a marriage to a volatile husband (Christoph Waltz) but intrigued by the circus' new veterinarian (Robert Pattinson).[102] The movie was filmed between late May and early August 2010[103][104] in various locations in Tennessee, Georgia, and California. It was released on April 22, 2011[105] and received mixed critical reviews.[106]
In September 2010, Witherspoon began principal photography in Vancouver for the third and final love-triangle film, This Means War, a 20th Century Fox spy comedy directed by McG in which Witherspoon's character is at the center of a battle between best friends (played by Chris Pine and Tom Hardy) who are both in love with her. The film had a "sneak-peek" release on Valentine's Day, before fully opening on February 17, 2012.[107][108][109][110][111] The film was panned by critics (with a 25% Rotten Tomatoes rating),[112] and fared poorly at the box office, taking fifth place on its opening weekend with sales of $17.6 million. The New York Times remarked that this "extended the box office cold streak for the Oscar-winning Ms. Witherspoon".[113]
2013–2016: Resurgence and professional expansion
Witherspoon's subsequent films signaled a departure from the love-triangle theme. In September 2011, a year after beginning work on This Means War, she filmed a small role in Jeff Nichols's coming-of-age drama Mud in Arkansas, playing Juniper, the former girlfriend of a fugitive (Matthew McConaughey), who enlists two local boys to help him evade capture and rekindle his romance with her.[114][115] Mud premiered in May 2012 in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but did not win.[116][117] Following its American debut at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2013,[118] the film had a limited release in select North American theaters on April 26, 2013.[119][120]
Witherspoon at the premiere of Mud at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
Witherspoon next starred in Devil's Knot, which was directed by Atom Egoyan, and based on the true crime book of the same name, examining the controversial case of the West Memphis Three. Like Mud, the film is set in Arkansas. Witherspoon played Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of three young murder victims. In an interview subsequent to her casting in the film, Egoyan noted that although the role requires "an emotionally loaded journey," he "met with Reese, and... talked at length about the project, and she's eager to take on the challenge."[121] The movie was shot in Georgia in June and July 2012.[122][123][124] Witherspoon was pregnant with her third child during filming.[125][126] The film's world premiere was held on September 8, 2013 at the Toronto International Film Festival.[127][128] It was then released in selected American theaters on May 9, 2014.[129]
In April 2013, Witherspoon began production in Atlanta on Canadian director Philippe Falardeau's film The Good Lie. It is based on real-life events, about a brash American woman assigned to help four young Sudanese refugees (known as Lost Boys of Sudan) who win a lottery for relocation to the U.S.[130][131] It was released on October 3, 2014.[132]
Witherspoon shot a small role in Inherent Vice (2014), an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel, in Pasadena, California in summer 2013.[133][134]
In 2012, Witherspoon started the production company Pacific Standard. The goal of the company was to produce movies with strong female lead roles, as she said that she was tired of seeing only movies with a strictly male focus being produced. Through the company, Witherspoon served as a producer in the film adaptation of Gillian Flynn's novel Gone Girl,[135] though she did not star.[136][137] Indeed, Witherspoon and her producing partner "had little to do with the production of Gone Girl",[138] leaving it to director David Fincher while focusing their efforts on another adaptation produced via Pacific Standard, that of Cheryl Strayed's memoir Wild, which began production in fall 2013 on the same day as Gone Girl.[139] Witherspoon starred in the project, portraying Strayed herself on her 1,000-mile (1,600 km) hike along the Pacific Crest Trail.[140] Wild was released in December 2014 to critical acclaim;[141] Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune wrote in his review, "Witherspoon does the least acting of her career, and it works. Calmly yet restlessly, she brings to life Strayed's longings, her states of grief and desire and her wary optimism."[142] Wild was promoted as Witherspoon's primary "comeback" vehicle following her previous career slump,[143][144] and she earned her second Academy Award nomination for the role.[145]
In May 2014, Witherspoon began production in Louisiana on Hot Pursuit, a comedy in which she plays a police officer trying to protect a drug lord's widow (Sofía Vergara).[146] The movie was released on May 8, 2015.[147] In 2016, she had a voice role in the animated film Sing, as well as serving as a major performer on the film's soundtrack. The movie became Witherspoon's biggest hit, being the first to make over $200 million domestically and $600 million worldwide.[148]
