title: Human penis

text: Another evolutionary theory of penis size is female mate choice and its associations with social judgements in modern-day society. A study which illustrates female mate choice as an influence on penis size presented females with life-size, rotatable, computer generated males. These varied in height, body shape and flaccid penis size, with these aspects being examples of masculinity. Female ratings of attractiveness for each male revealed that larger penises were associated with higher attractiveness ratings. These relations between penis size and attractiveness have therefore led to frequently emphasized associations between masculinity and penis size in popular media. This has led to a social bias existing around penis size with larger penises being preferred and having higher social status. This is reflected in the association between believed sexual prowess and penis size and the social judgement of penis size in relation to 'manhood'.


title: Human penis

text: Like the penis, sperm competition has caused the human testicles to evolve in size through sexual selection. This means that large testicles are an example of a sexually selected adaptation. The human testicles are moderately sized when compared to other animals such as gorillas and chimpanzees, placing somewhere midway. Large testicles are advantageous in sperm competition due to their ability to produce a bigger ejaculation. Research has shown that a positive correlation exists between the number of sperm ejaculated and testis size. Larger testes have also been shown to predict higher sperm quality, including a larger number of motile sperm and higher sperm motility.


title: Human penis

text: Research has also demonstrated that evolutionary adaptations of testis size are dependent on the breeding system in which the species resides. Single-male breeding systems—or monogamous societies—tend to show smaller testis size than do multi-male breeding systems or extra-pair copulation (EPC) societies. Human males live largely in monogamous societies like gorillas, and therefore testis size is smaller in comparison to primates in multi-male breeding systems, such as chimpanzees. The reason for the differentiation in testis size is that in order to succeed reproductively in a multi-male breeding system, males must possess the ability to produce several fully fertilising ejaculations one after another. This, however, is not the case in monogamous societies, where a reduction in fertilising ejaculations has no effect on reproductive success. This is reflected in humans, as the sperm count in ejaculations is decreased if copulation occurs more than three to five times in a week.


title: Human penis

text: One of the primary ways in which a male's ejaculate has evolved to overcome sperm competition is through the speed at which it travels. Ejaculates can travel up to 30–60 centimetres at a time which, when combined with its placement at the highest point of the vaginal tract, acts to increase a male's chances that an egg will be fertilised by his sperm (as opposed to a potential rival male's sperm), thus maximising his paternal certainty.


title: Human penis

text: In addition, males can—and do—adjust their ejaculates in response to sperm competition and according to the likely cost-benefits of mating with a particular female. Research has focused primarily on two fundamental ways in which males go about achieving this: adjusting ejaculate size and adjusting ejaculate quality.


title: Human penis

text: The number of sperm in any given ejaculate varies from one ejaculate to another. This variation is hypothesised to be a male's attempt to eliminate, if not reduce, his sperm competition. A male will alter the number of sperm he inseminates into a female according to his perceived level of sperm competition, inseminating a higher number of sperm if he suspects a greater level of competition from other males.


title: Human penis

text: In support of ejaculate adjustment, research has shown that a male typically increases the amount he inseminates sperm into his partner after they have been separated for a period of time. This is largely due to the fact that the less time a couple is able to spend together, the chances the female will be inseminated by another male increases, hence greater sperm competition. Increasing the number of sperm a male inseminates into a female acts to get rid of any rival male's sperm that may be stored within the female, as a result of her potential extra-pair copulations (EPCs) during this separation. Through increasing the amount he inseminates his partner following separation, a male increases his chances of paternal certainty. This increase in the number of sperm a male produces in response to sperm competition is not observed for masturbatory ejaculates.


title: Human penis

text: Males also adjust their ejaculates in response to sperm competition in terms of quality. Research has demonstrated, for example, that simply viewing a sexually explicit image of a female and two males (i.e. high sperm competition) can cause males to produce a greater amount of motile sperm than when viewing a sexually explicit image depicting exclusively three females (i.e. low sperm competition). Much like increasing the number, increasing the quality of sperm that a male inseminates into a female enhances his paternal certainty when the threat of sperm competition is high.


title: Human penis

text: A female's phenotypic quality is a key determinant of a male's ejaculate investment. Research has shown that males produce larger ejaculates containing better, more motile sperm when mating with a higher quality female. This is largely to reduce a male's sperm competition, since more attractive females are likely to be approached and subsequently inseminated by more males than are less attractive females. Increasing investment in females with high quality phenotypic traits therefore acts to offset the ejaculate investment of others. In addition, female attractiveness has been shown to be an indicator of reproductive quality, with greater value in higher quality females. It is therefore beneficial for males to increase their ejaculate size and quality when mating with more attractive females, since this is likely to maximise their reproductive success also. Through assessing a female's phenotypic quality, males can judge whether or not to invest (or invest more) in a particular female, which will influence their subsequent ejaculate adjustment.


title: Human penis

text: The shape of the human penis is thought to have evolved as a result of sperm competition. Semen displacement is an adaptation of the shape of the penis to draw foreign semen away from the cervix. This means that in the event of a rival male's sperm residing within the reproductive tract of a female, the human penis is able to displace the rival sperm, replacing it with his own.


title: Human penis

text: Semen displacement has two main benefits for a male. Firstly, by displacing a rival male's sperm, the risk of the rival sperm fertilising the egg is reduced, thus minimising the risk of sperm competition. Secondly, the male replaces the rival's sperm with his own, therefore increasing his own chance of fertilising the egg and successfully reproducing with the female. However, males have to ensure they do not displace their own sperm. It is thought that the relatively quick loss of erection after ejaculation, penile hypersensitivity following ejaculation, and the shallower, slower thrusting of the male after ejaculation, prevents this from occurring.


title: Human penis

text: The coronal ridge is the part of the human penis thought to have evolved to allow for semen displacement. Research has studied how much semen is displaced by differently shaped artificial genitals. This research showed that, when combined with thrusting, the coronal ridge of the penis is able to remove the seminal fluid of a rival male from within the female reproductive tract. It does this by forcing the semen under the frenulum of the coronal ridge, causing it to collect behind the coronal ridge shaft. When model penises without a coronal ridge were used, less than half the artificial sperm was displaced, compared to penises with a coronal ridge.


title: Human penis

text: The presence of a coronal ridge alone, however, is not sufficient for effective semen displacement. It must be combined with adequate thrusting to be successful. It has been shown that the deeper the thrusting, the larger the semen displacement. No semen displacement occurs with shallow thrusting. Some have therefore termed thrusting as a semen displacement behaviour.


title: Human penis

text: The behaviours associated with semen displacement, namely thrusting (number of thrusts and depth of thrusts), and duration of sexual intercourse, have been shown to vary according to whether a male perceives the risk of partner infidelity to be high or not. Males and females report greater semen displacement behaviours following allegations of infidelity. In particular, following allegations of infidelity, males and females report deeper and quicker thrusting during sexual intercourse.


title: Human penis

text: Circumcision has been suggested to affect semen displacement. Circumcision causes the coronal ridge to be more pronounced, and it has been hypothesised that this could enhance semen displacement. This is supported by females' reports of sexual intercourse with circumcised males. Females report that their vaginal secretions diminish as intercourse with a circumcised male progresses, and that circumcised males thrust more deeply. It has therefore been suggested that the more pronounced coronal ridge, combined with the deeper thrusting, causes the vaginal secretions of the female to be displaced in the same way as rival sperm can be.


title: Human penis

text: In many cultures, referring to the penis is considered taboo or vulgar, and a variety of slang words and euphemisms are used to talk about it. In English, these include "member", "dick", "cock", "prick", "johnson", "dork", "peter", "pecker", "manhood", "stick", "rod", "thing", "third/middle leg", "dong", "willy", "schlong", and "todger." Many of these are used as insults—though sometimes playfully—meaning an unpleasant or unworthy person. Among these, historically, most commonly used euphemism for penis in English literature and society was "member".


title: Human penis

text: The penis is sometimes pierced or decorated by other body art. Other than circumcision, genital alterations are almost universally elective and usually for the purpose of aesthetics or increased sensitivity. Piercings of the penis include the Prince Albert, the apadravya, the ampallang, the dydoe, and the frenum piercing. Foreskin restoration or stretching is a further form of body modification, as well as implants under the shaft of the penis.


title: Human penis

text: Trans women who undergo sex reassignment surgery have their penis surgically modified into a vagina via vaginoplasty. Trans men who undergo such surgery have a phalloplasty.


title: Human penis

text: Other practices that alter the penis are also performed, although they are rare in Western societies without a diagnosed medical condition. Apart from penectomy, perhaps the most radical of these is subincision, in which the urethra is split along the underside of the penis. Subincision originated among Australian Aborigines, although it is now done by some in the U.S. and Europe.


title: Human penis

text: The most common form of body modification related to the penis is circumcision: removal of part or all of the foreskin. It is most commonly performed as an elective procedure for prophylactic, cultural, or religious reasons. For infant circumcision, modern devices such as the Gomco clamp, Plastibell, and Mogen clamp are available.


title: Human penis

text: With all modern devices the same basic procedure is followed. First, the amount of foreskin to be removed is estimated. The foreskin is then opened via the preputial orifice to reveal the glans underneath and ensured that it is normal. The inner lining of the foreskin (preputial epithelium) is then separated from its attachment to the glans. The device is then placed (this sometimes requires a dorsal slit) and remains there until blood flow has stopped. Finally, part, or all, of the foreskin is then removed. Adult circumcisions are often performed without clamps and require 4 to 6 weeks of abstinence from masturbation or intercourse after the operation to allow the wound to heal. In some African countries, male circumcision is often performed by non-medical personnel under non-sterile conditions. After hospital circumcision, the foreskin may be used in biomedical research, consumer skin-care products, skin grafts, or β-interferon-based drugs. In parts of Africa, the foreskin may be dipped in brandy and eaten by the patient, eaten by the circumciser, or fed to animals. According to Jewish law, after a "Brit milah", the foreskin should be buried. Circumcision plays a major role in many of the world's cultures and religions. When performed for religious reasons, it is most common among both Jews and Muslims, among whom it is near-universal.


