do movies have to pay for product placement

In many cases no payment is made for product exposure and no promise of marketing support is made when consumer brands appear in movies.[citation needed] Film productions need props for scenes, so each movie’s property master, who is responsible for gathering props film, contacts product placement middlemen agencies or product companies directly. In addition to items for on-screen use, the product/service supplier might provide a production with large quantities of complementary products or services. Tapping product placement channels can be particularly valuable for movies when a vintage product is required—such as a sign or bottle—that is not readily available.

Product placement

Product placement, also known as embedded marketing,[1][2][3][4] is a marketing technique in which references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with a specific intent to promote said product.

While references to brands may be voluntarily incorporated into fictional works in an effort to maintain a feeling of realism or comment upon the brand itself,[5] product placement is the deliberate incorporation of a brand or product into a work in exchange for compensation. Product placements may range from unobtrusive appearances of a brand or product within an environment, to prominent integration and acknowledgement of the product within the work. For example, the producers of a film or television program may be paid to incorporate and present specific brands of automobiles or consumer electronics within,[6] or works produced by vertically integrated conglomerates (such as Sony) may include placements of products from their other divisions as a form of corporate synergy.

In the 21st century, the use of product placement on television has grown, particularly to combat the wider use of digital video recorders that can skip traditional commercial breaks within television programming, and to engage with younger demographics.[7] Digital editing technology has also been used to tailor product placement to specific demographics or markets, and in some cases, add placements after-the-fact to works that did not originally have embedded advertising before, or update existing placements within a work.[6]

Product placement began in the nineteenth century. By the time Jules Verne published the adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), his fame had led transport and shipping companies to lobby to be mentioned in the story. Whether Verne was actually paid to do so, however, remains unknown.[8] Similarly, a painting by Eduoard Manet (1881-1882) shows a bar at Folies Bergere with distinctive bottles placed at either end of the counter. The beer bottle is immediately recognisable as Bass beer. Manet's motivations for including branded products in his painting are unknown; it may be that it simply added to the work's authenticity, but on the other hand the artist may have received some payment in return for its inclusion.[9]

Research reported by Jean-Marc Lehu (2007) suggests that films produced by Auguste and Louis Lumiere in 1876, were made at the request of a representative of Lever Brothers in France, and which feature Sunlight soap, may be the first recorded instance of paid product placement in film.[10] This led to cinema becoming one of the earliest channels used for product placement.

With the arrival of photo-rich periodicals in the late 19th century, publishers found ways of lifting their paper's reputation by placing an actual copy of the magazine in photographs of prominent people. For example, the German magazine Die Woche in 1902 printed an article about a countess in her castle where she, in one of the photographs, held a copy of Die Woche in her hands.[11]

Product placement was a common feature of many of the earliest actualities and cinematic attractions that were the first ten years of cinema history.[12]

During the next four decades, Harrison's Reports frequently cited cases of on-screen brand-name products.[13] He condemned the practice as harmful to movie theaters. Publisher P. S. Harrison’s editorials reflected his hostility towards product placement in films. An editorial in Harrison’s Reports criticized the collaboration between the Corona Typewriter company and First National Pictures when a Corona typewriter appeared in the film The Lost World (1925).[14] Harrison's Reports criticized several incidents of Corona typewriters appearing in mid-1920s films.

Recognizable brand names appeared in movies from cinema's earliest history. Before films were even narrative forms in the sense that they are recognized today, industrial concerns funded the making of what film scholar Tom Gunning described as "cinematic attractions",[15] short films of one or two minutes. In the first decade or so of film (1895â€“1907) audiences attended films as "fairground attractions" interesting for their then-amazing visual effects. This format was better suited to product placement than narrative cinema. Gurevitch argued that early cinematic attractions have more in common with television advertisements in the 1950s than they do with traditional films.[16] Gurevitch suggested that as a result, the relationship between cinema and advertising is intertwined, suggesting that cinema was in part the result of advertising and the economic advantage that it provided early film makers.[17] Segrave detailed the industries that advertised in these early films.[18] In the 1920s, Harrison's Reports published its first denunciation of that practice over Red Crown gasoline appearance in The Garage (1920).[19]

A feature film that has expectations of reaching millions of viewers attracts marketers.[20]

One of the earliest examples is The Garage, a Buster Keaton/"Fatty" Arbuckle comedy which featured the logo of Red Crown gasoline in several scenes (although there is no definitive proof that this product placement was paid for). Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) contained a prominent title card in the opening credits reading "The gowns of the female stars were designed by Vally Reinecke and made in the fashion studios of Flatow-SchÃ¤dler und Mossner."

Among notable silent films to feature product placement was Wings (1927), the first to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It contained a plug for Hershey's chocolate. Fritz Lang's film M (released in 1931) shows a banner display for Wrigley's PK Chewing Gum, for approximately 20â€“30 seconds.

Another early example occurs in Horse Feathers (1932), wherein Thelma Todd's character falls out of a canoe and into a river. She calls for a "life saver" and Groucho Marx tosses her a Life Savers candy. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) depicts a young boy with aspirations to be an explorer, displaying a prominent copy of National Geographic. In Love Happy (1949), Harpo cavorts on a rooftop among various billboards and at one point escapes from the villains on the old Mobil logo, the "Flying Red Horse". Harrison's Reports severely criticized this scene in its film review[21] and in a front-page editorial. In Gun Crazy (1949), the climactic crime is the payroll robbery of the Armour meat-packing plant, where a Bulova clock is prominently displayed.

The Cannonball Run and Smokey and the Bandit film series featured conspicuous placements. The film E.T. is often cited for its multiple, obvious placements.

In the New World Pictures dub of The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla 1984, Dr. Pepper is subject to prominent product placement in the new scenes shot specifically for the dub - in a scene shot at an American military base, a vending machine is situated directly between two characters, and in similar scenes characters are often shown drinking the soft drink.

Cheerios and Coca-Cola had product placement in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita and in Superman: The Movie and the sequel Superman II. Clark Kent eats Cheerios for breakfast in Smallville. In Superman II's climax, Superman crashes into a giant Coca-Cola advertisement and saves a bus full of people bearing an ad for Evita, before he smashes into a Marlboro delivery truck.

Perhaps the ultimate example of product placement comes in the film Cast Away in which the Tom Hanks lead character is a FedEx employee. References to the delivery company FedEx are in nearly every scene in the film, with the FedEx logo and name preposterously over-emphasized. The Internship (2013), which features two unemployed friends seeking employment at Google, was described by Tom Brook of BBC as "one huge advertisement for Google" that took "product placement to a startling new extreme".[22]

In other early media, e.g., radio in the 1930s and 1940s and television in the 1950s, programs were often underwritten by companies. Soap operas were so-named because they were initially underwritten by consumer packaged goods companies such as Procter & Gamble or Unilever. When television began to displace radio, DuMont's Cavalcade of Stars television show was, in its era, notable for not relying on a sole sponsor. Sponsorship continues with programs being sponsored by major vendors such as Hallmark Cards.

The conspicuous display of Studebaker motor vehicles in the television series Mr. Ed (1961–1966), which was sponsored by the Studebaker Corporation from 1961 to 1963, as well as the display of Ford vehicles on the series Hazel (1961–1966), which was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company from 1961 to 1965, are notable examples of television product placement.

Placements fall into two categories: those that are donated to reduce production costs and those placed in exchange for compensation.[23] Lotz refers to two classifications within these two categories, what she refers to as "basic" and "advanced". Basic placement is when the logo of an object or a brand name is visible but the characters don't draw attention to the brand. Advanced placement is when the product or brand is mentioned by name by characters in the show or movie.[24]

Barter and service deals (mobile phones provided for crew use, for instance) are also common practices. Content providers may trade product placements for help funding advertisements tied-in with a film's release, a show's new season or other event.[25]

A variant of product placement is advertisement placement. In this case an advertisement for the product (rather than the product itself) is production. Examples include a Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement on a billboard or a truck with a milk advertisement on its trailer.

Placing contemporary products into existing content creates new opportunities for marketers.[26] Current product placements can be added to older programs when rerun or released on video.[27][28][29]

Examples include Numb3rs and Still Standing; where a scene may be originally shot with a blank table, with sponsored products digitally added, possibly for each airing.[30]

As of 2007, dynamic or switchable placements became possible. Placements can be customized based upon factors such as demographics, psychographics or behavioral information about the consumer. In-game advertising vendors such as Massive Incorporated transmit user information to their servers, such as individual player IDs and data about what was on the screen and for how long, enabling user-specific placements.[31]

Hypervideo techniques can insert interactive elements into video.

A variant of product placement is brand integration, which varies from placement when show "the product or company name becomes part of the show in such a way that it contributes to the narrative and creates an environment of brand awareness beyond that produced by advanced placement."[32] While this type of advertising is common on unscripted shows such as The Apprentice, it can also be used in scripted television.[32] An early example was by Abercrombie & Fitch, when one of its stores provided the notional venue for part of the romantic comedy film Man's Favorite Sport? (1964). On All My Children one character took a job at Revlon.[32] The character's job became part of the character's development.[33]

Jurassic Park not only prominently features Ford cars and other commercial products, but also includes a scene displaying its own promotional merchandise. One shot shows the "Jurassic Park Souvenir Store", with products that it offered for sale to fans.

According to Danny Boyle, director of film Slumdog Millionaire (2008), the makers used "product displacement" to accommodate sponsors such as Mercedes-Benz that refused to allow their products to be used in non-flattering settings. While Mercedes did not mind having a gangster driving their cars, they objected to their products being shown in a slum. The makers removed logos digitally in post-production, costing "tens of thousands of pounds". When such issues are brought up in advance of filming, production companies often resort to "greeking", the practice of simply covering logos with tape.

