The Bellero Shield
Season 1, Episode 20
Bellero Shield alien
Air date February 10, 1964
Written by Joseph Stefano (teleplay & story)
in:
Episodes, Original Series Episodes
The Bellero Shield
The Bellero Shield - Wikipedia
"The Bellero Shield" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 10 February 1964, during the first season.
"The Bellero Shield"The Outer Limits episodeBellero.pngCinematography by
Opening narration
"There is a passion in the human heart which is called aspiration. It flares with the noble flame, and by its light Man has traveled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space. But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition – by which sin the angels fell."
Plot
A scientist, Richard Bellero (Landau), builds a powerful laser device that he shoots into the sky from a laboratory on the top floor of his home, but the invention is not practical enough to satisfy his demanding father, Richard Sr. (Hamilton), who views his son as a failure and has made plans to hand control of the Bellero company to someone outside the family, to the great chagrin of Richard's ruthlessly ambitious wife Judith (Kellerman). One night after Richard has left the lab, a peaceful bioluminescent extraterrestrial from a world which "hovers just above the ceiling of your universe" rides the laser down to earth. Judith tries to shoot the alien with a laser gun, but the alien protects himself by using a small device in his hand that instantly raises a powerful shield around him. Recognizing that this technology would bring her husband great acclaim and fortune, Judith gets Richard to leave the house by persuading him to go fetch his father. She then tries to coax the alien into giving her his shield's control device, but he disagrees, fearing his technology would fall into the wrong hands. Judith then tricks him into lowering his shield and shoots him, stealing his shield control device. Judith and her maid Mrs. Dame (Rivera) secretly drag the apparently dead alien's body to the cellar.
During a demonstration in front of Richard and his father, who do not know that the alien has been shot, Judith raises the shield but is unable to take it down and becomes trapped inside it.[2] Mrs. Dame, desperate to save Judith from death by asphyxiation, goes to the cellar and is startled to find the alien still alive but very weak. The maid begs him "Can you help?" The alien replies, "Can I not?" Just before dying, the alien lowers the shield by using his own glowing blood, the substance that powers the control device. Despite her being rescued, however, Judith insists that she is still trapped by the shield—the imagined shield, perhaps, of her own guilt over killing an alien that thought only of helping her. As the episode ends, she places her hands helplessly on the "shield" that is no longer there. On one hand is a spot: a glowing drop of the murdered alien's blood that presumably will stain her palm forever.
Closing narration
"When this passion called aspiration becomes lust, then aspiration degenerates, becomes vulgar ambition, by which sin the angels fell."
Interpretation
The most obvious parallels to Shakespeare's Macbeth lie in Judith's overweening and heartless ambition (similar to that of Lady Macbeth), both women's apparent madness by the end of their respective tales, and the "damn'd spot" that will not "out" from either woman's hand, a physical manifestation of their guilt. However, Judith's husband Richard shares none of Macbeth's brutality or desire for power. Northwestern University professor Jeffrey Sconce interprets the "shield" as a metaphor for television, a tool of "domestic asylum" that kept women of that era locked up within the home.[2]
Legacy
Skeptics have pointed to this episode to explain the grey aliens in the 1961 Betty and Barney Hill abduction. In his 1990 article Entirely Unpredisposed, Martin Kottmeyer suggested that Barney's memories revealed under hypnosis might have been influenced by the episode, which was broadcast twelve days before Barney's first hypnotic session. Between the alleged 1961 abduction and the airing of the episode in 1964, Betty Hill's writings had described the aliens as short black-haired men with large "Jimmy Durante" noses.[3] The episode featured an extraterrestrial with large eyes who says, "In all the universes, in all the unities beyond the universes, all who have eyes have eyes that speak." The report from the regression featured a scenario that was in some respects similar to the television show. In part, Kottmeyer wrote:[4]
"Wraparound eyes are an extreme rarity in science fiction films. I know of only one instance. They appeared on the alien of an episode of an old TV series The Outer Limits entitled "The Bellero Shield". A person familiar with Barney's sketch in "The Interrupted Journey" and the sketch done in collaboration with the artist David Baker will find a "frisson" of "déjà vu" creeping up his spine when seeing this episode. The resemblance is much abetted by an absence of ears, hair, and nose on both aliens. Could it be by chance? Consider this: Barney first described and drew the wraparound eyes during the hypnosis session dated 22 February 1964. "The Bellero Shield" was first broadcast on "10 February 1964. Only twelve days separate the two instances. If the identification is admitted, the commonness of wraparound eyes in the abduction literature falls to cultural forces."
When a different researcher asked Betty about The Outer Limits, she insisted she had "never heard of it".[5]
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The Bellero Shield
Season 1, Episode 20
Bellero Shield alien
Air date February 10, 1964
Written by Joseph Stefano (teleplay & story)
Lou Morheim (story)
Based on a story by Arthur Leo Zagat
Directed by John Brahm
Episode guide
Previous
The Invisibles Next
The Children of Spider County
Contents[hide]
Introduction
Opening narration
Plot
Closing narration
Cast
Crew
Quotes
IntroductionEdit
Opening narrationEdit
"There is a passion in the human heart which is called aspiration. It flares with the noble flame, and by its light Man has traveled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space. But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition-by which sin the angels fell."
PlotEdit
A scientist, Richard Bellero, builds a powerful laser device that he shoots into the sky from a laboratory on the top floor of his home. The invention, though, is not practical enough to satisfy his demanding father Richard Sr. He views his son as a failure and has made plans to hand control of the Bellero company to someone outside the family, to the great chagrin of Richard's ruthlessly ambitious wife Judith.
One night after Richard has left the lab, a peaceful bioluminescent extraterrestrial from a world which "hovers just above the ceiling of your universe" rides the laser down to Earth. Judith tries to shoot the alien with a laser gun, but he protects himself by using a small device in his hand that instantly raises a powerful shield around him. Recognizing that this technology would bring her husband great acclaim and fortune, Judith gets Richard to leave the house by persuading him to go fetch his father. She then tries and coax the alien into giving her his shield's control device, to which he disagrees, fearing his technology would fall in the wrong hands. Judith therefore tricks him into lowering his shield and shoots him, stealing his shield control device. She and her maid Mrs. Dame secretly drag the apparently dead alien's body to the cellar.
