title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: To avoid jeopardizing negotiations, Grant refrained from recognizing Cuban rebels who were fighting for independence from Spain, which would have been inconsistent with American objections to the British granting belligerent status to Confederates. A commission in Washington produced a treaty whereby an international tribunal would settle the damage amounts; the British admitted regret, but not fault. The Senate, including Grant critics Sumner and Carl Schurz, approved the Treaty of Washington, which settled disputes over fishing rights and maritime boundaries, by a 50–12 vote, signed on May 8, 1871. The "Alabama" claims settlement would be Grant's most successful foreign policy achievement that secured peace with Great Britain and the United States. The settlement ("$15,500,000") of the "Alabama" Claims resolved troubled Anglo-American issues, ended the bullied demand to take over Canada, and turned Britain into America's strongest ally.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In 1869, Grant initiated his plan, later to become an obsession, to annex the Dominican Republic, then called Santo Domingo. Grant believed acquisition of the Caribbean island and Samaná Bay would increase the United States' natural resources, and strengthen U.S. naval protection to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, safeguard against British obstruction of U.S. shipping and protect a future oceanic canal, stop slavery in Cuba and Brazil, while blacks in the United States would have a safe haven from "the crime of Klu Kluxism".


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Joseph W. Fabens, an American speculator who represented Buenaventura Báez, the president of the Dominican Republic, met with Secretary Fish and proposed annexation, whose island inhabitants sought American protection. Fish wanted nothing to do with the island, but he dutifully brought up Faben's proposal to Grant at a cabinet meeting. On July 17, Grant sent his military White House aide Orville E. Babcock to evaluate the islands' resources, local conditions, and Báez's terms for annexation, but was given no diplomatic authority. When Babcock returned to Washington with two unauthorized annexation treaties, Grant, however, approved and pressured his cabinet to accept them. Grant ordered Fish to draw up formal treaties, sent to Báez by Babcock's return to the island nation. The Dominican Republic would be annexed for $1.5 million and Samaná Bay would be lease-purchased for $2 million. General D.B. Sackett and General Rufus Ingalls accompanied Babcock. On November 29, President Báez signed the treaties. On December 21, the treaties were placed before Grant and his cabinet.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant's grand plan to annex Santo Domingo, a black and mixed-race nation, into the United States, however, would be hostilely obstructed by Senator Charles Sumner. On December 31, Grant met with Sumner, unannounced, at Sumner's Washington D.C. home to gain his support for annexation. Grant left confident Sumner approved, but what Sumner actually said was controversially disputed, by various witnesses. Without appealing to the American public, to his detriment, Grant submitted the treaties on January 10, 1870, to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by the stubborn and imperious Sumner, for ratification, but Sumner purposefully shelved the bills. Prompted by Grant to stop stalling the treaties, Sumner's committee took action but rejected the bills by a 5-to-2 vote. Sumner opposed annexation and reportedly said the Dominicans were "a turbulent, treacherous race" in a closed session of the Senate. Sumner sent the treaties for a full Senate vote, while Grant personally lobbied other senators. Despite Grant's efforts, the Senate defeated the treaties, on Thursday, June 30, by a 28–28 vote when a 2/3 majority was required.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant was outraged, and on Friday, July 1, 1870, he sacked his appointed Minister to Great Britain, John Lothrop Motley, Sumner's close friend and ally. In January 1871, Grant signed a joint resolution to send a commission to investigate annexation. For this undertaking, he chose three neutral parties, with Fredrick Douglass to be secretary of the commission, that gave Grant the moral high ground from Sumner. Although the commission approved its findings, the Senate remained opposed, forcing Grant to abandon further efforts. Seeking retribution, in March 1871, Grant maneuvered to have Sumner deposed of Sumner's powerful Senate chairmanship, replaced by Grant ally Simon Cameron. The stinging controversy over Santo Domingo overshadowed Grant's foreign diplomacy. Critics complained of Grant's reliance on military personnel to implement his policies.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: American policy was to remain neutral during the Ten Years' War (1868–78), a series of long bloody revolts that were taking place in Cuba against Spanish rule. On the recommendation of Fish and Senator Sumner, Grant refused to recognize the belligerence of the rebels, and in effect endorsed Spanish colonial rule there, while calling for the abolition of slavery in Cuba. This was done to protect American commerce and to keep peace with Spain.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: This fragile policy, however, was severely broken in October 1873, when a Spanish cruiser captured a merchant ship, "Virginius", flying the U.S. flag, carrying supplies and men to aid the insurrection. Treating them as pirates, without trial, Spanish authorities executed 53 prisoners, including eight American citizens. American Captain Joseph Frye was executed and his crew was executed and decapitated and their lifeless bodies were mutilated, trampled by horses. Many enraged Americans protested and called for war with Spain. Grant ordered U.S. Navy Squadron warships to converge on Cuba, off of Key West, supported by the USS "Kansas". On November 27, Fish reached a diplomatic resolution in which Spain's president, Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, expressed his regret, surrendered the "Virginius" and the surviving captives. A year later, Spain paid a cash indemnity of $80,000 to the families of the executed Americans.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In the face of strong opposition from Democrats, Grant and Fish secured a free trade treaty in 1875 with the Kingdom of Hawaii, incorporating the Pacific islands' sugar industry into the United States' economic sphere. The Southern Democrats, wanting to protect American rice and sugar producers, tried to squash a bill to implement the Hawaiian treaty. The Democrats, in opposition, because the treaty was believed to be an island annexation attempt, referred to the Hawaiians as an "inferior" non-white race. Despite opposition, the implementation bill passed Congress.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: At the close of Grant's second term in office, Fish had to contend Indian raids on the Mexican border, due to a lack of law enforcement over the U.S. – Mexican border. The problem would escalate during the Hayes' administration, under Fish's successor William Evarts.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: When Grant took office in 1869, the nation's policy towards Native Americans was in chaos, affecting more than 250,000 Native Americans being governed by 370 treaties. Grant's religious faith influenced his "peace" policy toward Native Americans, believing that the "Creator" did not place races of men on earth for the "stronger" to destroy the "weaker". President Grant was mostly an assimilationist, wanting Indians to adopt European customs, education, English language, Christianity, private property, clothing, and to accept democratic government, that would lead to eventual Indian citizenship. At Grant's 1869 Inauguration, Grant said "the proper treatment of the original occupants of the land, the Indian, is one deserving of careful study. I will favor any course towards them which tends to their civilization, Christianization and ultimate citizenship." Grant appointed Ely S. Parker, an assimilated Seneca and member of his wartime staff, to serve as the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to serve in this position, surprising many around him.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In April 1869, Grant signed legislation establishing an unpaid Board of Indian Commissioners to reduce corruption and oversee the implementation of what was called Grant's Indian ""Peace"" policy. In 1870, a setback in Grant's policy occurred over the Marias Massacre, causing public outrage. In 1871, Grant ended the sovereign tribal treaty system; by law individual Native Americans were deemed wards of the federal government. Grant's Indian policy was undermined by Parker's resignation in 1871, denominational infighting among Grant's chosen religious agents, and entrenched economic interests. Grant's Indian policy was also lampooned by an 1871 Thomas Nast cartoon, that depicted Grant as "Robinson Crusoe", forcing an Indian Chief, "his man Friday", into tightly fitted western attire. Nonetheless, Indian wars declined overall during Grant's first term, while on October 1, 1872, Major General Oliver Otis Howard negotiated peace with the Apache leader Cochise. On December 28, 1872, another setback took place to Grant's policy when General George Crook and the 5th Cavalry massacred about 75 Yavapai Apache Indians at Skeleton Cave, Arizona.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: During his second term, Grant's Indian policy fell apart. On April 11, 1873, Major General Edward Canby was killed in Northern California south of Tule Lake by Modoc leader Kintpuash, in a failed peace conference to end the Modoc War. Grant ordered restraint after Canby's death. The army captured Kintpuash, who was convicted of Canby's murder and hanged on October 3 at Fort Klamath, while the remaining Modoc tribe was relocated to the Indian Territory. In 1874, the army defeated the Comanche at the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, forcing them to finally settle at the Fort Sill reservation in 1875. Grant pocket-vetoed a bill in 1874 protecting bison, and instead supported Interior Secretary Columbus Delano, who correctly believed the killing of bison would force Plains Native Americans to abandon their nomadic lifestyle. In April 1875, another setback occurred to Grant's policy. The U.S. Army led by Lt. Austin Henly massacred 27 Cheyenne Indians, including 19 men, and 8 women and children, on the Sappa Creek, in Kansas.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: With the lure of gold discovered in the Black Hills and the westward force of Manifest Destiny, white settlers trespassed on Sioux protected lands used for religious and marital ceremonies. Red Cloud reluctantly entered negotiations on May 26, 1875, but other Sioux chiefs readied for war. Grant told the Sioux leaders to make "arrangements to allow white persons to go into the Black Hills." Antagonistic toward Native American culture, Grant told them their children would attend schools, speak English, and prepare "for the life of white men."


