Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an Academy Award- and BAFTA-nominated, as well as Golden Globe-winning, American actor. Ford is best known for his performances as the titular character in the Indiana Jones film series and as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy. He is also known for his role as the haunted android tracker Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's sci-fi cult film Blade Runner and as CIA operative Jack Ryan in the films Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His four-decade career also includes roles in other Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fugitive, Air Force One, Witness, Presumed Innocent and What Lies Beneath. At one point, Ford had roles in the top five box-office hits of all time[citation needed], though his role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (as Elliot's school principal) was deleted from the final cut of the film. Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.In 1997, Ford was ranked # 1 in Empire's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. As of July 2008, the United States domestic box office grosses of Ford's films total almost US$3.4 billion,[1] with worldwide grosses surpassing $6 billion, making Ford the No. 2[2] U.S. domestic box-office star for lead roles behind only Eddie Murphy. If counting both supporting movie roles as well as starring roles, Ford would be the 5th biggest film star,[3] behind that of voice-actor Frank Welker, Samuel L. Jackson, Eddie Murphy and Tom Hanks.
Ford was born on July 13, 1942 to Dorothy (née Dora Nidelman), a homemaker and former radio actress and Christopher Ford (née John William Ford), an advertising executive and also a former actor.[4][5] Harrison Ford's maternal grandparents, Anna Lifschutz and Harry Nidelman, were Jewish immigrants from Minsk, Belarus (at that time a part of the Russian Empire).[4] His paternal grandparents, Florence Veronica Niehaus and John Fitzgerald Ford, were of German and Irish Catholic descent, respectively.[4] When asked in which religion he was raised, Ford jokingly responded, "Democrat".[6] He has also said that he feels "Irish as a person, but I feel Jewish as an actor".[7]Ford was active in the Boy Scouts of America, and achieved its second-highest rank, Life Scout. He worked at a Scout camp as a counselor for the Reptile Study merit badge. Because of this, he and Eagle Scout director Steven Spielberg later decided that the character of young Indiana Jones would be depicted as a Life Scout in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. They also jokingly reversed Ford's knowledge of reptiles into Jones's fear of snakes.In 1960, Ford graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. His was the first student voice broadcast on his high school's new radio station, WMTH-FM, and he was its first sportscaster during his senior year, 1959–1960. The radio room still bears his graffiti. He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He took a drama class in his junior year, chiefly as a way to meet women. Ford, a self-described "late bloomer", became fascinated with acting. Towards the end of his freshman year, he was a member of a folk band called The Brothers Gross; playing gutbucket. Ford did not graduate.
In 1964, Ford travelled to Los Angeles, California to apply for a job in radio voice-overs. He did not get it, but stayed in California and eventually signed a $150 a week contract with Columbia Pictures's New Talent program, playing bit roles in films. His first known part was an uncredited role as a bellhop in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966). A popular myth has him appearing in a scene of The Great Escape but this movie was filmed while he was still attending Ripon.[8] There is little record of his non-speaking roles (or "extra" work) in film. His speaking roles continued next with Luv (1967), though he was still uncredited. He was finally credited as "Harrison J. Ford" in the 1967 Western film, A Time For Killing, but the "J" didn't stand for anything since he has no middle name. It was added to avoid confusion with a silent film actor named Harrison Ford, who appeared in more than 80 films between 1915 and 1932, and died in 1957. Ford later said that he was unaware of the existence of the earlier Harrison Ford until he came upon a star with his own name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.Ford soon dropped the "J" and worked for Universal Studios, playing minor roles in many television series throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, including Gunsmoke, Ironside, The Virginian, The F.B.I., Love, American Style, and Kung Fu. He then appeared in the western Journey to Shiloh (1968) and had an uncredited role in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1970 film Zabriskie Point as an airport worker. Not happy with the roles being offered to him, Ford became a self-taught professional carpenter to support his then-wife and two small sons. While working as a carpenter, he became a stagehand for the popular rock band The Doors. He also built a sun deck for ­­­Sally Kellerman and a recording studio for Sergio Mendes.He turned to acting again when George Lucas, who had hired him to build cabinets in his home, cast him in a pivotal supporting role for his film American Graffiti (1973). His relationship with Lucas was to have a profound effect on Ford's career. After director Francis Ford Coppola's film The Godfather was a success, he hired Ford to do expansions of his office and Harrison was given a small role in his next two films, The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979).Ford's work as a carpenter would land him his biggest role to date. In 1975, director George Lucas used him to read lines for actors being cast for parts in his upcoming space opera, Star Wars (1977). Steven Spielberg convinced Lucas that Ford was meant to star in the film, resulting in his being cast as Han Solo. Star Wars became the biggest-grossing film in history and established Harrison Ford as a superstar. He went on to star in the Star Wars sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). He wanted Lucas to write in the death of the iconic Han Solo at the end of either sequels, saying "that would have given the whole film a bottom", but Lucas refused.