During a demonstration in front of Richard and his father, who don't know that the alien has been shot, Judith raises the shield but, being unable to take it down, becomes trapped inside it. Mrs. Dame, desperate to save Judith from death by asphyxiation, goes to the cellar and is startled to find the alien still alive but very weak. The maid begs him "Can you help?" The alien replies, "Can I not?" Just before dying, the alien lowers the shield by using his own glowing blood, the substance that powers the control device. Despite her being rescued, however, Judith insists that she is still trapped by the shield—the imagined shield, perhaps, of her own guilt over killing an alien that thought only of helping her. As the episode ends, she places her hands helplessly on the "shield" that is no longer there. On one hand is a spot: a glowing drop of the murdered alien's blood that presumably will stain her palm forever.
Closing narrationEdit
"When this passion called aspiration becomes lust, then aspiration degenerates, becomes vulgar ambition, by which sin the angels fell."
CastEdit
Martin Landau - Richard Bellero
Sally Kellerman - Judith
Chita Rivera - Mrs. Dame
John Hoyt - Bifrost Alien
Neil Hamilton - Richard Bellero, Sr.
CrewEdit
Cinematographer - Conrad Hall
QuotesEdit
Richard Bellero, Sr. to Mrs. Dame - "Great men are forgiven their murderous wives!"
Lou Morheim (story)
Based on a story by Arthur Leo Zagat
Directed by John Brahm
Episode guide
Previous
The Invisibles Next
The Children of Spider County
Introduction
Opening narration
"There is a passion in the human heart which is called aspiration. It flares with the noble flame, and by its light Man has traveled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space. But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition-by which sin the angels fell."
Plot
A scientist, Richard Bellero, builds a powerful laser device that he shoots into the sky from a laboratory on the top floor of his home. The invention, though, is not practical enough to satisfy his demanding father Richard Sr. He views his son as a failure and has made plans to hand control of the Bellero company to someone outside the family, to the great chagrin of Richard's ruthlessly ambitious wife Judith Bellero.
One night after Richard has left the lab, a peaceful bioluminescent extraterrestrial from a world which "hovers just above the ceiling of your universe" rides the laser down to Earth.The alien seems trapped in Earth for a time. Judith tries to shoot the alien with a laser gun, but he protects himself by using a small device in his hand that instantly raises a powerful shield,appearing to be similar to a plexiglass corner around him. Recognizing that this technology would bring her husband great acclaim and fortune, Judith Bellero gets Richard to leave the house by persuading him to go fetch his father. She then tries and coax the alien into giving her his shield's control device, to which he disagrees, fearing his technology would fall in the wrong hands. Judith therefore tricks him into lowering his shield and shoots him, stealing his shield control device-small white ball.The alien,unknown to her,seems as control device to attached the aliens body,by way of veins in body.Detaching the white seems to make the alien bleed. She and her maid Mrs. Dame secretly drag the apparently dead alien's body to the cellar.
During a demonstration in front of Richard Bellero and his father, who don't know that the alien has been shot, Judith raises the shield but, being unable to take it down, becomes trapped inside it. It appears as if the control needs the aliens blood or life force to work.Mrs. Dame, desperate to save Judith from death by asphyxiation, goes to the cellar and is startled to find the alien still alive but very weak. The maid begs him "Can you help?" The alien replies, "Can I not?". Just before dying, the alien lowers the shield by using his own glowing blood, the substance that powers the control device. Despite her being rescued, however, Judith insists that she is still trapped by the shield—the imagined shield, perhaps, of her own guilt over killing an alien that thought only of helping her. As the episode ends, she places her hands helplessly on the "shield" that is no longer there. On one hand is a spot: a glowing drop of the murdered alien's blood that presumably will stain her palm forever.
Closing narration
"When this passion called aspiration becomes lust, then aspiration degenerates, becomes vulgar ambition, by which sin the angels fell."
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Spotlight on "The Bellero Shield"
By Christa Faust
By Which Sin the Angels Fell: Ambitious Broads, Film Noir and “The Bellero Shield”
“The Bellero Shield” has always been one of my favorite Outer Limits episodes. And not just because it's the only episode with an overt foot fetish.
Pussywhipped scientist Dr. Richard Bellero (Martin Landau) accidentally transports an alien being down to Earth on a beam of light, a classic example of whimsical, poetic and utterly unscientific Outer Limits "science.".This seems to say,Doctor Bellero captured a fallen angel,like Lucifer in his lab.Parts of this concept reminds me,like the Galaxy Being the later on Marvel Comics Fallen Angel like alien,the Silver Surfer.
Bellero just wants to hang and talk shop with his sparkly new friend, but Mrs. Judith Bellero (Sally Kellerman) has bigger ideas. She's got her sights set on the alien's nifty shielding device, which she thinks will get hubby a shot at taking over his father's company. So she offs the alien, steals the shield by breaking it from the creatures circulatory system,causing it to bleed white,glowing blood and her barefoot housekeeper Mrs. Dame (Chita Rivera) helps her hide the body. I'm not gonna give away the ending for those who haven't seen it yet, but needless to say, things don't go according to plan.
This episode has been compared to Shakespeare by smarter writers than me. Specifically MacBeth, and I can see why. The bombastic dialog. Blood (or in this case glowing white alien "fluid") on an ambitious woman's hand. Descent into madness. The whole nine. But me, I have say,many things point towards the Bard. Yeah, I know it's great literature and all that, but I'm more of a Film Noir kinda gal. And “The Bellero Shield” hits me in all the dark, shadowy sweet spots.
Sexy, scheming Femme Fatale willing to seduce, steal or kill her way to the top? Check. Well-meaning sap of a husband who thinks she might be cheating but is too whipped to do anything about it? Check. One impulsive crime that spirals out of control, leading ultimately to the downfall of everyone involved? Check. Throw in a lurid, downer ending and I'm in Noir heaven.