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: On November 3, 1875, Grant held a meeting at the White House and, under advice from Sheridan, agreed not to enforce keeping out miners from the Black Hills, forcing Native Americans onto the Sioux reservation. Sheridan told Grant that the U.S. Army was undermanned and the territory involved was vast, requiring great numbers of soldiers to enforce the treaty.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: During the Great Sioux War that started after Sitting Bull refused to relocate to agency land, warriors led by Crazy Horse massacred George Armstrong Custer and 268 of his men at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. The slaughter took place during the Centennial, and the Indian victory was announced to the nation on July 4, while angry white settlers demanded retribution. Grant castigated Custer in the press, saying "I regard Custer's massacre as a sacrifice of troops, brought on by Custer himself, that was wholly unnecessary—wholly unnecessary." Previously, Custer had infuriated Grant when he testified against Grant's brother Orville during a House investigation into trading post graft on March 1, 1876. In September and October 1876, Grant persuaded the tribes to relinquish the Black Hills. Congress ratified the agreement three days before Grant left office in 1877.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant's first administration was mixed with both success and failure. In 1871, to placate reformers, he created the America's first Civil Service Commission, chaired by reformer George William Curtis.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: The Liberal Republicans, composed of reformers, men who supported low tariffs, and those who opposed Grant's prosecution of the Klan, broke from Grant and the Republican Party. The Liberals, who personally disliked Grant, detested his alliance with Senator Simon Cameron and Senator Roscoe Conkling, considered to be spoilsmen politicians.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In 1872, the Liberals nominated Horace Greeley, a leading Republican "New York Tribune" editor and a fierce enemy of Grant, for president, and Missouri governor B. Gratz Brown, for vice president. The Liberals denounced Grantism, corruption, nepotism, and inefficiency, demanded the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, literacy tests for blacks to vote, and amnesty for Confederates. The Democrats adopted the Greeley-Brown ticket and the Liberals party platform. Greeley, whose Tribune gave him wider name recognition and a louder campaign voice, pushed the themes that the Grant administration was failed and corrupt.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: The Republicans nominated Grant for reelection, with Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts replacing Colfax as the vice presidential nominee. The Republicans shrewdly borrowed from the Liberals' party platform, including "extended amnesty, lowered tariffs, and embraced civil service reform." Grant lowered customs duties, gave amnesty to former Confederates, and implemented a civil service merit system, neutralizing the opposition. To placate the burgeoning suffragist movement, the Republicans' platform mentioned that women's rights would be treated with "respectful consideration." Concerning Southern policy, Greeley advocated that local government control be given to whites, while Grant advocated federal protection of blacks. Grant was supported by Frederick Douglass, prominent abolitionists, and Indian reformers.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant won reelection easily thanks to federal prosecution of the Klan, a strong economy, debt reduction, lowered tariffs, and tax reductions. He received 3.6 million ("55.6%") votes to Greeley's 2.8 million votes and an Electoral College landslide of 286 to 66. A majority of African Americans in the South voted for Grant, while Democratic opposition remained mostly peaceful. Grant lost in six former slave states that wanted to see an end to Reconstruction. He proclaimed the victory as a personal vindication of his presidency, but inwardly he felt betrayed by the "Liberals". Grant was sworn in for his second term by Salmon P. Chase on March 4, 1873. In his second inaugural address, he reiterated the problems still facing the nation and focused on what he considered the chief issues of the day: freedom and fairness for all Americans while emphasizing the benefits of citizenship for freed slaves. Grant concluded his address with the words, "My efforts in the future will be directed towards the restoration of good feelings between the different sections of our common community". In 1873, Wilson suffered a stroke; never fully recovering, he died in office on November 22, 1875. With Wilson's loss, Grant relied on Fish's guidance more than ever.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant continued to work for a strong dollar, signing into law the Coinage Act of 1873, which effectively ended the legal basis for bimetallism (the use of both silver and gold as money), establishing the gold standard in practice. The Coinage Act discontinued the standard silver dollar and established the gold dollar as the sole monetary standard; because the gold supply did not increase as quickly as the population, the result was deflation. Silverites, who wanted more money in circulation to raise the prices that farmers received, denounced the move as the "Crime of 1873", claiming the deflation made debts more burdensome for farmers.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Economic turmoil renewed during Grant's second term. In September 1873, Jay Cooke & Company, a New York brokerage house, collapsed after it failed to sell all of the bonds issued by Cooke's Northern Pacific Railway. The collapse rippled through Wall Street, and other banks and brokerages that owned railroad stocks and bonds were also ruined. On September 20, the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading for ten days. Grant, who knew little about finance, traveled to New York to consult leading businessmen and bankers for advice on how to resolve the crisis, which became known as the Panic of 1873. Grant believed that, as with the collapse of the Gold Ring in 1869, the panic was merely an economic fluctuation that affected bankers and brokers. He instructed the Treasury to buy $10 million in government bonds, injecting cash into the system. The purchases curbed the panic on Wall Street, but an industrial depression, later called the Long Depression, nonetheless swept the nation. Many of the nation's railroads—89 out of 364—went bankrupt.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Congress hoped inflation would stimulate the economy and passed The Ferry Bill, which became known as the "Inflation Bill" in 1874. Many farmers and workingmen favored the bill, which would have added $64 million in greenbacks to circulation, but some Eastern bankers opposed it because it would have weakened the dollar. Belknap, Williams, and Delano told Grant a veto would hurt Republicans in the November elections. Grant believed the bill would destroy the credit of the nation, and he vetoed it despite their objections. Grant's veto placed him in the conservative faction of the Republican Party and was the beginning of the party's commitment to a gold-backed dollar. Grant later pressured Congress for a bill to further strengthen the dollar by gradually reducing the number of greenbacks in circulation. When the Democrats gained a majority in the House after the 1874 elections, the lame-duck Republican Congress did so before the Democrats took office. On January 14, 1875, Grant signed the Specie Payment Resumption Act, which required gradual reduction of the number of greenbacks allowed to circulate and declared that they would be redeemed for gold beginning on January 1, 1879.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: The post-Civil War economy brought on massive industrial wealth and government expansion. Speculation, lifestyle extravagance, and corruption in federal offices were rampant. All of Grant's executive departments were investigated by Congress. Grant by nature was honest, trusting, gullible, and extremely loyal to his chosen friends. His responses to malfeasance were mixed, at times appointing cabinet reformers, but also at times defending culprits.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant in his first term appointed Secretary of Interior Jacob D. Cox, who implemented civil service reform: he fired unqualified clerks, and took other measures. On October 3, 1870, Cox resigned office under a dispute with Grant over handling of a mining claim. Authorized by Congress on March 3, 1871, Grant created and appointed the first Civil Service Commission. Grant's Commission created rules for competitive exams, the end of mandatory political assessments, classifying positions into grades, and appointees were chosen from the top three performing federal applicants. The rules took effect on January 1, 1872, but Department heads, and others were exempted. Grant, more than any previous president, elevated the federal civil service, but his critics refused to acknowledge this.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In November 1871, Grant's appointed New York Collector, and Conkling ally, Thomas Murphy, resigned. Grant replaced Murphy with another Conkling ally, Chester A. Arthur, who implemented Boutwell's reforms. A Senate committee investigated the New York Customs House from January 3, 1872, to June 4, 1872. Previous Grant appointed collectors Murphy and Moses H. Grinnell charged lucrative fees for warehouse space, without the legal requirement of listing the goods. This led to Grant firing warehouse owner George K. Leet, for pocketing the exorbitant freight fees and splitting the profits. Boutwell's reforms included stricter record-keeping and that goods be stored on company docks. Grant ordered prosecutions in New York by Attorney General George H. Williams and Secretary of Treasury Boutwell of persons accepting and paying for bribes. Although exonerated, Grant was derided for his association with Conkling's New York patronage machine.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: On March 3, 1873, Grant signed into law an appropriation act that increased pay for federal employees, Congress (retroactive), the Judiciary, and the President. Grant's annual salary doubled from $25,000 to $50,000. Critics derided Congress' two year retroactive, "services rendered", $4,000 lump sum payment for each Congressman, and the law was partially repealed. Grant, however, kept his much needed pay raise, while his personal reputation remained intact.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In 1872, Grant signed into law an act that ended private moiety ("tax collection") contracts, but an attached rider allowed three more contracts. Boutwell's assistant secretary William A. Richardson, hired John B. Sanborn to go after "individuals and cooperations" who allegedly evaded taxes. Retained by Richardson (as Secretary), Sanborn aggressively collected $213,000, while splitting $156,000 to others, including Richardson, and the Republican Party campaign committee. During an 1874 Congressional investigation, Richardson denied involvement, but Sanborn said he met with Richardson six times over the contracts. Congress severely condemned Richardson's permissive manner. Grant appointed Richardson judge of the Court of Claims, and replaced him with reformer Benjamin Bristow. In June, Grant and Congress abolished the moiety system.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Bristow effectively cleaned house, tightened up the Treasury's investigation force, implemented civil service, and fired hundreds of corrupt appointees. Bristow discovered Treasury receipts were low, and launched an investigation that uncovered the notorious Whiskey Ring, that involved collusion between distillers and Treasury officials to evade paying the Treasury millions in tax revenues. Much of this money was being pocketed while some of it went into Republican coffers. In mid-April, Bristow informed Grant of the ring. On May 10, Bristow struck hard and broke the ring. Federal marshals raided 32 installations nationwide and arrested 350 men; 176 indictments were obtained, leading to 110 convictions and $3,150,000 in fines returned to the Treasury.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant appointed David Dyer, under Bristow's recommendation, federal attorney to prosecute the Ring in St. Louis, who indicted Grant's old friend General John McDonald, supervisor of Internal Revenue. Grant endorsed Bristow's investigation writing on a letter "Let no guilty man escape..." Bristow's investigation discovered Babcock received kickback payments, and that Babcock had secretly forewarned McDonald, the ring's mastermind boss, of the coming investigation. On November 22, the jury convicted McDonald. On December 9, Babcock was indicted, however, Grant refused to believe in Babcock's guilt, was ready to testify in Babcock's favor, but Fish warned that doing so would put Grant in the embarrassing position of testifying against a case prosecuted by his own administration. Instead, Grant remained in Washington and on February 12, 1876, gave a deposition in Babcock's defense, expressing that his confidence in his secretary was "unshaken". Grant's testimony silenced all but his strongest critics.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: The St. Louis jury acquitted Babcock, but Grant allowed Babcock to remain at the White House. However, after Babcock was indicted in a frame up of a Washington reformer, called the Safe Burglary Conspiracy,


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant finally dismissed him from the White House. Babcock kept his position of Superintendent of Public Buildings in Washington.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: The Interior Department under Secretary Columbus Delano, whom Grant appointed to replace Cox, was rife with fraud and corruption. The exception was Delano's effective oversight of Yellowstone. Grant reluctantly forced Delano's resignation. Surveyor General Silas Reed had set up corrupt contracts that benefited Delano's son, John Delano. Grant's Secretary Interior Zachariah Chandler, who succeeded Delano in 1875, implemented reforms, fired corrupt agents and ended profiteering. When Grant was informed by Postmaster Marshall Jewell of a potential Congressional investigation into an extortion scandal involving Attorney General George H. Williams' wife, Grant fired Williams and appointed reformer Edwards Pierrepont in his place. Grant's new cabinet appointments temporarily appeased reformers.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: After the Democrats took control of the House in 1875, more corruption in federal departments was exposed. Among the most damaging scandal involved Secretary of War William W. Belknap, who took quarterly kickbacks from the Fort Sill tradership, which led to his resignation in February 1876. Belknap was impeached by the House but was acquitted by the Senate. Grant's own brother Orvil set up "silent partnerships" and received kickbacks from four trading posts. Congress discovered that Secretary of Navy Robeson had been bribed by a naval contractor, but no articles of impeachment were drawn up. In his December 5, 1876, Eighth Annual Message, Grant apologized to the nation: "Failures have been errors of judgement, not of intent."