2017–present: Success with television ventures
In January 2016, Witherspoon began filming her first television project since Return To Lonesome Dove, the seven-part miniseries adaptation of the Liane Moriarty bestseller, Big Little Lies. She produced the miniseries, along with her co-star, Nicole Kidman, and the show's director, Jean-Marc Vallée, her second project under his direction. The series premiered on February 19, 2017 on HBO and finished on April 2.[149][150] Witherspoon has garnered critical acclaim for her performance, with TV Line proclaiming her as "Performer of the Week" of February 26 to March 4. The Washington Post compared her performance to her previous work in Election and Legally Blonde.[151][152]
In November 2016, Witherspoon began production on the romantic comedy Home Again, the directorial debut of filmmaker Nancy Meyers' daughter, Hallie Meyers-Shyer, which was released on September 8, 2017.[153] A few months later, she began filming Disney's A Wrinkle in Time, the film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel of the same name, where she plays Mrs. Whatsit. The film was released in March 2018, co-stars Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling, and is directed by Ava DuVernay.[154]
In July 2018, Witherspoon began hosting the talk show Shine On with Reese on DirecTV. The show is a one-on-one interview between Witherspoon and a female guest focussing on how the guest achieved her dreams. Like Big Little Lies, the show is produced by her production company Hello Sunshine. The show marks Witherspoon's first unscripted role in television.[155] In December 2017, HBO renewed Big Little Lies for a second season making the series a regular drama series series instead of a miniseries. The second season adds Meryl Streep to the main cast and premiered in June 2019.[156]
Witherspoon currently produces and stars in the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show alongside Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell.[157] The Morning Show has received a two-season order from Apple with the first season premiering in November 2019.[158] Witherspoon was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama for her work in the series.[159] Season two of The Morning Show is set to premiere later in 2020.[160] Witherspoon also serves as an executive producer on the Apple TV+ drama series Truth Be Told starring Octavia Spencer which premiered in December 2019 and was renewed for a second season in March 2020.[161][162][163]
Furthermore, Witherspoon currently stars and serves as an executive producer on the Hulu drama miniseries Little Fires Everywhere opposite Kerry Washington, the televised adaption of Celeste Ng's 2017 novel of the same name.[164][165]
In addition to starring and producing television shows for her own, Witherspoon will serve as executive producer on six television series all at six different networks including Apple TV+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, ABC, Starz and Netflix. Witherspoon will only star in Hulu's Little Fires Everywhere and will serve as an executive producer on all six shows.[166][167][168][169][170][171][172]
Witherspoon is also attached as a producer on three films including A White Lie set to star Zendaya for TriStar Pictures, a documentary about Martina Navratilova, and Pyros a sci-fi drama for Netflix directing by Simon Kinberg. Witherspoon is also set to star in Pyros. [173][174][175]
Other ventures
Production work
Witherspoon at the 69th Golden Globe Awards in January 2012
Witherspoon owned a production company called Type A Films, which the media believed was a moniker honoring her childhood nickname "Little Miss Type A".[18][176] However, when asked about the company by Interview magazine, she clarified the name's origin: "... people think I named it after myself... It was actually an in-joke with my family because at [age] 7 I understood complicated medical terms, such as the difference between type A and type B personalities. But I just wished I'd named the company Dogfood Films or Fork or something. You carry that baggage all your life."[5] In March 2012, Witherspoon merged Type A Films with producer Bruna Papandrea's Make Movies banner to create a new production company entitled Pacific Standard.[177] In 2016, Witherspoon and Papandrea split up, with Witherspoon gaining full control over the company.[178]
In November 2016, Witherspoon and Otter Media formed Hello Sunshine, a joint venture focused on telling female-driven stories on film, TV and digital platforms.[179] Pacific Standard has become a subsidiary of Hello Sunshine.
From 2007 to 2011, Witherspoon was the announcer of Playhouse Disney and was featured in various promos, bumpers and commercials.