title: Human penis

text: There are variant cultural, social, ethical, and religious views on circumcision. Among the world's major medical organizations, there is an overwhelming consensus that circumcision reduces heterosexual HIV infection rates in high-risk populations, and differing perspectives on the prophylactic efficacy and cost effectiveness of circumcision in developed nations. The World Health Organization (WHO; 2007), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS; 2007), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; 2008) state that evidence indicates circumcision significantly reduces the risk of HIV acquisition by men during penile-vaginal sex, but also state that circumcision only provides partial protection and should not replace other interventions to prevent transmission of HIV.


title: Human penis

text: In 2010, the World Health Organization released a statement encouraging a higher rate of circumcision:There are significant benefits in performing male circumcision in early infancy, and programmes that promote early infant male circumcision are likely to have lower morbidity rates and lower costs than programmes targeting adolescent boys and men."Bolnick, Koyle & Yosha (2012)" projects that worldwide circumcision rates will significantly rise "in the first half of the twenty-first century".


title: Human penis

text: There are efforts by scientists to partially or fully regenerate the structures of the human penis. Patients who can benefit most from this field are those who have congenital defects, cancer, and injuries that have excised parts of their genitalia. Some organizations which perform research into, or conduct regeneration procedures, include the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the United States Department of Defense. The first successful penis allotransplant surgery was done in September 2005 in a military hospital in Guangzhou, China. A man at 44 sustained an injury after an accident and his penis was severed; urination became difficult as his urethra was partly blocked. A recently brain-dead man, aged 23, was selected for the transplant. Despite atrophy of blood vessels and nerves, the arteries, veins, nerves and the corpora spongiosa were successfully matched. But, on 19 September (after two weeks), the surgery was reversed because of a severe psychological problem (rejection) by the recipient and his wife. In 2009 researchers Chen, Eberli, Yoo and Atala have produced bioengineered penises and implanted them on rabbits. The animals were able to obtain erection and copulate, with 10 of 12 rabbits achieving ejaculation. This study shows that in the future it could be possible to produce artificial penises for replacement surgeries or phalloplasties. In 2015 the world's first successful penis transplant took place in Cape Town, South Africa in a nine-hour operation performed by surgeons from Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital. The 21-year-old recipient, who had been sexually active, had lost his penis in a botched circumcision at 18.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Isaac Liev Schreiber (; born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and narrator. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the first three "Scream" horror films (1996-2000), "Ransom" (1996), "Phantoms" (1998), "The Hurricane" (1999), "The Sum of All Fears" (2002), "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), "The Omen" (2006), "Defiance" (2008), "" (2009), "Taking Woodstock" (2009), "Salt" (2010), "Goon" (2011), "Pawn Sacrifice" (2014), and "Spotlight" (2015), "The 5th Wave" (2016), and "The French Dispatch" (2021). He has also lent his voice to animated films such as "" (2017), "Isle of Dogs", and "" (both 2018).


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber has also performed in several Broadway productions. In 2005, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in the play "Glengarry Glen Ross". That same year, he made his debut as a film director and writer with "Everything Is Illuminated" (2005), based on the 2002 novel of the same name. In 2010, he narrated the HBO documentary, "Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals". For his roles in television, he most notably portrayed the eponymous protagonist of the Showtime drama series "Ray Donovan" (2013–2020). The role has earned him five Golden Globe Award nominations and three Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He reprised the role in the television film "" (2022). He also narrates the HBO series "Hard Knocks" and "24/7", as well as various PBS programs.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Heather Milgram, a painter, and Tell Schreiber, an actor and carpenter. His father is Protestant and his mother is Jewish. His maternal grandfather, Alex Milgram, emigrated from Ukraine. Milgram, who was the most significant male in Schreiber's youth, played the cello and owned Pierre-Auguste Renoir etchings, and made his living by delivering meat to restaurants. His mother, who is an aficionada of classical music and Russian literature, has said that she named Liev after her favorite Russian author, Leo Tolstoy, while his father has stated that Schreiber was named after the doctor who saved his mother's life. His family nickname, adopted when Schreiber was a baby, is "Huggy."


title: Liev Schreiber

text: When Schreiber was one year old, his family moved to the unincorporated rural community of Winlaw, in the southern interior of British Columbia. Over the next four years, his mother was hospitalized on several occasions and underwent therapy related to a bad experience on LSD that she had near the beginning of her marriage (in San Francisco), according to Schreiber's father. After Schreiber's father threatened to have Schreiber's mother admitted to a mental institution, Schreiber's mother kidnapped Schreiber and "fled to a hippie commune in upstate New York. When Schreiber was 3, his dad kidnapped him back. His mother eventually won custody following an ugly legal battle".


title: Liev Schreiber

text: When Schreiber was five, his parents divorced and a fierce custody battle ensued, bankrupting his maternal grandfather. His mother won custody, and the two moved to a cold water flat on the Lower East Side in Manhattan, where they lived for some time, frequently with no electricity, hot water, or even beds. It was during this period that Schreiber began his career in theater by enrolling in Joffrey Ballet School of New York.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: After his parents' divorce, Schreiber's father remained in British Columbia; Liev's half-brother, Pablo Schreiber, was born in British Columbia five years later. (Schreiber also has half-siblings from his mother's first marriage; they lived with their father in New York City while Liev was growing up.)


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber has described his mother as a "far-out Socialist Labor Party hippie bohemian freak who hung out with William Burroughs". She was "a highly cultured eccentric" who earned a living by splitting her time between driving a cab and creating "papier-mâché" puppets." On Schreiber's 16th birthday, his mother bought him a motorcycle to "promote fearlessness." The critic John Lahr wrote in a 1999 "New Yorker" profile that, "To a large extent, Schreiber's professional shape-shifting and his uncanny instinct for isolating the frightened, frail, goofy parts of his characters are a result of being forced to adapt to his mother's eccentricities. It's both his grief and his gift." Her bohemian proclivities led to actions such as making Schreiber take the Hindu name Shiva Das, wear yoga shirts, consume a vegetarian diet, and briefly attend Satchidananda Ashram in Pomfret, Connecticut when he was 12. Schreiber's mother also forbade her son from seeing color movies. As a result, his favorite actors were Charlie Chaplin, Andrew Cartwright, and Basil Rathbone. In retrospect, Schreiber said in a 2008 interview that he appreciates his mother's influences, saying: "Since I've had Sasha, I've completely identified with everything my mother went through raising me... and I think her choices were inspired."


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Subsequently, Schreiber attended Friends Seminary, a Quaker school. In high school, played the bass clarinet.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber went on to attend Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he began his acting training at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, via the Five Colleges consortium. In March 1989, he played Antonio in "The Merchant of Venice" alongside Jeffrey Donovan. He later attended the Yale School of Drama, where he studied with Earle R. Gister and starred in Charles Evered's "The Size of the World," directed by Walton Jones. He received a master's degree in drama from Yale in 1992. He also attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He originally wanted to be a screenwriter, eventually settling on acting.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber had several supporting roles in various independent films until his big break, as the accused murderer Cotton Weary in the "Scream" trilogy of horror films. Though the success of the "Scream" trilogy led Schreiber to roles in several big-budget studio pictures, "Entertainment Weekly" wrote in 2007 that "Schreiber is [still] best known for such indie gems as "Walking and Talking", "The Daytrippers", and "Big Night"."


title: Liev Schreiber

text: After "Scream," Schreiber was cast as Orson Welles in the HBO original movie "RKO 281", for which he was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe awards. He then played supporting roles in several studio films, including Ron Howard's 1996 remake of "Ransom", the 1999 film "The Hurricane", "A Walk on the Moon"; the 2000 movie version of "Hamlet", and as a spy in "The Sum of All Fears".


title: Liev Schreiber

text: The 2004 remake of "The Manchurian Candidate", with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep, was another major film for Schreiber, stirring some controversy as it opened during a heated presidential election cycle. Schreiber also played Robert Thorn with Julia Stiles in the 2006 film "The Omen", a remake of the 1976 horror classic. He played the time-traveling ex-boyfriend of Meg Ryan in the 2001 film "Kate & Leopold", also starring Hugh Jackman.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Along with his screen work, Schreiber is a well-respected classical actor; in a 1998 review of the Shakespeare play "Cymbeline", "The New York Times" called his performance "revelatory" and ended the article with the plea, "More Shakespeare, Mr. Schreiber."


title: Liev Schreiber

text: A year later, Schreiber played the title role in "Hamlet" in a December 1999 revival at The Public Theater, to similar raves. In 2000, he went on to play Laertes in the film "Hamlet", a modern adaptation of the play.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: His performance in the title role of "Henry V" in a 2003 Central Park production of that play caused "The New Yorker" magazine critic John Lahr to expound upon his aptitude for playing Shakespeare characters. "He has a swiftness of mind," Lahr wrote, "which convinces the audience that language is being coined in the moment. His speech, unlike that of the merely adequate supporting cast, feels lived rather than learned."


title: Liev Schreiber

text: From June to July 2006, he played the title role in "Macbeth" opposite Jennifer Ehle at the Delacorte Theater.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber has narrated a number of documentaries, many of them aired as part of PBS series such as "American Experience", "Nova", and "Secrets of the Dead" from 2001 to 2011. He is the voice behind the television commercials for Infiniti. In 1995, he provided narration for the BBC/WGBH documentary co-production "Rock & Roll". In 1994, he narrated "Two Billion Hearts", the official film of 1994 World Cup.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber is also the voice of HBO's "Sports of the 20th Century" documentaries. Similarly, Schreiber is the narrator of HBO Boxing's "Countdown" and "24/7" documentary series. Schreiber served as the voice of Skeletor in the 2002 incarnation of "Masters of the Universe". He narrated "Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals" and "Broad Street Bullies" in 2010 as well as "Runnin' Rebels of UNLV" in 2011, on HBO, and provided the narration for the "Making of Pumping Iron" documentary included in a special anniversary edition of the movie "Pumping Iron". He also narrated the History Channel specials "Ape to Man", "The Lost Kennedy Home Movies", and "".