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: The abandonment of Reconstruction by the nation played a central role during the Election of 1876. Mounting investigations into corruption by the House, controlled by the Democrats, politically discredited Grant's presidency. Grant, by a public letter in 1875, chose not to run for a third term, while the Republicans chose Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, a reformer, at their convention. The Democrats nominated Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Voting irregularities in three Southern states caused the election that year to remain undecided for several months. Grant told Congress to settle the matter through legislation and assured both sides that he would not use the army to force a result, except to curb violence. On January 29, 1877, he signed legislation forming an Electoral Commission to decide the matter. Hayes was ruled President by the commission; to forestall Democratic protests, Republicans agreed to the Compromise of 1877, in which the last troops were withdrawn from Southern capitals. With Reconstruction dead, an 80-year era of Jim Crow segregation was launched. Grant's "calm visage" throughout the election crisis appeased the nation.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: To the chagrin of Grant, President Hayes appointed Reconstruction critics, including Liberal Republican icon Carl Schurz to Secretary of Interior.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: After leaving the White House, Grant said he "was never so happy in my life". The Grants left Washington for New York, to attend the birth of their daughter Nellie's child, staying at Hamilton Fish's residence. Calling themselves "waifs", the Grants toured Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago, and Galena, without a clear idea of where they would live afterward.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: For some years Grant had entertained the idea of taking a long-deserved vacation after his presidency and, after liquidating one of his investments to finance the venture, the Grants set out on a world tour that lasted approximately two and a half years. Grant's voyage abroad was funded by a Nevada-based mining company investment he made that earned him $25,000 ($ in dollars). Preparing for the tour, they arrived in Philadelphia on May 10, 1877, and were honored with celebrations during the week before their departure. On May 16, Grant and Julia left for England aboard the SS "Indiana". During the tour the Grants made stops in Europe, Africa, India, and points in the Middle East and Far East, meeting with notable dignitaries such as Queen Victoria, Pope Leo XIII, Otto von Bismarck, Li Hongzhang, Emperor Meiji and others. Grant was the first U.S. president to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: As a courtesy to Grant by the Hayes administration, his touring party received federal transportation on three U.S. Navy ships: a five-month tour of the Mediterranean on the USS "Vandalia", travel from Hong Kong to China on the USS "Ashuelot", and transportation from China to Japan on the USS "Richmond". During the tour, the Hayes administration encouraged Grant to assume a public unofficial diplomatic role to represent the United States and strengthen American interests abroad, while resolving issues for some countries in the process. Homesick, the Grants left Japan sailing on the SS "City of Tokio" escorted by a Japanese man-of-war, crossed the Pacific and landed in San Francisco on September 20, 1879, greeted by cheering crowds. Before returning home to Philadelphia, Grant stopped at Chicago for a reunion with General Sherman and the Army of the Tennessee. Grant's tour demonstrated to Europe and Asia that the United States was an emerging world power.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Stalwarts, led by Grant's old political ally, Roscoe Conkling, saw Grant's renewed popularity as an opportunity to regain power, and sought to nominate him for the presidency in 1880. Opponents called it a violation of the unofficial two-term rule in use since George Washington. Grant said nothing publicly but wanted the job and encouraged his men. Washburne urged him to run; Grant demurred, saying he would be happy for the Republicans to win with another candidate, though he preferred James G. Blaine to John Sherman. Even so, Conkling and John A. Logan began to organize delegates in Grant's favor. When the convention convened in Chicago in June, there were more delegates pledged to Grant than to any other candidate, but he was still short of a majority vote to get the nomination.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: At the convention, Conkling nominated Grant with an eloquent speech, the most famous line being: "When asked which state he hails from, our sole reply shall be, he hails from Appomattox and its famous apple tree." With 370 votes needed for the nomination, the first ballot had Grant at 304, Blaine at 284, Sherman at 93, and the rest to minor candidates. Subsequent ballots followed, with roughly the same result; neither Grant nor Blaine could win. After thirty-six ballots, Blaine's delegates deserted him and combined with those of other candidates to nominate a compromise candidate: Representative and former Union general James A. Garfield of Ohio. A procedural motion made the vote unanimous for Garfield, who accepted the nomination. Grant gave speeches for Garfield but declined to criticize the Democratic nominee, Winfield Scott Hancock, a general who had served under him in the Army of the Potomac. Garfield won the election. Grant gave Garfield his public support and pushed him to include Stalwarts in his administration. On July 2, 1881, Garfield was shot by an assassin and died on September 19. On learning of Garfield's death from a reporter, Grant wept bitterly.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In the 19th century, there were no federal presidential pensions, and the Grants' personal income was limited to $6,000 a year. Grant's world tour had been costly, and he had depleted most of his savings, while he needed to earn money and find a new home. Wealthy friends bought him a house on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and to make an income, Grant, Jay Gould, and former Mexican Finance Secretary Matías Romero chartered the Mexican Southern Railroad, with plans to build a railroad from Oaxaca to Mexico City. Grant urged Chester A. Arthur, who had succeeded Garfield as president in 1881, to negotiate a free trade treaty with Mexico. Arthur and the Mexican government agreed, but the United States Senate rejected the treaty in 1883. The railroad was similarly unsuccessful, falling into bankruptcy the following year.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: At the same time, Grant's son Buck had opened a Wall Street brokerage house with Ferdinand Ward—although a conniving man who swindled numerous wealthy men, Ward was at the time regarded as a rising star on Wall Street. The firm, Grant & Ward, was initially successful. In 1883, Grant joined the firm and invested $100,000 of his own money. Grant, however, warned Ward that if his firm engaged in government business he would dissolve their partnership. To encourage investment, Ward paid investors abnormally high interest, by pledging the company's securities on multiple loans in a process called "rehypothecation". Ward, in collusion with banker James D. Fish and kept secret from bank examiners, retrieved the firm's securities from the company's bank vault. When the trades went bad, multiple loans came due, all backed up by the same collateral.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Historians agree that Grant was likely unaware of Ward's intentions, but it is unclear how much Buck Grant knew. In May 1884, enough investments went bad to convince Ward that the firm would soon be bankrupt. Ward, who assumed Grant was "a child in business matters," told him of the impending failure, but assured Grant that this was a temporary shortfall. Grant approached businessman William Henry Vanderbilt, who gave him a personal loan of $150,000. Grant invested the money in the firm, but it was not enough to save it from failure. Vanderbilt offered to forgive Grant's debt entirely, an offer Grant refused. Essentially penniless, but compelled by a sense of personal honor he repaid what he could with his Civil War mementos and the sale or transfer of all other assets. Vanderbilt took title to Grant's home, although he allowed the Grants to continue to reside there, and pledged to donate the souvenirs to the federal government and insisted the debt had been paid in full. Grant was distraught over Ward's deception and asked privately how he could ever "trust any human being again."