Funny too how, like the best Film Noir, this episode is all about light and shadow. Not just in the visual sense, but metaphorically as well. The alien is pulled down to Earth by a beam of light. It's made of light and comes from a place that is "not a planet, but an amplification of light." On the other hand, the mysterious, murderous housekeeper is always lurking in the shadows, with only her bare feet visible. Mrs. Bellero is often shot with her face either partially or completely in shadow and much of her key interaction with Mrs. Dame takes place in the shadowy basement.
Also, the angelic alien seems almost asexual, a delicate, cat fished fey creature with a keen intellect and no real connection to the physical world. The alien,as I say is much very unaware like the Galaxy Being or the Silver Surfer,that humans might do him in.The Bifrost Alien is very niece and almost innocent.John Hoyt is another OUTER LIMITS "immortal," being a 3-fer (he appears later in "I, Robot" in addition to this and "Doomsday"). In many ways, Stefano's five-characters-no-waiting approach reveals a deadly focus to his comfort zone of Gothic horrors within THE OUTER LIMITS, soon to go completely over the top with THE UNKNOWN. Fewer characters, almost no truck with the "real" world whatsoever, characters not encumbered by day jobs or commuter traffic — and the furthest remove from TWILIGHT ZONE's "ordinary people" as one could imagine. (Although it is slightly comical to consider Bellero Sr's back-and-forth to the house ... I hope he lived nearby! Or had a car phone ...)
.Mrs. Bellero is earthy, sensual and animalistic with her fur collar and imposing, statuesque physique. Scholarly types could probably make all kinds of brainy connections and conclusions about that, but lucky for you guys, I'm not one of them. I get right to the stuff that really matters.
So, are Mrs. Bellero and Mrs. Dame doing it or what? I know I'm not the only one who sees a strong lesbian undercurrent to this episode. Which is, of course, another reason why it's my fave. In a way, Mrs. Dame is John Garfield to Mrs. Bellero's Lana Turner. You know, like in The Postman Always Rings Twice. The swarthy, working-class employee who's banging the boss' wife right under his nose. Willing to do anything for his/her mistress, including murder.This make Mrs. Bellero only needing her husband for her attempt at power.
And I got news for Daddy Bellero, who tosses off the juicy, preposterous line "Great men are forgiven their murderous wives!" just before he gets tossed down the stairs, Tommy Udo style, by his daughter-in-law's lesbian lover. That ain't necessarily so, Daddy-O. Not in Noir City, and not in the Outer Limits either.
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The Bellero Shield [show article only]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [wikipedia page]
"The Bellero Shield"
The Outer Limits episode
Bellero.png
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 20
Directed by John Brahm
Written by Joseph Stefano (teleplay & story)
Lou Morheim (story)
Based on a story by Arthur Leo Zagat
Cinematography by Conrad Hall
Production code 23
Original air date February 10, 1964
Guest appearance(s)
Martin Landau
Sally Kellerman
Chita Rivera
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Invisibles" Next →
"The Children of Spider County"
List of The Outer Limits episodes
"The Bellero Shield" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 10 February 1964, during the first season.
There are several similarities in the story's theme, plot, and structure to William Shakespeare's Macbeth, and many critics agree it was the series' take on that play.[1]
Contents
1 Opening narration
2 Plot
3 Closing narration
4 Interpretation
5 Legacy
6 Cast
7 References
8 External links
Opening narration
"There is a passion in the human heart which is called aspiration. It flares with the noble flame, and by its light Man has traveled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space. But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition – by which sin the angels fell."
Plot
A scientist, Richard Bellero (Landau), builds a powerful laser device that he shoots into the sky from a laboratory on the top floor of his home, but the invention is not practical enough to satisfy his demanding father, Richard Sr. (Hamilton), who views his son as a failure and has made plans to hand control of the Bellero company to someone outside the family, to the great chagrin of Richard's ruthlessly ambitious wife Judith (Kellerman). One night after Richard has left the lab, a peaceful bioluminescent extraterrestrial from a world which "hovers just above the ceiling of your universe" rides the laser down to earth. Judith tries to shoot the alien with a laser gun, but the alien protects himself by using a small device in his hand that instantly raises a powerful shield around him. Recognizing that this technology would bring her husband great acclaim and fortune, Judith gets Richard to leave the house by persuading him to go fetch his father. She then tries to coax the alien into giving her his shield's control device, but he disagrees, fearing his technology would fall into the wrong hands. Judith then tricks him into lowering his shield and shoots him, stealing his shield control device. Judith and her maid Mrs. Dame (Rivera) secretly drag the apparently dead alien's body to the cellar.
During a demonstration in front of Richard and his father, who do not know that the alien has been shot, Judith raises the shield but is unable to take it down and becomes trapped inside it.[2] Mrs. Dame, desperate to save Judith from death by asphyxiation, goes to the cellar and is startled to find the alien still alive but very weak. The maid begs him "Can you help?" The alien replies, "Can I not?" Just before dying, the alien lowers the shield by using his own glowing blood, the substance that powers the control device. Despite her being rescued, however, Judith insists that she is still trapped by the shield—the imagined shield, perhaps, of her own guilt over killing an alien that thought only of helping her. As the episode ends, she places her hands helplessly on the "shield" that is no longer there. On one hand is a spot: a glowing drop of the murdered alien's blood that presumably will stain her palm forever.
Closing narration
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The Bellero Shield [show article only]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia [wikipedia page]
"The Bellero Shield"
The Outer Limits episode
Bellero.png
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 20
Directed by John Brahm
Written by Joseph Stefano (teleplay & story)
Lou Morheim (story)
Based on a story by Arthur Leo Zagat
Cinematography by Conrad Hall
Production code 23
Original air date February 10, 1964
Guest appearance(s)
Martin Landau
Sally Kellerman
Chita Rivera
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Invisibles" Next →
"The Children of Spider County"
List of The Outer Limits episodes
"The Bellero Shield" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 10 February 1964, during the first season.