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber reprised his role as narrator for HBO's "24/7: Road to the Winter Classic" NHL documentary, which followed the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals as they prepared to face each other in the 2011 NHL Winter Classic at Heinz Field, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 2011. Once again, Schreiber was the narrator for the HBO series, "24/7 : Road to the Winter Classic". That year, the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers battled in the Classic, at Citizens Bank Park in the 2012 NHL Winter Classic. Once more, Schreiber narrated for the HBO series in 2014 for the 2014 NHL Winter Classic, which showcased the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Detroit Red Wings at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber has been the narrator in HBO's "Hard Knocks" for every season, except for the 2007 season when Paul Rudd filled that role, with the Kansas City Chiefs. He also narrated the 2011 documentary "Hitler's G.I. Death Camp" on the National Geographic Channel. Released in 2012, "Kinderblock 66: Return to Buchenwald" was narrated by Schreiber, as was the 2013 documentary "Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve". He provided the voiceover for the 2018 Kia Stinger GT commercial.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber told "The New Yorker" in 1999, "I don't know that I want to be an actor for the rest of my life." For a time in the late 1990s, he hoped to produce and direct an adaptation of "The Merchant of Venice" starring Dustin Hoffman.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: During that time, Schreiber started writing a screenplay about his relationship with his Ukrainian grandfather, a project he abandoned when, according to "The New York Times," "he read Jonathan Safran Foer's hit novel, "Everything Is Illuminated," and decided Mr. Foer had done it better." Schreiber's film adaptation of the short story from which the novel originated, which he both wrote and directed, was released in 2005. The film, which starred Elijah Wood, received lukewarm-to-positive reviews, with Roger Ebert calling it "a film that grows in reflection."


title: Liev Schreiber

text: In 2002, he starred in Neil LaBute's play "The Mercy Seat" along with Sigourney Weaver off-Broadway that was critically and commercially very successful. In the spring of 2005, Schreiber played the role of Richard Roma in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Glengarry Glen Ross". As Roma, Schreiber won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play. In 2006, Schreiber was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: In the fall of that year, he directed and starred in the "2006 Join the Fight" AIDS campaign for Cable Positive and Kismet Films (others involved with the campaign included actress Naomi Watts, fashion designer Calvin Klein, and playwright Tony Kushner).


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber played Charlie Townsend in the 2006 film "The Painted Veil," starring opposite Watts and Edward Norton. In the same year, Schreiber also appeared in "The Omen", which was a remake of the 1976 film of the same name. For television, the actor portrayed a character who temporarily replaces Gil Grissom (played by William Petersen) on "" (2006–07 season) as Michael Keppler, a seasoned CSI with a strong reputation in various police departments across the nation, before joining the veteran Las Vegas team.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber joined the cast on January 18, 2007, and shot a four-episode arc. He appeared in the Broadway revival of Eric Bogosian's "Talk Radio". The show began previews at the Longacre Theatre on February 15, 2007, in preparation for its March opening. On May 11, 2007, he won the Drama League Award for distinguished performance for his portrayal of shock jock "Barry Champlain" in "Talk Radio," and has received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for the role. "The New York Times"' Ben Brantley called his performance "the most lacerating portrait of a human meltdown this side of a Francis Bacon painting." Schreiber played the womanizing Lotario Thurgot in Mike Newell's screen adaptation of "Love in the Time of Cholera," released in 2007. In a January 2007 interview, Schreiber mentioned that he was working on a screenplay.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Late in 2008, Schreiber portrayed Jewish resistance fighter Zus Bielski in the film "Defiance", alongside Daniel Craig. In 2009, Schreiber played the mutant supervillain Victor Creed in the Marvel Comics film "", released on May 1, 2009. In March 2010, he was interested in returning for "Scream 4", portraying Cotton Weary a fourth time (the film was subsequently made without his involvement).


title: Liev Schreiber

text: In 2010, he returned to Broadway in "A View from the Bridge" for which he received a Tony nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Play. Schreiber narrates "Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle", a three-hour documentary that premiered on PBS in October 2013.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber co-starred in the 2015 film "Spotlight", which won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Schreiber co-starred alongside Janet McTeer in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" on Broadway, with Schreiber cast as the Machiavellian seducer Vicomte de Valmont. The play ran from October 2016 to January 2017.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: During the story development for "Logan", Liev had been approached about the potential of Victor Creed to return to the "X-Men" film universe. Following the film's release, Hugh Jackman revealed that early versions of the script included the character but that element was eventually removed from the final screenplay.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: In 2017, Liev was cast to voice the Storm King, the main antagonist in the 2017 film "", based on the show "". On his acceptance of the part, Liev said that, because of his kids' exposure to his adult-oriented movie work, he wanted something more child-friendly for them to watch.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: In 2018, he was part of the ensemble cast of the animated film "Isle of Dogs", which premiered at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival; and voiced the supervillain Kingpin in the animated film "".


title: Liev Schreiber

text: In the year 2019, Schreiber had a supporting role in "A Rainy Day in New York", which was written and directed by Woody Allen. The same year, he starred in the lead role for "Human Capital", where he also served as a producer. In a second collaboration with filmmaker Wes Anderson, he appeared in "The French Dispatch" in the role of an unnamed talk show host. The film was originally set to be released in 2020, but it was delayed numerous times due to the COVID-19 pandemic before being planned for a release in July 2021. The film subsequently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on July 12 and was released theatrically in the U.S. on October 22, 2021.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber worked on a film adaptation of "Across the River and Into the Trees". In the film, he played the leading role of Colonel Richard Cantwell, originally set to be played by Pierce Brosnan.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: In 2020, Showtime ended the drama series "Ray Donovan", in which Schreiber starred, after the 7th season. As a conclusion to the series, a was released in January 2022. Schreiber co-wrote the script along with the director David Hollander.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber was in a relationship with British-Australian actress Naomi Watts (with whom he appeared in "The Painted Veil"). Their first son was born in 2007, and their second son was born in 2008. On September 26, 2016, Schreiber and Watts separated after 11 years together.


title: Liev Schreiber

text: Schreiber has lived in a loft apartment in Noho, in Lower Manhattan in New York City, that was shown in "Architectural Digest".