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In March 1885, as his health was failing, he testified against both Ward and Fish. Ward was convicted of fraud in October 1885, months after Grant's death, and served six and a half years in prison. After the collapse of Grant & Ward, there was an outpouring of sympathy for Grant.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Throughout his career, Grant repeatedly told highly detailed stories of his military experiences, often making slight mistakes in terms of dates and locations. As a poor hardscrabble farmer in St. Louis just before the war, he kept his neighbors spellbound until midnight "listening intently to his vivid narrations of Army experiences." In calm moments during the Civil War, he often spoke of his recent experiences, typically "in terse and often eloquent language." Grant's interpretations changed—in his letters written during the Mexican War period, there is no criticism of the war. By contrast his "Memoirs" are highly critical of the political aspects, condemning the war as unwarranted aggression by the United States. Grant told and retold his war stories so many times that writing his "Memoirs" was more a matter of repetition and polish rather than trying to recall his memories for the first time.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In the summer of 1884, Grant complained of a sore throat but put off seeing a doctor until late October, when he learned it was cancer, possibly caused by his frequent cigar smoking. Grant chose not to reveal the seriousness of his condition to his wife, who soon found out from Grant's doctor. Before being diagnosed, Grant attended a Methodist service for Civil War veterans in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, on August 4, 1884, receiving a standing ovation from more than ten thousand veterans and others; it would be his last public appearance. In March of the following year, "The New York Times" announced that Grant was dying of cancer, and a nationwide public concern for the former president began. Knowing of Grant and Julia's financial difficulties, Congress sought to honor him and restored him to the rank of General of the Army with full retirement pay—Grant's assumption of the presidency in 1869 had required that he resign his commission and forfeit his (and his widow's) pension.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant was nearly broke and worried constantly about leaving his wife a suitable amount of money to live on. Imagining that a set of memoirs might provide this, Grant approached "The Century Magazine", which offered Grant a book contract with a 10 percent royalty, but Grant's friend Mark Twain, one of the few who understood how precarious Grant's financial condition actually was, made him an offer for his memoirs that paid an unheard-of 70 percent royalty. To provide for his family, Grant worked intensely on his memoirs at his home in New York City. His former staff member Adam Badeau assisted him with much of the research, while his son Frederick located documents and did much of the fact-checking. Because of the summer heat and humidity, his doctors recommended that he move upstate to a cottage at the top of Mount McGregor, offered by a family friend.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: On July 18 1885, Grant finished his memoir; he lived for only five more days. Grant's memoirs treat his early life and time in the Mexican–American War briefly and include the events of his life up to the end of the Civil War. The "Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant" was a critical and commercial success. Julia Grant eventually received about $450,000 in royalties (). The memoir has been highly regarded by the public, military historians, and literary critics. Grant portrayed himself in the persona of the honorable Western hero, whose strength lies in his honesty and straightforwardness. He candidly depicted his battles against both the Confederates and internal army foes.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: After a year-long struggle with throat cancer, surrounded by his family, Grant died at 8:08 a.m. in the Mount McGregor cottage on July 23, 1885, at the age of 63. Sheridan, then Commanding General of the Army, ordered a day-long tribute to Grant on all military posts, and President Grover Cleveland ordered a thirty-day nationwide period of mourning. After private services, the honor guard placed Grant's body on a special funeral train, which traveled to West Point and New York City. A quarter of a million people viewed it in the two days before the funeral. Tens of thousands of men, many of them veterans from the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), marched with Grant's casket drawn by two dozen black stallions to Riverside Park in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan. His pallbearers included Union generals Sherman and Sheridan, Confederate generals Simon Bolivar Buckner and Joseph E. Johnston, Admiral David Dixon Porter, and Senator John A. Logan, the head of the GAR. Following the casket in the procession were President Cleveland, the two living former presidents Hayes and Arthur, all of the President's Cabinet, as well as the justices of the Supreme Court.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Attendance at the New York funeral topped 1.5 million. Ceremonies were held in other major cities around the country, while Grant was eulogized in the press and likened to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Grant's body was laid to rest in Riverside Park, first in a temporary tomb, and then—twelve years later, on April 17, 1897—in the General Grant National Memorial, also known as "Grant's Tomb", the largest mausoleum in North America.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant was hailed across the North as the winning general in the American Civil War and overall his military reputation has held up quite well. Achieving great national fame for his victories at Vicksburg and the surrender at Appomattox, he was widely credited as the General who "saved the Union". Grant was the most successful general, Union or Confederate, to dominate the Civil War. Criticized by the South for using excessive force, his overall military reputation stands intact. Grant's drinking was often exaggerated by the press and falsely stereotyped by many of his rivals and critics. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Grant's reputation was damaged by the Lost Cause movement and the Dunning School.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Historical assessments have traditionally ranked Grant as one of the worst presidents in American history. However, revisionist challenges to this narrative have received significant support since the 2000s. Although critical of scandals, modern historians have emphasized his presidential administration's accomplishments. These included the prosecution of the Klan, treatment of Black people as both human and American, an innovative Native American policy, and the peaceful settlements of the "Alabama" Claims and controversial 1876 presidential election. Grant's appointment of Secretary of State Hamilton Fish is ranked highly by historians.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In the 1950s, some historians made a reassessment of Grant's military career, shifting the analysis of Grant as the victor by brute force to that of successful, skillful, modern strategist and commander. Historian William S. McFeely's biography, "Grant" (1981), won the Pulitzer Prize, and brought renewed scholarly interest in Grant. McFeely believed Grant was an "ordinary American" trying to "make his mark" during the 19th Century. In the 21st century, Grant's reputation improved markedly among historians after the publication of "Grant" (2001), by historian Jean Edward Smith. Opinions of Grant's presidency demonstrate a better appreciation of Grant's personal integrity, Reconstruction efforts, and peace policy towards Indians, even when they fell short.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: H.W. Brands' "The Man Who Saved the Union" (2012), Ronald C. White's "American Ulysses" (2016) and Ron Chernow's "Grant" (2017) continued the elevation of Grant's historical reputation. White said Grant, "demonstrated a distinctive sense of humility, moral courage, and determination," and as president he "stood up for African Americans, especially fighting against voter suppression perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan." White believed Grant was "an exceptional person and leader." Charles W. Calhoun's "The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant" (2017) noted Grant's successes in office, but asked whether Grant's revived reputation was found in the "popular consciousness."


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Historians still debate how effective Grant was at halting corruption. The scandals during the Grant administration were often used to stigmatize his political reputation. Militarily evaluated, Grant was a modern general and "a skillful leader who had a natural grasp of tactics and strategy."


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant's successful Civil War military strategies have been recognized and adapted into successful business practices. According to historian David Heffernan, Grant's presidency has been "unfairly denigrated" for generations, disregarding his prosecution of the Klan, and peaceful resolution of the controversial Election of 1876. Historian Robert Farley is concerned that the "Cult of Lee" and the Dunning School were resentful of Grant for his strong enforcement of Reconstruction, prosecution of the Klan, and the defeat of Lee at Appomatox, resulted in Grant's shoddy treatment by historians. Farley said the "Cult of Lee" had "little room for Grant, in no small part because Grant was the only president to vigorously pursue Reconstruction and the first to treat blacks as both human and American."


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In a 2021 C-SPAN survey ranking Presidents from worst to best, Grant was ranked 20 out of 43 Presidents. Grant was noted for being "a strong advocate for civil rights" during his presidency.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Several memorials honor Grant. In addition to his mausoleum—Grant's Tomb in New York City—there is the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial at the foot of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Created by sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady and architect Edward Pearce Casey, and dedicated in 1922, it overlooks the Capitol Reflecting Pool. In 2015, restoration work began, which is expected to be completed before the bicentennial of Grant's birth in 2022.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: The Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site near St. Louis, and several other sites in Ohio and Illinois memorialize Grant's life. The U.S. Grant Cottage State Historic Site, located at the top of Mount McGregor in Wilton, New York, preserves the house in which he completed his memoirs and died. There are smaller memorials in Chicago's Lincoln Park and Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. Named in his honor are Grant Park, as well as several counties in western and midwestern states. On June 3, 1891, a bronze statue of Grant by Danish sculptor Johannes Gelert was dedicated at Grant Park in Galena, Illinois. From 1890 to 1940, part of what is now Kings Canyon National Park was called "General Grant National Park", named for the General Grant sequoia.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: In May 2012, the Ulysses S. Grant Foundation, on the institute's fiftieth anniversary, selected Mississippi State University as the permanent location for Ulysses S. Grant's presidential library. Historian John Y. Simon edited Grant's letters into a 32-volume scholarly edition published by Southern Illinois University Press.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: Grant's image has appeared on the front of the United States fifty-dollar bill since 1913. In 1921, the "Ulysses S. Grant Centenary Association" was founded with the goal of coordinating special observances and erecting monuments in recognition of Grant's historical role. The venture was financed by the minting of 10,000 gold dollars (depicted below) and 250,000 half dollars. The coins were minted and issued in 1922, commemorating the 100th anniversary of Grant's birth. Grant has also appeared on several U.S. postage stamps, the first one issued in 1890, five years after his death.


title: Ulysses S. Grant

text: On June 19, 2020, Juneteenth protesters toppled a bronze bust, U. S. Grant (1896), at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Grant had briefly owned one slave, whom he set free. Grant's statue bust will unlikely return to Golden Gate Park.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Matthew Broderick (born March 21, 1962) is an American actor. His roles include the Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of the title character in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986), the voice of adult Simba in Disney's "The Lion King" (1994), and Leo Bloom in both the Broadway musical "The Producers" and its 2005 film adaptation. Other films he had starring credits in include "WarGames" (1983), "Glory" (1989), "The Freshman" (1990), "The Cable Guy" (1996), "Godzilla" (1998), "Inspector Gadget" (1999), "You Can Count on Me" (2000) and "The Last Shot" (2004). Broderick also directed himself in "Infinity" (1996) and provided voice work in "Good Boy!" (2003), "Bee Movie" (2007), and "The Tale of Despereaux" (2008).


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick has won two Tony Awards, one for Best Featured Actor in a Play for "Brighton Beach Memoirs" (1983), and one for Best Actor in a Musical for "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" (1995). In 2001, Broderick starred in Mel Brooks' musical comedy "The Producers" alongside Nathan Lane. He later reunited with Lane in the Broadway revival of Terrence McNally's showbiz comedy "It's Only a Play" (2014). In 2013, Broderick starred in the Broadway musical "Nice Work If You Can Get It" where he went on to receive a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. , Broderick remains the youngest winner of the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: In 2006, for his contributions to the film industry, Broderick was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard. Eleven years later, he earned induction into the American Theater Hall of Fame.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick was born in Manhattan, the son of Patricia ( Biow), a playwright, actress, and painter, and James Broderick, an actor and World War II veteran. His mother was Ashkenazi Jewish, a descendant of emigrants from Germany and Poland. His father was a Catholic of Irish and English descent. Broderick attended grade school at City and Country School in Manhattan and high school at the private Walden School, also in Manhattan. He received acting training at HB Studio.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick's first major acting role came in an HB Studio workshop production of playwright Horton Foote's "On Valentine's Day", playing opposite his father, who was a friend of Foote's. This was followed by a supporting role as Harvey Fierstein's gay adopted son, David, in the off-Broadway production of Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy"; then, a good review by "The New York Times" theater critic Mel Gussow brought him to the attention of Broadway. Broderick commented on the effects of that review in a 2004 "60 Minutes II" interview:


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Before I knew it, I was like this guy in a hot play. And suddenly, all these doors opened. And it's only because Mel Gussow happened to come by right before it closed and happened to like it. It's just amazing. All these things have to line up that are out of your control.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: He followed that with the role of Eugene Morris Jerome in the Neil Simon "Eugene Trilogy" including the plays "Brighton Beach Memoirs" and "Biloxi Blues". He won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role in "Brighton Beach Memoirs".