Similarly, in The Blues Brothers (1980), portions of the defunct Dixie Square Mall in Harvey, Illinois, were reconstructed in faÃ§ade and used as the scene of an indoor car chase. Signage belonging to mall tenants was replaced with that of other vendors; for instance, a Walgreens would become a Toys "R" Us.[34]

Cars (2006) parodies NASCAR, an advertising-heavy sport which controversially had long allowed alcohol and tobacco sponsorships. NASCAR's sponsors were replaced with fictional or parody brands; Dinoco Oil takes pride of place, followed by a string of invented automotive aftermarket products positioned as pharmacy or medical brands. "Dale Earnhardt Inc." displaced "Junior #8"'s sponsor Budweiser to avoid advertising beer in a Disney feature. NASCAR's former "Winston Cup" trophy became the Piston Cup, removing a tobacco advertisement.[35][36]

Placements can be sound-only, visual-only or a combination of the two. The Russian television show дом-2 (phonetically Dom-2) (similar to Big Brother) often features participants stating something along the lines of, "Oh, did you check out the new product X by company Y yet?" after which the camera zooms in on the named product, explicitly combining an audio mention with a visual image. In The Real World/Road Rules Challenge participants often make a similar comment, usually pertaining to the mobile device and carrier for a text message.

In 2010 Wal-Mart teamed with Procter & Gamble to produce Secrets of the Mountain and The Jensen Project, both family-oriented films that display the characters using Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble- branded products. The Jensen Project also featured a preview of Kinect.[37][38]

20th Century Fox regularly uses their sister Fox News and Sky News channels in their films by including it as a plot device when characters view news broadcasts; which channel is featured in a film depends on its setting. The character typically stated that the audience is viewing Sky News. One example appears in the 1996 films Independence Day and Mission: Impossible.

The pilot episode of the NBC sitcom 30 Rock featured the General Electric (at the time an 80% owner of NBC) Trivection oven,[39] but was said to be a joke by the show's creator.[40] The show later parodied placement.[41]

The 1988 film Return of the Killer Tomatoes mocked the conceptâ€”at one point, the film stops, for lack of money. The character played by George Clooney suggests product placement as a way to continue. This was followed by several scenes with blatant product placement, including a Pepsi billboard installed in front of the villain's mansion.

The film Fight Club, directed by David Fincher, bit the hand that fed it by depicting acts of violence against most of the products that paid to be placed in the film.[citation needed] Examples include the scene where the Apple Store is broken into, the scene in which Brad Pitt and Edward Norton smash the headlights of a new Volkswagen Beetle, and try to blow up a "popular coffee franchise", a thinly veiled dig at Starbucks.

The film Superstar, starring Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon, shows every resident in town driving Volkswagen New Beetles, possibly for comic effect. Similarly, the film Mr. Deeds shows Adam Sandler's character purchasing a Chevrolet Corvette for every resident of his town.

Wayne's World showed Wayne and Garth decrying product placement while looking directly at the camera, holding up a product, smiling and sometimes giving a thumbs-up.

Kung Pow! Enter the Fist spoofed its product placements, highlighting the anachronistic inclusion of a Taco Bell. In a similar vein, in Looney Tunes: Back In Action, the main characters stumble across a Wal-Mart while stranded in the middle of Death Valley and acquire supplies just for providing an endorsement. Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens poked fun at its sponsor Sony by having one character give another a Blu-ray Disc with the tagline "It's a Sony", only for them to complain that they do not have a Blu-ray player, to which the character responds with a version in Betamax.

X-Files (1993â€“2002) frequently featured the fictional Morley brand of cigarettes, the choice of the Cigarette Smoking Man. The company producing Morleys was also involved in a cover-up conspiracy, Brand X.

Ghostbusters had a faux product in the climax of the film when the team faces the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

The Truman Show utilized faux placements to advance the narrative~of the reality television set. The protagonist's wife places products in front of hidden cameras, even naming them in dialogue with her husband. This increases Truman's suspicions as he comes to realize his surroundings are intentionally fabricated.

Some filmmakers created fictional products that appear in multiple movies.[citation needed] Examples include Kevin Smith (Nails Cigarettes, Mooby Corporation, Chewlees Gum, Discreeto Burritos) and Quentin Tarantino (Red Apple Cigarettes, Jack Rabbit Slim's Restaurants, Big Kahuna Burger). This went even further with the fictional brand Binford Tools which appeared in TV shows Home Improvement and Last Man Standing and in the Toy Story movie franchise, all starring Tim Allen.

This practice is also fairly common in certain comics, such as Svetlana Chmakova's Dramacon, which makes several product-placement-esque usages of "Pawky", (a modification of the name of the Japanese snack "Pocky", popular among anime and manga fans) or Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon, which includes numerous references to the series Codename: Sailor V, from which Sailor Moon was spun off.

This practice is also common in certain "reality-based" video games such as the Grand Theft Auto series, which feature fictitious stores such as Ammu-Nation, Vinyl Countdown, Gash (spoofing Gap) Zip, Pizza Boy, etc.

So-called "reverse product placement" creates real products to match those seen in a fictional setting.[42] For example, in 2007, 7-Eleven rebranded 11 of its American stores and one Canadian store as "Kwik-E-Marts", selling versions of products seen in episodes of The Simpsons, such as Buzz Cola and Krusty-O's cereal.[43] In 1997, Acme Communications was created as a chain of real television stations; the firm is named for the fictional Acme Corporation of Warner Brothers fame. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) led to a real Willy Wonka candy company, established soon after the film's release.

In 1949, Crazy Eddie was created as a fictional car dealer in the film A Letter to Three Wives.[44] That name, bestowed in 1971 upon a real-life electronics chain in New York City, appeared in 1984 as and advertising placement in Splash. A 1989 parody, UHF, returned to fiction by depicting a Crazy Ernie pitching, "buy this car or I'll club a seal" as a TV ad campaign.

While radio and television stations are regulated by national governments, producers of printed or recorded works are not, leading marketers to attempt to get products mentioned in lyrics of popular songs.

In 2008, The Kluger Agency was claimed[45] to have proposed placement of Double Happiness Jeans,[46] a virtual sweatshop created as part of the Invisible Threads project for the 2008 Sundance Festival, in a Pussycat Dolls song for a fee.[47] The firm was not intended to represent a commercial product. It had been invented as a collaboration between Jeff Crouse of the Anti-Advertising Agency and Stephanie Rothenberg. While the product technically existed at the time, Double Happiness was intended to be a critical piece.[48]

In January 2009, Migra Corridos, a 5-song EP including accordion ballad "El Mas Grande Enemigo", had received airplay on twenty-five Mexican radio stations. The tune purports to be the lament of a would-be immigrant left to die in the Arizona desert by coyotes (people smugglers).[49] No disclosure was made to the radio stations that the U.S. Border Patrol had commissioned the project with content devised by ElevaciÃ³n, a Hispanic advertising agency based in Washington, D.C. and New York City.[50]

In 2010, a video for Lady Gaga's "Telephone" was panned by critics for displaying nine brands in nine minutes (including her own line of Heartbeats headphones), many as paid product placements.[51] Other 2010 music videos displayed the PlentyofFish website include Natasha Bedingfield's "Touch", Flo Rida and Akon's "Available", Jason Derulo's "Ridin' Solo",[52] and 3OH!3's "Double Vision".[53]

In 2011, Britney Spears's music video for "Hold It Against Me" advertised PlentyofFish and Sony; one Washington Post review denounced the video as an informercial.[54]

Jennifer Lopez's Fiat-sponsored music video "Papi" was edited for broadcast as a 30-second advertisement for the Fiat 500 Cabrio in 2011.[55] The original video also advertised BlackBerry, Tous, Planet Love Match and Crown Royal.[56]

Alcohol advertising in music videos drew criticism from Curtin University in Perth, Australia in 2011. An Alcohol Beverages Advertising Code (ABAC) exists in Australia to handle complaints,[57] but a placement of Midori liqueur in Cobra Starship's "You Make Me Feel..." was judged not to be alcohol advertising.[58]

South African football comic book Supa Strikas accepts product placement to allow for the comic's free distribution. Product placement occurs throughout the publication; on players' shirts, billboards and signage, and through the branding of locations or scenarios.

Supa Strikas receives the majority of its support from Chevron, via its Caltex and Texaco brands.

In markets where Chevron lacks a presence, other brands step in, e.g., including Visa in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Other brands include their logos included as both billboard and background advertising, and through the branding of locations and scenarios. These companies include Metropolitan Life, Nike, Spur Steak Ranches and the South African National Roads Agency, among others.[59]

Other titles adopted the same system, including cricket comic Supa Tigers and Strike Zone.

Product placement has long been prevalent in sports at all levels.

While now-defunct NFL Europe allowed liberal use of team uniforms by sponsors, the main National Football League (NFL) does not. For instance, the league prohibits logos of sponsors painted onto the fields, although Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, has their stadium's logomark painted onto the FieldTurf field. In 2008, the league allowed sponsors on the practice jerseys of the uniforms, but not game uniforms.

In 1991, the league allowed uniform suppliers to display their logos on their NFL-related products. Since 2012, Nike has been the league's official uniform supplier.

Two of the league's flagship teams—the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers—early on adopted their identity from corporate sponsors. The Packers adopted the name "Packers" because they were sponsored by the Indian Packing Company. They later had "ACME PACKERS" written on their uniforms in the early 1920s after the Acme Packing Company bought Indian Packing. The Steelers adopted their current logo in 1962 as a product-placement deal with the American Iron and Steel Institute, which owned the rights to the Steelmark logo. The Steelers later were allowed to add "-ers" to the Steelmark logo the following year so that they could own a trademark on the logo. (The Steelers' pre-NFL predecessors also regularly sold naming rights to companies in the Pittsburgh area.)

The league has placed itself. NFL Japan was a sponsor of the football-themed anime series Eyeshield 21.

In automobile racing, the concept of the factory-backed contestant, who is provided with vehicles and technical support in return for the car's manufacturer obtaining visibility for its products in competition, dates in NASCAR to the 1950s and Marshall Teague's factory-backed Fabulous Hudson Hornet. "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" was once a common adage among automakers.[60]

Automobiles, apparel, beverages, home goods, furniture, consumer electronics, computers, restaurants, financial institutions, travel, airlines and websites are just a few of the product categories.