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Hacksaw Ridge is a 2016 biographical war film directed by Mel Gibson and written by Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan, based on the 2004 documentary "The Conscientious Objector" directed by Terry Benedict. The film focuses on the World War II experiences of Desmond Doss, an American pacifist combat medic who, as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, refused to carry or use a weapon or firearm of any kind. Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for service above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Okinawa. Andrew Garfield stars as Doss, with Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, and Vince Vaughn in supporting roles.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Filming took place in Australia from September to December 2015. "Hacksaw Ridge" was released in the United States on November 4, 2016, grossing $180.4 million worldwide, and received critical acclaim, with Gibson's direction and Garfield's performance earning particular praise. It was widely viewed as a return to form for Gibson, whose career had been in decline following several controversies. "Hacksaw Ridge" was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of its top ten Movies of the Year, and has received numerous awards and nominations. The film received six Oscar nominations at the 89th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Garfield, and Best Sound Editing, winning the awards for Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. It also received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, and 12 AACTA Awards nominations, winning the majority, including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor for Garfield, and Best Supporting Actor for Weaving.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: In 1925 Lynchburg, Virginia, young Desmond Doss nearly kills his brother during roughhousing. That event and his Seventh-day Adventist upbringing reinforce Desmond's belief in the commandment "Thou shalt not kill." Fifteen years later, Doss takes an injured man to the hospital and meets a nurse, Dorothy Schutte. They strike a romance, and Doss tells Dorothy of his interest in medical work.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brings the United States into World War II, Doss enlists in the United States Army to serve as a combat medic. His father, Tom, a First World War veteran, is deeply upset by the decision. Desmond and Dorothy get engaged.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Doss is placed in basic training under the command of Sergeant Howell. He excels physically but becomes a pariah among his fellow soldiers for refusing to handle a rifle and train on Saturdays. Howell and Captain Glover attempt to discharge Doss for psychiatric reasons under Section 8 but are overruled, as Doss's religious beliefs do not constitute mental illness. They subsequently torment Doss by putting him through grueling labor, intending to drive Doss out. Despite being beaten one night by his fellow soldiers, he refuses to identify his attackers.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Doss's unit completes basic training and is released on leave during which Doss intends to marry Dorothy, but his refusal to carry a firearm leads to an arrest for insubordination. Captain Glover and Dorothy visit Doss in jail and try to convince him to plead guilty so that he can be released without charge, but Doss refuses to compromise his beliefs. At his court-martial, Doss pleads not guilty, but before he is sentenced, his father barges into the tribunal with a letter from his former commanding officer (now a brigadier general) stating that his son's pacifism is protected by the US Constitution. The charges against Doss are dropped, and he and Dorothy are married.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Doss's unit is assigned to the 77th Infantry Division and deployed to the Pacific Theater. During the Battle of Okinawa, Doss's unit will relieve the 96th Infantry Division, which was tasked with ascending and securing the Maeda Escarpment ("Hacksaw Ridge"). During the initial fight, with heavy losses on both sides, Doss saves the life of his squadmate Smitty, earning his respect. As the Americans camp for the night, Doss reveals to Smitty that his aversion to holding a firearm stems from nearly shooting his drunken father, who threatened his mother with a gun. Smitty apologizes for doubting his courage, and both reconcile.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: The next morning, the Japanese launch a massive counterattack and drive the Americans off the escarpment. Smitty is killed, and Howell and several of Doss's comrades are left injured on the battlefield. Doss hears the cries of dying soldiers and returns to save them, carrying the wounded, and Smitty's body, to the cliff's edge and belaying them down by rope, each time praying to save one more. The arrival of dozens of wounded who had been presumed dead comes as a shock to the rest of the unit below. When day breaks, Doss rescues Howell, and both escape Hacksaw under enemy fire.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Captain Glover apologizes for dismissing Doss's beliefs as "cowardice" and states that they are scheduled to retake the ridge on Saturday but will not launch the next attack without him. Doss agrees, but the operation is delayed until after he concludes his Sabbath prayers. With reinforcements, they turn the tide of battle. In an ambush set by Japanese soldiers who pretend to surrender, Doss manages to save Glover and others by deflecting enemy grenades. Doss is wounded by a grenade blast, but the battle is won. Doss is lowered from the cliff clutching the Bible that Dorothy had given to him.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: The film switches to real photos and footage showing that Doss was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for rescuing 75 soldiers at Hacksaw Ridge, as well as real life footage of Doss just before his death, recounting his experiences during the war.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: "Hacksaw Ridge" was in development limbo for 14 years. Numerous producers had tried for decades to film Doss's story, including decorated war hero Audie Murphy and Hal B. Wallis.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: In 2001, after finally convincing Doss that making a movie on his remarkable life was the right thing to do, screenwriter/producer Gregory Crosby (grandson of Bing Crosby) wrote the treatment and brought the project to film producer David Permut, of Permut Presentations, through the early cooperation of Stan Jensen of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which ultimately led to the film being financed.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: In 2004, director Terry Benedict won the rights to make a documentary about Doss, "The Conscientious Objector", and secured the dramatic film rights in the process. However, Doss died in 2006, after which producer Bill Mechanic acquired and then sold the rights to Walden Media, which developed the project along with producer David Permut. Walden Media insisted on a PG-13 version of the battle, and Mechanic spent years working to buy the rights back.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: After acquiring the rights, Mechanic approached Mel Gibson, and wanted him to create a concoction of violence and faith, as he did with "The Passion of the Christ" (2004). Gibson turned down the offer twice, as he previously did with "Braveheart" (1995). Nearly a decade later, Gibson finally agreed to direct, a decision announced in November 2014. The same month, Andrew Garfield was confirmed to play the role of Desmond Doss.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: With a budget of $40 million, the team still faced many challenges. "Hacksaw Ridge" became an international co-production, with key players and firms located in both the United States and Australia. When Australian tax incentives were taken off the table, the film had to qualify as Australian to receive government subsidies. Despite being American-born, Gibson's early years in Australia helped the film qualify, along with most of the cast being Australian, including Rachel Griffiths, Teresa Palmer, Sam Worthington, Hugo Weaving, Richard Roxburgh, and Luke Bracey. Rounding out the cast was American actor Vince Vaughn. According to producer Bill Mechanic, Australian state and federal subsidies made financing the film possible. James M. Vernon, an Australian Executive Producer on Hacksaw Ridge helped the film qualify for Australian government subsidies.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: On February 9, 2015, IM Global closed a deal to finance the film, and also sold the film into the international markets. On the same day, Lionsgate acquired the North American distribution rights to the film. Chinese distribution rights were acquired by Bliss Media, a Shanghai-based film production and distribution company.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: "Hacksaw Ridge" is the first film directed by Gibson since "Apocalypto" in 2006, and marks a departure from his previous films, such as "Apocalypto" and "Braveheart", in which the protagonists acted violently.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Robert Schenkkan made the initial draft and Randall Wallace, who was previously attached to direct the film, rewrote the script. Andrew Knight polished the revised script. Gibson's business partner Bruce Davey also produced the film, along with Paul Currie.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: The cast—Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Rachel Griffiths, Richard Roxburgh, Luke Pegler, Richard Pyros, Ben Mingay, Firass Dirani, Nico Cortez, Michael Sheasby, Goran Kleut, Jacob Warner, Harry Greenwood, Damien Thomlinson, Ben O'Toole, Benedict Hardie, Robert Morgan, Ori Pfeffer, Milo Gibson, and Nathaniel Buzolic, Hugo Weaving, and Ryan Corr—was announced between November 2014 and October 2015. The younger Doss was played by Darcy Bryce.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Garfield plays Desmond Doss, a US Army medic awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman for saving lives during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II. Garfield had high regard for Doss, and venerated him for his act of bravery, hailing him as a "wonderful symbol of embodying the idea of live and let live no matter what your ideology is, no matter what your value system is, just to allow other people to be who they are and allow yourself to be who you are." He found the idea of playing a real superhero, as compared to his past roles playing Spider-Man in "The Amazing Spider-Man" and its sequel, much more inspiring. Garfield admitted that he cried the first time he read the screenplay. He visited Doss' hometown and touched his various tools. Gibson was drawn to Garfield the first time he saw his performance in "The Social Network".


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Principal photography started on September 29, 2015, and lasted for 59 days, ending in December of that year. Filming took place entirely in Australia. The film was based at Fox Studios in Sydney, after producers vigorously scouted for locations around the country. Filming took place mostly in the state of New South Wales.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: The cliff was filmed at a disused "Long Street Quarry" adjacent to the Main Southern railway line north of Goulburn. The grounds of Newington Armory at Sydney Olympic Park were used as Fort Jackson. Filming in Bringelly required the team to clear and deforest over 500 hectares of land, which evoked the ire of some environmentalists. However, the producers had complete approval and clearance to do so. Also conditions were imposed to replant and rehabilitate part of the land after filming ceased. According to Minister for the Arts, Troy Grant, the film brought 720 jobs and US$19 million to regional and rural New South Wales. Other filming locations include Richmond, Bringelly, and Oran Park and Centennial Park.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Altogether, three jeeps, two trucks, and a tank were featured in the film. Bulldozers and backhoes were used to transform a dairy pasture near Sydney to re-create the Okinawa battlefield. A berm had to be raised around the perimeter so cameras could turn 360 degrees without getting any eucalyptus trees in the background. Gibson did not want to rely heavily on computer visual effects, either on the screen or in pre-visualizing the battle scenes. Visual effects were used only during bloody scenes, like napalm-burnt soldiers. During filming of the battle scenes, Gibson incorporated his past war-movie experiences, and would yell to the actors, reminding them constantly of what they were fighting for.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Kevin O'Connell, who won his first Academy Awards for sound mixing in this film (after 21 nominations), stated that budget constraints forced him to use archival sounds of WWII-era weapons.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: The film has been described as an anti-war film, with pacifist themes. It also incorporates recurring religious imagery, such as baptism and ascension.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: After the war, Doss turned down many requests for books and film versions of his actions, because he was wary of his life, wartime experiences, and Seventh-day Adventist beliefs being portrayed inaccurately or sensationally. Doss's only child, Desmond Doss Jr., stated: "The reason he declined is that none of them adhered to his one requirement: that it be accurate. And I find it remarkable, the level of accuracy in adhering to the principal of the story in this movie." Producer David Permut stated that the filmmakers took great care in maintaining the integrity of the story, since Doss was very religious.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: However, the filmmakers changed some details, notably the backstory of his father being a World War I veteran, the incident with the gun Doss took out of his alcoholic father's hands, and the circumstance of his first marriage. The character of Smitty, portrayed by Luke Bracey, is an amalgamation of various soldiers who tormented Doss and was created for narrative reasons. Another change is Harold Doss, who is shown serving in Army, when in reality, he served in the Navy onboard the USS Lindsey. Other changes occur near the end of the film, when Doss is placed on a stretcher. In real life, Doss had another wounded man take his place on the stretcher. After treating the soldier, a sniper shot fractured Doss's arm, and he crawled to safety after being left alone for five hours. Gibson omitted that from the film because he felt that the audience would not find the scene believable. The film also omits his prior combat service in the Battle of Guam and Battle of Leyte (Doss was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for extraordinary bravery in both battles), and it leaves the impression that Doss's actions at Okinawa took place over a period of a few days, but his Medal of Honor citation covered his actions over a period of about three weeks (April 29 to May 21). The visual blog "Information is Beautiful" stated that the film was 52.7% accurate when compared to real-life events, summarizing that "most of the main war-related events did take place, although not all in the timeframe of the film... also, much of the pre-war stuff is either invented or distorted".