title: Matthew Broderick

text: His first film role as Michael McPhee in 1983's "Max Dugan Returns" was also written by Neil Simon, but his first big hit film was "WarGames", a summer hit in 1983, in which he played the main role of Seattle teen hacker David Lightman. Broderick next played Philippe Gaston in "Ladyhawke", in 1985.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick then won the role of the charming, clever slacker in the 1986 film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". At the age of 23, Broderick played the titular high school student who, with his girlfriend and best friend, plays hooky and explores Chicago. A 1980s comedy favorite, the film is one of Broderick's best-known roles (particularly with teenage audiences). Also in 1987, he played Air Force research assistant Jimmy Garrett in "Project X". In 1988, Broderick played Harvey Fierstein's lover, Alan, in the screen adaptation of "Torch Song Trilogy".


title: Matthew Broderick

text: He starred in the 1989 film "Glory" alongside Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, and Denzel Washington, where he received favorable reviews for his portrayal of the American Civil War officer Robert Gould Shaw, whom Broderick physically resembled.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: In the 1990s, Broderick was the voice of adult Simba in Disney's successful animated film "The Lion King", and he also voiced Tack the Cobbler in Miramax's controversial version of "The Thief and the Cobbler", which had originally been intended as a silent role. He won recognition for two dark comedy roles: bachelor Steven Kovacs in 1996's "The Cable Guy" with Jim Carrey, and a high school teacher in Alexander Payne's 1999 film "Election" with Reese Witherspoon.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick returned to Broadway as a musical star in the 1990s, winning a Tony Award for his performance in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying". Broderick then starred alongside Nathan Lane in the Mel Brooks 2001 stage version of "The Producers" which was a critical and financial success. He played Leopold "Leo" Bloom, an accountant who co-produces a musical designed to fail that turns out to be successful. Broderick was nominated for another Tony Award but lost to his co-star Nathan Lane. The musical went on to win the most Tony Awards in history with 12 wins. Broderick and Lane reprised their roles in the 2005 film adaptation of the same name.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick starred in a 2004 off-Broadway production of the award-winning Larry Shue play "The Foreigner" as the witty Charlie Baker. He was reunited with his co-star from "The Lion King" and "The Producers", Nathan Lane, in "The Odd Couple", which opened on Broadway in October 2005. He appeared on Broadway as a college professor in "The Philanthropist", running April 10 through June 28, 2009. He returned to the Broadway stage in Spring 2012 to star in the musical "Nice Work If You Can Get It", directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. He notably starred in the 2015 Broadway adaptation of "Sylvia", a play by A.R. Gurney directed by Daniel J. Sullivan.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick made his West End debut in "The Starry Messenger" in May 2019, co-starring with Elizabeth McGovern.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: In 2018, it was announced that Broderick was cast in the main role of Michael Burr in the Netflix comedy-drama series "Daybreak".


title: Matthew Broderick

text: In 2022, Broderick returned to Broadway in a revival of "Plaza Suite" where he starred alongside his wife Sarah Jessica Parker.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick and actress Sarah Jessica Parker married on May 19, 1997, in an Episcopal ceremony officiated by his sister, Janet Broderick Kraft.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Although the couple live in the West Village, they spend a large amount of time at their second home in Kilcar, a village in County Donegal, Ireland, where Broderick spent his summers as a child. They also have a house in The Hamptons.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: In March 2010, Broderick was featured in the NBC program "Who Do You Think You Are?" Broderick stated that his participation in the ancestry research program emotionally reconnected him with the role he played in "Glory" 22 years earlier, as he discovered his paternal great-great-grandfather, Robert Martindale, was a Union soldier. A veteran of the Battle of Gettysburg, Martindale, who belonged to the 20th Connecticut, was killed in the aftermath of the Battle of Atlanta and was eventually interred in an unnamed grave at the Marietta National Cemetery. Having identified the grave with the help of historian Brad Quinlin, Broderick's research enabled him to give his ancestor his name back. In the same program, Broderick discovered that his paternal grandfather, James Joseph Broderick II, whom he had never known, was a highly decorated combat medic in World War I, having earned his distinctions during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: On August 5, 1987, while driving a rented BMW 316 in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Broderick crossed into the wrong lane and collided head-on with a Volvo. The driver, Anna Gallagher, 28, and her mother, Margaret Doherty, 63, were both killed instantly. He was vacationing with Jennifer Grey, whom he had begun dating in semi-secrecy during the filming of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"; the crash publicly revealed their relationship. He suffered a fractured leg and ribs, a concussion, and a collapsed lung. Grey's injuries included severe whiplash, which later required surgery to avoid paralysis.


title: Matthew Broderick

text: Broderick told police he had no recollection of the crash and did not know why he had been in the wrong lane: "What I first remember is waking up in the hospital, with a very strange feeling going on in my leg." He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving and faced up to five years in prison, but was convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving and fined £100 (US$175).


title: Matthew Broderick

text: The victims' family called the verdict "a travesty of justice". The victims' brother and son, Martin Doherty, later forgave Broderick amid plans to meet him in 2003. In February 2012, when Broderick was featured in a multi-million-dollar Honda commercial that aired during the Super Bowl, Doherty said the meeting had still not taken place and that Broderick "wasn't the greatest choice of drivers, knowing his past".


title: Christopher Walken

text: Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards. His films have grossed more than $1.6 billion in the United States alone.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken has appeared in supporting roles in films such as "The Anderson Tapes" (1971), "Next Stop, Greenwich Village" (1976), "Roseland" (1977) and "Annie Hall" (1977) before coming to wider attention as the troubled Vietnam War veteran Nick Chevotarevich in "The Deer Hunter" (1978). His performance earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was nominated for the same award for portraying con artist Frank Abagnale's father in Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can" (2002).


title: Christopher Walken

text: Since his breakthrough, Walken has appeared in films in various genres, both in lead and supporting roles, including "The Dogs of War" (1980), "The Dead Zone" (1983), "A View to a Kill" (1985), "At Close Range" (1986), "Biloxi Blues" (1988), "King of New York" (1990), "The Comfort of Strangers" (1990), "Batman Returns" (1992), "True Romance" (1993), "Pulp Fiction" (1994), "Suicide Kings" (1997), "Sleepy Hollow" (1999), "Man on Fire" (2004), "Wedding Crashers" (2005), "Hairspray" (2007), "Seven Psychopaths" (2012), "A Late Quartet" (2012), the first three "Prophecy" films and "Percy" (2020). He has also provided voice work in "Antz" (1998) and "The Jungle Book" (2016)


title: Christopher Walken

text: On television, Walken has appeared in television films such as "Who Am I This Time?" (1982) and "Sarah, Plain and Tall" (1991), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. More recently, he has starred in television series "The Outlaws" (2021-) and "Severance" (2022-), the latter of which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nomination. He is a popular guest-host of "Saturday Night Live", hosting seven times. His most notable roles on the show include record producer Bruce Dickinson in the "More Cowbell" sketch; the disgraced Confederate officer Colonel Angus; and multiple appearances in the Continental sketch.


title: Christopher Walken

text: As a stage actor, Walken has played the lead in the Shakespeare plays "Hamlet", "Macbeth", "Romeo and Juliet" and "Coriolanus". His performance in the original rendition of "James Joyce's The Dead" (2000) earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical nomination. He was nominated for Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role in Martin McDonagh's "A Behanding in Spokane" (2010). He also wrote and played the lead role in the 1995 play "Him" about his idol Elvis Presley.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken was born Ronald Walken on March 31, 1943, in Astoria, Queens, New York, the son of Rosalie Russell (May 16, 1907 – March 26, 2010), a Scottish immigrant from Glasgow and Paul Wälken (October 5, 1903 – February 23, 2001), a German immigrant from Gelsenkirchen who owned and operated Walken's Bakery in Astoria. Walken was named after actor Ronald Colman. He was raised Methodist. He and his brothers, Kenneth and Glenn, were child actors on television in the 1950s, influenced by their mother's dreams of stardom. When he was 15, a girlfriend showed him a magazine photo of Elvis Presley and Walken later said, "This guy looked like a Greek god. Then I saw him on television. I loved everything about him." He changed his hairstyle to imitate Presley and has not changed it since. As a teenager, he worked as a lion tamer in a circus. He attended Hofstra University but dropped out after one year, having gotten the role of Clayton Dutch Miller in an off-Broadway revival of "Best Foot Forward" alongside Liza Minnelli. Walken initially trained as a dancer at the Washington Dance Studio before moving on to dramatic stage roles and then film.


title: Christopher Walken

text: As a child, Walken appeared on screen as an extra in numerous anthology series and variety shows during the Golden Age of Television. After appearing in a sketch with Martin and Lewis on "The Colgate Comedy Hour", Walken decided to become an actor. He landed a regular role in the 1953 television show "Wonderful John Acton" playing the part of Kevin Acton. During this time, he was credited as Ronnie Walken.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Over the next two years, he appeared frequently on television (landing a role in the experimental film "Me and My Brother") and had a thriving career in theater. From 1954 to 1956, Walken and his brother Glenn originated the role of Michael Bauer on the soap opera "The Guiding Light." In 1963, he appeared as a character named Chris in an episode of "Naked City", starring Paul Burke. In 1966, Walken played the role of King Philip of France in the Broadway premiere of "The Lion in Winter". In 1968, he played Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" at the Stratford Festival in Canada. In 1969, Walken guest-starred in "Hawaii Five-O" as Navy SP Walt Kramer.


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 1964, he changed his first name to Christopher at the suggestion of Monique van Vooren, who had a nightclub act in which Walken was a dancer and who believed the name suited him better than Ronnie (a pet form of his given name, Ronald), which he was credited as until then. He prefers to be known informally as Chris instead of Christopher.