Fedex provided vehicles, access, and logistical support for the making of Cast Away. The movie depicted real Fedex locations, and the company's CEO appeared in one scene.

The most common products to be promoted in this way are automobiles. Frequently, all the important vehicles in a film or television series are supplied by one manufacturer.

Luxury vehicles like Aston Martin, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Cadillac utilize brand integration in films like Iron Man 3,[61] Spectre,[62] and Jurassic World.[63] Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation[64]

Cars (2006) portrays a mix of real and fictional vehicles as characters. None are directly paid product placements, but many are factory-backed by manufacturers who provided technical assistance and vehicles during production.[65]

Tom Ford has utilized brand integration to elevate his fashion brand in movies like Skyfall,[66] music from Jay Z's Magna Carta,[67] and television shows like Empire.[68]

Apple's products frequently appear in films, music videos and on television. Apple has stated that they do not pay for this, but declined to discuss how its products are placed; some Apple placements may have stemmed from the brand's position as a status symbol rather than actual paid promotion.[69] Similarly, Pixar films have often featured references to Apple products, although these are an homage to the involvement of its founder, Steve Jobs, as an early investor in the studio.[70]

The 2010 Modern Family episode "Game Changer" prominently featured the iPad and aired prior to its launch, while the 2015 episode "Connection Lost" is presented entirely from the perspective of a character's Macintosh laptop, conducting communications between the rest of her family via Apple's FaceTime and iMessage services. Show creator Steven Levitan stated they had an ongoing relationship with Apple, but did not elaborate further. In the case of the former, while the episode's credits did state that the iPad was "provided" by Apple, the company did not pay the show's broadcaster ABC for the integration, nor bought any commercial time during the episode[71][72]

Owing to its common ownership, Sony Pictures films have featured placements of Sony consumer electronics products, particularly Sony Xperia smartphones, amongst other products. The James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre prominently feature placements of the Sony Xperia T and Sony Xperia Z5 smartphones respectively, and Sony released editions of the T and Xperia Z5 Compact that were branded as tie-ins for the films.[73][74][75][76]

In video games, the most common placements are for processors or graphics cards. For example, in EA's Battlefield 2142, ads for Intel Core 2 processors appear on map billboards. EA's The Sims contains in-game advertising for Intel and for McDonald's. Rare's Perfect Dark Zero features many ads for Samsung in their menus.[77]

The use of Reese's Pieces as a prominent plot element in the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was the result of a sponsorship deal; it was originally intended for the titular character's favorite food to be M&Ms candies, but Mars, Incorporated turned down an offer. The Hershey Company took the sponsorship instead, which included the rights for the company to cross-promote Reese's Pieces with the film. The deal was considered a major coup for the company; sales of Reese's Pieces tripled, and some retailers had trouble meeting demand for the product.[78]

Alongside criticism for trying to ride off the popularity of E.T., the film Mac and Me was widely-criticized for containing numerous placements for Coca-Cola soft drinks and the fast food chain McDonald's; both brands are integral to the film's plot, while McDonald's mascot Ronald McDonald makes an appearance during a dance scene set at a McDonald's, and is credited as appearing in the film "as himself". Critics also noted that the name of the alien creature featured in the film, "Mac", could also be interpreted as a reference to the chain's notable burger, the Big Mac.[79][80][81] Its producer R.J. Louis denied that the film was funded by McDonald's; he had previously worked on campaigns for the company and wanted to make a film that would help benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities, and had to pursue rights to portray the McDonald's brand in the film (noting that he was "still the only person in the universe that ever had the exclusive motion picture rights to the McDonald's trademark, their actors, their characters, and the whole company"), but did receive funding from one of the chain's major suppliers, Golden State Foods. He also justified the extended dance scene, as trips to McDonald's were often seen as a "treat" to children of the era, and explained that "Mac" was meant to be an acronym for "Mysterious Alien Creature".[82]

Tobacco companies have made direct payment to stars for using their cigarettes in films. Sylvester Stallone received US$500,000 to "use Brown and Williamson tobacco products in five feature films".[83][84][85]

In response to a Christian Science Monitor article[86] accusing the industry of deliberately using product placement as an advertising strategy, the Tobacco Institute claimed that product placement is driven by filmmakers to “achieve desired artistic effects but also to offset production costs.” It also claimed “the 1970 federal ban on cigarette advertising on television and radio does not prohibit payments to filmmakers for the use of cigarettes in a film.” The rebuttal concludes with the sentiment that smoking in film provides a certain “aesthetic” which is legitimate and at the filmmaker's discretion.[87]

Many airlines have advertised prominently in film, in some cases to promote a new flight route or just to increase public awareness of the airline company. Pan American World Airways advertised on many films, including some James Bond ones. American Airlines was advertised on Home Alone and Home Alone 2, and a model of a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 was shown in Wayne's World.

United Airlines was mentioned in the title of the movie United 93; this movie, however, was based on a real life event.

List of television shows with the most instances of product placement (November 2007 â€“ 2008; according to Nielsen Media Research)

Nielsen called a scene in an episode of CBS' Mike & Molly of Mike eating M&M's in Carl's apartment 2013's best branded and opinion-shifting product integration in a scripted show.[88]

Youtubers are allowed to do product placement. For instance, the LinusTechTips channel by Linus Sebastian.[89] Notifying YouTube is required,[90] and YouTube reserves the right to ban it.[91]

In 2001, British author Fay Weldon published The Bulgari Connection, a novel commissioned by Italian jewellery company Bulgari. According to The Independent, this was the first instance of a literary product-placement deal between an established writer of fiction and a commercial partner.[92]

Much of U.S. broadcast law pertaining to on-air product promotion dates to the payola scandals of 1950s broadcast radio. An investigation launched in November 1959 into allegations that some radio disc jockeys had accepted bribes in return for radio airplay[93] ended with a US$2,500 fine for disc jockey Alan Freed (of WABC and WINS) for violating commercial bribery laws. On September 13, 1960, the U.S. government banned payola in broadcasting. Under 47 U.S.C. § 317 "All matter broadcast by any radio station for which money, service, or other valuable consideration is directly or indirectly paid, or promised to or charged or accepted by, the station so broadcasting, from any person, shall, at the time the same is so broadcast, be announced as paid for or furnished, as the case may be, by such person..." with similar and related provisions reflected in Federal Communications Commission regulations as 47 C.F.R. 73.1212.[94]

These provisions have governed subsequent payola investigations, including a 2005 investigation into Sony BMG and other major record companies.[95]

Often, a broadcaster claimed to have complied by placing an acknowledgement in an inconspicuous place, such as embedded within the credits.[96] In 2005 U.S. Federal Communications Commission commissioner Jonathan Adelstein stated "if broadcasters and cable TV companies insist on further commercializing new and other shows alike, that is their business. But if they do so without disclosing it to the viewing public, that is payola, and that is the FCCâ€™s business."[97]

In the United Kingdom, placement by commercial broadcasters was forbidden prior to 2011. On February 28, 2011, telecommunications regulator Ofcom legalized placements in certain types of programming. A placement must be "editorially justified" and not place "undue prominence" on the product. Product placements are not allowed for products that cannot legally be advertised on television, including alcohol, baby milk, gambling products, medication or junk food. Placements are not allowed during children's, news, public affairs and religious programs. Additionally, broadcasters must disclose placements on-air by displaying a "PP" icon on-screen during the program for at least three seconds at the beginning, after every commercial break, and at the end. The first legal product placement on British television came during an episode of This Morning, for a Nestlé-produced coffee maker. As with all other advertising, the BBC is barred from using placements on its publicly funded services.[98][99]

Mac and Me is notorious for its placements. Both Coca-Cola and McDonald's backed the movie financially, leading to placements for them as well as others, such as Skittles and Sears in nearly every scene, including an infamously irrelevant dance number set in a McDonald's restaurant as well as a character who wears a McDonald's uniform throughout nearly the entire film, even when she is not at work.

I, Robot offers placements for Converse, Ovaltine, Audi, FedEx, Dos Equis and JVC among others, all of them introduced within the film's first ten minutes. One moment includes a straightforward advertisement in which Will Smith's character responds to a compliment about his shoes, to which he replies "Converse All-Stars, vintage 2004"[100] (the year of the film's release). Audi created a special car for the film, the Audi RSQ. Surveys conducted in the US showed that the placements boosted the brand's image.[101] The Audi RSQ appears for nine minutes, and other Audis also appear in the film.[102] I, Robot was ranked "the worst film for product placement" on a British site.[103]

Demolition Man makes heavy mention of the only remaining restaurant chain being Taco Bell (in the U.S. release) or Pizza Hut (in the European release).

The Island features at least 35 individual products or brands, including cars, bottled water, shoes, credit cards, beer, ice cream, and a web search engine.[104][105] In the movie's DVD Commentary track, director Michael Bay claims he added the advertisements for greater realism.[106]

The 2006 comedy film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby parodied the large amount of sponsorship in NASCAR. For example, Ricky Bobby thanks baby Jesus for certain products during the dinner blessings, due to contractual obligations. In one race, he drives his car with a giant Fig Newtons sticker on his windshield, which obscures his vision. A scene where Ricky's and Jean Girard's cars go flipping for an excessively long time is interrupted by an Applebee's commercial (referencing NBC's use of commercial breaks during its own coverage).[107]

Josie and the Pussycats contains placements in most of the shots. This appears to be done ironically, as the plot of the film revolves around subliminal messages in advertising. The film's general message can also be construed as an anti-consumerist one. The film neither sought nor received compensation for the placements.