[9]Ford's stardom was boosted even more when he starred as Indiana Jones in the Lucas/Spielberg collaboration Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). He reprised the role for the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and the sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), which turned Ford himself into a blockbuster phenomenon. He returned to his role as Indiana Jones for a 1993 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and later for the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Unlike many other actors of the same or similar genre, Ford's authenticity as a daring action hero was supported by his willingness to perform many of his own stunts in the Indiana Jones films.[citation needed] To reprise his role for latest film in the series, Ford (aged 64 at the time) worked out 3 hours a day and went on a high protein diet.Ford has been in numerous other movies including Heroes (1977), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), and Hanover Street (1979). Ford also co-starred alongside Gene Wilder in the buddy-Western The Frisco Kid (1979), playing a bank robber with a heart of gold. He then starred as Rick Deckard in Ridley Scott's cult sci-fi classic Blade Runner (1982), and in a number of dramatic-action films: Peter Weir's Witness (1985) and The Mosquito Coast (1986), and Roman Polanski's Frantic (1988). He also starred in Mike Nichols's romantic drama Working Girl (1988). In 2002 Ford played a key role as the fearless Captain Alexei Vostrikov in the National Geographic film K-19: The Widowmaker.The 1990s brought Ford the role of Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), as well as leading roles in Alan Pakula's Presumed Innocent (1990) and The Devil's Own (1997), Andrew Davis's The Fugitive (1993), Sydney Pollack's remake of Sabrina (1995), and Wolfgang Petersen's Air Force One (1997). Ford has also played straight dramatic roles, including an adulterous husband with a terrible secret in both Presumed Innocent (1990) and What Lies Beneath (2000), and a recovering amnesiac in Mike Nichols' Regarding Henry (1991).Many of Ford's major film roles came to him by default through unusual circumstances: he won the role of Han Solo while reading lines for other actors, was cast as Indiana Jones because Tom Selleck was not available, and took the role of Jack Ryan due to Alec Baldwin's fee demands (Baldwin had previously played the role in The Hunt for Red October).Ford also appeared on Robot Chicken season 1 episode 8.Despite being one of the most financially successful actors of his generation, Ford has received just one Oscar nomination, that of Best Actor for Witness. On June 2, 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.On October 6, 2006, Ford was awarded the Jules Verne Spirit of Nature Award for his work in nature and wildlife preservation. The ceremony took place at the historic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.
Ford's star power has waned in recent years, the result of appearing in numerous critically derided and commercially disappointing movies, including Six Days Seven Nights (1998), Random Hearts (1999), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), Hollywood Homicide (2003), and Firewall (2006). One exception is 2000's What Lies Beneath, which ended up grossing over $155 million in the United States and $300 million world-wide.In 2004, Ford declined a chance to star in the thriller Syriana, later commenting that "I didn't feel strongly enough about the truth of the material and I think I made a mistake."[13] The role eventually went to George Clooney, who won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for his work. Ford also turned down leading roles in the critically acclaimed films Traffic and A History of Violence as well as The Patriot.Also in 2004, Ford appeared in the straight-to-video Water to Wine, credited as "Jethro the Bus Driver", as a favor to his son Malcolm.Ford enjoyed recent success with the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, another collaboration between George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Production of the movie lasted from June to October 2007, and it was released on May 22, 2008.[14] The film received generally positive reviews and became the second highest-grossing film at the box office for Memorial Weekend.He has also completed filming on a film called Crossing Over, directed by Wayne Kramer. He will play Immigrations officer Max Brogan alongside Sean Penn and Ray Liotta.Ford has also finished recording narration for the upcoming feature documentary film about the Dalai Lama entitled Dalai Lama Renaissance.He recently expressed interest in returning to the Jack Ryan franchise.Ford is one of Hollywood's most notoriously private actors, zealously guarding his personal life. He has two sons (Benjamin and Willard) with his first wife, Mary Marquardt, as well as two children (Malcolm and Georgia) with his second wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison, and he is currently (as of 2002) engaged to Calista Flockhart who has a son, Liam. Ford's first grandson, Eliel, was born in 1993,First grandaughter, Giuliana in 1997, while his second grandson, Ethan, was born in 2000. Eliel is Willard's son, and Ethan is Benjamin's son. Benjamin is also the owner of Ford's Filling Station, a gastro pub in Culver City, California.Ford cut his chin in a car accident hitting a telephone pole in Northern California when he was about 20. The scar is visible in his films. An explanation for it on film is offered in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which