In 2013, Witherspoon recorded a cover of the classic Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra duet, "Somethin' Stupid" with Michael Bublé for his 2013 album, To Be Loved.[180]
In May 2015, Witherspoon launched Draper James, a retail brand with a focus on fashion, accessories and home décor inspired by the American South. The brand is named after Witherspoon's grandparents, Dorothea Draper and William James Witherspoon, who are said to be her greatest influences. Some of the products are being manufactured and designed in-house, and the brand launched direct to consumers online before opening its first brick and mortar store in fall 2015 in Witherspoon's hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.[181]
In October 2016, Witherspoon announced that she would be writing her first book.[182] In April 2018, Witherspoon announced her first book Whiskey in a Teacup. The book is a lifestyle book inspired by Witherspoon's southern upbringing and was released on September 18, 2018.[183]
In March 2017, Witherspoon became the storyteller-in-chief for Elizabeth Arden, Inc.. There, she will be helping the company to shape the brand's narrative through advertising campaigns and marketing programs. Of her involvement, Witherspoon states that she is "excited to work as a creative partner alongside the Elizabeth Arden team, producing content that celebrates the spirit of the brand, highlighting female-centric stories that illustrate women's true life experiences which unite us all".[184]
In 2018, Witherspoon joined approximately 300 other actresses, agents, writers and other entertainment employees in creating the Time's Up initiative, which seeks to counteract sexual harassment in the workplace.[185]
Witherspoon is actively involved in children's and women's advocacy organizations. She is a longtime supporter of Save the Children, an organization that helps provide children around the world with education, health care and emergency aid.[186] She also serves on the board of the Children's Defense Fund, a child advocacy and research group.[186] In 2006, she was among a group of actresses who went to New Orleans, Louisiana in a CDF project to publicize the needs of Hurricane Katrina victims.[187] During this trip, she helped open the city's first Freedom School, as she met and talked with the children.[188] Witherspoon later called this an experience that she would never forget.[188]
In 2007, Witherspoon made her first move into the world of endorsements, as she signed a multi-year agreement to serve as the first Global Ambassador of cosmetic company Avon Products.[186][189] She acts as a spokeswoman for Avon's cosmetic products and serves as the honorary chair of the Avon Foundation, a charitable organization that supports women and focuses on breast cancer research and the prevention of domestic violence.[190][191] Witherspoon is also committed to participating in cosmetics product development and appearing in commercial advertisements.[190] Explaining her motives for joining the foundation, she said, "As a woman and a mother I care deeply about the well being of other women and children throughout the world and through the years, I have always looked for opportunities to make a difference."[190]
Witherspoon met actor Ryan Phillippe at her 21st birthday party in March 1997.[192] They became engaged in December 1998[193] and married near Charleston, South Carolina, on June 5, 1999, at Old Wide Awake Plantation.[194][195][196] They have two children together, a daughter, Ava Elizabeth Phillippe, born on September 9, 1999,[197][198] and a son, Deacon Reese Phillippe, born in October 2003.[194] In October 2006, Witherspoon and Phillippe announced their separation.[199]
In early February 2010, it was reported that Witherspoon was dating Jim Toth,[200][201][202] a talent agent and co-head of motion picture talent at Creative Artists Agency, where Witherspoon is a client.[203] Witherspoon and Toth announced their engagement in December 2010,[204] and married on March 26, 2011, in Ojai, California, at Libbey Ranch,[205] Witherspoon's country estate, which she later sold.[206][207] The couple have a son together, Tennessee James, who was born in September 2012.[208]
In 2013, Witherspoon was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after her husband was pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving. She later pleaded no contest to obstruction and was required to pay court costs.[209]
Witherspoon being interviewed at the premiere of Walk the Line in 2005
Witherspoon hosted Saturday Night Live on September 29, 2001, the first episode to air after the September 11 attacks.[210] In 2005, she was ranked No. 5 in Teen People magazine's list of most powerful young Hollywood actors.[211] In 2006, Witherspoon was listed among the Time 100.[212] Her featured article was written by Luke Wilson.[213] In the same year, she was selected as one of the "100 Sexiest Women In The World" by the readers of FHM.[214] Witherspoon has been featured four times in the annual "100 Most Beautiful" issues of People magazine.[215] Witherspoon has appeared on the annual Celebrity 100 list by Forbes magazine in 2006 and 2007, at No. 75 and No. 80, respectively.[216][217] Forbes also put her on the top ten Trustworthy Celebrities list.[218] She was listed among CEOWorld Magazine's Top Accomplished Women Entertainers.[219]