The 2009 Star Trek, in a scene where young James Kirk drives and crashes a Chevrolet Corvette, he operates a Nokia touch-screen smartphone. Before running the car off the cliff while being chased by a hovering motorcycle cop, the distinct Nokia trademark ring tone can be heard. The Finnish phone maker offered Star Trek apps for its phones. The use of contemporary products was ridiculed, as the scene is set in the year 2255.[108]

The 2013 Filipino film My Little Bossings attracted criticism for its extensive use of product placement. Reviewers panned the film for being "one long commercial", where advertisements for brands endorsed by the characters' actors are frequently interspersed into the film.[109][110] Zig Marasigan of Rappler described the film's use of product endorsements as "some of the most distasteful examples of local product placement while no effort is made to weave them into the narrative."[111]

In a similar vein to early radio and television programs, sponsored programs in the Philippines are not uncommon, where children's programs like Tropang Potchi and Jollitown were produced on behalf of companies, prominently featuring products and related properties in the shows in question.

In April 2009, fans of the television series Chuck responded to a placement by Subway restaurants with a grassroots effort to save the show from cancellation.[112] The movement gained support from cast and crew, with series star Zachary Levi leading hundreds of fans to a Subway restaurant in Birmingham, United Kingdom.[113][114][115][116][117]

Placement continues to grow, despite consumer groups such as Commercial Alert that object to the practice as "an affront to basic honesty". The group requested disclosure of all product-placement arrangements and notification before and during embedded advertisements. It justifies this to allow parents to protect easily influenced children.[118]

In 2005, the Writers Guild of America, a trade union representing authors of television scripts, objected that its members were forced to produce disguised ad copy.[119]

Some scholars argue that product placement may inherently affect the creativity and originality of movies as film producers may re-write scripts in order to incorporate products.[120] Most typically, product placement and merchandise are most successful amongst specific genres of movies which may eventually limit the diversity of films.[120]

As with most marketing tactics, product placement leads to explicit as well as implicit advertising effects. Explicit effects can be observed directly and are usually visible by higher recall scores.[121][122] They are highly connected to the conscious mind.[123] Implicit effects can be observed by a change in behavior â€“ like a higher purchase intention.[121][124][125] They are fully based on the subconscious mind.[121][126] Implicit effects are more relevant for purchase decisions and therefore more valuable than explicit reactions.[121][126]

Recall describes whether people can name a product after seeing it within the content. Research showed that there is a significant relationship between product placement and recall.[127][128][129][130]

Product placement also leads to changes in attitude towards the product or brand.[131][132][133][134]

A lot of research has shown a higher purchase intention as a result of product placement.[135][136][137][138][139]

Product placement affects the audience on a conscious, but also subconscious level. Science showed that there does not even need to be an explicit, conscious effect to activate subconscious effects.[136][140][141][142] For example, product placement can lead to an exclusion of competing brands from the consideration set of the audience â€“ subconsciously.[121][143] It is also hoped to bypass advertising defense reactions of consumers by focusing on the subconscious character of product placement.[122]

Under specific circumstances, product placement can lead to no[144][145][146] or even negative effects.[131][145][147][148] This usually happens if the product placement is too obvious, while the audience also feels to be manipulated.[122][145][148]

The better the product placement fits the surrounding content, the better the implicit effectiveness (like attitude or purchase-intention) will be.[134][149][150][151]

After viewing a Seinfeld episode with visual, auditory and audiovisual product placements, a recall task indicated that audiovisual product placements were recalled the best, visual product placements somewhat less and audio placements least. In a recognition test audiovisual was still remembered the best but audio placements were remembered second best and visual placements were remembered third best.[136] As indicated, the type of placement that is most effective seems to vary depending on task, but audiovisual placements seem to be often the most effective.[152] However, audiovisual product placements are not remembered best when there are more than one audiovisual placement at once, making it hard to remember each one.[127] In case the placement is only on the audio level, one should make sure it is very prominent to get any effect at all.[128][145][153]

People tended to like brand names that were paired with attractive faces more than those paired with unattractive faces. The more times a brand was paired with an attractive face, the more people liked it.[154]

Product placement perceived to disrupt a movie, especially when repeated, were found in one study to be counterproductive. Moderate repetition of subtle product placements did not increase peopleâ€™s feelings on distraction.[155]

Products that are integrated within the plot of a movie are better recall, although not if more than one product is shown at a time.[127] In one study placements connected to the story were recognized most often, products used by the main character were remembered less often and products in the background were remembered least often.[139]

Placements were found more effective on a larger screen compared to on a smaller one.[127] Also, products placed in the first half of a movie tend to be remembered better than products in the second half of a movie, which demonstrates the primacy effect.[127]

High involvement with the program makes it easier for people to recognize the product placement.[156][157] This can lead to positive effects,[158][159] but might also lead to negative reactions.[160] The same applies for high product category involvement.[161]

Older research cited a difference between different cultural areas. For example, Australians,[162] Austrians.[163] and Germans[164][165] tended to evaluate product placement more critical and show less positive reactions than Americans or people from certain Asian countries such as India.[166][167][168]

Children are usually easier influenced than adults.[169][170][171]

If the product is endorsed by a person, there are stronger priming effects if the audience has the same sex.[172] Women tend to get influenced a little easier,[173][174] but show more negative reactions when the product can be described as ethically questionable (e.g. alcohol).[175]

To measure the success of product placement, one first tracks the parameters of the placement itself, like the ease of identification, screen time, number of exposure(s), or association with a main character. That information is also often used to determine the price of a specific placement. Secondly, the effectiveness is measured using direct (for explicit memory effects) as well as indirect (for implicit memory effects) measurements.

Explicit effects are measured by recall or recognition tests. Subjects are asked to name the products that he or she noticed (free recall).[121][176] This survey can be also aided by giving additional information like a specific product category.[144] At recognition tests, a selection of products is shown to the interviewed person, who then needs to select the ones that he has seen before.[146][152]

Implicit effects are measured in an indirect way by observing a change in behavior.[121][177] This can be done by tracking the consideration set and buying behavior of people,[121][124][125] measuring brain activities[178] or using abstract indirect test settings like the word fragment or word stem completion test.[179] The implicit association test (IAT) is also an applicable measurement tool.[180][181]

Many argue that product placement is ethically questionable, because it manipulates them against their will.[138][182][183][184] A contrary view is, even if product placement is only perceived unconsciously, it is still evaluated by our mind.[185][186] It cannot make people act against their beliefs. Most people also appreciate the fact, that movies look more realistic with real brands and do not feel disturbed by the placements.[187][188] Additionally, further research argues that product placement is not any different from other marketing tactics when it comes to ethics.[147]


what is the vertex angle of an isosceles triangle

In an isosceles triangle that has exactly two equal sides, the equal sides are called legs and the third side is called the base. The angle included by the legs is called the vertex angle and the angles that have the base as one of their sides are called the base angles.[1] The vertex opposite the base is called the apex.

Isosceles triangle

In geometry, an isosceles triangle is a triangle that has two sides of equal length. Sometimes it is specified as having two and only two sides of equal length, and sometimes as having at least two sides of equal length, the latter version thus including the equilateral triangle as a special case.

By the isosceles triangle theorem, the two angles opposite the equal sides are themselves equal, while if the third side is different then the third angle is different.

By the Steiner–Lehmus theorem, every triangle with two angle bisectors of equal length is isosceles.

The compound is made from "isos"(equal) and skelos (leg).

Euclid defined an isosceles triangle as one having exactly two equal sides,[2] but modern treatments prefer to define them as having at least two equal sides, making equilateral triangles (with three equal sides) a special case of isosceles triangles.[3] In the equilateral triangle case, since all sides are equal, any side can be called the base, if needed, and the term leg is not generally used.

A triangle with exactly two equal sides has exactly one axis of symmetry, which goes through the vertex angle and also goes through the midpoint of the base. Thus the axis of symmetry coincides with (1) the angle bisector of the vertex angle, (2) the median drawn to the base, (3) the altitude drawn from the vertex angle, and (4) the perpendicular bisector of the base.[4]

Whether the isosceles triangle is acute, right or obtuse depends on the vertex angle. In Euclidean geometry, the base angles cannot be obtuse (greater than 90°) or right (equal to 90°) because their measures would sum to at least 180°, the total of all angles in any Euclidean triangle. Since a triangle is obtuse or right if and only if one of its angles is obtuse or right, respectively, an isosceles triangle is obtuse, right or acute if and only if its vertex angle is respectively obtuse, right or acute.

The Euler line of any triangle goes through the triangle's orthocenter (the intersection of its three altitudes), its centroid (the intersection of its three medians), and its circumcenter (the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors of its three sides, which is also the center of the circumcircle that passes through the three vertices). In an isosceles triangle with exactly two equal sides, the Euler line coincides with the axis of symmetry. This can be seen as follows. Since as pointed out in the previous section the axis of symmetry coincides with an altitude, the intersection of the altitudes, which must lie on that altitude, must therefore lie on the axis of symmetry; since the axis coincides with a median, the intersection of the medians, which must lie on that median, must therefore lie on the axis of symmetry; and since the axis coincides with a perpendicular bisector, the intersection of the perpendicular bisectors, which must lie on that perpendicular bisector, must therefore lie on the axis of symmetry.

If the vertex angle is acute (so the isosceles triangle is an acute triangle), then the orthocenter, the centroid, and the circumcenter all fall inside the triangle. If the vertex angle, and therefore the triangle, is obtuse, then the centroid still falls in the triangle's interior, but the circumcenter falls outside it (beyond the base), and the orthocenter also falls outside the triangle (beyond the apex).

In an isosceles triangle the incenter (the intersection of its angle bisectors, which is the center of the incircle, that is, the circle which is internally tangent to the triangle's three sides) lies on the Euler line.

The Steiner inellipse of any triangle is the unique ellipse that is internally tangent to the triangle's three sides at their midpoints. In an isosceles triangle, if the legs are longer than the base then the Steiner inellipse's major axis coincides with the triangle's axis of symmetry; if the legs are shorter than the base, then the ellipse's minor axis coincides with the triangle's axis of symmetry.