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: James Horner was originally approached to compose the score for the film but was replaced by John Debney after Horner's death in 2015. Debney was himself replaced by Rupert Gregson-Williams after his score was rejected before Hacksaw Ridge was set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival. When composing the music Gregson-Williams commented: "The soundtrack is really in two parts. A lovely romance blossoms as Desmond discovers both the love of his life and his faith. The second half of the movie is brutal. We wanted to reflect his spirituality without being pious, and his bravery without celebrating violence." The film's accompanying score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, with an orchestra of 70 musicians and a 36-voice choir conducted by Cliff Masterson.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: The world premiere of "Hacksaw Ridge" occurred on September 4, 2016, at the 73rd Venice Film Festival, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation. The film was released in Australia on November 3, 2016, by Icon Film Distribution, and in the United States on November 4, 2016, by Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment. It was released by Bliss Media in China in November, and in the United Kingdom in 2017, with IM Global handling international sales.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: On July 28, 2016, Lionsgate released the only official trailer for Hacksaw Ridge which garnered millions of views. In partnership with Disabled American Veterans, Gibson screened the film at both the DAV National Convention and VFW National Convention in August 2016 to raise awareness of veterans' issues. Within the same month, Gibson also appeared at Pastor Greg Laurie's SoCal Harvest in Anaheim, California to promote the film. A number of Seventh-day Adventist ministries offered free copies of the "Hero of Hacksaw Ridge" book during the film's release as well as created promotional materials to highlight Doss's faith. On February 24, 2017, Reto-Moto and Lionsgate announced a cross-promotion where the purchase of a DLC pack for "Heroes & Generals" would also give the purchaser a digital copy of the film.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: "Hacksaw Ridge" grossed $67.2 million in the United States and Canada and $113.2 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $180.4 million, against a production budget of $40 million.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: The film opened alongside "Doctor Strange" and "Trolls", and was projected to gross around $12 million from 2,886 theaters. It was expected to play very well among faith-based, Midwest, and Southern audiences. It made $5.2 million on its first day and $15.2 million in its opening weekend, finishing third at the box office behind "Doctor Strange" and "Trolls". The debut was on par with the $15 million opening of Gibson's last directorial effort, "Apocalypto", in 2006. In its second weekend, the film grossed $10.6 million (a drop of just 30%), finishing 5th at the box office.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: The film also opened successfully in China, grossing over $16 million in its first four days at the box office and over $60 million in total.


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 84% based on 281 reviews, with an average rating of 7.30/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Hacksaw Ridge" uses a real-life pacifist's legacy to lay the groundwork for a gripping wartime tribute to faith, valor, and the courage of remaining true to one's convictions." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it a 91% overall positive score and a 67% "definite recommend".


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: "The Milford Daily News" called the film a "masterpiece", adding that it "is going to end up on many 2016 Top 10 lists, that should get Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture". Maggie Stancu of "Movie Pilot" wrote that "Gibson made some of his most genius directing choices in "Hacksaw Ridge", and Garfield has given his best performance yet. With amazing performances by Vince Vaughn, Teresa Palmer, Sam Worthington and Hugo Weaving, it is absolutely one of 2016's must-see films."


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Mick LaSalle of "SFGate" called the film "a brilliant return for Mel Gibson, which confirms his position as a director with a singular talent for spectacle and a sure way with actors". In "The Film Lawyers", Samar Khan called "Hacksaw Ridge" "fantastic" and emphasised "just how wonderful it is to have Gibson back in a more prominent position in Hollywood, hopefully with the demons of his past behind him. If "Hacksaw Ridge" is any indication, we are poised for a future filled with great films from the visionary director."


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: "The Daily Telegraph" awarded four out of five, and added: ""Hacksaw Ridge" is a fantastically moving and bruising war film that hits you like a raw topside of beef in the face—a kind of primary-coloured Guernica that flourishes on a big screen with a crowd."


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: "The Guardian" also awarded the film four out of five, and stated that Gibson had "absolutely hit "Hacksaw Ridge" out of the park." "The Australian"s reviewer was equally positive, stating that, as a director, "Gibson's approach is bold and fearless; this represents his best work to date behind the camera". Rex Reed of "Observer" rated it four out of five, and called it "the best war film since "Saving Private Ryan"... [I]t is violent, harrowing, heartbreaking and unforgettable. And yes, it was directed by Mel Gibson. He deserves a medal, too". Michael Smith of "Tulsa World" called "Hacksaw Ridge" a "moving character study" and praised both the direction and acting: "It's truly remarkable how Gibson can film scenes of such heartfelt emotion with such sweet subtlety as easily as he stages some of the most vicious, visual scenes of violence that you will ever see. ... "Hacksaw Ridge" is beautiful and brutal, and that's a potent combination for a movie about a man determined to serve his country, as well as his soul."


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: IGN critic Alex Welch gave a score of eight out of ten, praising it as "one of the most successful war films of recent memory. . at times horrifying, inspiring, and heart-wrenching". Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film a positive review, praising Gibson's direction and saying, "There are two moments during the second half of Mel Gibson's "Hacksaw Ridge" when I literally jumped out of my seat in terror. The film's depiction of war is the best I've seen since "Saving Private Ryan"."


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film three and a half out of five, writing, "Thanks to some of the greatest battle scenes ever filmed, Gibson once again shows his staggering gifts as a filmmaker, able to juxtapose savagery with aching tenderness." In contrast, Matt Zoller Seitz for RogerEbert.com gave the film 2.5 stars, and described the film as "a movie at war with itself."


title: Hacksaw Ridge

text: "Hacksaw Ridge" won Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Garfield, and Best Sound Editing at the Academy Awards. The film won Best Editing and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Garfield, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, and Best Makeup and Hair at the British Academy Film Awards. The film won Best Action Movie and Best Actor in an Action Movie for Garfield and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Garfield, Best Editing, and Best Hair and Makeup at the Critics' Choice Awards. The film received three nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for Garfield, and Best Director. The film won Best Actor for Garfield, Best Film Editing and Best Sound and was nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Art Direction and Production Design at the Satellite Awards.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at the age of 21. He also fought in New Mexico's Lincoln County War, during which he allegedly committed three murders.


title: Billy the Kid

text: McCarty was orphaned at the age of 15. His first arrest was for stealing food at the age of 16 in 1875. Ten days later, he robbed a Chinese laundry and was arrested again but escaped shortly afterwards. He fled from New Mexico Territory into neighboring Arizona Territory, making himself both an outlaw and a federal fugitive. In 1877, he began to call himself "William H. Bonney". Two versions of a wanted poster dated September 23, 1875 referred to him as "Wm. Wright, better known as Billy the Kid".


title: Billy the Kid

text: After killing a blacksmith during an altercation in August 1877, McCarty became a wanted man in Arizona and returned to New Mexico, where he joined a group of cattle rustlers. He became well known in the region when he joined the Regulators and took part in the Lincoln County War of 1878. He and two other Regulators were later charged with killing three men, including Lincoln County Sheriff William J. Brady and one of his deputies.


title: Billy the Kid

text: McCarty's notoriety grew in December 1880 when the "Las Vegas Gazette", in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and "The Sun", in New York City, carried stories about his crimes. Sheriff Pat Garrett captured McCarty later that month. In April 1881, McCarty was tried for and convicted of Brady's murder, and was sentenced to hang in May of that year. He escaped from jail on April 28, killing two sheriff's deputies in the process, and evaded capture for more than two months. Garrett shot and killed McCarty, by then aged 21, in Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881.


title: Billy the Kid

text: During the decades following his death, legends grew that McCarty had survived, and a number of men claimed to be him. Billy the Kid remains one of the most notorious figures from the era, whose life and likeness have been frequently dramatized in Western popular culture.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Henry McCarty was born to parents of Irish Catholic ancestry, Catherine () and Patrick McCarty, in New York City. A theory suggests that he was born on September 17, 1859, in New York City. He was baptized "Patrick Henry McCarthy" at the Church of St. Peter on September 28, 1859. While his birth year has been confirmed as 1859, the exact date of his birth has been disputed as either September 17 or November 23 of that year. A letter from an official of Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan states it is in possession of records showing McCarty was baptized there on September 28, 1859. Census records indicate his younger brother, Joseph McCarty, was born in 1863.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Following the death of her husband Patrick, Catherine McCarty and her sons moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where she met William Henry Harrison Antrim. The McCarty family moved with Antrim to Wichita, Kansas, in 1870. After moving again a few years later, Catherine married Antrim on March 1, 1873, at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory; McCarty and his brother Joseph were witnesses to the ceremony. Shortly afterward, the family moved from Santa Fe to Silver City, New Mexico, and Joseph McCarty began using the name Joseph Antrim. Shortly before McCarty's mother, Catherine, died of tuberculosis, then called "consumption", on September 16, 1874, William Antrim abandoned the McCarty boys, leaving them orphans.


title: Billy the Kid

text: McCarty was 15 years old when his mother died. Sarah Brown, the owner of a boarding house, gave him room and board in exchange for work. On September 16, 1875, McCarty was caught stealing food. Ten days later, McCarty and George Schaefer robbed a Chinese laundry, stealing clothing and two pistols. McCarty was charged with theft and was jailed. He escaped two days later and became a fugitive, as reported in the "Silver City Herald" the next day, the first story published about him. McCarty located his stepfather and stayed with him until Antrim threw him out; McCarty stole clothing and guns from him. It was the last time the two saw each other.


title: Billy the Kid

text: After leaving Antrim, McCarty traveled to southeastern Arizona Territory, where he worked as a ranch hand and gambled his wages in nearby gaming houses. In 1876, he was hired as a ranch hand by well-known rancher Henry Hooker. During this time, McCarty became acquainted with John R. Mackie, a Scottish-born criminal and former U.S. Cavalry private who, following his discharge, remained near the U.S. Army post at Camp Grant in Arizona. The two men soon began stealing horses from local soldiers. McCarty became known as "Kid Antrim" because of his youth, slight build, clean-shaven appearance, and personality.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On August 17, 1877, McCarty was at a saloon in the village of Bonita when he got into an argument with Francis P. "Windy" Cahill, a blacksmith who reportedly had bullied McCarty and on more than one occasion called him a "pimp". McCarty in turn called Cahill a "son of a bitch", whereupon Cahill threw McCarty to the floor and the two struggled for McCarty's revolver. McCarty shot and mortally wounded Cahill. A witness said, "[Billy] had no choice; he had to use his equalizer." Cahill died the following day. McCarty fled but returned a few days later and was apprehended by Miles Wood, the local justice of the peace. McCarty was detained and held in the Camp Grant guardhouse but escaped before law enforcement could arrive.