In 2007, she was selected by People and the entertainment news program Access Hollywood as one of the year's best-dressed female stars. She was also the announcer of the Playhouse Disney block on Disney Channel from 2007 to 2011.[220][221] The yellow dress she wore to that year's Golden Globe Awards was widely acclaimed.[222] A study conducted by E-Poll Market Research showed that Witherspoon was the most likable female celebrity of 2007.[223] That same year, Witherspoon established herself as the highest-paid actress in the American film industry, earning $15 to $20 million per film.[224][225] In recent years, however, her appearance in a number of movies that fared badly at the box office caused a turnabout in her status, and she has been noted as one of the most overpaid actors in Hollywood in 2011, 2012 and 2013.[226][227][228] In April 2011, Witherspoon ranked 3rd on the 22nd annual People's Most Beautiful issue.[229] In 2010, Witherspoon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6262 Hollywood Blvd.[230]
In June 2013, Witherspoon filed suit against Marketing Advantages International Inc., claiming it used her name and image extensively in jewelry advertising without her permission, both throughout the United States and internationally. In December 2015, while Witherspoon's trademark claims to her name were rejected, for she had not established secondary meaning to her full name, that she did not claim "emotional distress" and the "photos and facts were generally known by the public and the photos were taken in public with Plaintiff's consent", the court ruled that she could proceed with her right of publicity claims against a number of defendants.[231][232][233] Two months later, Witherspoon withdrew her lawsuit, having "come to private agreements with the various defendants, including Centerbrook Sales, Fragrance Hut, Gemvara, and others".[234] In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, Witherspoon revealed that she had been sexually assaulted by a director at the age of 16 and has had "multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault" throughout her career.[235]
In 2015, Witherspoon made her second appearance among the Time 100, with her featured article being written by Mindy Kaling.[236] The same year, she was awarded, by a unanimous vote from the committee, the American Cinematheque for being "a perfect example of an actress flourishing in today's world" and "an active and successful movie producer who is moving her career forward both behind and in front of the camera".[237][238][239] According to an article published by Forbes in 2017, Witherspoon is said to have $198 million-plus career earnings, which made her the top-paid primetime Emmy nominee that year.[240] In 2019, Forbes listed her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.[241]
Works and publications
Witherspoon, Reese (2018). Whiskey in a Teacup. Touchstone. ISBN 978-1501166273.
Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Reese Witherspoon
Witherspoon has won numerous awards, including the BAFTA Award and the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Walk the Line in 2005.[77] In 2015, she received another nomination in the category for her performance in Wild.[242]
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^ Phillips, Michael (December 4, 2014). "Review: 'Wild'". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 7, 2014. Retrieved December 7, 2014.
^ Mendelson, Scott (September 9, 2014). "Can Reese Witherspoon Have Her Own 'McConaissance?'". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 9, 2014. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
^ Robey, Tim (December 29, 2014). "Wild is Reese Witherspoon's major comeback". The Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
^ Stack, Tim (January 15, 2015). "Reese Witherspoon on her Oscar nomination: 'I can't imagine ever having a year this good'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 19, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
^ Scott, Mike (May 12, 2014). "'Don't Mess With Texas,' starring Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara, starts filming this week in New Orleans". The Times-Picayune. Archived from the original on December 28, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
^ McNary, Dave (February 12, 2015). "Watch: First Trailer for Reese Witherspoon-Sofia Vergara's 'Hot Pursuit'". Variety. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
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^ "'Big Little Lies', starring Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, is filming in Monterey, CA this week". On Location Movies. January 25, 2016. Archived from the original on January 26, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
^ "Performer of the Week: Reese Witherspoon". TV Line. March 30, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017. [permanent dead link]
^ Rosenberg, Alyssa (March 30, 2017). "Reese Witherspoon is unlikable again in 'Big Little Lies.' Thank goodness". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
^ Kroll, Justin (August 4, 2016). "Reese Witherspoon in Talks to Star in 'Home Again' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
^ "Wrinkle in Time Cast Announced as Filming Begins". ComingSoon.net. November 1, 2016. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
^ Spangler, Todd (July 10, 2018). "Reese Witherspoon Interview Series to Kick Off Her Hello Sunshine Channel Debut on AT&T, DirecTV". Variety. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
^ "'Big Little Lies' renewed for season 2 with new director". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
^ "Apple Lands New Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston TV Show". Retrieved July 23, 2018.