There are several similarities in the story's theme, plot, and structure to William Shakespeare's Macbeth, and many critics agree it was the series' take on that play.[1]
Contents
1 Opening narration
2 Plot
3 Closing narration
4 Interpretation
5 Legacy
6 Cast
7 References
8 External links
Opening narration
"There is a passion in the human heart which is called aspiration. It flares with the noble flame, and by its light Man has traveled from the caves of darkness to the darkness of outer space. But when this passion becomes lust, when its flame is fanned by greed and private hunger, then aspiration becomes ambition – by which sin the angels fell."
Plot
A scientist, Richard Bellero (Landau), builds a powerful laser device that he shoots into the sky from a laboratory on the top floor of his home, but the invention is not practical enough to satisfy his demanding father, Richard Sr. (Hamilton), who views his son as a failure and has made plans to hand control of the Bellero company to someone outside the family, to the great chagrin of Richard's ruthlessly ambitious wife Judith (Kellerman). One night after Richard has left the lab, a peaceful bioluminescent extraterrestrial from a world which "hovers just above the ceiling of your universe" rides the laser down to earth. Judith tries to shoot the alien with a laser gun, but the alien protects himself by using a small device in his hand that instantly raises a powerful shield around him. Recognizing that this technology would bring her husband great acclaim and fortune, Judith gets Richard to leave the house by persuading him to go fetch his father. She then tries to coax the alien into giving her his shield's control device, but he disagrees, fearing his technology would fall into the wrong hands. Judith then tricks him into lowering his shield and shoots him, stealing his shield control device. Judith and her maid Mrs. Dame (Rivera) secretly drag the apparently dead alien's body to the cellar.
During a demonstration in front of Richard and his father, who do not know that the alien has been shot, Judith raises the shield but is unable to take it down and becomes trapped inside it.[2] Mrs. Dame, desperate to save Judith from death by asphyxiation, goes to the cellar and is startled to find the alien still alive but very weak. The maid begs him "Can you help?" The alien replies, "Can I not?" Just before dying, the alien lowers the shield by using his own glowing blood, the substance that powers the control device. Despite her being rescued, however, Judith insists that she is still trapped by the shield—the imagined shield, perhaps, of her own guilt over killing an alien that thought only of helping her. As the episode ends, she places her hands helplessly on the "shield" that is no longer there. On one hand is a spot: a glowing drop of the murdered alien's blood that presumably will stain her palm forever.
Closing narration
"When this passion called aspiration becomes lust, then aspiration degenerates, becomes vulgar ambition, by which sin the angels fell."
Interpretation
The most obvious parallels to Shakespeare's Macbeth lie in Judith's overweening and heartless ambition (similar to that of Lady Macbeth), both women's apparent madness by the end of their respective tales, and the "damn'd spot" that will not "out" from either woman's hand, a physical manifestation of their guilt. However, Judith's husband Richard shares none of Macbeth's brutality or desire for power. Northwestern University professor Jeffrey Sconce interprets the "shield" as a metaphor for television, a tool of "domestic asylum" that kept women of that era locked up within the home.[2]
Legacy
Skeptics have pointed to this episode to explain the grey aliens in the 1961 Betty and Barney Hill abduction. In his 1990 article Entirely Unpredisposed, Martin Kottmeyer suggested that Barney's memories revealed under hypnosis might have been influenced by the episode, which was broadcast twelve days before Barney's first hypnotic session. Between the alleged 1961 abduction and the airing of the episode in 1964, Betty Hill's writings had described the aliens as short black-haired men with large "Jimmy Durante" noses.[3] The episode featured an extraterrestrial with large eyes who says, "In all the universes, in all the unities beyond the universes, all who have eyes have eyes that speak." The report from the regression featured a scenario that was in some respects similar to the television show. In part, Kottmeyer wrote:[4]
"Wraparound eyes are an extreme rarity in science fiction films. I know of only one instance. They appeared on the alien of an episode of an old TV series The Outer Limits entitled "The Bellero Shield". A person familiar with Barney's sketch in "The Interrupted Journey" and the sketch done in collaboration with the artist David Baker will find a "frisson" of "déjà vu" creeping up his spine when seeing this episode. The resemblance is much abetted by an absence of ears, hair, and nose on both aliens. Could it be by chance? Consider this: Barney first described and drew the wraparound eyes during the hypnosis session dated 22 February 1964. "The Bellero Shield" was first broadcast on "10 February 1964. Only twelve days separate the two instances. If the identification is admitted, the commonness of wraparound eyes in the abduction literature falls to cultural forces."
When a different researcher asked Betty about The Outer Limits, she insisted she had "never heard of it".[5]
Cast
Cast
Martin Landau – as Richard Bellero
Sally Kellerman – as Judith
Chita Rivera – as Mrs. Dame
John Hoyt – as Bifrost Alien
Neil Hamilton – as Richard Bellero, Sr.
References
The Bellero Shield review Archived 2008-07-23 at the Wayback Machine.
Sconce, Jeffrey (2000). Haunted Media: Electronic Presence from Telegraphy to Television. Duke University Press. p. 151. ISBN 0822325721.
Dunning, Brian. "Skeptoid #124: Betty and Barney Hill: The Original UFO Abduction". Skeptoid. Retrieved June 19, 2017.
Kottmeyer, Martin. "Entirely Unpredisposed". www.debunker.com. Retrieved 2008-09-19.
Clark, Jerome. The UFO Book, 1998, p. 291.
Detailed episode guide by 'Monsieur Vincent'. Archived from the original at the Wayback Machine (archived March 11, 2007). Retrieved on 2012-09-29.