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 1970, Walken starred in the Off-Broadway production of Lanford Wilson's "Lemon Sky" opposite Charles Durning and Bonnie Bartlett. Later that year Walken received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken made his feature film debut with a small role opposite Sean Connery in Sidney Lumet's "The Anderson Tapes". In 1972's "The Mind Snatchers" a.k.a. "The Happiness Cage", Walken played his first starring role. In this science fiction film, which deals with mind control and normalization, he plays a sociopathic U.S. soldier stationed in Germany.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Paul Mazursky's 1976 film "Next Stop, Greenwich Village" had Walken, under the name "Chris Walken", playing fictional poet and ladies' man Robert Fulmer. In Woody Allen's 1977 film "Annie Hall", Walken played the borderline crazy brother of Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Also in 1977, Walken had a minor role as Eli Wallach's partner in "The Sentinel". In 1978, he appeared in "Shoot the Sun Down", a western filmed in 1976 that costarred Margot Kidder. Along with Nick Nolte and Burt Reynolds, Walken was considered by George Lucas for the part of Han Solo in "Star Wars"; the part ultimately went to Harrison Ford.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in Michael Cimino's 1978 film "The Deer Hunter". He plays a young Pennsylvania steelworker who is emotionally destroyed by the Vietnam War. To help achieve his character's gaunt appearance before the third act, Walken consumed only bananas, water and rice for a week.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken's first film of the 1980s was the controversial "Heaven's Gate", also directed by Cimino. Walken also starred in the 1981 action adventure "The Dogs of War", directed by John Irvin. He surprised many critics and filmgoers with his intricate tap-dancing striptease in Herbert Ross's musical "Pennies from Heaven" (1981). In 1982, he played a socially awkward but gifted theater actor in the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Who Am I This Time?" opposite Susan Sarandon. Walken then played schoolteacher-turned-psychic Johnny Smith in David Cronenberg's 1983 adaptation of Stephen King's "The Dead Zone". That same year, Walken also starred in "Brainstorm" alongside Natalie Wood and (in a minor role) his wife, Georgianne.


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 1985, Walken played a James Bond villain, Max Zorin, in "A View to a Kill", Roger Moore's last appearance as Bond. Walken dyed his hair blond to befit Zorin's origins as a Nazi experiment.


title: Christopher Walken

text: "At Close Range" (1986) starred Walken as Brad Whitewood, a rural Pennsylvania crime boss who tries to bring his two sons into his empire; his character was mostly based on criminal Bruce Johnston.


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 1988, Walken played a memorable role as Sgt. Merwin J. Toomey in Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues", which was directed by Mike Nichols and he played the role of Federal Agent Kyril Montana in "The Milagro Beanfield War". He also played the leading role of Whitley Strieber in 1989's "Communion", an autobiographical film written by Strieber based on his claims that he and his friends were subject to visitations by unknown, other-worldly entities variously identified as possibly "aliens" or, simply, as "visitors". That same year, Walken appeared in the film "Homeboy", which was written by and which featured Mickey Rourke in the titular role. In 1989, he played the lead role of "Puss" in the Cannon theater group's musical version of "Puss in Boots".


title: Christopher Walken

text: "The Comfort of Strangers", an art house film directed by Paul Schrader, features Walken as Robert, a decadent Italian aristocrat with extreme sexual tastes and murderous tendencies who lives with his wife (Helen Mirren) in Venice.


title: Christopher Walken

text: "King of New York" (1990), directed by Abel Ferrara, stars Walken as ruthless New York City drug dealer Frank White, recently released from prison and set on reclaiming his criminal territory. In 1991, Walken starred in "Sarah, Plain and Tall" as Jacob Witting, a widowed farmer. In 1992, Walken played a villain in "Batman Returns", millionaire industrialist Max Shreck. Also in 1992, Walken appeared in Madonna's controversial coffee table book "SEX" and the music video for her hit single, "Bad Girl" (directed by David Fincher). He also played Bobby, Cassandra's producer, in "Wayne's World 2".


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken's next major film role was opposite Dennis Hopper in "True Romance", scripted by Quentin Tarantino. His so-called Sicilian scene has been hailed by critics as the best scene in the film and is the subject of four commentaries on the DVD. Walken has a supporting role in Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" as a Vietnam veteran named Captain Koons. He gives his dead comrade's son the family's prized possession—a gold watch—while explaining in graphic detail how he had hidden it from the Vietcong by smuggling it in his rectum after the boy's father, in whose rectum the watch had previously been concealed, had died of dysentery.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Later in 1994, Walken starred in "A Business Affair", a rare leading role for him in a romantic comedy. Walken manages to once again feature his trademark dancing scene as he performs the tango. In 1995, he appeared in "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead", "Wild Side", "The Prophecy" and the modern vampire flick "The Addiction", which was his second collaboration with director Abel Ferrara and writer Nicholas St. John. He also appeared in "Nick of Time", which also stars Johnny Depp and an art house film by David Salle, "Search and Destroy". In 1995, Walken acted in "Him," a first play written by Walken about his idol Elvis in the afterlife featured in the New York Shakespeare Festival. "The New York Times" gave a somewhat positive review of his "most cheering and refreshingly absurd invention" of retelling Elvis' death as a disappearing act that enabled Elvis to flee to Morocco for a sex change to become "her" in a "woozily conceived, fantastical new play...in the sharpness and wit of writing and in the performances by Mr. Walken and Mr. Heyman."


title: Christopher Walken

text: In the 1996 film "Last Man Standing", Walken plays a sadistic gangster named Hickey. That year, he played a prominent role in the video game "Ripper", portraying Detective Vince Magnotta. "Ripper" made extensive use of real-time recorded scenes and a wide cast of celebrities in an interactive movie. In 1996 Walken also appeared in the Italian film "Celluloide" as US Officer Rod Geiger and played the role of Ray in the Abel Ferrara crime-drama film "The Funeral". In 1997, Walken starred in the comedy films "Touch" and "Excess Baggage" and had a minor role in the film "Mouse Hunt". He also appeared in the drama/thriller film "Suicide Kings", which was also filled with suspense and humor.


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 1998, Walken played an influential gay New York theater critic in John Turturro's film "Illuminata". The same year he voiced Colonel/General Cutter in the computer-animated film "Antz".


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 1999, he played James Houston in "Vendetta", an HBO original movie based on the March 14, 1891 New Orleans lynchings. In the same year, Walken appeared in the romantic comedy "Blast from the Past" portraying Calvin Webber, a brilliant but eccentric Caltech nuclear physicist whose fears of a nuclear war lead him to build an enormous fallout shelter beneath his suburban home. The same year, he appeared as the Headless Horseman in Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow, "starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. He also appeared in "Kiss Toledo Goodbye" with Michael Rapaport and Nancy Allen.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken also starred in two music videos in the 1990s. His first video role was as the Angel of Death in Madonna's 1993 "Bad Girl". The second appearance was in Skid Row's "Breakin' Down" video.


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2000, Walken was cast as the lead, along with Blair Brown, in "James Joyce's The Dead" on Broadway. A "play with music", "The Dead" featured music by Shaun Davey, conducted by Charles Prince, with music coordination and percussion by Tom Partington. "James Joyce's The Dead" won a Tony Award that year for Best Book for a Musical.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken had a notable music video performance in 2001 with Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice". Directed by Spike Jonze, it won six MTV awards in 2001 and—in a list of the top 100 videos of all time compiled from a survey of musicians, directors and music industry figures conducted by UK music TV channel VH1—won Best Video of All Time in April 2002. In this video, Walken dances and flies around the lobby of the Marriott Hotel in Los Angeles; Walken also helped choreograph the dance. Also in 2001, Walken played a gangster who was in the witness protection program in the David Spade comedy "Joe Dirt" and an eccentric film director in "America's Sweethearts". Also in 2001, Walken played Lieutenant Macduff in "Scotland, PA", a loose film adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth".


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2002 Walken played Mike in the film "Poolhall Junkies" and played Frank Abagnale, Sr. in "Catch Me If You Can", which is inspired by the story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., a con artist who passed himself off as several identities and forged millions of dollars' worth of checks. His portrayal earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Walken also had a part in the 2003 action comedy film "The Rundown", starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Seann William Scott, in which he plays a ruthless despot. He was nominated for a Razzie (Worst Supporting Actor) in 2002's "The Country Bears"


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken also starred in Barry Levinson's "Envy", in which he plays J-Man, a crazy guy who helps Ben Stiller's character and in his starring role in 2004's "Around the Bend" he again has a dancing scene as he portrays an absentee father who has fled prison to reunite with his father, his son and the grandson he never knew before dying. Walken played the role of Paul Rayburn in 2004's "Man on Fire", where, when speaking about the imminent destructive actions of John Creasy (Denzel Washington), his character states: "A man can be an artist... in anything, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Creasy's art is death. He's about to paint his masterpiece."


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2005, he played Mark Heiss in the film "Domino" and the role of Secretary Cleary in the film "Wedding Crashers".


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2006, he played Morty, a sympathetic inventor who is more than meets the eye, in the comedy/drama "Click" and also appeared in "Man of the Year" with Robin Williams and Lewis Black. He co-starred in the 2007 film adaptation "Hairspray", wherein he is seen singing and dancing in a romantic duet with John Travolta and portrayed the eccentric but cruel crime lord and Ping-Pong enthusiast Feng in the 2007 comedy action film "Balls of Fury" opposite Dan Fogler.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken was in the movie "Five Dollars a Day" (released in 2008), in which he plays a con man proud of living like a king on $5 a day.


title: Christopher Walken

text: The film "The Maiden Heist", a comedy co-starring Morgan Freeman, William H. Macy and Walken about security guards in an art museum, debuted at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 25, 2009.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken also starred in Universal Studios Florida's "Disaster" attraction (formerly "Earthquake and the Magic of Effects" and soon to be ). Walken portrayed the owner of "Disaster Studios" Frank Kincaid and encouraged guests to be extras in his latest film, "Mutha Nature". Walken was projected on a clear screen, much like a life-size hologram and interacted with the live-action talent. Famous quote "Frankenstein never scared me".