For an isosceles triangle with equal sides of length a and base of length b, the general triangle formulas for (1) the length of the triangle-interior portion of the angle bisector of the vertex angle, (2) the length of the median drawn to the base, (3) length of the altitude drawn to the base, and (4) the length of the triangle-interior portion of the perpendicular bisector of the base all simplify to

1
2

4

a

2

−

b

2

.

{\displaystyle {\tfrac {1}{2}}{\sqrt {4a^{2}-b^{2}}}.}

For any isosceles triangle with area T and perimeter p, we have[5]:Eq.(1)

The area of an isosceles triangle can be derived using the Pythagorean Theorem: The sum of the squares of half the base

b

{\displaystyle b}

 and the height

h

{\displaystyle h}

 is the square of either of the other two sides of length

a

{\displaystyle a}

:

By substituting the height, the formula for the area of an isosceles triangle can be derived from the general formula one-half the base times the height:

This is what Heron's formula reduces to in the isosceles case.

If the apex angle

(
θ
)

{\displaystyle (\theta )}

 and leg lengths

(
a
)

{\displaystyle (a)}

 of an isosceles triangle are known, then the area of that triangle is:

This is derived by drawing a perpendicular line from the base of the triangle, which bisects the vertex angle and creates two right triangles. The bases of these two right triangles are both equal to the hypotenuse times the sine of the bisected angle by definition of the term "sine". For the same reason, the heights of these triangles are equal to the hypotenuse times the cosine of the bisected angle. Using the trigonometric identity

sin

θ
=
2
sin

(

θ
2

)

cos

(

θ
2

)

{\displaystyle \sin \theta =2\sin {\left({\frac {\theta }{2}}\right)}\cos {\left({\frac {\theta }{2}}\right)}}

, we get

which is a special case of the general triangle area formula one-half the product of two sides times the sine of the included angle.

The theorem which states that the base angles of an isosceles triangle are equal appears as Proposition I.5 in Euclid.[6] This result has been called the pons asinorum (the bridge of asses). Some say that this is probably because of the diagram used by Euclid in his demonstration of the result. Others claim that the name stems from the fact that this is the first difficult result in Euclid, and acts to separate those who can understand Euclid's geometry from those who can't.[7]

For any integer

n
≥
4

{\displaystyle n\geq 4}

, any triangle can be partitioned into

n

{\displaystyle n}

 isosceles triangles.[8]

In a right triangle, the median from the hypotenuse (that is, the line segment from the midpoint of the hypotenuse to the right-angled vertex) divides the right triangle into two isosceles triangles. This is because the midpoint of the hypotenuse is the center of the circumcircle of the right triangle, and each of the two triangles created by the partition has two equal radii as two of its sides.[9]:p.24

The golden triangle is isosceles and has a ratio of either leg to the base equal to the golden ratio, and has angles 72°, 72°, and 36° in the ratios 2:2:1. It can be partitioned into another golden triangle and a golden gnomon, also isosceles, with ratio of base to leg equaling the golden ratio and with angles 36°, 36°, and 108° in the ratios 1:1:3.[9]:p.30–31

If a cubic equation has two complex roots and one real root, then when these roots are plotted in the complex plane they are the vertices of an isosceles triangle whose axis of symmetry coincides with the horizontal (real) axis. This is because the complex roots are complex conjugates and hence are symmetric about the real axis.

Either diagonal of a rhombus divides it into two congruent isosceles triangles.

The Calabi triangle, which is isosceles, is the unique non-equilateral triangle in which the largest square that fits in its interior can be positioned in any of three different ways.

If an isosceles triangle ABC with equal legs AB and BC has a segment drawn from A to a point D on ray BC, and if the reflection of AD around AC intersects ray BC at E, then BC2 = BD Ã— BE.[10]

There are exactly two distinct isosceles triangles with given area T and perimeter p if the isoperimetric inequality holds strictly as

p

2

>
12

3

T
.

{\displaystyle p^{2}>12{\sqrt {3}}T.}

 If the inequality is replaced by the corresponding equality, there is only one such triangle, which is equilateral.[5]:Thm.2

If the two equal sides have length a and the other side has length c, then the internal angle bisector t from one of the two equal-angled vertices satisfies[11]:p.169,#

η

{\displaystyle \eta }

44

as well as[12]

and conversely, if the latter condition holds, an isosceles triangle parametrized by a and t exists.

A well known fallacy is the false proof of the statement that all triangles are isosceles. This argument has been attributed to Lewis Carroll,[13] but W.W. Rouse Ball claims priority in this matter.[14] The fallacy is rooted in Euclid's lack of recognition of the concept of betweenness and the resulting ambiguity of inside versus outside of figures.[15]


who played the mother of rose in titanic

Frances Louise Fisher[1] (born 11 May 1952)[2] is a British-American actress.

Frances Fisher

Fisher began her career in theatre and later starred as detective Deborah 'Red' Saxon in the ABC daytime soap opera The Edge of Night (1976â€“1981). She has portrayed strong women on film and TV since the early 1980s.[3] In film, she is known for her roles in Unforgiven (1992), Titanic (1997), True Crime (1999), House of Sand and Fog (2003), Laws of Attraction (2004), The Kingdom (2007), In the Valley of Elah (2007), Jolene (2008), The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) and The Host (2013). From 2014 to 2015, Fisher starred in the ABC drama series Resurrection.

Fisher was born in Milford on Sea, Hampshire, England, the daughter of American parents Olga Rosine (nÃ©e Moen), a housewife, and William Irving "Bill" Fisher, Sr, an oil refinery construction superintendent.[4] Her father was of Russian-Jewish and Hungarian-Jewish descent, while her mother was of Norwegian ancestry.[citation needed] Before she reached the age of fifteen, she had moved nine times and travelled because of her father's job, going to places like Italy, Turkey, Colombia, France, Canada, and Brazil.[2][5][6] When she was 15, her mother died and she took on the responsibility to help raise her younger brother.[5] She ultimately completed her high school at Lutcher Stark High School[2] in Orange, Texas, where she performed in theatre productions, and later worked as a secretary.[7]

Deciding to follow her interest in theatre, she moved to New York City, where she subsequently enjoyed a 14-year stage career in regional and off-Broadway productions. She became involved with the Actors Studio, where she studied with Lee Strasberg.[2] Fisher moved to Abingdon, Virginia, where she began her acting career at the Barter Theatre, a year-round repertory theatre.

During the next 10 years, she concentrated on theatre in New York City and in regional theatres all over the East Coast. She has also returned to theatre; she appeared in Arthur Miller's last play, Finishing the Picture, produced at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and in a 2006 production of The Cherry Orchard at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.

Fisher gained recognition playing Detective Deborah Saxon on the ABC daytime soap opera The Edge of Night from 1976 to 1981. She later joined the cast of CBS's Guiding Light as Suzette Saxon in 1985. After leaving daytime television, Fisher guest starred as a bartender, Savannah, at "The Lobo" in the first season of ABC comedy series Roseanne. She also appeared on Newhart, Matlock and In the Heat of the Night.

Fisher was originally cast to play Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, but was replaced after initial filming of the pilot episode by Patricia Richardson due to a lack of chemistry with Tim Allen as well as with the studio audience who felt Fisher was too serious in the delivery of her lines.[8][9] In 1991, Fisher was cast as Lucille Ball in the television film Lucy & Desi: Before the Laughter, which aired to strong ratings and good reviews. From 1994 to 1995 she starred in the Fox drama series Strange Luck. In 2000, Fisher portrayed Audrey Hepburn's mother, Ella Hepburn, in the biographical film of the actress. In same year she played the role of Janet Lee Bouvier in Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.[3]

Fisher had recurring roles in CBS sitcom Becker as Dr. Elizabeth 'Liz' Carson from 1999 to 2000, and on Fox's Titus as Juanita Titus (2000â€“2001). In 2002 she starred in the short-lived The WB series Glory Days, and in next year in another drama that was cancelled after single season, The Lyon's Den on NBC.[3] In 2005, she appeared on the ER episode "Just As I Am," as Helen Kingsley, the long-lost birth mother of Dr. Kerry Weaver, played by Laura Innes, even though Fisher is only five years older. She also starred in a pilot for NBC/USA entitled To Love and Die. In 2008, she appeared in a recurring role on the Sci-Fi Channel television series Eureka, portraying the character Eva Thorne.[10] Fisher also guest-starred on Grey's Anatomy, The Shield, Two and a Half Men, Private Practice, Sons of Anarchy, Torchwood, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Cold Case, and Castle.[11][12]

In 2014, Fisher was starring in the ABC drama series Resurrection about the residents of Arcadia, Missouri, whose lives are upended when their loved ones return from the dead, unaged since their deaths. She played the role of Lucille Langston.[13]

In 2017, she and her daughter Francesca Eastwood both starred in the acclaimed Fargo episode "The Law of Non-Contradiction" as the old and young versions of the same character.[14]

Fisher made her film debut in Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? (1983) and later appeared in Patty Hearst directed by Paul Schrader.[3] In 1989 she appeared in Pink Cadillac opposite Clint Eastwood, and the pair began a six-year offscreen relationship.[3] In next year she appeared in Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael.

In 1992, Fisher had her break-out role in Unforgiven, an Academy Award-winning film directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred.[3] In later years she began acting regularly in major and independent films. Her most famous role in film was as the society matron Ruth DeWitt Bukater, the mother of the character played by Kate Winslet, in the 1997 blockbuster Titanic. She appeared in True Crime (1999) with Eastwood as D.A.[3]

Fisher had a role in House of Sand and Fog (2003), another Academy Award-nominated film. In 2004, she appeared in Laws of Attraction as Julianne Moore's mother, even though she is only 8 years older. Fisher worked on four films in 2006, including Peter Berg's The Kingdom, and Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah. The same year, she appeared in the film Jolene with Jessica Chastain as her lover. She served as an official festival judge for the 2011 Noor Iranian Film Festival in Los Angeles. In 2011, she appeared in The Lincoln Lawyer and The Roommate.[15]

Fisher appeared as Maggie Stryder in the 2013 film The Host with Saoirse Ronan and William Hurt.[16] She is set to be in the upcoming films The Potters and You're Not You, both set to release in 2014.[17]

Fisher appeared in the film Woman in Gold (2015), playing the mother of Randol Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds).[18]

In 1970, when Fisher was 18, she married her high school sweetheart Billy Mack Hamilton. They divorced two years later.[5]

Fisher was in a relationship with fellow actor Clint Eastwood for six years in the early 1990s. During that time, the couple had a daughter, Francesca Eastwood (b. 1993).[5][19]


the oval window is found in what part of the ear

The oval window (or fenestra vestibuli) is a membrane-covered opening that leads from the middle ear to the vestibule of the inner ear.