it depicts a young Indiana Jones cutting his chin attempting to crack a whip to ward off a lion. In Working Girl, Ford's character explains that it happened when he passed out and hit his chin on the toilet when a college girlfriend was piercing his ear. In June, 1983 at the age of 40, during the filming of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in London, he herniated a disc in his back, resulting in him flying back to Los Angeles for an operation and returning to work just over six weeks later. Harrison Ford (1942. július 13.) Oscar-díjra jelölt amerikai színész. Legismertebb szerepei a vagány, cinikus űrpilóta, Han Solo az eredeti Csillagok háborúja-trilógiában, és a kalandvágyó régészprofesszor, Dr. Henry „Indiana” Jones Jr. az Indiana Jones-filmsorozatban. Négy évtizedet átölelő karrierje során olyan népszerű filmekben játszott még, mint a Szárnyas fejvadász, A szökevény vagy Az elnök különgépe. Egy ponton minden idők öt legnagyobb bevételt elérő filmjében is szerepe volt (noha az E.T., a földönkívüliből jeleneteit kivágták végül); a Nemzeti Filmarchívumba öt filmjét választotta be a Egyesült Államok Nemzeti Filmmegőrzési Bizottsága.Az Empire Fordot első helyre sorolta a „Minden idők 100 legnagyobb filmsztárja”-listáján. 2007 májusával bezárólag filmjei 3,1 milliárd dollárt[1] hoztak az amerikai jegypénztáraknál, míg világviszonylatban ez az összeg megközelíti a 6 milliárdot. Ezzel Ford a 3. legnagyobb box office-sztár Észak-Amerikában Eddie Murphy és Tom Hanks mögött.
Ford 1942. július 13-án, 11 óra 41 perckor, egy hétfői napon született Chicagóban, Illinois államban a Swedish Covenant Hospitalban. Édesanyja, Dorothy (született Dora Nidelman; 1917. október 17. – 2004. február 10.) háztartásbeli, korábban rádiós színésznő, míg apja, Christopher Ford (született John William Ford; 1906. november 20. – 1999. február 10.) reklámszakember, korábban színész volt.[2][3] Ford anyai nagyszülei, Anna Lifschutz és Harry Nidelman Minszkből érkezett zsidó bevándorlóként telepedtek le az Egyesült Államokban.[2] Apai ágon nagyszülei, Florence Veronica Niehaus és John Fitzgerald Ford német, illetve ír katolikus gyökerekkel rendelkeztek.[2] Arra a kérdésre, hogy melyik vallás szerint nevelték, Ford tréfálkozva azt válaszolta, „demokrata”;[4] úgy nyilatkozott továbbá, hogy „emberként írnek, színészként zsidónak” érzi magát.[5]Ford aktív tagja volt az Amerikai Cserkészszövetségnek, ahol a második legmagasabb rangot, a Life Scoutot érte el, s hüllőtanulmányozó érdemjelvényes tanácsadóként dolgozott a cserkésztárborban. Később ennek hatására döntött úgy Steven Spielberg rendezővel, hogy az ifjú Indiana Jones cserkészként jelenik meg az Indiana Jones és az utolsó kereszteslovagban. Ford hüllőkhöz fűződő ismereteit viccből Jones kígyóktól való félelmében interpretálták.A színész 1960-ban végezte el a Maine East High Schoolt az illinois-i Park Ridge-ben. Ő volt az első tanuló, aki megszólalhatott iskolája újként indult rádióállomásán, a WMTH-FM-en, s egyben az első sporttudósító is végzős évében, 1959/1960-ban. A rádiószoba még ma is őrzi graffitiit. A középiskolát elvégezve a Ripon College következett Wisconsinban,[6] ahol Ford a Sigma Nu Szövetség tagja lett. Első évében drámaórákat vett fel, de főként azért, hogy lányokkal ismerkedhessen. A magát „későn érőnek” valló Fordot magával ragadta a színészet. Az év vége felé belépett a The Brothers Gross folkbandába, amiben gutbucketen játszott. Diplomát a Riponon végül nem szerzett, mert a követelmények teljesítésének hiányában eltanácsolták.
1964-ben Ford Los Angelesbe utazott, hogy rádiós bemondóként szerezzen munkát. Ugyan ez nem sikerült neki, de ennek ellenére Kaliforniában maradt, s végül leszerződött a Columbia Pictures Új Tehetség-programjába,[6] aminek értelmében 150 dolláros heti fizetségért statisztált filmekben. Első ismert szöveges szerepe egy londiner volt az 1966-os Agyafúrt kasszafúróban, bár neve nem került fel a stáblistára. Az egy évvel későbbi A Time For Killing című westernhez fűződik első névleges, egészen pontosan Harrison J. Fordként feltüntetett megjelenése, noha a „J” valójában nem takart semmit, hiszen Fordnak nincs középső neve (az 1915 és 1932 között aktív, 1957-ben elhunyt némafilm-színész Harrison Fordtól való megkülönböztetés végett került bele). Ford állítása szerint nem tudott a korábbi névrokonáról, mígnem ráakadt egy csillagra saját nevével a Hollywoodi Hírességek Sétányán. Ford rövidesen elhagyta az ominózus „J” betűt nevéből, s a Universal Picturesnél[6] kezdett apró szerepeket játszani több tévésorozatban is az 1960-as évek végén és az 1970-es évek elején; feltűnt többek között a Petrocelli és a Kung Fu egy-egy epizódjában. Szerepelt egy újabb westernben, a Journey to Shiloh-ban és statisztált Antonioni 1970-es Zabriskie Point című filmjében egy reptéri munkásként. Mivel nem volt elégedett a felkínált szerepekkel, Ford hivatásos áccsá képezte saját magát, hogy jobban el tudja tartani akkori feleségét és két kisfiát.[6] A helyi könyvtárból kölcsönzött szakkönyvekből sajátította el a mesterséget,[6] s néhány asztalosmunkája ma is Hollywood Hills környékének részét képezi. Szakmájának köszönhetően háttérmunkásként dolgozhatott a népszerű The Doors együttesnél, napozóágyat épített Sally Kellermannek és hangstúdiót Sergio Mendesnek.[6]Újfent a színészet felé fordult, mikor George Lucas otthonában szekrényeket készített, s a rendező-forgatókönyvíró egy jelentős mellékszerepet adott neki az American Graffitiben (1973).[6] Ford kapcsolata Lucasszal mély benyomást tett karrierjére. Miután Francis Ford Coppola sikert aratott A keresztapával, felbérelte Fordot irodája kibővítésére, s kisebb szerepeket adott neki következő két filmjében, a Magánbeszélgetésben és az Apokalipszis mostban. Ford állása ácsként élete legnagyobb szerepéhez juttatta. 