^ "Apple celebrates "The Morning Show," coming to Apple TV+ November 1". Apple Inc. October 28, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
^ Hipes, Patrick (December 9, 2019). "Golden Globes Nominations: 'Marriage Story', Netflix, 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' Lead Way In Film – Full List Of Nominations". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
^ "Reese Witherspoon on Instagram: "This was our very last day of shooting @themorningshow. There are not enough hugs, heart emojis or words to express how much I cherish…"". Instagram. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (May 2, 2018). "'Are You Sleeping' Drama Starring Octavia Spencer Gets Apple Series Order; Reese Witherspoon & Peter Chernin Producing". Deadline. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
^ "Apple premieres "Truth Be Told," coming to Apple TV+ December 6". Apple Inc. November 11, 2019. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
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^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 2, 2018). "Reese Witherspoon & Kerry Washington To Star In & Produce Limited TV Series Based On 'Little Fires Everywhere' Book". Deadline. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
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^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 20, 2018). "Kristen Wiig Exits Apple Comedy Series Because Of 'Wonder Woman' Conflict, Project Eyes Recasting". Deadline. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 12, 2018). "Hulu Nabs 'Little Fires Everywhere' Limited Series Starring Reese Witherspoon & Kerry Washington". Deadline. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
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^ Petski, Denise; Petski, Denise (February 21, 2019). "Starz Developing 'Kin' Drama With Davita Scarlett & Reese Witherspoon". Deadline. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
^ Fleming Jr, Mike (August 13, 2019). "Netflix Wins 'Pyros;' Reese Witherspoon To Star, Produce Thomas Pierce Sci-Fi Film With Simon Kinberg". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
^ Jr, Mike Fleming (November 14, 2017). "Zendaya To Star In 'A White Lie,' Pitch Package From Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine". Deadline. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
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^ Witherspoon, Reese [@ReeseW] (April 30, 2018). "Y'all, I'm so excited...My new book, #WhiskeyInATeaCup, is out Sept 18th!


How do I get access to the slipping track?
Industry participants can contact the GRSA administration office and arrange to receive a keyfob (an electronic key tag) which will allow for access to the trainers car park through a swipe pad near the entrance gate.
Is there a cost to have access?
Use of the track will be free and available to all registered participants who have obtained a keyfob from the GRSA administration office.
When can I use the slipping track?
Can I use my own drag lure?
Participants are able to use GRSA approved drag lures. If you are unsure whether your drag lure is approved, please contact the Stewards Department.
Greyhounds must be emptied prior to accessing the slipping track and trainers are required to clean up after their greyhounds whilst on the track.
Will use of the track be monitored?
The slipping track will be under 24 hour recorded CCTV surveillance and access into and out of the trainers car park will be monitored and recorded.
If you have any further questions, please contact the GRSA Administration office on (08)8234-7100.


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Cast : Kerwin Mathews, June Thorburn, Jo Morrow	Screenplay : Arthur A. Ross, Jack Sher	Release : November 30, 1960	Director : Jack Sher	Genre : Music, Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy, Family	Stream Now
The 3 Worlds of Gulliver
Posted by Tim Brayton Posted on May - 17 - 2013 4.5 Comments
Harryhausen Week: Walking with giants
Jonathan Swift's beloved 1726 satire Gulliver's Travels has had such a miserable history in its various cinematic adaptations that picking one out as the "best" isn't saying a goddamned thing, other than "this version actually includes something other than Lilliput". Which, as it happens, 1960's The 3 Worlds of Gullivers does, and that's a huge part of the reason that I'm sort of inclined to suggest that it's the best movie adaptation of the book (there are fuller versions, including the 1996 TV miniseries starring Ted Danson - ah! the mid-'90s bloated fantasy miniseries trend! how I miss thee - but it's too ponderous and too Ted Danson-starring to seriously compete as a tremendously watchable piece of filmed entertainment). The other is that, in degraded form 3 Worlds actually retains some scant measure of Swift's satiric intent, however distorted: the themes of the second sequence in particular don't resemble the original book much at all, but the point is, this is a Gulliver movie in which there are themes, no matter how watered-down for the child-dominated matinee audience that Columbia had in mind for this production. The 1939 animated feature version can't claim that. The 2010 Jack Black vehicle sure as living fuck can't.