External links
"The Bellero Shield" at TV.com
[show]
William Shakespeare's Macbeth
[show]
The Outer Limits episodes
Categories: The Outer Limits (1963 TV series) episodes1964 American television episodesScreenplays by Joseph Stefano WorksWorks based on Macbeth
Banquo - Canada Lee as Banquo in the Federal Theatre Project production of Macbeth (1936)
Macbeth is a 1911 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare play Macbeth; no prints are known to exist. Like all films …
Macbeth (1911 film) - E.H. Sothern as Macbeth for the 1911 Broadway production
E.H. Sothern as Macbeth for the 1911 Broadway production
RELATED RESEARCH TOPICS
1. Martin Landau – Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. His career started in the 1950s, with film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcocks North by Northwest. He played regular roles in the television series Mission, Impossible and his performance in the supporting role of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood earned him an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Golden Globe Award. He continues to perform in film and TV and heads the Hollywood branch of the Actors Studio, Landau was born in Brooklyn, New York on June 20,1928, the son of Selma and Morris Landau. His family was Jewish, his father, an Austrian-born machinist and he attended James Madison High School and the Pratt Institute before finding full-time work as a cartoonist. At 22, he quit the Daily News to concentrate on theater acting, influenced by Charlie Chaplin and the escapism of the cinema, Landau pursued an acting career. He attended the Actors Studio, becoming friends with James Dean.
In 1957, he made his Broadway debut in Middle of the Night, in 1959, Landau made his first major film appearance, as Leonard, right-hand man of a criminal mastermind, in Alfred Hitchcocks North by Northwest. He had featured roles in two 1960s epics, Cleopatra and The Greatest Story Ever Told, and played a killer in the 1965 western Nevada Smith. Landau played the role of master of disguise Rollin Hand in the US television series Mission, Impossible, according to The Complete Mission, Impossible Dossier by Patrick J. He became a full-time cast member in the season, although the studio agreed to contract him only on a year-by-year basis rather than the then-standard five years. Landau co-starred in the series with his then-wife, Barbara Bain, in the mid-1970s, Landau and Bain returned to TV in the British science-fiction series Space,1999.
Although the series remains a classic for its high production values, critical response to Space,1999 was unenthusiastic during its original run. Landau himself was critical of the scripts and storylines, especially during the second season. He later wrote forewords to Space,1999 co-star Barry Morses theatrical memoir Remember With Advantages, following Space,1999, Landau appeared in supporting roles in a number of films and TV series, including the TV film The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligans Island, which again co-starred Bain. In the late 1980s, Landau made a comeback, earning an Academy Award nomination for his role in Tucker, The Man. This was followed by a nomination, for 1989s Crimes and Misdemeanors. Landau also received a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Golden Globe Award, when Landau won the Academy Award, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times announced, the award goes to Martin Landau, its shadow goes to Bela Lugosi
2. Sally Kellerman – Sally Clare Kellerman is an American actress, activist, author, producer, singer and voice-over artist. Kellermans acting career spans nearly 60 years, and her role as Major Margaret Hot Lips Houlihan in Robert Altmans film M*A*S*H earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. After MASH, she appeared in a number of the directors projects, the Player and Prêt-à-Porter, and the short-lived anthology TV series Gun. At age 18, Kellerman signed a contract with Verve Records. A second album, Sally, was released in 2009, Kellerman also contributed songs to the soundtracks for Brewster McCloud, Lost Horizon, Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins and Boris and Natasha, The Movie. She has done commercial work for Hidden Valley Ranch salad dressing, Mercedes-Benz. Kellermans animation work includes The Mouse and His Child, Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird, Happily Ever After, Dinosaurs, Unsupervised and The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange. In April 2013 she released her memoir, Read My Lips, Stories of a Hollywood Life, describing her trials and tribulations in the entertainment business. Sally Clare Kellerman was born June 2,1937 in Long Beach, California, to Edith Baine, a teacher, and John Jack Helm Kellerman. During her sophomore year of school, the Kellermans moved from San Fernando to Park La Brea, Los Angeles. Due to her shyness, Kellerman made few friends and received poor grades, however, with the help of a high-school friend, Kellerman submitted a recording demo to Verve Records founder and head Norman Granz. After signing a contract with Verve, however, she was daunted by the task of becoming a recording artist, Kellerman enrolled in Jeff Coreys acting class. Within a year, she appeared in a production of John Osbornes Look Back in Anger staged by Corey and featuring classmates Shirley Knight, Jack Nicholson, Dean Stockwell and Robert Blake. Towards the end of the 1950s, Kellerman joined the newly opened Actors Studio West and debuted before the camera in the film, to pay her tuition, Kellerman worked as a waitress at Chez Paulette. The decade found Kellerman making a number of television-series appearances and she was in an episode of the western Cheyenne as well as a role as a waitress in the John Forsythe sitcom Bachelor Father. Struggling for parts in television and films, Kellerman acted on stage and she debuted in Henrik Ibsens An Enemy of the People, followed by parts in a Pasadena Playhouse production of Leslie Stevenss The Marriage-Go-Round and Michael Shurtleffs Call Me by My Rightful Name. In 1964, Kellerman played Judith Bellero, the manipulative and ruthless wife of Richard Bellero, a role as Holly Mitchell, perverted mistress of George Peppards character in the film The Third Day, followed. A year later, she played psychiatrist Elizabeth Dehner in Where No Man Has Gone Before, before the closing the musical numbers were recorded live, and she recorded three songs which appeared on the original cast recording
3. William Shakespeare – William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet, and the Bard of Avon and his extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright, Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a career in London as an actor, writer. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, at age 49, Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, in his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and it was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as not of an age, but for all time. In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship. His plays remain highly popular and are studied, performed. William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, an alderman and a successful glover originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden and he was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised there on 26 April 1564. His actual date of birth unknown, but is traditionally observed on 23 April. This date, which can be traced back to an 18th-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing to biographers because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and he was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married 26-year-old Anne Hathaway, the consistory court of the Diocese of Worcester issued a marriage licence on 27 November 1582. The next day, two of Hathaways neighbours posted bonds guaranteeing that no lawful claims impeded the marriage, twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised 2 February 1585. Hamnet died of unknown causes at the age of 11 and was buried 11 August 1596, after the birth of the twins, Shakespeare left few historical traces until he is mentioned as part of the London theatre scene in 1592. The exception is the appearance of his name in the bill of a law case before the Queens Bench court at Westminster dated Michaelmas Term 1588 and 9 October 1589