1975-ben George Lucas szövegfelolvasásra kérte fel a Csillagok háborúja szereplőválogatásain a szerepekre jelentkező színészek partnereként. A meghallgatásokon Steven Spielberg felfigyelt rá, mennyire illik Fordra Han Solo szerepe, így meggyőzte Lucast, hogy adja neki a feladatot, ami végül meghozta a hírnevet a színész számára. Eljátszotta Solót a Star Wars két folytatásában, A Birodalom visszavágban és A Jedi visszatérben, illetve a The Star Wars Holiday Specialben is. Azt akarta, hogy Lucas A Jedi visszatér végére írja bele az ikonikus karakter, Han Solo halálát, ami „az egész filmnek feneket kerítene”, ám a filmes ezt elutasította.[7]Ford újabb löketet nyert pályájának, mikor Lucas és Spielberg közös produkciójában, Az elveszett frigyláda fosztogatóiban eljátszhatta Indiana Jones szerepét. A film két folytatásával, az Indiana Jones és a végzet templomával és az Indiana Jones és az utolsó kereszteslovaggal Ford kasszarobbantó jelenséggé vált. Hatvanas éveiben újfent magára öltötte a kalandor jelmezét az Indiana Jones és a kristálykoponya királyságában, melynek bemutatójára 2008-ban került sor. Számos más színésszel ellentétben, akik hasonló szerepet játszottak a műfajban, Ford a hitelesség érdekében több ízben elvállalt nem egyszer kockázatos kaszkadőrjeleneteket is.1982-ben mutatták be Ford főszereplésével a Szárnyas fejvadász című, Philip K. Dick novelláján nyugvó futurisztikus sci-fit. Ridley Scott filmje anyagilag nem váltotta be a hozzá fűzött reményeket, azonban mára kultstátusba emelkedett, újabb halhatatlan szereppel gazdagítva a színész pályáját. A '80-as évek második felében Ford több fajsúlyos drámában is főszerepet kapott, így Peter Weir A kis szemtanú és Moszkító part című filmjeiben; előbbiben nyújtott alakításáért Oscar- és Arany Glóbusz-díjra jelölték, s utóbbiért szintén a Golden Globe öt legjobb drámai színésze között szerepelt. 1988-ban Roman Polanski rendezte az Őrületben, s még ugyanebben az évben egy könnyedebb produkcióban, a hat Oscar-díjra jelölt Dolgozó lányban is feltűnt Melanie Griffith és Sigourney Weaver partnereként.A '90-es években Ford folytatta az akcióhősi és drámai vonalat is. A Tom Clancy amerikai író által alkotott Jack Ryan ügynök bőrébe bújt két filmben is, átvéve a szerepet Alec Baldwintól, aki a Vadászat a Vörös Októberre filmváltozatában játszotta a CIA-elemzőt; a Férfias játékok (1992) és a Végveszélyben (1994) komoly sikereket ért el a jegypénztáraknál, s a széria később folytatódott A rettegés arénájával, ám új, immáron a harmadik színésszel (Ben Affleckkel) a sorozatban. 1993-ban Ford a korábbi televíziós sorozatból készült A szökevény címszerepében volt látható; a produkció rendkívüli kritikai- és anyagi sikerre talált, a másik főszereplőnek, Tommy Lee Jones-nak a Filmakadémia elismerését is meghozta; Ford harmadik Golden Globe-jelölését érdemelte ki szerepformálásáért. Két évvel később a Sabrina című 1954-es romantikus film új változatában versengett Greg Kinnearrel Julia Ormond kegyeiért, amivel újabb Arany Glóbusz-nominációt szerzett, ám ezúttal a vígjátéki kategóriában. 1997-ben két filmje is a mozikba került, amire 1988 óta nem volt példa. Alan J. Pakula utolsó rendezése, Az ördög maga nem teljesített az elvárások szerint, azonban Az elnök különgépe, melyben Ford az Amerikai Egyesült Államok elnökét alakította, az év egyik legjövedelmezőbb filmje lett, az akkori valódi elnök, Bill Clinton elismerését is kivívva.2000-ben Ford teljesen más oldaláról mutatkozott meg a Temetetlen múlt című thrillerben, melyben Michelle Pfeiffer férjét alakította. Robert Zemeckis alkotása újfent a jegypénztárak első számú emberévé avatta az ekkor 58 éves színészt. Két évvel később, az Atomcsapda című filmben, amely javarészt egy tengeralattjáró fedélzetén játszódik, Ford Alekszej Vosztrikovot formálta meg, s szerepének megfelelően orosz akcentussal beszélt a film során. A költséges mozi azonban, akárcsak a színész következő filmje, a 2003-as Hollywoodi őrjárat (amely Magyarországon csak DVD-n jelent meg, Ford-filmtől rendkívül szokatlanul) súlyos kudarcnak bizonyult. Ekkor Ford karrierje leghosszabb szünete következett, hiszen legközelebb csak 2006-ban, a Tűzfalban tért vissza a vászonra. 2008 májusától legkedveltebb szerepei egyékében, Indiana Jonesként látható újra, nyár végétől pedig a Crossing Over című, sokszereplős drámában lesz látható.2004-ben Ford visszautasította a Sziriana című film egyik szerepét, amit később így kommentált: „Nem éreztem elég erősen a téma igazságát, és azt hiszem, hibát követtem el.” Végül George Clooney kapta a munkát, ami Oscar- és Golden Globe-díjat hozott számára. Ford szintén nem vállalta el a kritika által kiemelten fogadott Traffic és Erőszakos múlt főszerepét, ahogy a A hazafira is nemet mondott, Mel Gibsonnak hagyva meg a teret.
Noha generációja egyik legsikeresebb színésze, Ford csupán egy Oscar-jelölést szerzett mindezidáig. 2003. június 2-án saját csillagot kapott a Hollywoodi Hírességek Sétányán. A Golden Globe-ot odaítélő Amerikában működő külföldi újságírók 2002-ben, az Amerikai Filmintézet pedig 2000-ben tüntette ki életműdíjjal.
Ford első felesége főiskolai szerelme, Mary Marquardt[6] lett 1964-ben. Házasságuk 15 éven át tartott, s ezidő alatt két fiuk született. 1983-ban a színész újranősült, ezúttal Melissa Mathisont vette el, aki szintén két gyermeket hozott a világra tőle: Malcolmot és Georgiát.[6] A család New York City-ben, illetve egy 800 holdnyi területű farmon élt Jackson Hole közelében, Wyoming államban.[6] Ford filmes szerződései tartalmazták, hogy a helyszíni forgatásokra családját is magával viheti.[6] A 2000-es évek elején Ford és Mathison benyújtották a válókeresetet, amit 2004-ben véglegesítettek.[6] Ford 2002 óta a nála 22 évvel fiatalabb színésznővel, Calista Flockharttal él együtt; eljegyzeték egymást, de esküvőre mindezidáig nem került sor.[6]Ford a Conservation International igazgatóságának tagja. 2006. október 6-án megkapta továbbá a Jules Verne Spirit of Nature Awardot a természet és vadvilág megőrzésében végzett munkájáért. A ceremónia helyszínéül a történelmi Shrine Auditórium szolgált, Los Angelesben.[8] Ford 800 hold méretű ranchének hozzávetőleg a felét természeti megőrésre ajánlotta fel.

