Motion pictures featuring who abound and apparently constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre, one of which is played by an American actor known for portraying Randy Taylor on "Home Improvement" ?
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Santa Claus in film Motion pictures featuring Santa Claus abound and apparently constitute their own subgenre of the Christmas film genre. Early films of Santa revolve around similar simple plots of Santa's Christmas Eve visit to children. In 1897, in a short film called "Santa Claus Filling Stockings", Santa Claus is simply filling stockings from his pack of toys. Another film called "Santa Claus and the Children" was made in 1898. A year later, a film directed by George Albert Smith in titled "Santa Claus" (or "The Visit from Santa Claus" in the United Kingdom) was created. In this picture, Santa Claus enters the room from the fireplace and proceeds to trim the tree. He then fills the stockings that were previously hung on the mantle by the children. After walking backward and surveying his work, he suddenly darts at the fireplace and disappears up the chimney. "Santa Claus' Visit" in 1900 featured a scene with two little children kneeling at the feet of their mother and saying their prayers. The mother tucks the children snugly in bed and leaves the room. Santa Claus suddenly appears on the roof, just outside the children's bedroom window, and proceeds to enter the chimney, taking with him his bag of presents and a little hand sled for one of the children. He goes down the chimney and suddenly appears in the children's room through the fireplace. He distributes the presents and mysteriously causes the appearance of a Christmas tree laden with gifts. The scene closes with the children waking up and running to the fireplace just too late to catch him by the legs. A 1909 film by D. W. Griffith titled "A Trap for Santa Claus" shows children setting a trap to capture Santa Claus as he descends the chimney, but instead capture their father who abandoned them and their mother but tries to burglarize the house after he discovers she inherited a fortune. A twenty-nine-minute 1925 silent film production titled "Santa Claus", by explorer/documentarian Frank E. Kleinschmidt, filmed partly in northern Alaska, feature Santa in his workshop, visiting his Eskimo neighbors, and tending his reindeer. A year later, another movie titled "Santa Claus" was produced with sound on De Forest Phonofilm. Over the years, various actors have donned the red suit (aside from those discussed below), including Monty Woolley in "Life Begins at Eight-thirty" (1942), Alberto Rabagliati in "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't" (1966), Dan Aykroyd in "Trading Places" (1983), Jan Rubes in "One Magic Christmas" (1985), David Huddleston in "" (1985), Jonathan Taylor Thomas in "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (1998), and Ed Asner in "Elf" (2003). Later films about Santa vary, but can be divided into the following themes.
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Jonathan Taylor Thomas Jonathan Taylor Thomas ("né" Weiss; September 8, 1981) is an American actor, voice actor, and director. He is known for portraying Randy Taylor on "Home Improvement" and voicing young Simba in Disney's 1994 film "The Lion King".
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Nathaniel Taylor (actor) Nathaniel Taylor (born March 31, 1938) is an American television actor, best known for his recurring role as Rollo Lawson in the 1970s sitcom "Sanford and Son", a role he later reprised on its 1980–1981 spin-off "Sanford", and later played the first version of "Jim-Jam" alongside Redd Foxx on the short lived 1986 series, "The Redd Foxx Show". Later, he played Rerun's (Fred Berry) brother-in-law "Ike" in the sitcom "What's Happening!!". Taylor's character "Rollo" once referred to Foxx's character "Fred G. Sanford" as, "One cold-blooded old dude."
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Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. (also released as The Christmas Coal Mine Miracle) is a 1977 American made-for-television drama film directed by Jud Taylor.
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Household Saints Household Saints is a 1993 film starring Tracey Ullman, Vincent D'Onofrio and Lili Taylor. It was based on the novel by Francine Prose and directed by Nancy Savoca. The film explores the lives of three generations of Italian-American women over the course of the latter half of the 20th century. The film's executive producer is Jonathan Demme, a long-time friend of Savoca's, and her first real employer in the world of film.
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Jack Taylor (actor) Jack Taylor (born George Brown Randall; 21 October 1936) is an American actor.
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An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving is a television film based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott. Filmed on location in Canada, the film premiered on Hallmark Channel on November 22, 2008. It is followed by the sequel, "An Old Fashioned Christmas" which aired on December 11, 2010.
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Leo Rossi Leo Rossi (born June 26, 1946) is an American actor, writer and producer. A highly prolific character actor with over 100 credits to his name, he is known for his role as foul-mouthed EMT Vincent "Budd" Scarlotti in the 1981 horror film "Halloween II", as the serial killer Turkell from the 1990 horror sequel "Maniac Cop 2", and as Detective Sam Dietz in the "Relentless" franchise. His other films include "Heart Like a Wheel" (1983), "River's Edge" (1986), "The Accused" (1988), "Analyze This" (1999), "One Night at McCool's" (2001), and "10th & Wolf" (2006).
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Kieran Culkin Kieran Kyle Culkin (born September 30, 1982) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor, acting alongside his older brother Macaulay in the "Home Alone" franchise (19901992) before going on to feature in films including the 1991 film "Father of the Bride" and its 1995 sequel, "My Summer Story" (1994), the sequel to "A Christmas Story", "The Mighty" (1998), "She's All That", "The Cider House Rules" (1999), "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" (2002), "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" (2010), and "Movie 43". His breakout role in "Igby Goes Down" (2002) received critical acclaim and he was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe Award, as well as winning a Critics' Choice Movie Award and Satellite Award. He has also acted on-stage, most notably in several productions of the Kenneth Lonergan play "This Is Our Youth". In 2015, he portrayed Rye Gerhardt in the second season of the critically acclaimed FX series "Fargo".