Of course, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver is still primarily a glossy fantasy of the sort that producer Charles H. Schneer had found such immense success with two years earlier, in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Fantasy, in fact, became the chief mode of Schneer's career from 1960 onwards, as he and effects artist Ray Harryhausen - for though there were other collaborators worth talking about, it's pretty clear to all and sundry that the Schneer fantasy cycle was really entirely based on the fact that he and Harryhausen worked well together, and fantasy was where Harryhausen did his most iconic work - played in the myths of this culture and that, while stopping over to plug their particular brand of swashbuckling and movie magic into a pair of literary adaptations, beginning here (the second was Mysterious Island from 1961, a much less obvious candidate for the Harryhausen treatment, until an army of giant animals were randomly shoved into the scenario).
Truthfully, Harryhausen's particular talents had been used much better elsewhere. As far as stop-motion animation, there are only two Dynamation critters in 3 Worlds, though both of them are pretty stellar: one is a giant squirrel that threatens Gulliver (Kerwin Matthews) and his new bride Elizabeth (June Thorburn) as they honeymoon in the country on the giants' island of Brobdingnag, the other is the Brobdingnagian king's (Grégoire Aslan) pet crocodile, which he sics on Gulliver as punishment for being the face of Reason and Enlightenment in a supertitious, medieval-style country. It's impossible for me to find fault with either creature (the squirrel especially is animated, basically, to perfection), other than they are not onscreen for a very long time; so at the very least, we can safely claim for the movie that it finds Harryhausen in his usual fine form.
But I must reiterate: the film wastes his talent. The vast bulk of the movie - which, after all, finds Dr. Lemuel Gulliver first marooned on an island of five-inch tall Lillputians, and then on an island where he himself is about that proportional height to the Brobdingnagians - requires mostly a lot of matte work to combine very large and very small people in the same shot, and make it look like they're talking and, to a small degree, interacting, though there's little enough onscreen physical interaction between characters that it's always done in a showy and distracting "LOOKIT OUR AMAZING SPECIAL EFFECTS IT'S LIKE HE'S REALLY ON AN ISLAND OF TINY PEOPLE" way, rather than something simple and spare that merely underlines the reality of the situation without belaboring it.
To be sure, it's incredible matte work. Not flawless, but it's the kind of film that you could use to shut up anybody's argument about the relatively primitive effects work of the '50s and '60s being somehow less sophisticated than the present day (and let's not forget, it wasn't a terribly costly movie, either). Ray Harryhausen might be thought of as an animator more than a compositor, for that is where his most impressive and unique work was done, but he was really gifted at all elements of effects work. Still, he wasn't so much better at matte shots than anybody else that it makes sense to assign him to bringing to life a movie where that's nearly the entirety of the effects work. It's like hiring Joël Robuchon to make you an egg salad sandwich: sure, the results are great, but why?