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken returned to Broadway in Martin McDonagh's play "A Behanding in Spokane" in 2010 and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play.


title: Christopher Walken

text: He had a small voice role in NBC sitcom "30 Rock", in the "Audition Day" episode. In 2011, he played the role of Jewish-American loan shark Alex "Shondor" Birns in the film based on the life of gangster Danny Greene, "Kill the Irishman". In 2012, Walken reunited with McDonagh for the British-American crime comedy film "Seven Psychopaths" and also played the founder and leader of a string quartet in "A Late Quartet".


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken costarred with Al Pacino and Alan Arkin in the film "Stand Up Guys", a story about aging gangsters out on the town for one last hoorah. He also appeared in "The Power of Few".


title: Christopher Walken

text: In December 2012, Walken was selected as a "GQ" Man of the Year. ("Gentlemen's Quarterly." April 2018. p. 24)


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2013, Walken became the protagonist in the campaign "Made From Cool" by Jack & Jones. In 2014, he appeared in "Turks & Caicos". Walken appears as Gyp DeCarlo in the 2014 film "Jersey Boys".


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2015, Walken starred in the film "When I Live My Life Over Again" and played the role of Clem for the second time in the David Spade comedy "".


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2016, he voiced King Louie in the CGI-live action adaptation of Disney's "The Jungle Book", directed by Jon Favreau. He also recorded a cover of Louie's song "I Wan'na Be like You", which he sings in the film as well as on the soundtrack. Also that year, he appeared in Dexter Fletcher's "Eddie the Eagle" and Barry Sonnenfeld's "Nine Lives". In 2017, Walken replaced Bill Irwin in the role of Walter Tinkler in the critically panned "Father Figures". The following year, he played Myron in the Netflix film "Irreplaceable You".


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2021, Walken appeared as Frank in the BBC One/Amazon Prime Video comedy "The Outlaws". and in the second series broadcast on BBC1 in 2022.


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 2022, he had a supporting role as Burt Goodman, the severed chief of the Optics and Design division in the Apple TV+ series "Severance". For his performance, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Walken will portray Emperor Shaddam IV in the 2023 film, "Dune: Part Two".


title: Christopher Walken

text: Described as "diverse and eccentric" and "one of the most respected actors of his generation", Walken has long established a cult following among film fans. He is known for his versatility and was named as one of "Empire" magazine's "Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time". Once dubbed a "cultural phenomenon", he has portrayed several iconic movie characters including Johnny Smith in "The Dead Zone", Max Shreck in "Batman Returns" and Max Zorin in "A View to a Kill" and was also considered for the role of Han Solo in "Star Wars" films. His Oscar-winning performance in "The Deer Hunter" was ranked as the 88th greatest movie performance of all time by "Premiere" magazine and his performance in "Pennies from Heaven" made it into "Entertainment Weekly"'s list of the "100 Greatest Performances that should have won Oscars but didn't." Sometimes regarded as "one of the kings of cameos", Walken has made several notable cameo appearances or appeared in a single but popular scene of films including as Captain Koons in "Pulp Fiction", Duane in "Annie Hall", Hessian Horseman in "Sleepy Hollow" and Don Vincenzo in "True Romance". Writer and director Quentin Tarantino declared that Walken's involvement in "True Romance"s popular "Sicilian scene" was one of the proudest moments in his career.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken's work has been praised and acclaimed by many popular figures. Benicio del Toro cited Walken as an influence and stated that the best advice he had ever been given regarding acting came from him: "When you're in a scene and you don't know what you're gonna do, don't do anything." Kat Dennings called him her favorite actor and said that he was the reason that she wanted to be an actress. Johnny Depp once said one of the main reasons he starred in "Nick of Time" was wanting to work with Walken. Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio and Mads Mikkelsen are among actors who spoke about their admiration for Walken. Prominent movie critic Roger Ebert, who was particularly impressed by his villain and anti-hero portrayals, once stated, "when he is given the right role, there is nobody to touch him for his chilling ability to move between easy charm and pure evil" and called him "one of the few undeniably charismatic male villains."


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken is noted for refusing movie roles only rarely, having stated in interviews that he will decline a role only if he is too busy on other projects to accept. He regards each role as a learning experience. A rare example of a role Walken turned down was that of Ray Ruby in the film "Go Go Tales" (2007). According to film director Abel Ferrara, the character was originally written for Walken but the latter "didn't want to do it". The role was then given to Walken's "New Rose Hotel" (1998) co-star Willem Dafoe.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken's unique voice and speaking style has been compared to other entertainment figures with voices that create "a pleasing (or at least entertaining) aural experience," such as William Shatner and Garrison Keillor. Walken believes that the source of his speech stems from growing up with immigrant neighbors who came from everywhere stating, "The neighborhood itself, you didn't hear a lot of English. Lots of Greek, Italian, Polish, German, Yiddish. I think I grew up listening to people who spoke English in a kind of broken way. I think maybe I talked that way." Walken inspired the stage show, "All About Walken: The Impersonators of Christopher Walken", created by actor/comedian Patrick O'Sullivan in Hollywood in 2006.


title: Christopher Walken

text: One of Walken's more famous "SNL" performances was a spoof of "Behind the Music", featuring a recording session of Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) the Reaper". In the guise of record producer Bruce Dickinson (not to be confused with the real Bruce Dickinson, lead singer for Iron Maiden), Walken makes passionate and slightly unhinged speeches to the band and is obsessed with getting "More Cowbell" into the song. The phrase "I gotta have more cowbell" has since been adapted to merchandise. The producer who suggested the cowbell on the original BÖC recording is David Lucas.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken is also known for his part in one of Will Ferrell and Rachel Dratch's "The Luvahs" skits. His character brought a lady friend to meet The Luvahs and she is subjected to learning the history that Walken's character shares with The Luvahs. He also divulges private information about his sex life with his girlfriend, much to her horror ("She was willing to accept her lover's body in places no one had ever trespassed... specifically, the ear canal").


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken spoofed his starring role from "The Dead Zone" (1983) in a sketch titled "Ed Glosser: Trivial Psychic" (1992). In the film, Walken's character can predict deaths and catastrophes, while Glosser can accurately predict meaningless, trivial future events but with the same emotional intensity as in the film: "You're going to get an ice cream headache. It's going to hurt real bad, right here, [touches forehead] for eight, nine seconds.").


title: Christopher Walken

text: His character in "A View to a Kill" was parodied in a sketch titled "Lease with an Option to Kill", in which he reprised his role as Max Zorin. Zorin, who had taken on some qualities of other notable Bond villains (Blofeld's cat and suit, Emilio Largo's eye patch), was upset that everything was going wrong for him. His lair was still under construction; his henchmen had jump suits that didn't fit; and his shark tank lacked sharks, having a giant sea sponge instead. A captive James Bond, portrayed by Phil Hartman, offered to get Zorin "a good deal" on the abandoned Blofeld volcanic lair if Zorin let him go, to which he reluctantly agreed.


title: Christopher Walken

text: He performed a song and dance rendition of the Irving Berlin standard, "Let's Face the Music and Dance". Finally, there was the "Colonel Angus" sketch, laden with ribald double entendres, in which Walken played a dishonored Confederate officer.


title: Christopher Walken

text: Until 2003, Walken had a recurring "SNL" sketch called "The Continental", in which Walken played a "suave ladies' man" who in reality cannot do anything to keep a woman (a neighbor in his apartment building) from giving him the cold shoulder. Though he is outwardly chivalrous, his more perverted tendencies inevitably drive away his date over his pleading objections. For instance, he invites the woman to wash up in his bathroom; once she is inside, it becomes obvious that the bathroom mirror is a two-way mirror when he is seen lighting up a cigarette. In "The Continental", only the hand of his neighbor is ever seen; the camera always shows her point of view.


title: Christopher Walken

text: The April 5, 2008 "Saturday Night Live" show was the first time an episode hosted by Walken did not have a "Continental" sketch or a monologue in which he sang and danced. This episode, however, did include one sketch titled "Walken Family Reunion", which spoofs many of Walken's idiosyncrasies. The sketch depicts a fictional Walken family reunion, where all of Christopher's relatives have his mannerisms and speech patterns and sport his trademark pompadour hairstyle. In order of appearance, the other Walkens are Christopher's cousin Stanley (Bill Hader); Stanley's brother John (Jason Sudeikis); John's son Scott (Andy Samberg) and daughter Maxine (Amy Poehler) (who carries a doll that also has a pompadour); Nathan (Fred Armisen), a gay relative for whom "flamboyance" means dressing all in black and running his finger around the rim of a cosmo glass; Uncle Richard (Darrell Hammond) and Aunt Martha (Kristen Wiig), who think that "The Deer Hunter" was hilarious and who are hosts of a Nigerian foreign exchange student named Oleki (Kenan Thompson). When he came to live with them, Oleki—who has absorbed all of the Walken Family traits—could not speak any English. But now (he says) he "talks like a normal teenaged American boy". The biggest laugh of the sketch occurs when Christopher expresses his sympathies for Scott's teenaged attitude: "I appreciate your situation. For a Walken, adolescence is a difficult time. You feel like you're the only normal person in a school full of nutjobs." Scott's response: "Wow! It's like you're lookin' right into my noggin!" (Will Forte also appears as a waiter at the beginning of the sketch, but does not do a Walken impression.)


title: Christopher Walken

text: Walken became the subject of a hoax controversy in 2006, when a fake website started in August of that year by members of Internet forum Genmay.com announced that he was running for President of the United States. Some believed it was authentic, until Walken's publicist dismissed the claims. When asked about the hoax in a September 2006 interview with Conan O'Brien, Walken said he was amused and when asked to come up with a campaign slogan, he replied, "What the Heck" and "No More Zoos!"


title: Christopher Walken

text: In 1963, Walken met Georgianne Thon during a tour of "West Side Story". They married in January 1969. The couple have no children and Walken has stated in interviews that being child-free is one of the reasons he has had such a prolific career. The couple have a cat named Bowtie and their previous cat was named Flapjack.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: Taylor Sheridan (born May 21, 1970) is an American filmmaker and actor. Sheridan first reached prominence for portraying David Hale in the FX television series "Sons of Anarchy" and Danny Boyd in "Veronica Mars" (2005–2007).