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Danny Mastrogiorgio Daniel "Danny" Mastrogiorgio (born October 26, 1964) is an American stage, film and television actor who has also provided voice work for video games. He is best known for providing the voice of Toni Cipriani in the 2005 video game "" and for his appearances in movies such as "Brother Bear" and "Enchanted." He has also been in several television shows such as "Law & Order".
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Santa Claus Conquers the Martians Santa Claus Conquers the Martians is a 1964 American science fiction comedy film directed by Nicholas Webster, written by Paul L. Jacobson based on a story by Glenville Mareth, stars John Call as Santa Claus, and features an eight year old Pia Zadora as one of the Martian children. The film also marks the first documented appearance of Mrs. Claus in a motion picture (Doris Rich plays the role), coming three weeks before the television special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", which also featured the character.
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Big Time Christmas Big Time Christmas is a 2010 teen made-for-television film based on the Nickelodeon TV series "Big Time Rush". It has also been broadcast divided in two parts that serve as the third film of the series film franchise of "Big Time Rush" and the season two eighth and ninth episodes of the series. It stars Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Carlos Pena Jr. and Logan Henderson as Big Time Rush and also Miranda Cosgrove, Snoop Dogg, Tanya Chisholm and Stephen Kramer Glickman. It aired December 4, 2010.
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Christmas at Water's Edge Christmas at Water's Edge is a contemporary variation of "A Christmas Carol", directed by Lee Davis, starring Keshia Knight Pulliam, Tom Bosley and Pooch Hall. It was shown in theaters in 2004 and released on DVD in 2007.
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Deck the Halls (2005 film) Deck the Halls is a 2005 made-for-television Christmas film starring Gabrielle Carteris and Steve Bacic. The premise revolves around a newly widowed woman and her young son who move to a new neighborhood and meet a marketing specialist who turns out to be more than he initially appears.
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Christmas in Boston Christmas In Boston is a 2005 TV film starring Marla Sokoloff and Patrick J. Adams. It first aired in the United States on December 14, 2005, on the ABC Family channel's 25 Days of Christmas programming block. It is known in some countries as Instant Message.
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Fred Claus Fred Claus is a 2007 American fantasy comedy family film directed by David Dobkin, written by Dan Fogelman and Jessie Nelson, and starring Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti. The film was released on November 9, 2007 in the US and later released in the UK on November 30, 2007 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is loosely based on the poem "A legend of Santa and his brother Fred" written by Donald Henkel.
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Jamie Sorrentini Jamie Sorrentini (also known as Jamie Perez Sorrentini and Jamie Mills) is an American film, television and theatre actress. She starred as Kathy Grovner in the 1987 television movie "A Hobo's Christmas". Sorrentini was a cast member during the 2000 United States tour of the 1999 musical "Parade". In 2002, she performed in the play "Birdie's Bachelorette Party", and appeared on the television program "".
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Christmas Lilies of the Field Christmas Lilies of the Field is a 1979 made-for-TV sequel to the classic film "Lilies of the Field". In this sequel, directed by Ralph Nelson, Homer Smith (played by Billy Dee Williams instead of Sidney Poitier) returns to the Arizona desert where he had built the chapel for the nuns. This time, Mother Maria (played by Maria Schell) convinces Homer Smith into building a kindergarten as well as an orphanage by claiming that, since the chapel lacks a bell-tower and bells, the previous job was never completed.
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Michelle Williams on screen and stage Michelle Williams is an American actress who has appeared in film, television and stage. Her first screen appearance was at the age of 13 in a 1993 episode of the television series "Baywatch", and she made her film debut as the love interest of the teenage lead in "Lassie" (1994). She subsequently had guest roles in the television sitcoms "Step by Step" and "Home Improvement" and played the younger version of Natasha Henstridge's character in the science fiction film "Species" (1995). Greater success came to Williams when she began starring as the sexually troubled teenager Jen Lindley in the teen drama "Dawson's Creek" (1998–2003). In 1999, she made her stage debut with the Tracy Letts-written play "Killer Joe", in which she played the naive young daughter of a dysfunctional family.
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Classy Christmas "Classy Christmas" is the collective name for the eleventh and twelfth episodes of the seventh season of the American comedy television series "The Office", and the show's 137th and 138th episodes overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Rainn Wilson, the episode originally aired on December 9, 2010 on NBC. "Classy Christmas" guest stars Jack Coleman as Senator Robert Lipton, Rob Huebel as A.J., Mark Proksch as Nate, and marks the return of Amy Ryan as Holly Flax.
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Christmas Party (The Office) "Christmas Party" is the tenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series "The Office", and the show's sixteenth episode overall. It was written by Michael Schur and directed by Charles McDougall. It was first broadcast on December 6, 2005 on NBC. The episode guest stars David Koechner as Todd Packer.
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Mary Christmas (film) Mary Christmas is a 2002 American Christmas movie written by Stanley M. Brooks and Betty G. Birney. It was directed by and stars John Schneider. In the movie Joel Wallace, Schneider's character, is a widower raising a daughter, Felice (Jenna Boyd). In her Christmas letter to Santa Claus, Felice wishes for a new mother for Christmas. The letter is intercepted by a local news producer who cancels reporter Mary Maloney's vacation and sends her to investigate the Wallace family as a human interest story. Most of the movie deals with Joel's searching for a new wife that will be Felice's mother. The ending takes a bit of a twist, though, when it turns out that Mary is Felice's birth mother who had given her up for adoption. The movie incorporates a little extra magic with "governor" Les Turner whom Felice thinks is Santa Claus.