As is usually the case in Harryhausen's projects of this period, the film surrounding the effects is more than satisfactory, though unabashedly juvenile, even with writers Arthur Ross and Jack Sher (the director, as well) replacing Swift's own broadsides against European militarism and inhumanism with slightly more up-to-date barbs against runaway financial greed and superstition; it is a film that, though only in a moderate way, espouses a charitable humanism based in a very '60s-style enthusiasm for knowledge and science (Swift, whose book included an entire segment dedicated to mocking science and the Age of Reason, would perhaps have blanched at this change to his source material). The simple fact is, though, whatever thematic depth you spy in the movie is not really the point of it at all, more the byproduct of trying to freshen up material that can't help but be a bit messagey, because of its basis in overt symbolism. The 3 Worlds of Gulliver is first and always chiefly a matinee movie, with lots of broadly funny material and broadly exciting material and broadly impressive effects-driven setpieces, all of it meant to keep children enthralled and their adult minders sufficiently amused that they don't want to kill themselves. It works at that - the adult part, anyway (unlike most films with Harryhausen effects, I hadn't see 3 Worlds except for the odd scene here or that prior to watching it for this review). It's agreeable entertainment that doesn't completely insult the spirit of Swift's book, and it keeps juggling plot points enough that even a 100-minute running time that's definitely on the long side for this kind pf picture doesn't manage to feel languorous. Bernard Herrmann's boisterous, chipper score (the same year that he composed the nightmarish strings for Psycho!) helps considerably to keep things light and fast-moving, though it's possibly the simplest of the four scores he wrote for Schneer/Harryhausen pictures.
The biggest problem with the film happens to be exactly the same big problem that The 7th Voyage of Sinbad suffers from: Kerwin Matthews, who just isn't very interesting, even by the narrow standards of '50s and '60s matinee stars. He's too blandly all-American without any sense that he's got an inner life; and his Gulliver is slightly worse than his Sinbad, for while the Arabian hero merely feels like an anonymous placeholder, the English adventurer is projecting a sense of self-righteousness that's a little more rankling than it could be, owing to Matthews's failure to base it in any kind of psychological register. Mostly, though, he's just boring to watch and listen to, which makes it good that most of the time, he's surrounded by either very large or very small cartoons being played with full plummy delight by a clutch of marginally recognisable character actors, or a couple of exceptionally well-cast child actors. With all the spectacle and frivolous comedy filling every corner of the film, we never really need to pay much attention to Gulliver until the horribly mis-written ending. It's not nearly as timeless as the better-known of Harryhausen's adventure movies, nor as visually imaginative, but for a throwaway adventure film of this vintage, it holds up pretty well as a bit of harmless entertainment with a screenplay that's quite a bit more literate than it has any real need to be.
Categories: adventure, fantasy, ray harryhausen, satire
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers
One Million Years B.C. (1966)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The 5 Most Dangerous Cities In The U.S. To Raise A Family
By Daniel,	Parent Herald February 02, 06:11 am
TAG United States, mos dangerous cities, violent crimes, murder rate, detroit, memphis, oakland, St. Louis, birmingham, milwaukee, baltimore, cleveland, stockton, indianapolis
A safe and secure environment is an important aspect in raising a family. By looking at the statistics, it is easy to see the most dangerous cities in the U.S. to raise a family.
The list compiled by MSN was based on FBI crime statistics. Hopefully, this list can show how city officials need to improve certain aspects of their cities in order to provide a better and safer environment for all families.
Detroit, Michigan: The city has a violent crime rate of 1,989 and a murder rate of 44 both for every 100,000 people. It has been tagged to be the America's most violent city for many years now. Violent criminal acts in the city such as murder, rape, robbery and assault are actually five times larger than the U.S. average, according to Forbes.
Memphis, Tennessee: With a violent crime rate of 1,741 and a murder rate of 21 both for every 100,000 people, Memphis is the second most dangerous city in the U.S. Hence, Memphis Police Department believes that one of the reasons why they are high on the list is because they report more crimes compared to other cities.
Oakland, California: The city has the most number of violent robberies in the entire country. Its violent crime rate is 1,685 and its murder rate is 20 both for every 100,000 people.
St. Louis, Missouri: "Lying directly in the path of major drug-trafficking routes, St. Louis has been plagued by murders and other violent crimes for years," shared Forbes. The city has a violent crime rate of 1,679 and a murder rate of 50 for every 100,000 people.
Birmingham, Alabama: The city has a high crime rate due to high poverty rate and rampant drug trade, according to Forbes. It also has a violent crime rate of 1,588 and a murder rate of 25 for every 100,000 people.