4. Jimmy Durante – James Francis Jimmy Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian, and actor. He often referred to his nose as the Schnozzola, and the word became his nickname, Durante was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. He was the youngest of four born to Rosa and Bartolomeo Durante. Bartolomeo was a barber, and his wife Rosa was the sister of a woman who lived in the boarding house. Young Jimmy served as a boy at Saint Malachys Roman Catholic Church. Durante dropped out of school in grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist. He first played with his cousin, whose name was also Jimmy Durante and it was a family act, but he was too professional for his cousin. He continued working the citys piano bar circuit and earned the nickname Ragtime Jimmy, before he joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York, Durante was the only member not from New Orleans. His routine of breaking into a song to deliver a joke, with band or orchestra chord punctuation after each line, in 1920 the group was renamed Jimmy Durantes Jazz Band. By the mid-1920s, Durante had become a star and radio personality in a trio called Clayton, Jackson. Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson, Durantes closest friends, often reunited with Durante in subsequent years, Jackson and Durante appeared in the Cole Porter musical The New Yorkers, which opened on Broadway on December 8,1930. Earlier that same year, the team appeared in the movie Roadhouse Nights, by 1934, Durante had a major record hit with his own novelty composition, Inka Dinka Doo, with lyrics by Ben Ryan. It became his theme song for the rest of his life, a year later, Durante starred on Broadway in the Billy Rose stage musical Jumbo. A scene in which an officer stopped Durantes character—who was leading a live elephant across the stage—to ask. Followed by Durantes reply, What elephant and this comedy bit, also reprised in his role in Billy Roses Jumbo, likely contributed to the popularity of the idiom the elephant in the room. Durante also appeared on Broadway in Show Girl, Strike Me Pink and Red, Hot, during the early 1930s, Durante alternated between Hollywood and Broadway. His early motion pictures included an original Rodgers & Hart musical The Phantom President and he was initially paired with silent film legend Buster Keaton in a series of three popular comedies for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- Speak Easily, The Passionate Plumber, and What. No Beer. -- which were hits and a career springboard for the distinctive newcomer
5. Neil Hamilton (actor) – James Neil Hamilton was an American actor probably best known for his role as Commissioner Gordon on the Batman TV series of the 1960s. An only child, Hamilton was born in Lynn, Massachusetts and his show business career began when he secured a job as a shirt model in magazine ads, similar to fellow silent film performer Reed Howes, who was known in advertisements as The Arrow Collar Man. After this, he interested in acting and joined several stock companies. This allowed him to secure his first film role in 1918 in Vitagraphs The Beloved Impostor, in 1924, he traveled to Germany with Griffith and made a film about the incredibly harsh living conditions in post-World War I Germany, Isnt Life Wonderful. While filming America in 1924, an arm was blown off. As fellow actor Charles Emmett Mack recalls, Neil Hamilton and I went to neighboring towns and raised a fund for him—I doing a song and dance, Hamilton was signed by Paramount Pictures in the mid-1920s and became one of their leading men. He often appeared opposite star Bebe Daniels, in 1926, he played one of Ronald Colmans brothers in Paramounts original silent version of Beau Geste. In 1926, Hamilton played Nick Carraway in the first production of The Great Gatsby and he was steadily employed in supporting roles, and worked for just about every studio in Hollywood. He made the transition to sound pictures at the end of the 1920s, in 1930, he appeared in the original production of The Dawn Patrol, playing the squadron commander, a role played by Basil Rathbone in the 1938 remake. Hamilton was billed above newcomer Clark Gable in the 1931 Joan Crawford vehicle Laughing Sinners and he originated the role of milksop Harry Holt, Janes fiance, in the 1932 film Tarzan the Ape Man, and he actually received top billing in the film. Hamilton reprised the role in the 1934 pre-Code sequel, Tarzan and His Mate and he made 268 films, both silents and talkies. A-level work in Hollywood dried up for Hamilton by the 1940s, and he was reduced to working in serials, B films and he starred as the villain in King of the Texas Rangers, one of the most successful movie serials on all time for Republic Pictures in 1941. In Since You Went Away, a 1944 epic about life on the front in World War II. His familys travails during his absence are the center of the movie, Hamilton reportedly shot scenes for the movie before filmmakers decided to keep his character off screen. He appeared in the 1944 film noir classic When Strangers Marry with Robert Mitchum, in a 1970s book interview for Whatever Happened To. Hamilton said he had banned from A level work for insulting a studio executive. A Roman Catholic, Hamilton said that his faith got him through the period of late 1942 to early 1944, when he could not obtain film employment. During the late 1940s and early 1950s Hamilton performed on Broadway in such shows as Many Happy Returns, The Men We Marry, To Be Continued, and Late Love
6. Lady Macbeth – Lady Macbeth is a character in Shakespeares Macbeth. She is the wife of the plays antagonist, Macbeth, a Scottish nobleman, after goading him into committing regicide, she becomes Queen of Scotland, but later suffers pangs of guilt for her part in the crime. She dies off-stage in the last act, an apparent suicide, according to some genealogists, Lady Macbeth and King Duncans wife were siblings or cousins, where Duncans wife had a stronger claim to the throne than Lady Macbeth. It was this that incited her jealousy and hatred of Duncan, the characters origins lie of the accounts of Kings Duff and Duncan in Holinsheds Chronicles, a history of Britain familiar to Shakespeare. Lady Macbeth is a presence in the play, most notably in the first two acts. Following the murder of King Duncan, however, her role in the plot diminishes and she becomes an uninvolved spectator to Macbeths plotting, and a nervous hostess at a banquet dominated by her husbands hallucinations. Her fifth act sleepwalking scene is a point in the play. Has become a familiar to many speakers of the English language. The report of her late in the fifth act provides the inspiration for Macbeths Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow speech. Analysts see in the character of Lady Macbeth the conflict between femininity and masculinity, as they are impressed in cultural norms. Lady Macbeth suppresses her instincts toward compassion, motherhood, and fragility — associated with femininity — in favour of ambition, ruthlessness, and this conflict colours the entire drama, and sheds light on gender-based preconceptions from Shakespearean England to the present.