Oval window

Vibrations that contact the tympanic membrane travel through the three ossicles and into the inner ear. The oval window is the intersection of the middle ear with the inner ear and is directly contacted by the stapes; by the time vibrations reach the oval window, they have been amplified over 10 times[1] from what they were when they contacted the tympanic membrane, a testament to the amplifying power of the middle ear.

It is a reniform (kidney-shaped) opening leading from the tympanic cavity into the vestibule of the internal ear; its long diameter is horizontal and its convex border is upward. It is occupied by the base of the stapes, the circumference of which is fixed by the annular ligament to the margin of the foramen.

View of the inner wall of the eardrum (label is fen. oval. â€” black circle near top)


who played steve mcdonald's wife in coronation street

Steve's storylines include his many marriages to Vicky Arden (Chloe Newsome), Karen Phillips (Suranne Jones) twice, Becky Granger (Katherine Kelly), Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford) and Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh), as well as Tracy giving birth to his daughter Amy (Elle Mulvaney) and also depression. In September 2015 Gregson announced a break due to personal reasons, and Steve was off-screen from November 2015 to 22 April 2016.

Steve McDonald (Coronation Street)

Steven James "Steve" McDonald is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, played by Simon Gregson. The character first appeared on-screen during the episode airing on 6 December 1989. He arrived as part of the McDonald family introduced by producer Mervyn Watson along with his twin brother Andy (Nicholas Cochrane) and parents Liz (Beverley Callard) and Jim McDonald (Charles Lawson).

Steve McDonald arrived in Coronation Street at the age of 15 in December 1989, with twin brother Andy (Nicholas Cochrane) and parents Jim (Charles Lawson) and Liz (Beverley Callard). From the start, the lads were high-energy tearaways initially causing aggravation for Alf Roberts (Bryan Mosley). Steve and Andy got up to a lot of mischief, including a joyride in an industrial earth mover, breaking Alf's shop window. The lads were brought up mainly by their mother because their father Jim was in the army and away more than he was home. When he was home, the hot tempered Jim, whose tirades were often fuelled by whiskey and beer, had the boys fearing and resenting him. Steve grew up with little respect for his father but a great deal for his mother. It didn't stop him from getting into scrapes, no matter how much it worried his mother. Schoolboy pranks turned into illegal activities when Steve was sure he could pull off a scam or two only to find out that the long arm of the law was only a few steps away. Steve was caught selling stolen car radios, and falling into a bad lot which got his brother, Andy, beaten up. Steve ran away with a teenage love to the Lake District and had to be retrieved and defended against Jim by his mother. The McDonalds didn't have a lot of money and this seemed to fuel Steve's ambitions, always looking for a way to make money. Steve started working with Jim in a building business but Jim was drinking a lot and during an argument and scuffle on scaffolding, Jim fell into a skip and was paralysed for a time. After Jim's recovery, things started to improve between father and son. They seemed to come to an acceptance of each other. In 2000 he had dealings with a local gangster, Jez Quigley. After learning that Quigley killed Tony Horrocks, Steve decides to testify against him in court. After Quigley is found not guilty, he soon plans revenge. He has Steve lured into a car park where he is savagely beaten by several of Quigley's henchmen. After been found by Jim and taken to hospital, Jim takes revenge by beating Quigley. Quigley later dies from his injuries after making another attempt on killing Steve. Jim is sentenced to eight year for manslaughter. Simon Belcher, his half brother who was in the same jail as him at same time was caught red handed with a guard and another inmate and all hell broke lose

Steve was married to Karen Phillips (Suranne Jones) twice. During his separation from Karen in 2003, he had a one-night stand with Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford), consequently making her pregnant. Tracy gave birth to their daughter Amy (Holly Bowyer and Rebecca Pike), though she initially was named Patience by Roy Cropper (David Neilson) when he was deceived into believing Amy was his daughter. Tracy later decided she wanted to bring up her daughter herself, and revealed that Steve was the baby's father on Steve and Karen's second wedding day. Karen was horrified but later forgave him. Tracy was persistent in causing disruption for Steve and Karen which continued throughout 2004, until Steve ended his relationship with Karen on Christmas Day, admitting it was getting too much for him. In March 2005, he dated single mother Louise Hazel briefly but the dalliance soon fizzled out partly due to Tracy's presence. For a brief period shortly after, he dated Tracy, intending to get parental responsibility for Amy, rather than having feelings for Tracy. Tracy became aware of Steve's scheme and attempted to prevent Steve having access to Amy. The case went to court where Steve was granted legal rights to see his daughter.

Steve starts dating StreetCars employee Ronnie Clayton (Emma Stansfield), a local gangster's estranged wife. Ronnie tries to frame him when she accidentally ran down a pensioner in her taxi, but she was eventually caught. Steve's alibi for the crime was that he spent the night with his new business partner Lloyd's girlfriend Kelly Crabtree (Tupele Dorgu). This led to the temporary closure of Street Cars when Lloyd refused to work with Steve. Lloyd eventually forgave Steve for his deception and they reopened the business. Later that year, Steve bought The Rovers Return pub from Fred Elliott (John Savident) and installed Liz as landlady and stepfather Vernon Tomlin (Ian Reddington) as cellarman. Steve takes Amy (now played by Amber Chadwick) after Tracy is sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of her boyfriend Charlie Stubbs (Bill Ward).

After proposing to Becky Granger (Katherine Kelly), he organises a quick wedding for them. Many people disapprove of them marrying because Becky had been engaged to Jason Grimshaw (Ryan Thomas), just before she accepted Steve's proposal. Steve bans Liz and Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles) from the wedding after they bet on whether the ceremony would go ahead. In the end, Becky turns up late for the ceremony drunk, rendering her unable to carry out the nuptials. Steve then brings her home in disgrace. The following day, Becky wakes up and, believing that she has been married, hunts for her ring; however, Michelle reveals all in the pub. She later leaves Steve after admitting that it would never work. They later reconcile, and begin plans for another wedding.

Steve and Becky have their second wedding. The ceremony goes off without a hitch, however, their happiness is short lived when The Rovers is searched for drugs, which are found in Becky's bag, having been planted by Becky's ex Slug (Marshall Lancaster). She is arrested and taken to the police cells, however, the charges are later dropped. Steve reveals that he wants another child with Becky, however, she doesn't want any children of her own. This leads to various arguments between the pair. Becky later falls pregnant, leaving the couple without much choice in the matter. She later suffers a miscarriage. After a second miscarriage, Steve and Becky discover that Becky cannot have children and later decide to adopt. Becky and Steve's ex-girlfriend, Tracy, fight at Blanche Hunt's (Maggie Jones) funeral because Becky has become very close to Amy (now played by Elle Mulvaney).

At an adoption panel meeting, Steve and Becky are told that they have been unsuccessful in their bid to adopt, following a bad reference from Becky's half-sister, Kylie Turner (Paula Lane). Steve is not impressed when Becky moves Kylie into the pub to live with them as she is homeless. On Christmas Eve, Steve and Becky were not happy when Tracy returned. When she entered The Rovers, she managed to insult people and Steve had to reprimand Gail McIntyre (Helen Worth) for starting a fight with Tracy where Steve had to restrain Gail. On Christmas Day, Steve very nearly had to remind Gail although it was okay as Tracy and Gail called a truce. Amy revealed to Tracy that Steve and Becky had bought Max (Harry McDermott), Kylie's son. This gave Tracy cause to literally pick Amy up and take her back to No.1 where she said that she was going to ring social services for buying Max. Steve hires a new manager for the pub, Stella Price (Michelle Collins) who moves in there with her daughter Eva (Catherine Tyldesley) and her boyfriend Karl Munro (John Michie). Becky discovers this and is annoyed and goes round the pub to take charge and plays loud music and a fight breaks out resulting in the pub window being smashed. Steve returns and is furious to discover what Becky has done and tells his she does not own the pub any more.

Steve and Becky split up and he begins a relationship with Tracy, after she announces that she is pregnant with his child, who later turn out to be twins. After Lloyd leaves the area, Steve and Becky go into business and decide to extend the business when they meet hotel manager Danny Stratton (Jeremy Sheffield). Tracy assumes that they were having an affair and while searching the hotel for them, she collapses at the hotel and miscarries the babies. However, Steve is told that Becky pushed her down the stairs and caused the miscarriage. Steve is very bitter towards Becky and repeatedly accuses her of killing his unborn children, which she strongly denies. He proposes to Tracy on Christmas Day and he buys No. 13 from Lloyd and they move in and he and Becky get divorced. Steve and Tracy marry but, at the wedding reception in The Rovers, Becky gives Steve a copy of Tracy's medical records, proving that she lied about Becky causing her miscarriage. Steve is disgusted with Tracy and tries to stop Becky leaving with Danny for Barbados but fails and he watches as they board the plane. Steve angrily tells Tracy he wants their marriage annulled and that he loves Becky, not her. Steve's attempts to get the annulment fail as he needs her co-operation and cannot file for divorce for a year. Worse still, he finds himself unable to kick her out of No. 13 as the deeds are in joint names. Unwilling to move out of his own house, Steve remains and tries to persuade Tracy to move out but she won't either so Steve has the house converted into two flats but Tracy threatens to call the council as he didn't apply for planning permission so that is reversed. However, Steve then allows Beth Tinker (Lisa George) and her son, Craig (Colson Smith), to move in with Tracy and Amy. He thought this would make Tracy move out but she ends up becoming friends with Beth so he sells the house to Kevin Webster (Michael Le Vell) who is looking for somewhere for him and his son after splitting from his wife a few months before. When Steve mentions he needs the house cleaned, Kevin's daughter Sophie (Brooke Vincent) offers and Steve accepts her offer. While Sophie is cleaning, her old friend Ryan Connor (Sol Heras) helps her and while having a cigarette, Steve's curtains are set on fire. Steve and Ryan's mother, Michelle, catch them trying to put out the fire. Afterwards, Kevin tells Steve he isn't interested in buying the house as Steve refused to pay for them.

