Rocky Mount

Earle Hyman is an American stage, television, and film actor. Hyman is known for his recurring role on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell... Huxtable. A native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Hyman's parents, Zachariah Hyman and Maria Lilly Plummer, moved their family to Brooklyn, New York, where Hyman primarily grew up. Earle Hyman became interested in acting after seeing a production of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. “The first play I ever saw was a present from my parents on my 13th birthday — Nazimova in ‘Ghosts’ at Brighton Beach on the subway circuit — and I just freaked out.” He made his Broadway stage debut as a teenager in 1943 in Run, Little Chillun, and later joined the American Negro Theater. The following year, Hyman began a two year run playing the role of Rudolf on Broadway in Anna Lucasta, starring Hilda Simms in the title role. He was a member of the American Shakespeare Theatre beginning with its first season in 1955, and played the role of Othello in the 1957 season. In 1959 he appeared in the West End in the first London production of A Raisin In the Sun alongside Kim Hamilton.
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Kenneth Nelson was an American actor. Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Nelson appeared in several television series in the late 1940s, Captain... Video and His Video Rangers and The Aldrich Family among them. He was cast in his first Broadway show, Seventeen, a musical adaptation of the Booth Tarkington novel that opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on June 21, 1951 and ran 182 performances. Nelson found little work for the remainder of the decade, but in 1960, he was cast in an off-Broadway show entitled The Fantasticks, which eventually became the world's longest-running musical with 17,162 performances. In 1962, he was hired to understudy Anthony Newley in Stop the World - I Want to Get Off when it transferred from the West End, eventually assuming the lead role when the star departed the show. From there, he went to another London import, Half a Sixpence, in 1965. In 1968, Nelson accepted the lead in the controversial and groundbreaking off-Broadway production of The Boys in the Band, the first play to explore the milieu of gay life in New York City in a graphically frank manner.
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Maureen Garrett is an American actress. Garrett played the role of Holly Norris on Guiding Light, a role she inherited from Lynn Deerfield in 1976.... For many years, the character of Holly was featured in a psychologically complex story with Roger Thorpe, played by Michael Zaslow. Villain Roger had, among other things, raped Holly while they were married. The couple of Roger and Holly is considered one of Guiding Light's most memorable couples. In 1980, Garrett left Guiding Light to pursue prime-time television and film. She speaks German and French. She studied at Universitat München in Germany, and at Temple and Villanova Universities in Pennsylvania, United States. She has been nominated for three Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role of Holly Norris in 1991, 1992 and 1994 respectively; and has also been nominated for three Soap Opera Digest Awards. In addition to her role on Guiding Light, she also portrayed the character of Elizabeth Jane "EJ" Ryan on Ryan's Hope.
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Mary Elizabeth Winstead is an American actress. She came into prominence for her scream queen roles in the horror films Final Destination 3, Black... Christmas, Death Proof and The Thing. Winstead's earliest acting career was in television including her work on the soap opera Passions, for which she was nominated for a Young Artist Award. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Lucy McClane in Live Free or Die Hard and Ramona Flowers in the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Winstead, the fifth and youngest child of Betty Lou and James Ronald Winstead, was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. When she was five, her family moved to Sandy, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb. As a girl, Winstead attended Peruvian Park Elementary, where she excelled academically and attended advanced classes. A talented dancer and singer, Winstead studied dance in a Joffrey Ballet summer program in Chicago, Illinois and was also a member of the International Children's Choir. In her youth, Winstead initially hoped to pursue a career as a ballerina and appeared in local ballet productions.
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Earle Hyman is an American stage, television, and film actor. Hyman is known for his recurring role on The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell... Huxtable. A native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Hyman's parents, Zachariah Hyman and Maria Lilly Plummer, moved their family to Brooklyn, New York, where Hyman primarily grew up. Earle Hyman became interested in acting after seeing a production of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts. “The first play I ever saw was a present from my parents on my 13th birthday — Nazimova in ‘Ghosts’ at Brighton Beach on the subway circuit — and I just freaked out.” He made his Broadway stage debut as a teenager in 1943 in Run, Little Chillun, and later joined the American Negro Theater. The following year, Hyman began a two year run playing the role of Rudolf on Broadway in Anna Lucasta, starring Hilda Simms in the title role. He was a member of the American Shakespeare Theatre beginning with its first season in 1955, and played the role of Othello in the 1957 season. In 1959 he appeared in the West End in the first London production of A Raisin In the Sun alongside Kim Hamilton.
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Joe Bonner is a jazz pianist who is featured in The Bonner Party, a jazz quartet. He was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and studied at Virginia... State College, but indicates he learned more by musicians he worked with. In the seventies he played with Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard, and Billy Harper, among others. He counts among his influences McCoy Tyner and Art Tatum, and is known for playing hard bop and modal jazz.
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Kenneth Nelson was an American actor. Born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Nelson appeared in several television series in the late 1940s, Captain... Video and His Video Rangers and The Aldrich Family among them. He was cast in his first Broadway show, Seventeen, a musical adaptation of the Booth Tarkington novel that opened at the Broadhurst Theatre on June 21, 1951 and ran 182 performances. Nelson found little work for the remainder of the decade, but in 1960, he was cast in an off-Broadway show entitled The Fantasticks, which eventually became the world's longest-running musical with 17,162 performances. In 1962, he was hired to understudy Anthony Newley in Stop the World - I Want to Get Off when it transferred from the West End, eventually assuming the lead role when the star departed the show. From there, he went to another London import, Half a Sixpence, in 1965. In 1968, Nelson accepted the lead in the controversial and groundbreaking off-Broadway production of The Boys in the Band, the first play to explore the milieu of gay life in New York City in a graphically frank manner.
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Dana Glover is an American pop singer and songwriter, known for performing film songs. Glover was born in Rocky Mount, but moved to Asheville, North... Carolina at the age of eight. At 16 she went to Manhattan for a modeling career. At age 18 she decided to become a musician; first in Nashville, Tennessee where she became a piano player, and then later in Los Angeles. In 2001, she recorded, for the film The Wedding Planner, the song "Plan On Forever" -- a duet with the film's composer, Mervyn Warren. Later that year, she recorded her song "It Is You " for the film Shrek. Then Robbie Robertson introduced her to Matthew Wilder. Wilder produced her debut album, Testimony, which reached #43 on the UK Albums Chart. On this album she had two singles: "Thinking Over", which reached #17 on the US AC chart and #22 on the US Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks charts, and "Rain", which reached #30 on the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart. In 2004, "Thinking Over" was used for the Garry Marshall film Raising Helen.
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