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: Sheridan has written several films, including the screenplay for "Sicario" (2015), for which he was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Hell or High Water" (2016), which was nominated for three other Oscars, including Best Picture. Sheridan also wrote and directed the 2017 neo-Western crime film "Wind River" and wrote . He is a co-creator of the Paramount Network television series "Yellowstone" and creator of its prequels "1883" (2021) and "1923" (2022), and he co-created the crime thriller "Mayor of Kingstown". He also created the crime drama "Tulsa King", which he co-writes and showruns with Terence Winter.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: Sheridan grew up on a ranch in Cranfills Gap, Texas. His family lived minimally, not having a stereo system in their house. Had they not lost the property in the early 1990s, said Sheridan, "I would still be living there". After Sheridan dropped out of Texas State University, he moved to Austin, where he mowed lawns and painted houses. While looking for jobs in a shopping mall, Sheridan met a talent scout, who offered him the chance to go to Chicago and pursue an acting career. He later lived in New York City and Los Angeles during his time as an actor.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: Sheridan began his career in acting, appearing in small films and in recurring roles in television series like "Veronica Mars, Walker, Texas Ranger" and most notably, as David Hale in "Sons of Anarchy". He made the transition into screenwriting after he turned 40. His first film as a screenwriter was "Sicario", directed by Denis Villeneuve. It revolves around Kate Macer (Emily Blunt), an FBI agent who is enlisted to a government task force to bring down the leader of a powerful and brutal Mexican drug cartel. It also starred Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro. The film received critical acclaim, with a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and received a number of nominations, including a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Sheridan.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: Sheridan wrote "Comancheria" after "Sicario." "Comancheria" sold first but was stuck in development for quite a few years, appearing on the Black List in 2012. It was later retitled "Hell or High Water" and was released in August 2016, starring Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine and Ben Foster, and again received critical acclaim. For his screenplay, Sheridan received a large amount of awards attention, earning BAFTA, Golden Globe Award, and Academy Award nominations.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: The low-budget horror film "Vile" is credited as Sheridan's first film, but he does not consider the film his directorial debut, stating in a 2017 Rotten Tomatoes interview:


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: His second feature as director, but third as screenwriter, "Wind River", starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen, premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January 2017. The film follows an FBI agent (Olsen) and a veteran game tracker (Renner), investigating a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation. The Weinstein Company had acquired the distribution rights during the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, but dropped the film prior to the Sundance premiere. However, the company later finalized its deal to distribute it. "Wind River" was widely released in the United States on August 18, 2017, following a brief limited release. Following "Sicario" and "Hell or High Water", "Wind River" is the third installment of Sheridan's trilogy of "the modern-day American frontier".


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: On September 15, 2016, Deadline reported that Sheridan had been set by Sony Pictures and Escape Artists to script the American remake of the Matthias Schoenaerts drama-thriller film "Disorder", a 2015 French film directed by Alice Winocour. Escape Artists' Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Tony Shaw were scheduled to produce the remake and David Beaubaire to oversee it for the studio. James Mangold was going to direct.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: In 2017, Sheridan created the television series "Yellowstone" starring Kevin Costner that has aired on the Paramount Network for five seasons running beginning June 20, 2018.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: Sheridan wrote the sequel to "Sicario", titled "", which was directed by Stefano Sollima and released in 2018. More recently, his overall deal with ViacomCBS was renewed.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: In May 2019, it was announced Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema acquired distribution rights to the film "Those Who Wish Me Dead" with Sheridan as director. The film had a theatrical debut internationally in South Korea on May 5, 2021. In the United States, it was released on May 14, 2021.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: As an actor, Sheridan has explained that the amount of expositional dialogue he read for television caused him to form an "allergy to exposition" in his writing. He has also said that he looks for "absurdly simple" plots in order to focus solely on character. He has cited the Coen brothers, Cormac McCarthy, and Larry McMurtry as influential to his writing.


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: He is known for toying with the form and structure of a screenplay in his work. In "Sicario", Sheridan incorporated a "five-act structure and a five-act structure within that." He believes in the intelligence of the audience, and uses the structure and context of his stories as a way to subvert expectations: "I look at each movie as, 'How am I breaking the rules this time?'"


title: Taylor Sheridan

text: Sheridan has been married to actress and model Nicole Muirbrook since 2013. The pair have a son. They currently reside in Weatherford, Texas.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an Indian-American filmmaker and actor. He is best known for making original films with contemporary supernatural plots and twist endings. He was born in Mahé, India, and raised in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.4 billion globally.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: He made his directorial debut in 1992 with the film "Praying with Anger". His second film was the comedy-drama "Wide Awake" (1998). His best-received films include the supernatural thriller "The Sixth Sense" (1999), the superhero thriller "Unbreakable" (2000), the science fiction thriller "Signs" (2002), and the period thriller "The Village" (2004). For "The Sixth Sense", Shyamalan received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. After 2004, Shyamalan released a series of poorly received but sometimes financially successful films, including the dark fantasy "Lady in the Water" (2006), the eco-thriller "The Happening" (2008), "The Last Airbender" (2010) (an adaptation of of the Nickelodeon animated television series "") and the science fiction film "After Earth" (2013).


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: Following the financial failure of "After Earth," Shyamalan's career was revived with the release of the found footage horror film "The Visit" (2015), the psychological thriller "Split" (2016) and the superhero thriller "Glass" (2019). With a total budget of $34 million between them, these three films earned a combined box office of $625 million. "Glass" is the third and final chapter of his "Eastrail 177" trilogy, which commenced in 2000. His latest feature film was the supernatural thriller "Old", which was released in 2021 and grossed $90 million on a budget of $18 million.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: In addition to his directorial work, Shyamalan was story creator and a producer for the horror film "Devil" (2010). Shyamalan was also called in for an uncredited rewrite for the teen film "She's All That" (1999) and also served as a writer for the film "Stuart Little" (1999). He is also one of the executive producers and occasional director of "Wayward Pines" and the critically acclaimed series "Servant", for which he also serves as showrunner.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: Shyamalan is also known for setting and shooting his films in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along with nearby Reading, Pennsylvania. Most of his commercially successful films were co-produced and released by Walt Disney Studios' Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures and Universal imprints. In 2008, Shyamalan was honored with the Padma Shri award by the Government of India.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: Shyamalan was born in Mahé, India to ethnic Indian parents in a town in the Union Territory of Pondicherry. His father, Dr. Nelliyattu C. Shyamalan, is a Malayali neurologist from Mahé and a JIPMER graduate; his mother, Dr. Jayalakshmi, a Tamil, is an OB-GYN.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: Shyamalan's parents immigrated to the United States when he was six weeks old. Shyamalan was raised in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania. Shyamalan was raised Hindu. He attended the private Roman Catholic grammar school Waldron Mercy Academy, followed by the Episcopal Academy, a private Episcopal high school located at the time in Merion Station, Pennsylvania. He felt like an outsider and remembers that teachers would say that whoever was not baptized would go to hell. When he was a student there, a teacher once became upset because he "got the best grade and [he] wasn't Catholic". Shyamalan earned the New York University Merit Scholarship in 1988, and was also a National Merit Scholar. Shyamalan is an alumnus of New York University Tisch School of the Arts in Manhattan, graduating in 1992. It was while studying there that he adopted "Night" as his second name.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: Shyamalan had an early desire to be a filmmaker when he was given a Super 8 camera at a young age. Though his father wanted him to follow in the family practice of medicine, his mother encouraged him to follow his passion. By the time he was seventeen, he had made forty-five home movies. On each DVD release of his films, beginning with "The Sixth Sense" and with the exception of "Lady in the Water", he has included a scene from one of these childhood movies, which, he feels, represents his first attempt at the same kind of film.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: Shyamalan made his first film, the semi-autobiographical drama "Praying with Anger", while still a student at NYU, using money borrowed from family and friends. He wrote and directed his second movie, "Wide Awake". His parents were the film's associate producers. The drama dealt with a ten-year-old Catholic schoolboy (Joseph Cross) who, after the death of his grandfather (Robert Loggia), searches for God. The film's supporting cast included Dana Delany and Denis Leary as the boy's parents, as well as Rosie O'Donnell, Julia Stiles, and Camryn Manheim. "Wide Awake" was filmed in a school Shyamalan attended as a child and earned 1999 Young Artist Award nominations for Best Drama, and, for Cross, Best Performance. Only in limited release, the film grossed $305,704 in theaters, against a $6 million budget.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: That same year Shyamalan co-wrote the screenplay for "Stuart Little" with Greg Brooker. In 2013, he revealed he was the ghostwriter for the 1999 film "She's All That", a teen comedy starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook. On June 17, 2013, Jack Lechner (who served as Miramax's head of development in the late 1990s) confirmed that both Shyamalan and R. Lee Fleming, Jr. contributed to the script: Fleming wrote the initial script that Miramax bought while Shyamalan did an uncredited rewrite (doing more than "a polish") that got the film green-lit. Lechner reiterated that content from both writers was included in the final cut of the film.


title: M. Night Shyamalan

text: Shyamalan gained international recognition when he wrote and directed 1999's "The Sixth Sense", which became the second-highest grossing horror movie of all time. "The Sixth Sense" was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.