In the account of King Duff, one of his captains, Donwald, Donwald then considers regicide at the setting on of his wife, who showed him the means whereby he might soonest accomplish it. Donwald abhors such an act, but perseveres at the nagging of his wife, after plying the Kings servants with food and drink and letting them fall asleep, the couple admit their confederates to the Kings room, where they then commit the regicide. The murder of Duff has its motivation in revenge, rather than ambition, not found in Holinshed are the invocation to the spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, the sleepwalking scene, and various details found in the drama concerning the death of Macbeth. Although Macbeths wife can be traced to a counterpart, Queen Gruoch of Scotland. Lady Macbeth makes her first appearance late in scene five of the first act, when King Duncan becomes her overnight guest, Lady Macbeth seizes the opportunity to effect his murder. The King retires after a night of feasting, Lady Macbeth drugs his attendants and lays daggers ready for the commission of the crime. Macbeth kills the sleeping King while Lady Macbeth waits nearby, when he brings the daggers from the Kings room, his Lady orders him to return them to the scene of the crime
7. Banquo – Lord Banquo /ˈbæŋkwoʊ/, the Thane of Lochaber, is a character in William Shakespeares 1606 play Macbeth. In the play, he is at first an ally to Macbeth, after prophesying that Macbeth will become king, the witches tell Banquo that he will not be king himself, but that his descendants will be. Later, Macbeth in his lust for power sees Banquo as a threat and has him murdered, Banquos son, Fleance, Banquos ghost returns in a later scene, causing Macbeth to react with alarm during a public feast. Shakespeare borrowed the character of Banquo from Holinsheds Chronicles, a history of Britain published by Raphael Holinshed in 1587.
In Chronicles Banquo is an accomplice to Macbeth in the murder of the king, Shakespeare may have changed this aspect of his character in order to please King James, who was thought at the time to be a descendant of the real Banquo. Critics often interpret Banquos role in the play as being a foil to Macbeth, sometimes, however, his motives are unclear, and some critics question his purity. He does nothing to accuse Macbeth of murdering the king, even though he has reason to believe Macbeth is responsible, Holinshed in turn used an earlier work, the Scotorum Historiae by Hector Boece, as his source. Boeces work is the first known record of Banquo and his son Fleance, in Shakespeares day, however, they were considered historical figures of great repute, and the king, James I, based his claim to the throne in part on a descent from Banquo. In reality Walter fitz Alan was the son of Alan fitz Flaad, unlike his sources, Shakespeare gives Banquo no role in the Kings murder, making it a deed committed solely by Macbeth and his wife. Why Shakespeares Banquo is so different from the described by Holinshed and Boece is not known. But Shakespeare may also simply have altered Banquos character because there was no dramatic need for another accomplice to the murder, there was, however, a need to provide a dramatic contrast to Macbeth, a role that many scholars argue is filled by Banquo. Banquos role in the coup that follows the murder is harder to explain, if Macbeth, rather than Malcolm, is Prince of Cumberland then Macbeth would be next in line to the throne and no coup would be needed, effectively removing this ambiguity from Banquos character. Banquo is in a third of the scenes, as both a human and a ghost. As significant as he is to the plot, he has fewer lines than the relatively insignificant Ross, a Scottish nobleman who survives the play. In the second scene of the play, King Duncan describes the manner in which Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, and Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, bravely led his army against invaders, fighting side by side. In the next scene, Banquo and Macbeth, returning from the battle together, encounter the Three Witches, who predict that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor, and then king. Banquo, skeptical of the witches, challenges them to predict his own future, and they foretell that Banquo will never take the throne. Banquo remains skeptical after the encounter, wondering aloud if evil can ever speak the truth and he warns Macbeth that evil will offer men a small, hopeful truth only in order to catch them in a deadly trap
8. Malcolm III of Scotland – Malcolm was King of Scots from 1058 to 1093. Malcolms long reign of 35 years preceded the beginning of the Scoto-Norman age and he is the historical equivalent of the character of the same name in William Shakespeares Macbeth. Malcolm III fought a series of wars against the Kingdom of England and these wars did not result in any significant advances southward. Malcolms second wife, St. Margaret of Scotland, is Scotlands only royal saint, Malcolm himself had no reputation for piety, with the notable exception of Dunfermline Abbey in Fife he is not definitely associated with major religious establishments or ecclesiastical reforms. Malcolms father Duncan I became king in late 1034, on the death of Malcolm II, Duncans maternal grandfather, Duncans reign was not successful and he was killed by Macbeth on 15 August 1040. Although Shakespeares Macbeth presents Malcolm as a man and his father as an old one, it appears that Duncan was still young in 1040. Malcolms family did attempt to overthrow Macbeth in 1045, but Malcolms grandfather Crínán of Dunkeld was killed in the attempt, soon after the death of Duncan his two young sons were sent away for greater safety—exactly where is the subject of debate.