Bugsy Siegel

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American gangster, who was behind large-scale development of Las Vegas.

Siegel was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to a poor Jewish family originally from Letychiv,[2] Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire, in modern Ukraine. As a boy, Siegel joined a street gang on Lafayette Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and first committed mainly thefts, until, with another youth named Moe Sedway, he devised his own protection racket: pushcart merchants were forced to pay him a dollar or he would incinerate their merchandise on the spot.[3]
During adolescence, Siegel befriended Meyer Lansky, who was forming a small mob whose criminal activities expanded to include gambling and car theft. Siegel reputedly also worked as the mob's hit man, whom Lansky would sometimes hire out to other crime families. In 1926, Lansky persuaded a woman Siegel had raped not to testify against him.[4]
In 1930, Lansky and Siegel built close ties to Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello, both future bosses of the Genovese crime family. Siegel became a bootlegger and was also associated with Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia. Siegel was heavily involved in bootlegging operations in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. During the so-called Castellammarese War in 1930-1931, they finished the war by killing Sal Maranzano for Lucky Luciano; Luciano had eliminated Maranzano's rival and his own boss, Joe Masseria, ending the formal war, before having Maranzano murdered. Siegel reputedly had a hand in Maranzano's murder and later in the formation of Murder, Inc. In 1932, he was arrested for gambling and bootlegging but got off with only a fine. Lansky and Siegel assisted in Luciano's brief alliance with Dutch Schultz and killed rival loan sharks Louis "Pretty" Amberg and Joseph Amberg in 1935.

In 1937, the East Coast mob sent Siegel to California to develop syndicate gambling rackets with Los Angeles mobster Jack Dragna. Once in L.A., Siegel recruited gang boss Mickey Cohen as his lieutenant. Siegel used syndicate money to set up a national wire service to help the East Coast mob quicken their returns.
On January 28, [1929, Siegel married Esta Krakower, his childhood sweetheart and sister of hit man Whitey Krakower. Siegel eventually moved Esta and their two daughters, Millicent and Barbara to the West Coast. Siegel had several mistresses; four of whom included actresses Ketti Gallian, Wendy Barrie, Marie "The Body" MacDonald, and Hollywood socialite Dorothy DiFrasso.
With the aid of DiFrasso and actor friend George Raft, Siegel gained entry into Hollywood's inner circle, allegedly using his contacts to extort the movie studios. At this point in his career, Siegel started living in extravagant fashion; on his tax returns Siegel claimed to earn his living through legal gambling at Santa Anita Park near Los Angeles.
Siegel soon started an affair with Virginia Hill. The Alabama-born Hill lived in a mansion in Beverly Hills that she rented from Metropolitan Opera baritone Lawrence Tibbett. Siegel became a frequent guest at the Hill mansion. There were rumors that the couple had secretly married in Mexico, where Hill helped Siegel establish drug dealing contacts. However, Siegel's relationship with Hill did not deter Siegel from his compulsive womanizing.
On November 22, 1939, Siegel, Whitey Krakower, and two other gang members killed Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg. Greenberg had become a police informant, and Louis "Lepke" Buchalter, boss of Murder, Inc., ordered his killing. Siegel was arrested and tried for the Greenberg murder. Whitey Krakower was killed before he could face trial. Siegel was acquitted on the Greenberg murder, but his reputation was in ruins. During the trial, the newspapers revealed Siegel's sordid past and started referring to him as "Bugsy". He hated the nickname, "Bugsy" (said to be based on the slang term "bugs", meaning "crazy", and used to describe his sometimes erratic behavior), and wouldn't allow anyone to call him that to his face.Like many of his gangster counterparts, Siegel yearned to be legitimate. The perfume of legitimacy and respectability he craved was still well beyond his reach. But by the spring of 1946, that perfume became stronger - wafting in on the heat waves of William R. Wilkerson's Flamingo.
Las Vegas gave Ben Siegel his second opportunity to reinvent himself. Siegel had originally traveled to Southern Nevada in 1934 with Meyer Lansky's lieutenant Moe Sedway, on Lansky's orders to explore possibilities for expanding their operations. Lansky had turned the [desert over to Siegel. But Siegel, wanting nothing to do with it, turned it over to Moe Sedway and fled with lightning speed for the lights and glamor of Hollywood.
Lansky pressured Siegel to represent them in Wilkerson's desert project. Someone had to watchdog their interests. Siegel, who knew Wilkerson and lived near him in Beverly Hills, was the obvious choice as a liaison. But Siegel was infuriated. He wanted no part in any operation that took him back to Nevada on a permanent basis. It meant forsaking his comfortable Beverly Hills nest and Hollywood playboy lifestyle and enduring the sweltering heat of the Nevada Desert. At Lansky's insistence, however, Siegel reluctantly consented.
Throughout the spring of 1946, Siegel proved remarkably useful. He obtained black market building materials through his connections. The postwar shortages that had dogged construction were no longer a problem. At first Siegel seemed content to do things Wilkerson's way. His desire to learn everything about the project from the ground up took precedence over his "sportsman" lifestyle. It also seems to have temporarily subdued his aggressive impulses. Under Wilkerson's tutelage, Siegel played the willing pupil, earnestly learning the mechanics of building an enterprise.
The role of the pupil did not come easily to Benny Siegel. Perhaps outdistanced and afraid of being upstaged by his mentor, Siegel began to feel intimidated and paranoid. He grew increasingly resentful of Wilkerson's talents and vision. As time went on, the gangster's respectful admiration disintegrated into an insane, all-consuming jealousy. It all started quietly enough. Siegel reverted to his familiar role; the big-shot. He began making decisions on his own without Wilkerson's consultation or authorization. Informing work crews that Wilkerson had put him in charge, Siegel ordered changes which conflicted with the blueprints.
The problem came to a head when Siegel openly protested his watchdog role. He demanded more hands-on involvement in the project. In an effort to appease the gangster and keep the project moving smoothly, Wilkerson agreed to a compromise. It was mutually agreed that Siegel would supervise the hotel portion while Wilkerson retained control of everything else.
As time passed, Siegel's grandiose ambitions mushroomed into uncontrolled greed. Unhappy with the business arrangements originally negotiated by Harry Rothberg, the gangster began to view Wilkerson, who held the reins of power, as a major obstacle. In May 1946, Siegel decided that the original agreement had been a mistake. It had to be altered to give him full control of the Flamingo. Siegel offered to buy out Wilkerson's creative participation, not with cash, but corporate stock - an additional 5 percent ownership in the operation. On June 20, 1946, Benny formed the Nevada Project Corporation of California, naming himself as president. He was also the largest principal stockholder in the operation, which defined everyone else merely as shareholders. From this point on the Flamingo became effectively a syndicate-run operation.
Siegel then began spending with a free hand. He launched an all-out spending spree that was staggering even by today's standards. Indulging in a taste for the astronomically expensive, Siegel demanded the finest building that money could buy at a time when wartime shortages were still being felt. Siegel decreed that each bathroom of the ninety-three room hotel should have its own private sewer system. Cost: $1,150,000. More toilets were ordered than needed. Cost: $50,000. Because of the new plumbing alterations, the boiler room, now too small at its original capacity, had to be enlarged. Cost: $113,000. Siegel also ordered a larger kitchen. Cost: $29,000. Adding to the budgetary over-runs were problems with dishonest contractors and disgruntled unpaid builders. By day, trucks regularly delivered black market goods. By night the same materials were often pilfered, and resold to Siegel a few days later. As costs soared, Siegel's checks began bouncing. By October 1946, the project's costs had soared above $4 million. In the spring of 1947, the Flamingo would clock in at over $6,000,000.
The first indication of trouble for the gangster came in early November. The syndicate issued a stern ultimatum: either provide them with a full accounting or forfeit future funding. But the last thing Siegel wanted to do was produce a balance sheet. After the syndicate's refusal of help, Siegel waged a reckless campaign of private fund raising. He was so desperate for cash that he even sold nonexistent stock. Suddenly, Siegel was in a hurry to finish the hotel. He doubled his work force, believing the project could be completed in half the time. But it was the costs, not the building, that began rising even faster. Siegel paid overtime and even double-time. In some cases, special bonuses tied to project deadlines were offered in hope of increasing productivity. By the end of November work on the casino was nearly finished.
Under immense pressure to have the hotel start making some money, Benny moved up the grand opening from Wilkerson's original date of March 1, 1947 to the day after Christmas, 1946. Although the hotel portion was still incomplete he was hoping to generate enough revenuerom the casino to complete the project and repay angry investors. Siegel formally announced that the hotel would be open and ready for occupancy the day after Christmas. Its gala opening would be held that same evening, ecember 26, 1946. Siegel managed to generate considerable confusion regarding the opening date itself. Acting on a whim, the gangster had suddenly decided that a weekend would be more likely to entice the much-needed celebrities away from home. Invitations were subsequently sent out for Saturday, December 28. The indecisive Siegel changed his mind yet again. Invitees were hurriedly notified by phone that the opening had been changed back to its original date, the 26th.
While locals jammed the opening, the masses of celebrities Siegel has been counting on never materialized. A handful of celebrities did motor in from Los Angeles despite the appalling weather. Some of the celebrities present were June Haver, Vivian Blaine, George Raft, Sonny Tufts, Brian Donlevy and Charles Coburn. They were welcomed by a cacophony of construction noise and a lobby draped with decorators' drop cloths. The desert's first air conditioning system collapsed at regular intervals, leaving guests cursing the heat. While visitors did find gambling tables in operation at the Flamingo, the luxury rooms that would have served as the lure for them to stay and gamble longer were not ready. After two weeks of operation the Flamingo's plush gaming tables were $275,000 in the red and ended up shutting down the entire operation in late January 1947.

