WORLD TOP SPORTS

The creator of the whimsical clay figure Gumby, Art Clokey died in his sleep (at age 88). Friday at his home in Los Osos, Calif., after battling repeated bladder infections, his son Joseph said.

Clokey and his wife, Ruth, invented Gumby in the early 1950s at their Covina home shortly after Art had finished film school at USC. After a successful debut on " "The Howdy Doody Show," Gumby soon became the star of its own hit television show, "The Adventures of Gumby," the first to use clay animation on television.
es that."

Clokey was born Arthur Farrington in Detroit in October 1921 and grew up making mud figures on his grandparents' Michigan farm. "He always had this in him," his son, Joseph, recalled Friday.

At age 8, Clokey's life took a tragic turn when his father was killed in a car accident soon after his parents divorced. The unusual shape of Gumby's head would eventually be modeled after one of the few surviving photos of Clokey's father, which shows him with a large wave of hair protruding from the right side of his head.

After moving to California, Clokey was abandoned by his mother and her new husband and lived in a halfway house near Hollywood until age 11, when he was adopted by Joseph W. Clokey. The renowned music teacher and composer at Pomona College taught him to draw, paint and shoot film and took him on journeys to Mexico and Canada. Art Clokey attended the Webb School in Claremont, whose annual fossil hunting expeditions also inspired a taste for adventure that stayed with him. "That's why 'The Adventures of Gumby' were so adventurous," his son said.

The famed American actor, Ethan Hawke was writer as well as ace film director of the Hollywood movies, has recently been quoted as Hollywood's Renaissance man by the Los Angeles times.
Actually the ace actor has received this seemingly weird tag attached with his name because of his new thriller flick which is about to come to the theaters in a short while. The actor has been involved in many breakthrough roles in some hit flicks throughout his career. To name a few- Alive, A Midnight Clear, Dead Poet's Society, Before Sunset, River Phoenix etc.
Very recently the Los Angeles Times catches this first rate actor and director of the Hollywood movies in the ballroom of the SLS Hotel which is situated in Los Angeles. The Hollywood film veteran was spotted sporting a light brown three piece suit during the event while he was in the mid of the process of promoting, "Day breakers", his upcoming flick. The film is going to be around 90 minutes in its usual length.
The Los Angeles times had tried to be up close and a bit personal with the veteran actor who is in the later half of his thirties. However the effort did not at all meet with failure. Some crucial facts were revealed about the upcoming venture of Ethan Hawke. He was seemingly enthusiastic and in lofty fervor while making comments over it.
Los Angeles Times came up with the revelation that this forthcoming 90 minute flick is actually a high end thriller. The film is actually written as well as directed by Michael and Peter Spierig. The most notable thing about this duo director is that they both are siblings. Before venturing into this breathtaking flick that casts Ethan Hawke they director duo has even been associated with a film like 'Undead'.

ETHAN Hawke would “chain-smoke” if he were immortal.
The actor admits that playing a vampire in new movie Daybreakers made him consider what life would be like if it never ended and he would be able to be more reckless.
“There’s something about knowing life is finite that makes it so precious. I did wonder what I would do if I knew I was immortal,” Hawke told Parade magazine. “I guess what tops my list would be riding a motorcycle and chain-smoking. The idea can be seductive.”
“I feel like all those cliche things that everybody always says about getting older, like, ‘I can’t believe it’s happened.’ But I’m having one of the most interesting moments in my life right now, directing a Sam Shepard play,” he said.
“I’m getting to do the things that I want to do, which was always the fear for me when I was younger. When you’re young, there’s so much anxiety about how things are going to go. But I still hear my old football coach talking in my head, ‘200 per cent Hawke. Ordinary effort, ordinary result.’ ”

Actor ETHAN HAWKE is planning to add comic book creator to his impressive resume.
The Dead Poet's Society star, who has penned two novels, has an idea for a new graphic novel and is currently in talks with publishers
to get a deal done.
He says, "If I could work
with a graphic artist and I'm working on trying to do that, that would be fun. I have the idea in my noodle but I'm not sharing it!
"I plan on meeting with the publishers at Vertigo. I love that stuff. I have a whole other part of my brain that does that."