On the other hand, the safest cities in the U.S. for families according to CBS are Sunnyvale, California; Honolulu, Hawaii; Bellevue, Washington; Cary, North Carolina; Alexandria, Virginia; San Jose, California; McAllen, Texas; Fremont, California; and Salem, Oregon.
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Teen Addiction: How This Indianapolis Special School Helps Teenagers Recover From Substance Abuse
Pierce Brosnan Gets Candid On Losing Wife, Daughter To Ovarian Cancer
Zika Virus Related Birth Complications Are Still On The Rise
Utah Students Pushing For Medical Cannabis Usage; Connecticut Lawmakers Do Not Support Recreational Marijuana
Alabama Encourages Safe Sleeping Habits For Parents With Newborn Babies By Giving Baby Boxes


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Fowler, with phones old and new. The dozens in his desk drawer are useful when reviewing current models. "I put a lot of work into trying not to fall into the trap of buying a thing because it's new," he says.
Photograph by Patrick Tehan
Your Tech Relationship Counselor
Geoffrey Fowler tackles the "great reckoning" with privacy.
David Hemenway advocates a pragmatic, public-health-based solution to gun homicides and suicides.
Having Fun with the News
by Kevin Nesburg
037707-040708-731810
Even after six years and continuing success at the helm of National Public Radio's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me, Peter Sagal '87 still can't believe he's getting away with it. "The fact that I have this job is an insult to those aspiring to host a show in radio," he says. "Ira Glass [of This American Life] started here as an intern at 18, cutting tape, and slowly crafted the show that he has today. I tripped over something and landed in radio."
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me is a quiz show that covers the weekly news while generally avoiding the bothersome concept of seriousness. Panelists and callers compete by answering questions about current events in hopes of winning the opportunity to have veteran NPR newscaster Carl Kasell's voice delivering a personalized recorded greeting to callers "on your home answering machine." The games vary in format from questions to role-playing to limericks. They are usually filled with fluid and unrehearsed banter, and the show, Sagal claims, often comes across as deceptively easy to produce.
"The most irritating question I get," he says, "is 'So what do you do the rest of the week? To come up with each question that we ask on the show, I probably read 100 articles, my staff talks about 30, [of them], and we've written questions for 10. It hasn't been unusual to put in 90- to 100-hour weeks, but it's generally more relaxed. The news doesn't happen until the end of the week, anyway."
As a child, Sagal says, he was "mad because [the Watergate hearings] were preempting the television reruns in the summer of 1974." But after graduating from Harvard, he found himself reading entire newspapers as an excuse to avoid writing plays. (He concentrated in English.) "Procrastination is a tremendous force in my life," is his explanation. "I would even read the bowling scores."
Among the work that he did manage to accomplish during his pre-radio period was "a screenplay about the Cuban revolution, with drama and nostalgia...." It was eventually produced as Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, which was released this past February. "It's been altered," he acknowledges, "but my screenplay was deep in there somewhere."
Sagal credits his time at Harvard for getting him interested in discussing the news in the first place, if only to fit in. "Everyone there expects to be running the world when they get out," he says, "so you were expected to know what was going on when they talked about it. At Harvard, it's hardest just trying to keep up with the smart people."
No matter how amusingly digressive his panelists and guests may be, Sagal has his ways of keeping the conversation flowing. "I get to interview interesting people in ways that they're not used to being interviewed," he says. "I talked to Salman Rushdie about PEZ dispensers. I love it when they figure out that this isn't a typical interview, and when they realize that they can get a little goofy. You go away with the feeling that this person has had a good time with you."
~Kevin Nesburg


The elite of the esports industry all gathered in London last night.
Last night in London was the first ever annual Esports Industry Awards; an event created to honour the games and players, those who are the absolute best at their craft in the world of competitive gaming. The event covered 18 different categories, including best esports game of the year, journalist of the year, and of course the best player. Below, you can see the winner of each category.
Of the 18 winners, the ones that stand out to us the most was the award for CS:GO player Coldzera, whose impressive AWP 4k on Mirage still stands out to us as the most impressive Counter-Strike play of the year, and journalist Richard Lewis, who had a huge hand in uncovering the CS gambling debacle earlier this year.
Do you think the awards went to the right places? Was there anybody you think should've won an award? Let us know below.