Steve begins to develop feelings for ex-girlfriend, Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh), and doesn't believe Tracy when she complains that she's ill until she is hospitalised, after collapsing from kidney failure. She tells Steve she still loves him and begs him to stay by her bedside until she wakes up from her sleep. Steve reluctantly does but after helping Michelle deal with Ryan, they share a kiss, unaware that Amy has seen them. Michelle urges Steve to tell Tracy the truth, but he only tells her that he wants to live life on his own. Deirdre came out and furiously told Tracy everything: the kiss and making Amy promise not to say anything, and Tracy is heartbroken. The next day, Steve explained everything to Tracy, saying that nothing has changed between them and he loves Michelle. Tracy tells Steve he's being a fool, but all she got back was an apology for not being honest with her earlier. Steve and Michelle move into 4b Victoria Court.In September 2013, Stella puts The Rovers up for sale, and Steve decides to put an offer down to cheer up Michelle, who is down in the dumps at the moment. Although she is angry that he kept it a secret, she eventually comes round to the idea of being the landlady, and is given a 50% share of the place. When Liz returns, she is given the role of assistant manager and is seen behind the bar more often than Steve and Michelle. The reason for this is that Steve still has his taxi-firm business, StreetCars and is struggling to cope with running two businesses. Michelle advise Steve to sell his share of the taxi-firm to his friend and current business partner, Lloyd, which he agrees to.

In December 2013, when Michelle's friend, Carla Connor (Alison King), marries Steve's friend, Peter Barlow (Chris Gascoyne), Steve and Michelle help plan the wedding, which prompts them to begin a party planning business together. However, a few months later, Steve is shocked to discover that Peter is having an affair with Tina McIntyre (Michelle Keegan). When the truth is revealed, Carla says that she is going to kill Tina and is prime suspect in her murder investigation when she is found lying dead on the pavement. When Michelle discovers that Steve knew about Tina and Peter's affair, she dumps him, packs her bags and moves in with Carla. However, they get back together within a week and begin to save up for a holiday home in Spain.

In January 2015, Steve is diagnosed with clinical depression and not wanting Michelle to have to cope with him, he decides to end their relationship without giving her any explanation. This leads Michelle to believe that he does not love her anymore. Whilst driving the Underworld staff to an awards' ceremony for Carla to accept an award, Steve is chased by some boy racers who eventually cut him up and cause him to swerve. Steve crashes the minibus, leaving the staff trapped in the wreckage. Steve is the first person to awaken from unconsciousness, and wanders off to leave the others to deal with the traumatic situation. Whilst at the hospital, Steve tells Michelle that he has depression and that this is the reason why he ended their relationship. Michelle promises to help him recover.

In March 2015, Michelle discovers that Steve owes Â£10,000 in tax which Steve had been ignoring for the past few months. Liz's boyfriend, Tony Stewart (Terence Maynard) offers to lend him the money to clear his debt, but after starting an affair with Tracy, the couple plan to take the Rovers from the McDonald's so Tony lies to Steve and tells him that he needs his money back to pay off some loan sharks. Subsequently, Steve proposes to Michelle in the back room of The Rovers. However, Steve is convinced that Michelle doesn't really want to marry him, and only said yes out of pity, so he calls off the engagement. Later, Steve finds a candlelight dinner prepared in the back of The Rovers, and he assumes that Tony has prepared the meal for Liz, and calls Tony out in front of a busy pub at the Butler Auction. Michelle then confesses that it was actually her who had prepared it for both of them, and calls Steve up onto the stage to explain that she had said yes to him because she loves him. Michelle then proposes to Steve, getting the engagement back on track.

In May 2015, after some persuasion from Liz, a reluctant Steve agrees to sell his share of the Rovers to a company called "Travis Limited", who, unbeknownst to everyone, is actually Tony. Tony then persuades Liz into selling her share of the pub to Travis Ltd, in order to start a new life in Spain. However, Michelle's best friend Carla steps in and offers to buy Liz's share of the pub, which not only settles Michelle's worries about being kicked out of their home, but Liz accepts asking Tony why it would be better to sell to a stranger rather to someone that they know and trust. Carla then promises to keep Steve and Michelle as the pub managers. On 26 May 2015, after a total of seven years of an on-and-off relationship, Steve and Michelle finally marry.

Steve leaves to stay with Andy for a while in Spain, he later returns for Michelle's birthday. Steve is furious with Michelle when he learns that she kissed an ex-boyfriend, Will Chatterton (Leon Ockenden). Michelle plans to leave for a job on a cruise ship when her attempts to get Steve to forgive her fail. Steve and Michelle later reconcile. Steve sleeps with Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) and she becomes pregnant. Steve told Liz that he got Leanne pregnant and explain it was one night stand that he thought Michelle had gone to cruise ship. Leanne informs Steve of her intention to keep the unborn child. Steve decides to keep his involvement a secret and having nothing to do with the unborn child. Michelle then expresses an interest of having children of their own. Steve agrees to have a baby after speaking to Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin). In Spring 2017, Steve found out that Michelle had an affair with Tracy's ex-husband, Robert Preston to his dismay.

Simon Gregson began his time in Coronation Street at the age of fifteen in 1989, when he and Nicholas Cochrane were selected to play the teenage twin sons of a new family in The Street. Whilst filming with the soap opera he filmed a guest appearance for the comedy series Red Dwarf, alongside fellow actor Craig Charles (who plays the lead character in the comedy). Craig Charles has played Lloyd Mullaney in Coronation Street since 2005.[1] In September 2015, it was announced that Gregson had taken an extended break from the show for "personal reasons" and that Steve would be off-screen for several months. He would also not appear in the upcoming live episode, but would feature in the episodes either sides of it.[2] Steve departed in November 2015, but returned in April 2016.

Steve began a relationship with Karen Phillips played by Suranne Jones. Rick Fulton of the Daily Record noted that Karen vows to be more "wily" with her romantic interests after seeing her friend Bobbi "wrapping boyfriend Vikram around her little finger". Her friend and colleague Janice makes a series of bets with Karen regarding how new boyfriend Steve treats her: this culminates in Janice betting Karen that she can get Steve to propose to her. Of the storyline, Suranne Jones stated that: "Karen can't believe she's on the verge of getting married for a bet". She characterises Karen as "not the type of girl to back out of a tricky situation" and states that she and Steve find themselves "in a game of bluff" with each "waiting for the other to pull out."[3] Simon Gregson, felt the marriage was "quite fitting" and that his character "thinks it's a bit of a laugh". The wedding scenes were filmed on 6 May 2001 and screened on 30 May 2001.[4] Billy Sloan of the Sunday Mail stated that the scenes were "guaranteed to provide a bit of light relief" after serious storylines such as the rape of Toyah Battersby and Alma Halliwell's cancer diagnosis. Suranne Jones felt that Steve was "definitely the man for Karen" as the two characters had "similar personalities". She stated that Karen had dumped her previous boyfriend, Vikram, because he "wasn't racy enough and doesn't have the edge Steve has".[5]

In September 2001 Suranne Jones stated that she "[feels] sorry for Steve sometimes" in regard to Karen's negative characteristics. She indicated that she'd "love to see Steve and Karen having the same impact on viewers as Dirty Den and Angie did".[6] In November 2001 the two characters fall out because Karen insults Steve's mother Liz, though they later end up back together.[7] Discussing the success of the pairing, Simon Gregson compared Steve and Karen to "a mini Jack and Vera" with "the shouting and the arguments" and "the feistiness of the characters". He added that Steve and Karen "can't live with each other and can't live without each other". Gregson also remarked that the relationship was "going back to what Coronation Street set out to be" which he felt to be "hen-pecked husbands and very strong women".[8]

Steve embarked on an affair with fellow resident Becky Granger portrayed by (Katherine Kelly). Kelly revealed that she felt Steve was the best man for Becky over her previous lover Jason, stating: "Both boys bring out different things in Becky. With Jason, they liked going clubbing, and it was no strings attached, I think Becky needs more than that, even though she wouldn't admit it. I think, long-term, Steve's better for her."[9] When Gregson was interviewed by entertainment website Digital Spy, he was asked if he thought that Steve has had a positive impact on Becky's life. In reply he stated: "I think he's turned it around. She was all over the place getting into trouble all the time but he's made her grow up. And having a little girl there in Amy, that's made her grow a bit, too. She's got responsibilities now. She's besotted with him. She's still a total pisshead, though!"[10] Steve and Becky attempted to marry twice in 2009, their first wedding was given a promotional push from ITV who aired adverts for the first wedding episodes.[11] Their relationship was featured in a serious of romanctic plots in which ITV dubbed the "Summer of Love" season of the soap, with advertisements airing.[12]

In 2014, Producer Stuart Blackburn revealed that Steve's depression storyline was going to be a big storyline, stating: "It's going to run through the autumn and build up from there. On Christmas Day and beyond, we'll see a real challenge to Steve and Michelle's relationship. I absolutely know that Simon Gregson and Kym Marsh are very good actors. I hope that the great comedy that Steve brings will absolutely be on screen for the next decade and onwards, but I also wanted to explore a story where Steve looked in the mirror on his 40th birthday and started to wonder whether he was really good enough for Michelle. He also blamed himself for Lloyd's heart attack and he feels guilty for his role in what happened to Tina. Steve is taking a long, hard look at himself and he's not liking what he sees. It's going to run from there, and there will still be comedy in the lead-up as Steve tries to hide away from the demons in his head. Fundamentally what I wanted to do is tell what will hopefully be a really positive, uplifting love story between Michelle and Steve."[13]