According to one version, Malcolm was sent to England, based on Forduns account, it was assumed that Malcolm passed most of Macbeths seventeen-year reign in the Kingdom of England at the court of Edward the Confessor. An English invasion in 1054, with Siward, Earl of Northumbria in command, had as its goal the installation of one Máel Coluim and this Máel Coluim has traditionally been identified with the later Malcolm III. This interpretation derives from the Chronicle attributed to the 14th-century chronicler of Scotland, John of Fordun, the latter reported that Macbeth was killed in the battle by Siward, but it is known that Macbeth outlived Siward by two years. A. A. M. Duncan argued in 2002 that, using the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry as their source, Duncans argument has been supported by several subsequent historians specialising in the era, such as Richard Oram, Dauvit Broun and Alex Woolf. It has also suggested that Máel Coluim may have been a son of Owain Foel, British king of Strathclyde perhaps by a daughter of Malcolm II. In 1057 various chroniclers report the death of Macbeth at Malcolms hand, Macbeth was succeeded by his stepson Lulach, who was crowned at Scone, probably on 8 September 1057. Lulach was killed by Malcolm, by treachery, near Huntly on 23 April 1058, after this, Malcolm became king, perhaps being inaugurated on 25 April 1058, although only John of Fordun reports this. If he did visit the English court, he was the first reigning king of Scots to do so in more than eighty years. If a marriage agreement was made in 1059, it was not kept, equally, Malcolms raids in Northumbria may have been related to the disputed Kingdom of the Cumbrians, reestablished by Earl Siward in 1054, which was under Malcolms control by 1070. The Orkneyinga saga reports that Malcolm married the widow of Thorfinn Sigurdsson, Ingibiorg, although Ingibiorg is generally assumed to have died shortly before 1070, it is possible that she died much earlier, around 1058. The Orkneyinga Saga records that Malcolm and Ingibiorg had a son, Duncan II, Malcolms son Domnall, whose death is reported in 1085, is not mentioned by the author of the Orkneyinga Saga
9. Siward, Earl of Northumbria – Siward or Sigurd was an important earl of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse nickname Digri and its Latin translation Grossus are given to him by near-contemporary texts, Siward was probably of Scandinavian origin, perhaps a relative of Earl Ulf, and emerged as a powerful regional strongman in England during the reign of Cnut. Cnut was a Scandinavian ruler who conquered England in the 1010s, Siward subsequently rose to become sub-ruler of most of northern England. From 1033 at the latest Siward was in control of southern Northumbria and he entrenched his position in northern England by marrying Ælfflæd, the daughter of Ealdred, Earl of Bamburgh. After killing Ealdreds successor Eadulf in 1041, Siward gained control of all Northumbria and he exerted his power in support of Cnuts successors, kings Harthacnut and Edward, assisting them with vital military aid and counsel. He probably gained control of the shires of Northampton and Huntingdon by the 1050s. In the early 1050s Earl Siward turned against the Scottish ruler Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, despite the death of his son Osbjorn, Siward defeated Mac Bethad in battle in 1054. More than half a millennium later the Scotland adventure earned him a place in William Shakespeares Macbeth, Siward died in 1055, leaving one son, Waltheof, who would eventually succeed to Northumbria. St Olaves church in York and nearby Heslington Hill are associated with Siward, source material on Siwards life and career is scarce, and only a small and potentially unrepresentative amount of information exists.
Other sources include the material attributed to Symeon of Durham, Siwards career in northern England spanned the reigns of four different monarchs. It began during the reign of Cnut, and lasted through those of Harold Harefoot, most important was the reign of Cnut, in which so many new political figures rose to power that some historians think it comparable to the Norman conquest five decades later. These new men were military figures, usually with weak hereditary links to the West Saxon royal house that Cnut had deposed, as Cnut ruled several Scandinavian kingdoms in addition to England, power at the highest level was delegated to such strongmen. In England, it fell to a handful of newly promoted ealdormen or earls, Siward was, in the words of historian Robin Fleming, the third man in Cnuts new triumvirate of earls, the other two being Godwine, Earl of Wessex and Leofwine, Earl of Mercia. Northern England in the 11th-century was a quite distinct from the rest of the country. The former kingdom of Northumbria stretched from the Humber and Mersey estuaries, northward to the Firth of Forth, the former is associated with the stronghold of Bamburgh, while the latter is associated with the great Roman city of York. It was a fragmented region. One such example was the magnate Thurbrand, a hold in Yorkshire, probably based in Holderness, historians generally claim Siward to be of Scandinavian origin, a conclusion supported by the Vita Ædwardi Regis, which states that Siward was Digri in the Danish tongue. Historian Timothy Bolton has recently argued that the similarities between these genealogies is evidence of a family tradition between the descendants of Siward and Thorgil Sprakling
10. James VI and I – James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union. James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, James succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother Mary was compelled to abdicate in his favour.
Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, in 1603, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known after him as the Jacobean era, until his death in 1625 at the age of 58. After the Union of the Crowns, he based himself in England from 1603, only returning to Scotland once in 1617 and he was a major advocate of a single parliament for England and Scotland. In his reign, the Plantation of Ulster and British colonization of the Americas began, at 57 years and 246 days, Jamess reign in Scotland was longer than those of any of his predecessors. He achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. James himself was a scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie, The True Law of Free Monarchies. He sponsored the translation of the Bible that would later be named after him, Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed the wisest fool in Christendom, an epithet associated with his character ever since. Since the latter half of the 20th century, historians have tended to revise Jamess reputation and treat him as a serious, James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.
Both Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren of Henry VII of England through Margaret Tudor, Marys rule over Scotland was insecure, and she and her husband, being Roman Catholics, faced a rebellion by Protestant noblemen. James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, and as the eldest son and heir apparent of the monarch automatically became Duke of Rothesay and Prince and he was baptised Charles James or James Charles on 17 December 1566 in a Catholic ceremony held at Stirling Castle. His godparents were Charles IX of France, Elizabeth I of England, Mary refused to let the Archbishop of St Andrews, whom she referred to as a pocky priest, spit in the childs mouth, as was then the custom. The subsequent entertainment, devised by Frenchman Bastian Pagez, featured men dressed as satyrs and sporting tails, Jamess father, Darnley, was murdered on 10 February 1567 at Kirk o Field, Edinburgh, perhaps in revenge for Rizzios death. James inherited his fathers titles of Duke of Albany and Earl of Ross, Mary was already unpopular, and her marriage on 15 May 1567 to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of murdering Darnley, heightened widespread bad feeling towards her. In June 1567, Protestant rebels arrested Mary and imprisoned her in Loch Leven Castle and she was forced to abdicate on 24 July 1567 in favour of the infant James and to appoint her illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as regent. The care of James was entrusted to the Earl and Countess of Mar, to be conserved, nursed, and upbrought in the security of Stirling Castle