title: Billy the Kid

text: McCarty stole a horse and fled Arizona Territory for New Mexico Territory, but Apaches took the horse from him, leaving him to walk many miles to the nearest settlement. At Fort Stanton in the Pecos Valley, McCarty—starving and near death—went to the home of friend and Seven Rivers Warriors gang member John Jones, whose mother Barbara nursed him back to health. After regaining his health, McCarty went to Apache Tejo, a former army post, where he joined a band of rustlers who raided herds owned by cattle magnate John Chisum in Lincoln County. After McCarty was spotted in Silver City, his involvement with the gang was mentioned in a local newspaper. At some point in 1877, McCarty began to refer to himself by the name "William H. Bonney".


title: Billy the Kid

text: After returning to New Mexico, McCarty worked as a cowboy for English businessman and rancher John Henry Tunstall (1853–1878), near the Rio Felix, a tributary of the Pecos River, in Lincoln County (now in Chaves County). Tunstall and his business partner and lawyer Alexander McSween were opponents of an alliance formed by Irish-American businessmen Lawrence Murphy, James Dolan, and John Riley. The three men had wielded an economic and political hold over Lincoln County since the early 1870s, due in part to their ownership of a beef contract with nearby Fort Stanton and a well-patronized dry goods store in the town of Lincoln.


title: Billy the Kid

text: By February 1878, McSween owed $8,000 to Dolan, who obtained a court order and asked Lincoln County Sheriff William J. Brady to attach nearly $40,000 worth of Tunstall's property and livestock. Tunstall put Bonney in charge of nine prime horses and told him to relocate them to his ranch for safekeeping. Meanwhile, Sheriff Brady assembled a large posse to seize Tunstall's cattle.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On February 18, 1878, Tunstall learned of the posse's presence on his land and rode out to intervene. During the encounter, one member of the posse shot Tunstall in the chest, knocking him off his horse. Another posse member took Tunstall's gun and killed him with a shot to the back of his head. Tunstall's murder ignited the conflict between the two factions that became known as the Lincoln County War.


title: Billy the Kid

text: After Tunstall was killed, McCarty and Dick Brewer swore affidavits against Brady and those in his posse, and obtained murder warrants from Lincoln County justice of the peace John B. Wilson. On February 20, 1878, while attempting to arrest Brady, the sheriff and his deputies found and arrested McCarty and two other men riding with him. Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Widenmann, a friend of McCarty, and a detachment of soldiers captured Sheriff Brady's jail guards, put them behind bars, and released McCarty and Brewer.


title: Billy the Kid

text: McCarty then joined the Lincoln County Regulators; on March 9 they captured Frank Baker and William Morton, both of whom were accused of killing Tunstall. Baker and Morton were killed while allegedly trying to escape.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On April 1, the Regulators ambushed Sheriff Brady and his deputies; McCarty was wounded in the thigh during the battle. Brady and Deputy Sheriff George W. Hindman were killed. On the morning of April 4, 1878, Buckshot Roberts and Dick Brewer were killed during a shootout at Blazer's Mill. Warrants were issued for several participants on both sides, and McCarty and two others were charged with killing Brady, Hindman and Roberts.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On the night of Sunday, July 14, McSween and the Regulators—now a group of fifty or sixty men—went to Lincoln and stationed themselves in the town among several buildings. At the McSween residence were McCarty, Florencio Chavez, Jose Chavez y Chavez, Jim French, Harvey Morris, Tom O'Folliard, and Yginio Salazar, among others. Another group led by Marin Chavez and Doc Scurlock positioned themselves on the roof of a saloon. Henry Newton Brown, Dick Smith, and George Coe defended a nearby adobe bunkhouse.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On Tuesday, July 16, newly appointed sheriff George Peppin sent sharpshooters to kill the McSween defenders at the saloon. Peppin's men retreated when one of the snipers, Charles Crawford, was killed by Fernando Herrera. Peppin then sent a request for assistance to Colonel Nathan Dudley, commandant of nearby Fort Stanton. In a reply to Peppin, Dudley refused to intervene but later arrived in Lincoln with troops, turning the battle in favor of the Murphy-Dolan faction.


title: Billy the Kid

text: A shooting war broke out on Friday, July 19. McSween's supporters gathered inside his house; when Buck Powell and Deputy Sheriff Jack Long set fire to the building, the occupants began shooting. McCarty and the other men fled the building when all rooms but one were burning. During the confusion, Alexander McSween was shot and killed by Robert W. Beckwith, who was then shot and killed by McCarty.


title: Billy the Kid

text: McCarty and three other survivors of the Battle of Lincoln were near the Mescalero Indian Agency when the agency bookkeeper, Morris Bernstein, was murdered on August 5, 1878. All four were indicted for the murder, despite conflicting evidence that Bernstein had been killed by Constable Atanacio Martinez. All of the indictments, except McCarty's, were later quashed.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On October 5, 1878, U.S. Marshal John Sherman informed newly appointed Territorial Governor and former Union Army general Lew Wallace that he held warrants for several men, including "William H. Antrim, alias Kid, alias Bonny" but was unable to execute them "owing to the disturbed condition of affairs in that county, resulting from the acts of a desperate class of men." Wallace issued an amnesty proclamation on November 13, 1878, which pardoned anyone involved in the Lincoln County War since Tunstall's murder. It specifically excluded persons who had been convicted of or indicted for a crime, and therefore excluded McCarty.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On February 18, 1879, McCarty and friend Tom O'Folliard were in Lincoln and watched as attorney Huston Chapman was shot and his corpse set on fire. According to eyewitnesses, the pair were innocent bystanders forced at gunpoint by Jesse Evans to witness the murder. McCarty wrote to Governor Wallace on March 13, 1879, with an offer to provide information on the Chapman murder in exchange for amnesty. On March 15, Governor Wallace replied, agreeing to a secret meeting to discuss the situation. McCarty met with Wallace in Lincoln on March 17, 1879. During the meeting and in subsequent correspondence, Wallace promised McCarty protection from his enemies and clemency if he would offer his testimony to a grand jury.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On March 20, Wallace wrote to McCarty, "to remove all suspicion of understanding, I think it better to put the arresting party in charge of Sheriff Kimbrell [sic] who shall be instructed to see that no violence is used." McCarty responded on the same day, agreeing to testify and confirming Wallace's proposal for his arrest and detention in a local jail to assure his safety. On March 21, McCarty let himself be captured by a posse led by Sheriff George Kimball of Lincoln County. As agreed, McCarty provided a statement about Chapman's murder and testified in court. However, after McCarty's testimony, the local district attorney refused to set him free. Still in custody several weeks later, McCarty began to suspect Wallace had used subterfuge and would never grant him amnesty. McCarty escaped from the Lincoln County jail on June 17, 1879.McCarty avoided further violence until January 10, 1880, when he shot and killed Joe Grant, a newcomer to the area, at Hargrove's Saloon in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The "Santa Fe Weekly New Mexican" reported, "Billy Bonney, more extensively known as 'the Kid,' shot and killed Joe Grant. The origin of the difficulty was not learned." According to other contemporary sources, McCarty had been warned Grant intended to kill him. He walked up to Grant, told him he admired his revolver, and asked to examine it. Grant handed it over. Before returning the pistol, which he noticed contained only three cartridges, McCarty positioned the cylinder so the next hammer fall would land on an empty chamber. Grant suddenly pointed his pistol at McCarty's face and pulled the trigger. When it failed to fire, McCarty drew his own weapon and shot Grant in the head. A reporter for the "Las Vegas Optic" quoted McCarty as saying the encounter "was a game of two and I got there first."


title: Billy the Kid

text: In 1880, McCarty formed a friendship with a rancher named Jim Greathouse, who later introduced him to Dave Rudabaugh. On November 29, 1880, McCarty, Rudabaugh, and Billy Wilson ran from a posse led by sheriff's deputy James Carlysle. Cornered at Greathouse's ranch, McCarty told the posse they were holding Greathouse as a hostage. Carlysle offered to exchange places with Greathouse, and McCarty accepted the offer. Carlysle later attempted to escape by jumping through a window but he was shot three times and killed. The shootout ended in a standoff; the posse withdrew and McCarty, Rudabaugh, and Wilson rode away.


title: Billy the Kid

text: A few weeks after the Greathouse incident, McCarty, Rudabaugh, Wilson, O'Folliard, Charlie Bowdre, and Tom Pickett rode into Fort Sumner. Unbeknownst to McCarty and his companions, a posse led by Pat Garrett was waiting for them. The posse opened fire, killing O'Folliard; the rest of the outlaws escaped unharmed.


title: Billy the Kid

text: On December 13, 1880, Governor Wallace posted a $500 bounty for McCarty's capture. Pat Garrett continued his search for McCarty; on December 23, following the siege in which Bowdre was killed, Garrett and his posse captured McCarty along with Pickett, Rudabaugh, and Wilson at Stinking Springs. The prisoners, including McCarty, were shackled and taken to Fort Sumner, then later to Las Vegas, New Mexico. When they arrived on December 26, they were met by crowds of curious onlookers.


title: Billy the Kid

text: The following day, an armed mob gathered at the train depot before the prisoners, who were already on board the train with Garrett, departed for Santa Fe. Deputy Sheriff Romero, backed by the angry group of men, demanded custody of Dave Rudabaugh, who during an unsuccessful escape attempt on April 5, 1880 shot and killed deputy Antonio Lino Valdez in the process. Garrett refused to surrender the prisoner, and a tense confrontation ensued until he agreed to let the sheriff and two other men accompany the party to Santa Fe, where they would petition the governor to release Rudabaugh to them. In a later interview with a reporter, McCarty said he was unafraid during the incident, saying, "if I only had my Winchester I'd lick the whole crowd." The "Las Vegas Gazette" ran a story from a jailhouse interview following McCarty's capture; when the reporter said Bonney appeared relaxed, he replied, "What's the use of looking on the gloomy side of everything? The laugh's on me this time." During his short career as an outlaw, McCarty was the subject of numerous U.S. newspaper articles, some as far away as New York.