In January 2015, it was revealed that Steve would reunite Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh) in the aftermath of the upcoming mini bus crash storyline.[14] It was also confirmed that Steve and Michelle would be the next Weatherfield couple to tie the knot. Speaking of this Marsh said; "I'm delighted, absolutely delighted. It'll be weird after being Michelle Connor for nearly nine years, but it totally makes sense for us as characters. Simon and I love working together, and nobody likes to see us broken up." It was also revealed that Michelle would get "feisty" again when her Steve is blamed for the mini-bus crash.[15]

Kym Marsh also revealed that Michelle and Steve's mum Liz would clash over the best course of action for Steve. With Michelle now focused solely on helping Steve to get better with his depression following their reconciliation, she faces opposition from his mum Liz as it becomes apparent that they have very different approaches. While Liz adopts a "tough love" approach with her son, Michelle thinks they should tread more carefully around him, worried about his vulnerable state. Marsh said: "They both obviously want to help Steve but because both of them are so worried about him and love him so much - they both want to help him in their own way. Understandably they clash as they're both so concerned about him. They both have different approaches - Liz is more of the tough love approach and tries to get Steve up and doing things, whereas Michelle is much more trying the softly-softly approach." Marsh added: "Liz doesn't think it's the best way because Michelle is so protective of Steve and doesn't want to hurt or upset him. After everything that's happened with the crash, Michelle thinks they should go easy on him." Despite the disagreement, Marsh believed that the pair would be able to put their differences aside eventually in order to work together to help Steve.[16]

In June 2016, it was announced Leanne would fall pregnant following a one-night stand.[17] The father was revealed as Steve. Gregson said that his character may have gone "a step too far" and that "he has to keep Michelle". Marsh added that her character would "make Steve's life hell" if she found out.[18] Danson said Leanne and Michelle will also be "forced" to be friends after Michelle finds out she is pregnant with Steve's child, and that "it's just really awkward". Danson also stated that Leanne wants to forget the McDonalds and raise the child with Nick. Liz also finds out, and Gail is "thrilled when she finds out" and that the situation, "It's like a little pressure cooker, it's all waiting to blow". Danson also says the storyline "provokes a lot of stories for a lot of other characters and it's how they will deal with the repercussions".[19] Steve being the father will have implications on Leanne and Nick's relationship and a spark a rivalry between Steve and Nick. Producer Kate Oates said "Nick is persistent and Nick adores her" and the storyline will see if they can overcome Leanne being pregnant with another man's child.[20]

A four-part spin-off series entitled Street Car Stories was released in February 2014 and featured comic scenes between Steve and Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles) in the Street Cars cab office.

Steve McDonald has proven to be one of the most popular characters on the Street in recent years due to high-profile storylines, such as his dodgy dealings with Jez Quigley and his explosive relationships with Karen McDonald and Tracy Barlow. At the 2004 Inside Soap Awards, the Tracy/Steve baby secret won the 'Best Storyline' gong.[21] The presence of the McDonald family on Coronation Street and Steve in particular have been singled out for praise.[22] In a 2008 interview with The Sun, Simon Gregson expressed his delight with the character's "bad-boy" image, saying that the producers were of the same opinion.[23] Critic Tony Stewart praised the episodes in which Steve discovered that Lloyd and Liz were having a fling, calling it "pure comedy gold, full of wicked laugh-out-loud one-liners..."[24] Ian Wylie has been very impressed with Simon Gregson's performance as Steve saying, "his on screen performance remains as fresh as the day he started".[25]

Over the years, storylines involving Steve McDonald have received some negative backlash. In 2002, the Broadcasting Standards Commission criticised Coronation Street for being "unacceptably menacing" in regard to the hospital scene where Steve was threatened by Jez Quigley, broadcast two years previously. A spokeswoman for the soap defended the controversial storyline saying; "We are a realistic drama and we did flag up the fact there was going to be violence in the Steve McDonald episode. We are mindful that Coronation Street has a large family audience and endeavour to appeal to young and old at all times."[26] In 2008, a leading policeman blamed Coronation Street for glamorising drink driving. He pointed out that Street's cab driver McDonald was regularly seen drinking in the Rovers Return â€“ setting a bad example to drivers.[27]

In February 2009, Steve McDonald was voted the nation's favourite soap character in a poll conducted by The People newspaper. Talking about the victory Gregson stated; "Oh my God, I am chuffed. I'm delighted people enjoy watching Steve and the scrapes he gets into. And I'm pleased people like to watch him as much as I love playing him."[28]

Gregson was nominated in the category of "Best Actor" at The British Soap Awards 2011.[29] He won the "Funniest Male" award at the 2013 Inside Soap Awards.[30] He also won "Best Comedy Performance" at The British Soap Awards 2014.[31] In August 2017, Gregson was longlisted for Best Actor and Funniest Male at the Inside Soap Awards, while the death of Steve and Michelle's son was longlisted for Best Show-Stopper and Steve revealing himself as Oliver's father was longlisted for Best Shock Twist.[32] While Steve revealing himself as Oliver's father did not make the shortlist, Gregson's three other nominations did.[33] Gregson did not win any awards at the ceremony.[34]


who plays the blind friend in the 1964 film dosti

Dosti is the story of Ramnath or Ramu (Sushil Kumar) and Mohan (Sudhir Kumar). Ramu’s father Mr. Gupta, a factory worker dies in an accident. When the factory refuses to pay compensation, his mother passes out in shock by falling from the stairs. Ramu is injured in an accident and he becomes crippled. Thrown out of his home, crippled and penniless, he roams around the streets of Mumbai. Here he comes across Mohan, a boy who is blind and has a similar tale of woe. Mohan comes from a village. His sister, Meena had migrated from the village to Mumbai to find work as a nurse so that she could pay for her brother’s treatment. Mohan left the village after his caretaker died.

Dosti

Dosti (English: Friendship) is a 1964 Indian black-and-white Hindi film directed by Satyen Bose and produced by Tarachand Barjatya under his Rajshri Productions banner. It was Sanjay Khan's debut film and had Sudhir Kumar Sawant, and Sushil Kumar Somaya in lead roles. The film focuses on the friendship between two boys, one blind and the other a cripple. Dosti was amongst the top 10 grossers of 1964 and was declared a "Super Hit" at the box office.[1] It was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival.[2]

Ramu is good at playing the harmonica, while Mohan is a good singer. They team up and sing songs on the roadside and start earning money from passers-by. Ramu wants to finish his studies, and both of them befriend a small girl, Manjula (Baby Farida), who is the sister of a rich man, Ashok (Sanjay Khan). Manjula suffers from Rheumatoid Heart Disease and both the boys hope she would help them out.

Ramu and Mohan visit Manjula and ask for a loan of sixty rupees which is the amount required for Ramu's admission in school. But Manjula's brother rebuffs them and gives only five rupees. Feeling insulted, Mohan decides that he will raise the money by singing, which he successfully does. Ramu is admitted in the school after performing brilliantly in entrance test (he scores 294 out of 300). They move to a new house in a slum after someone tries to steal their hard earned money while they were sleeping on the footpath. Their new neighbor is Mausi, who lives with her teenage daughter and school going son, Nandu. Mausi treats them as her own sons.

In school, Ramu excels in studies despite being a regular target of ridicule of richer students who do not consider him their equal and often degrade him for being a "street beggar". The headmaster and teacher Sharma ji takes Ramu under their wings. Sharma ji also declared himself the guardian of Ramu. During a visit to Ramu's house, Sharmaji notices that the neighborhood is not fit for study and suggests that Ramu move in with him but Ramu does not leave Mohan. Meanwhile, one day while singing, Mohan hears someone (Ashok) calling out to Meena and rushes to embrace his long lost sister. But Meena is ashamed that Mohan has become a beggar and refuses to recognize him. Meena is looking after Manjula and there is a budding romance between her and Ashok. However, soon Meena confesses to Ashok. Ashok is sorry for her and consoles her that soon she will be together with her brother.

Mohan senses Manjula while sleeping and tells Ramu about it. Both decide to go and meet her, but she died. Ashok brings Mohan home one day and gives him Manjula's chime as her remembrance. When he tries to tell Mohan about Meena, Mohan lashes out in rage and says that he considers himself alone in this world, save for his friend Ramu.

Soon after, Ramu gets in trouble with some ruffians and as a result is mistakenly arrested by police during a burglary. Sharma ji goes to police station and bails out Ramu on the condition that he will live with Sharma ji and keep no contact with Mohan. Mohan is heartbroken and decides to visit him. But Sharma ji didn't allow him to talk to Mohan. Sad, Mohan roams the streets singing sad songs.

Sharmaji suddenly dies, leaving Ramu shattered. Ramu decides not to appear for the final exam as he cannot pay the fees. Hearing this, Mohan decides to raise the money once again by singing in streets in spite of his ill health. He successfully earns the money and pays the fees without Ramu knowing, but himself falls prey to illness and is admitted in hospital. In hospital, without telling him, Meena cares for Mohan as he recuperates.

Ramu comes first in the exams and comes to know of Mohan's sacrifice. He rushes to Mohan in hospital to ask for forgiveness where Mohan says that he was never angry with him. The doctor tells Mohan about Meena and he forgives her. The movie ends with all of them in a loving embrace.

The lyrics of the film are written by Majrooh Sultanpuri on music composed by Laxmikant Pyarelal. Dosti stands as a landmark in the career history of the musical duo as this won them their first Filmfare Award and made them popular in the film industry.[3] Mohammad Rafi is the main vocalist for the songs.

Dosti collected Rs. 2 crore in the Indian box office and stood as third highest grosser of 1964. The first and second weekend collection was excellent.

The film stood out at the 12th Filmfare Awards in 1965 by winning six awards from seven nominations that it received. Dosti won maximum awards at the ceremony.