On the night of June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat with his associate Allen Smiley in Virginia Hill's Beverly Hills home reading the Los Angeles Times, a man who was later to be found out as ex- mobster Eddie Cannizzaro entered the backyard and fired at him through the window with a .30-caliber military M1 carbine, hitting him many times including twice in the head. No one was ever charged with the murder, and the crime remains unsolved.[1]
Though popular descriptions held that Siegel was shot in the eye, an autopsy revealed that the bullet actually entered the back of his skull, and exited through an eye socket; investigators found the eye across the room. The cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage. According to Florabel Muir, "Four of the nine shots fired that night destroyed a white marble statue of Bacchus on a grand piano, and then lodged in the far wall".
In the Bialystoker Synagogue on Manhattan's Lower East Side, Siegel is memorialized by a Yahrtzeit (remembrance) plaque that marks his death date so mourners can say Kaddish for the anniversary of his passing. Siegel's plaque is just below that of his father, Max Siegel, who died two months prior to his son's murder.

In the 1969 novel The Godfather, and the 1972 film adaptation, the character of Moe Greene, played by Alex Rocco, was heavily based on Siegel. Although Greene's death is not described in the novel, in the film he is shot through the eye evoking Siegel's death. Additionally, the film's sequel adds a new character related to Greene, based upon Siegel's partner Meyer Lansky, named Hyman Roth.[8][9]
In the television show The Sopranos, Brendan Filone is also executed with a bullet clean through the eye. The execution is referred to as a "Moe Greene Special", in reference to the way in which Moe Greene was killed, which in turn was based on Siegel.
Sergio Leone's 1984 film Once Upon a Time in America and the obscure novel The Hoods upon which it was based, were loosely based upon the lives of Siegel and Lansky.[10]
In the 1991 Bugsy, Warren Beatty portrays Siegel.
In the 1981 NBC mini-series, The Gangster Chronicles, Joe Penny is cast as Siegel.
Harvey Keitel portrayed Siegel in the 1974 film Virginia Hill: Mistress to the Mob.
In the 1991 movie Mobsters Siegel is played by Richard Grieco.
In the 1999 TV movie Lansky, the adult Siegel is played by Eric Roberts.
In Tim Powers' novel Last Call, Siegel holds the supernatural office of the Fisher King of the American west. The construction of the Flamingo and Siegel's murder are both tied into a clandestine, magical conflict surrounding his kingship.
In the Angel episode "The House Always Wins," Angel briefly mentions knowing Siegel.