title: Billy the Kid

text: After arriving in Santa Fe, McCarty, seeking clemency, sent Governor Wallace four letters over the next three months. Wallace refused to intervene, and McCarty went to trial in April 1881 in Mesilla, New Mexico. Following two days of testimony, McCarty was found guilty of Sheriff Brady's murder; it was the only conviction secured against any of the combatants in the Lincoln County War. On April 13, Judge Warren Bristol sentenced McCarty to hang, with his execution scheduled for May 13, 1881. According to legend, upon sentencing, the judge told McCarty he was going to hang until he was "dead, dead, dead"; McCarty's response was, "you can go to hell, hell, hell." According to the historical record, he did not speak after the reading of his sentence.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Following his sentencing, McCarty was moved to Lincoln, where he was held under guard on the top floor of the town courthouse. On the evening of April 28, 1881, while Garrett was in White Oaks collecting taxes, Deputy Bob Olinger took five other prisoners across the street for a meal, leaving James Bell, another deputy, alone with McCarty at the jail. McCarty asked to be taken outside to use the outhouse behind the courthouse; on their return to the jail, McCarty—who was walking ahead of Bell up the stairs to his cell—hid around a blind corner, slipped out of his handcuffs, and beat Bell with the loose end of the cuffs. During the ensuing scuffle, McCarty grabbed Bell's revolver and fatally shot him in the back as Bell tried to get away.


title: Billy the Kid

text: McCarty, with his legs still shackled, broke into Garrett's office and took a loaded shotgun left behind by Olinger. McCarty waited at the upstairs window for Olinger to respond to the gunshot that killed Bell and called out to him, "Look up, old boy, and see what you get." When Olinger looked up, McCarty shot and killed him. After about an hour, McCarty freed himself from the leg irons with an axe. He obtained a horse and rode out of town; according to some stories he was singing as he left Lincoln.


title: Billy the Kid

text: While McCarty was on the run, Governor Wallace placed a new $500 bounty on the fugitive's head. Almost three months after his escape, Garrett, responding to rumors that McCarty was in the vicinity of Fort Sumner, left Lincoln with two deputies on July 14, 1881, to question resident Pete Maxwell, a friend of McCarty's. Maxwell, son of land baron Lucien Maxwell, spoke with Garrett the same day for several hours. Around midnight, the pair sat in Maxwell's darkened bedroom when McCarty unexpectedly entered.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Accounts vary as to the course of events. According to the canonical version, as he entered the room, McCarty failed to recognize Garrett due to the poor lighting. Drawing his revolver and backing away, McCarty asked ""¿Quién es? ¿Quién es?"" (Spanish for "Who is it? Who is it?"). Recognizing McCarty's voice, Garrett drew his revolver and fired twice. The first bullet struck McCarty in the chest just above his heart, while the second missed. Garrett’s account leaves it unclear whether McCarty was killed instantly or took some time to die.


title: Billy the Kid

text: A few hours after the shooting, a local justice of the peace assembled a coroner's jury of six people. The jury members interviewed Maxwell and Garrett, and McCarty's body and the location of the shooting were examined. The jury certified the body as McCarty's and, according to a local newspaper, the jury foreman said, "It was the Kid's body that we examined." McCarty was given a wake by candlelight; he was buried the next day and his grave was denoted with a wooden marker.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Five days after McCarty's killing, Garrett traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to collect the $500 reward offered by Governor Lew Wallace for his capture, dead or alive. William G. Ritch, the acting New Mexico governor, refused to pay the reward. Over the next few weeks, the residents of Las Vegas, Mesilla, Santa Fe, White Oaks, and other New Mexico cities raised over $7,000 in reward money for Garrett. A year and four days after McCarty's death, the New Mexico territorial legislature passed a special act to grant Garrett the $500 bounty reward promised by Governor Wallace.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Because people had begun to claim Garrett unfairly ambushed McCarty, Garrett felt the need to tell his side of the story and called upon his friend, journalist Marshall Upson, to ghostwrite a book for him. The book, "The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid", was first published in April 1882. Although only a few copies sold following its release, in time, it became a reference for later historians who wrote about McCarty's life.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Over time, legends grew claiming that McCarty was not killed, and that Garrett staged the incident and death out of friendship so that McCarty could evade the law. During the next 50 years, a number of men claimed they were Billy the Kid. Most of these claims were easily disproven, but two have remained topics of discussion and debate.


title: Billy the Kid

text: In 1948, a central Texas man, Ollie P. Roberts, also known as Brushy Bill Roberts, began claiming he was Billy the Kid and went before New Mexico Governor Thomas J. Mabry seeking a pardon. Mabry dismissed Roberts' claims, and Roberts died shortly afterward. Nevertheless, Hico, Texas, Roberts' town of residence, capitalized on his claim by opening a Billy the Kid museum.


title: Billy the Kid

text: John Miller, an Arizona man, also claimed he was McCarty. This was unsupported by his family until 1938, some time after his death. Miller's body was buried in the state-owned Arizona Pioneers' Home Cemetery in Prescott, Arizona; in May 2005, Miller's teeth and bones were exhumed and examined, without permission from the state. DNA samples from the remains were sent to a laboratory in Dallas and tested to compare Miller's DNA with blood samples obtained from floorboards in the old Lincoln County courthouse and a bench where McCarty's body allegedly was placed after he was shot. According to a July 2015 article in "The Washington Post", the lab results were "useless".


title: Billy the Kid

text: In 2004, researchers sought to exhume the remains of Catherine Antrim, McCarty's mother, whose DNA would be tested and compared with that of the body buried in William Bonney's grave. , her body had not been exhumed.


title: Billy the Kid

text: In 2007, author and amateur historian Gale Cooper filed a lawsuit against the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office under the state Inspection of Public Records Act to produce records of the results of the 2006 DNA tests and other forensic evidence collected in the Billy the Kid investigations. In April 2012, 133 pages of documents were provided; they offered no conclusive evidence confirming or disproving the generally accepted story of Garrett's killing of McCarty, but confirmed the records' existence, and that they could have been produced earlier. In 2014, Cooper was awarded $100,000 in punitive damages but the decision was later overturned by the New Mexico Court of Appeals. The lawsuit ultimately cost Lincoln County nearly $300,000.


title: Billy the Kid

text: In February 2015, historian Robert Stahl petitioned a district court in Fort Sumner asking the state of New Mexico to issue a death certificate for McCarty. In July 2015, Stahl filed suit in the New Mexico Supreme Court. The suit asked the court to order the state's Office of the Medical Investigator to officially certify McCarty's death under New Mexico state law.


title: Billy the Kid

text: One of the few remaining artifacts of McCarty's life is a ferrotype photograph of McCarty by an unknown portrait photographer in late 1879 or early 1880. The image shows McCarty wearing a vest over a sweater, a slouch hat and a bandana, while holding an 1873 Winchester rifle with its butt resting on the floor. For years, this was the only photograph scholars and historians agreed showed McCarty. The ferrotype survived because McCarty's friend Dan Dedrick kept it after the outlaw's death. It was passed down through Dedrick's family, and was copied several times, appearing in numerous publications during the 20th century. In June 2011, the original plate was bought at auction for $2.3 million by businessman William Koch.


title: Billy the Kid

text: The image shows McCarty wearing his holstered Colt revolver on his left side. This led historians to believe he was left-handed, but they did not take into account that the ferrotype process produces reversed images. In 1954, western historians James D. Horan and Paul Sann wrote that McCarty was right-handed and carried his pistol on his right hip. The opinion was confirmed by Clyde Jeavons, a former curator of the National Film and Television Archive. Several historians have written that McCarty was ambidextrous.


title: Billy the Kid

text: A ferrotype purchased at a memorabilia shop in Fresno, California, in 2010 has been claimed to show McCarty and members of the Regulators playing croquet. If authentic, it is the only known photo of Billy the Kid and the Regulators together and the only image to feature their wives and female companions.


title: Billy the Kid

text: In August 2015, Lincoln State Monument officials and the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs said that despite the new research, they could not confirm that the image showed McCarty or others from the Lincoln County War era, according to Monument manager Gary Cozzens. A photograph curator at the Palace of the Governors archives, Daniel Kosharek, said the image is "problematic on a lot of fronts," including the small size of the figures and the lack of resemblance of the background landscape to Lincoln County or the state in general. Editors from the "True West Magazine" staff said, "no one in our office thinks this photo is of the Kid [and the Regulators]."


title: Billy the Kid

text: In early October 2015, Kagin's, Inc., a numismatic authentication firm, said the image was authentic after a number of experts, including those associated with a recent National Geographic Channel program,


title: Billy the Kid

text: In 2010, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson turned down a request for a posthumous pardon of McCarty for the murder of Sheriff William Brady. The pardon considered was to fulfill Governor Lew Wallace's 1879 promise to Bonney. Richardson's decision, citing "historical ambiguity," was announced on December 31, 2010, his last day in office.


title: Billy the Kid

text: In 1931, CharlesW.Foor, an unofficial tour guide at Fort Sumner Cemetery, campaigned to raise funds for a permanent marker for the graves of McCarty, O'Folliard, and Bowdre. As a result of his efforts, a stone memorial marked with the names of the three men and their death dates beneath the word "Pals" was erected in the center of the burial area.