Bugsy Siegel az 1900-as évek elején látta meg a napvilágot egy szegény zsidó család sarjaként. A brooklyn-i utcákon felnőve elkerülhetetlen volt, hogy bele ne csöppenjen az utcai bandák életébe, amelyek kocsilopásból és illegális szerencsejátékokból - köztük pókerből - tartották fent magukat. Bugsy sikeresen menetelt felfelé a gengszterré válás szamárlétráján, amikor felfigyelt rá a genovai klán két feje, Charles 'Lucky' Luciano és Frank Costello, akik a szesztilalom idején a jól fizető csempész üzletág vezetőjévé tették meg őt. Ezzel igen komoly ekzisztenciát teremthetett magának, amelyből komoly pénzeket áldozott három fő szenvedélyére: a nőkre, a kártyára és az autóversenyzésre. Később Bugsy saját kaszinót is vásárolt magának a Las Vegas Strip-en, amely a Flamingo nevet viselte. Terjeszkedő birodalmával azonban egyre több maffiavezér tyúkszemére lépett rá, így a vég szinte predesztinálható volt a számára. Utolsó napja 1947. június 20-án köszöntött rá, amikor Beverly Hills-i otthonában gyilkos golyózápor végzett vele. Hogy ki állt a fegyver másik végén és kinek a megbízásából, arra máig nem derült fény.

Rose and Reuben Mattus and the Häagen-Dazs ice cream

Rose and Reuben se Mattus were American entrepreneurs who founded the Häagen-Dazs ice cream business.
Rose Mattus (23 November 1916 – 28 November 2006) was born as Rose Vesel into a tailoring family who made theatrical costumes inManchester. Her Jewish parents had come from Poland. They briefly moved to Belfast with a theatre company and left for New York in 1921 when Rose was five years old.
Reuben Mattus (1912 – 1994) was born in Poland of Jewish parents and he arrived with his widowed mother, Lea, in New York at about the same time as Rose Vesel.
They met in a youth club in Brownsville, Brooklyn, New York and married in 1936. Rose joined Reuben in his family's business selling ices from a horse drawn wagon in the Bronx. The business grew throughout the next 40 years and then, in 1959, Reuben decided to form a new ice cream company. He invented the name 'Häagen-Dazs' to evoke an image of Danish pasture and even put a map of Denmark on the carton. (There is no umlaut in Danish.) Rose said in her autobiography The Emperor of Ice Cream (2004), that Denmark was used in tribute to the nation's decent treatment of its Jews during the Second World War.
The ice cream was made using butterfat and real ingredients for the flavorings. It launched in 1961 in contrast with competing brands which used cheap, often artificial ingredients. Rose marketed the product and Reuben developed the flavors. Part of Rose's strategy was to market the brand to university students, and she made certain that ice cream parlours near New York University in Greenwich Village carried Häagen-Dazs. The brand, which grew only slowly through the 1960s, was at first distributed nationally by Greyhound Bus deliveries to college towns.
The business was sold to the Pillsbury Company in 1983 for $70 million. Reuben and Rose were kept on as consultants after the sale until Pillsbury was bought by Grand Metropolitan. After this, the Mattuses launched the Mattus Ice Cream Company, this time specializing in low-fat products. Pillsbury and Häagen-Dazs are now owned by General Mills.
They had two daughters: Doris Hurley and Natalie Salmore, five grandchildren and, to date, ten great-grandchildren.
Rose died in Westwood, New Jersey on 28 November 2006. A Häagen-Dazs céget egy zsidó házaspár alapította Bronxban, név szerint: Reuben és Rose Mattus. Ennek megfelelően az Amerikában gyártott Häagen-Dazs kóser, és nagy valószínűséggel a Franciaországból hozzánk érkező is az.
És hogy miért ez a neve?
A név maga valójában nem is jelent semmit, de van egy olyan játéka, hogy mindenki asszociál róla valamire. Ezt használták ki az alapítók is, őket például a dán legelőkre emlékeztette, és arra, hogy a dánok mennyire rendesek voltak a zsidókkal a II. világháborúban.
Első pillanatra megdöbben az ember, amikor azt látja kiírva, hogy egy gombóc 600Ft, minden további 400. Nos, az az igazság, hogy az egy gombóc az kettő hatalmas, és ebben a fagyiban nincs se levegő, se hozzáadott víz, úgyhogy elég tömény. Kell egy kis luxus mindenkinek!

Marcel Breuer

Marcel Lajos Breuer (21 May 1902 Pécs, Hungary – 1 July 1981 New York City), architect and furniture designer, was an influential Hungarian-born modernist of Jewish descent. One of the masters of Modernism, Breuer displayeded interest in modular construction and simple forms.

Known as Lajkó, Breuer studied and taught at the Bauhaus in the 1920s, stressing the combination of art and technology, and eventually became the head of the school's cabinet-making shop. He later practiced in Berlin, designing houses and commercial spaces, as well as a number of tubular metal furniture pieces, replicas of which are still in production today.
Perhaps the most widely-recognized of Breuer's early designs was the first bent tubular steel chair, later known as the Wassily Chair, designed in 1925 and was inspired, in part, by the curved tubular steel handlebars on Breuer's Adler bicycle. Despite the widespread popular belief that the chair was designed for painter Wassily Kandinsky, Breuer's colleague on the Bauhaus faculty, it was not; Kandinsky admired Breuer's finished chair design, and only then did Breuer make an additional copy for Kandinsky's use in his home. When the chair was re-released in the 1960s, it was designated "Wassily" by its Italian manufacturer, who had learned that Kandinsky had been the recipient of one of the earliest post-prototype units.
In the 1930s, due to the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, Breuer relocated to London. While in London, Breuer was employed by Jack Pritchard at the Isokon company; one of the earliest introducers of modern design to the United Kingdom. Breuer designed his Long Chair as well as experimenting with bent and formed plywood. Breuer eventually ended up in the United States. He taught at Harvard's architecture school, working with students such as Philip Johnson and Paul Rudolph who later became well-known U.S. architects. (At one point Johnson called Breuer "a peasant mannerist".[1]) At the same time, Breuer worked with old friend and Bauhaus colleague Walter Gropius, also at Harvard, on the design of several houses in the Boston area.