title: Billy the Kid

text: In 1940, stone cutter James N. Warner of Salida, Colorado, made and donated to the cemetery a new marker for Bonney's grave. It was stolen on February 8, 1981, but recovered days later in Huntington Beach, California. New Mexico Governor Bruce King arranged for the county sheriff to fly to California to return it to Fort Sumner, where it was reinstalled in May 1981. Although both markers are behind iron fencing, a group of vandals entered the enclosure at night in June 2012 and tipped the stone over.


title: Billy the Kid

text: Beginning with the 1911 silent film "Billy the Kid", which depicted McCarty as a girl impersonating a boy, he has been a feature of more than 50 movies as well as several television series.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four terms in office, making her the longest-serving first lady of the United States. Roosevelt served as United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1945 to 1952, and in 1948 she was given a standing ovation by the assembly upon their adoption of the Universal Declaration. President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was a member of the prominent American Roosevelt and Livingston families and a niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. She had an unhappy childhood, having suffered the deaths of both parents and one of her brothers at a young age. At 15, she attended Allenswood Boarding Academy in London and was deeply influenced by its headmistress Marie Souvestre. Returning to the U.S., she married her fifth cousin once removed, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1905. The Roosevelts' marriage was complicated from the beginning by Franklin's controlling mother, Sara, and after Eleanor discovered her husband's affair with Lucy Mercer in 1918, she resolved to seek fulfillment in leading a public life of her own. She persuaded Franklin to stay in politics after he was stricken with a paralytic illness in 1921, which cost him the normal use of his legs, and began giving speeches and appearing at campaign events in his place. Following Franklin's election as Governor of New York in 1928, and throughout the remainder of Franklin's public career in government, Roosevelt regularly made public appearances on his behalf; and as First Lady, while her husband served as president, she significantly reshaped and redefined the role.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Though widely respected in her later years, Roosevelt was a controversial first lady at the time for her outspokenness, particularly on civil rights for African-Americans. She was the first presidential spouse to hold regular press conferences, write a daily newspaper column, write a monthly magazine column, host a weekly radio show, and speak at a national party convention. On a few occasions, she publicly disagreed with her husband's policies. She launched an experimental community at Arthurdale, West Virginia, for the families of unemployed miners, later widely regarded as a failure. She advocated for expanded roles for women in the workplace, the civil rights of African Americans and Asian Americans, and the rights of World War II refugees. Following her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt remained active in politics for the remaining 17 years of her life. She pressed the United States to join and support the United Nations and became its first delegate. She served as the first chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Later, she chaired the John F. Kennedy administration's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. By the time of her death, Roosevelt was regarded as "one of the most esteemed women in the world"; "The New York Times" called her "the object of almost universal respect" in her obituary.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: In 1999, she was ranked ninth in the top ten of Gallup's List of Most Widely Admired People of the 20th Century, and was found to rank as the most admired woman in thirteen different years between 1948 and 1961 in Gallup's annual most admired woman poll. Periodic surveys conducted by the Siena College Research Institute have consistently seen historians assess Roosevelt as the greatest American first lady.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884, in Manhattan, New York City, to socialites Anna Rebecca Hall and Elliott Roosevelt. From an early age she preferred to be called by her middle name, Eleanor. Through her father, she was a niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. Through her mother, she was a niece of tennis champions Valentine Gill "Vallie" Hall III and Edward Ludlow Hall. Her mother nicknamed her "Granny" because she acted in such a serious manner as a child. Anna emotionally rejected Eleanor and was also somewhat ashamed of her daughter's alleged "plainness".


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt had two younger brothers: Elliott Jr. and Hall. She also had a half-brother, Elliott Roosevelt Mann, through her father's affair with Katy Mann, a servant employed by the family. Roosevelt was born into a world of immense wealth and privilege, as her family was part of New York high society called the "swells".


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: On May 19, 1887, the two-year-old Roosevelt was on board the "SS Britannic" with her father, mother and aunt Tissie, when it collided with White Star Liner "SS Celtic". She was lowered into a lifeboat and she and her parents were taken to the "Celtic" and returned to New York. After this traumatic event, Eleanor was afraid of ships and the sea all her life.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Her mother died from diphtheria on December 7, 1892, and Elliott Jr. died of the same disease the following May. Her father, an alcoholic confined to a sanitarium, died on August 14, 1894, after jumping from a window during a fit of delirium tremens. He survived the fall but died from a seizure. Roosevelt's childhood losses left her prone to depression throughout her life. Her brother Hall later suffered from alcoholism. Before her father died, he implored her to act as a mother towards Hall, and it was a request she made good upon for the rest of Hall's life. Roosevelt doted on Hall, and when he enrolled at Groton School in 1907, she accompanied him as a chaperone. While he was attending Groton, she wrote him almost daily, but always felt a touch of guilt that Hall had not had a fuller childhood. She took pleasure in Hall's brilliant performance at school, and was proud of his many academic accomplishments, which included a master's degree in engineering from Harvard.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: After the deaths of her parents, Roosevelt was raised in the household of her maternal grandmother, Mary Livingston Ludlow Hall of the Livingston family in Tivoli, New York. As a child, she was insecure and starved for affection, and considered herself the "ugly duckling". However, Roosevelt wrote at 14 that one's prospects in life were not totally dependent on physical beauty: "no matter how plain a woman may be if truth and loyalty are stamped upon her face all will be attracted to her."


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was tutored privately and with the encouragement of her aunt Anna "Bamie" Roosevelt, she was sent to Allenswood Academy at the age of 15, a private finishing school in Wimbledon, London, England, where she was educated from 1899 to 1902. The headmistress, Marie Souvestre, was a noted educator who sought to cultivate independent thinking in young women. Souvestre took a special interest in Roosevelt, who learned to speak French fluently and gained self-confidence. Roosevelt and Souvestre maintained a correspondence until March 1905, when Souvestre died, and after this Roosevelt placed Souvestre's portrait on her desk and brought her letters with her. Roosevelt's first cousin Corinne Douglas Robinson, whose first term at Allenswood overlapped with Roosevelt's last, said that when she arrived at the school, Roosevelt was " 'everything' at the school. She was beloved by everybody." Roosevelt wished to continue at Allenswood, but she was summoned home by her grandmother in 1902 to make her social debut.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: At age 17 in 1902, Roosevelt completed her formal education and returned to the United States; she was presented at a debutante ball at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on December 14. She was later given her own "coming out party". She said of her debut in a public discussion once, "It was simply awful. It was a beautiful party, of course, but I was so unhappy, because a girl who comes out is so utterly miserable if she does not know all the young people. Of course I had been so long abroad that I had lost touch with all the girls I used to know in New York. I was miserable through all that."


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was active with the New York Junior League shortly after its founding, teaching dancing and calisthenics in the East Side slums. The organization had been brought to Roosevelt's attention by her friend, organization founder Mary Harriman, and a male relative who criticized the group for "drawing young women into public activity".


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt was a lifelong Episcopalian, regularly attended services, and was very familiar with the New Testament. Dr. Harold Ivan Smith states that she, "was very public about her faith. In hundreds of “My Day” and “If You Ask Me” columns, she addressed issues of faith, prayer and the Bible."


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: In the summer of 1902, Roosevelt encountered her father's fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on a train to Tivoli, New York. The two began a secret correspondence and romance, and became engaged on November 22, 1903. Franklin's mother, Sara Ann Delano, opposed the union and made him promise that the engagement would not be officially announced for a year. "I know what pain I must have caused you," he wrote to his mother of his decision. But, he added, "I know my own mind, and known it for a long time, and know that I could never think otherwise." Sara took her son on a Caribbean cruise in 1904, hoping that a separation would squelch the romance, but Franklin remained determined. The wedding date was set to accommodate President Theodore Roosevelt, who was scheduled to be in New York City for the St. Patrick's Day parade, and who agreed to give the bride away.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: The couple were married on March 17, 1905, in a wedding officiated by Endicott Peabody, the groom's headmaster at Groton School. Her cousin Corinne Douglas Robinson was a bridesmaid. The marriage took place in New York City. Theodore Roosevelt's attendance at the ceremony was front-page news in "The New York Times" and other newspapers. When asked for his thoughts on the Roosevelt–Roosevelt union, the president said, "It is a good thing to keep the name in the family." The couple spent a preliminary honeymoon of one week at Hyde Park, then set up housekeeping in an apartment in New York. That summer they went on their formal honeymoon, a three-month tour of Europe.


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Returning to the U.S., the newlyweds settled in a New York City house that was provided by Franklin's mother, as well as in a second residence at the family's estate overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. From the beginning, Roosevelt had a contentious relationship with her controlling mother-in-law. The townhouse that Sara gave to them was connected to her own residence by sliding doors, and Sara ran both households in the decade after the marriage. Early on, Roosevelt had a breakdown in which she explained to Franklin that "I did not like to live in a house which was not in any way mine, one that I had done nothing about and which did not represent the way I wanted to live", but little changed. Sara also sought to control the raising of her grandchildren, and Roosevelt reflected later that "Franklin's children were more my mother-in-law's children than they were mine". Roosevelt's eldest son James remembered Sara telling her grandchildren, "Your mother only bore you, I am more your mother than your mother is."


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: Roosevelt disliked having sex with her husband. She once told her daughter Anna that it was an "ordeal to be borne". She also considered herself ill-suited to motherhood, later writing, "It did not come naturally to me to understand little children or to enjoy them".


title: Eleanor Roosevelt

text: In September 1918, Roosevelt was unpacking one of Franklin's suitcases when she discovered a bundle of love letters to him from her social secretary, Lucy Mercer. He had been contemplating leaving his wife for Mercer. However, following pressure from his political advisor, Louis Howe, and from his mother, who threatened to disinherit Franklin if he followed through with a divorce, the couple remained married. Their union from that point on was more of a political partnership. Disillusioned, Roosevelt again became active in public life, and focused increasingly on her social work rather than her role as a wife.