Breuer dissolved his partnership with Gropius in May 1941 and established his own firm in New York. The Geller House I of 1945 is the first to employ Breuer's concept of the 'binuclear' house, with separate wings for the bedrooms and for the living / dining / kitchen area, separated by an entry hall, and with the distinctive 'butterfly' roof (two opposing roof surfaces sloping towards the middle, centrally drained) that became part of the popular modernist style vocabulary. A demonstration house set up in the MOMA garden in 1949 caused a new flurry of interest in the architect's work, and an appreciation written by Peter Blake. When the show was over, the "House in the Garden" was dismantled and barged up the Hudson River for reassembly on the Rockefeller property in Pocantico Hills near Sleepy Hollow.
The 1953 commission for UNESCO headquarters in Paris was a turning point for Breuer: a return to Europe, a return to larger projects after years of only residential commissions, and the beginning of Breuer's adoption of concrete as his primary medium. He became known as one of the leading practitioners of Brutalism, with an increasingly curvy, sculptural, personal idiom. Windows were often set in soft, pillowy depressions rather than sharp, angular recesses. Many architects remarked at his ability to make concrete appear "soft".
Breuer is sometimes incorrectly credited, or blamed, for the former Pan Am Building (now the MetLife Building), an unpopular high-rise in New York City. The Pan Am was actually designed by Emery Roth & Sons with the assistance of Walter Gropius and Pietro Belluschi. Breuer's name was associated with the site because in 1969 Breuer developed a 30-story proposed skyscraper over Grand Central Terminal, called "Grand Central Tower", which Ada Louise Huxtable called "a gargantuan tower of aggressive vulgarity,"[2] and became a cause celebre. Breuer's reputation was damaged, but the legal fall out improved the climate for landmark building preservation in New York City and across the United States.
Breuer's Grand Central Tower set the foundations for his skyscraper idea. In 1966, the Cleveland Museum of Art needed to expand, one of its trustees was Brock Weir of Cleveland Trust Bank. Weir visited New York City scouting bank headquarter designs for a new Cleveland Trust Tower. Weir saw the proposed the Grand Central Tower idea and got Breuer to design the Cleveland Trust Tower. In 1968, the Cleveland Trust Tower plan was revealed. It was to have two twin towers flanking the bank's 1908 rotunda. Construction began in 1969 and was completed in 1971. The second tower was to begin construction in 1971 but due to plans at Cleveland Trust, the second tower was not erected, but the tower is ready for expansion if needed. The Tower was renamed the AT Tower or the Ameritrust Tower after Cleveland Trust's name change in 1980.
After the 1992 merger Ameritrust and Society Banks, the Ameritrust has been vacant. In 2005, Cuyahoga County commissioners bought the building for $22,000,000 and were planning to use the site for a new county administration center. The commissioners decided in 2007 to demolish the Ameritrust Tower and many preservation groups opposed it downright. In October 2007, the commissioners voted to sell the tower and site to a developer. On April 17, 2008, the K&D Group purchased the site and plan a $133-million project. The group will preserve the tower as a hotel/condo complex.
Breuer Lajos Marcell, vagy nemzetközileg ismert formában Marcel Breuer (Pécs, 1902. május 21. – New York, 1981. július 1.) világhírű magyar építész, formatervező, a Bauhaus mestere, Walter Gropius tanítványa és későbbi munkatársa.

Az alsó iskolákat Pécsett végezte. 1920-ban a bécsi Művészeti Akadémián szobrászatot kezdett tanulni, de fél év után abbahagyta és Weimarban Gropius építésztanítványa lett.

1920-1924 között tanult a Bauhausban asztalosnak, majd inasvizsgát tett. Ezután Párizsba ment. 1925 áprilisától 1928 áprilisáig volt a Bauhaus mestere, a bútorműhelyt vezette. Számos bútortervet készített, épületberendezésekkel is behatóan foglalkozott: már 1922-be növendékként konyhaberendezést tervezett, 1925-ben modulrendszerbe foglalható szekrényelemeket szerkesztett (a modulraszter előfutáraként); 1925-ben a kerékpárkormány felépítéséből merítve tervezte meg első csővázas székét, amelynek legelső változata Wassily-szék néven ismert. 1925-ben készítette kis acélvázas épületét Dessauban. Belső berendezéseket tervezett többek között a dessaui Bauhaus épületeibe 1925/1926-ban és Piscator berlini lakásába 1927-ben. Walter Gropiusal ő is kiállt az elemekből való építkezés mellett, amely szabványelemek kombinációjával hoz létre technológiailag egyszerű és funkcionálisan összetett egészet. A Bauhaust Gropiussal együtt hagyták el.

1928-ban Berlinben kezdte meg magánépítészi pályafutását. Bútorokat és berendezési tárgyakat, valamint kiállításokat tervezett. Az 1930-as Werkbund kiállításon bemutatta szállodaépületének egy felépített lakóegységét. 1930-ban a harkovi színház tervén dolgozott. Két jelentős lakóépülete épült fel a harmincas években: Wiesbadenben a Harnischmacher-ház (1932), és a Roth testvérekkel közösen tervezett Zürich-Dolderthal-i lakóházegyüttes, amely Sigfried Giedion svájci építészettörténész számára (épült 1934–36). F. R. S. Yorke munkatársaként két évig Londonban folytatott építészeti tevékenységet, ennek során az Isokon cég számára készítette később világszerte utánzott rétegelt lemez bútorait.

1934-ben hazaköltözött, Budapestre, a Mérnöki Kamara azonban nem vette fel a tagjai közé és emiatt itthon nem folytathatta az építészi pályát (ugyanis a Bauhaus-képzés abban az időben nem terjedt ki a mérnöki képesítéshez elengedhetetlen mechanika, statika, épületszerkezetek méretezése tantárgyakra) pedig előzőleg Fischer Józseffel és Molnár Farkassal közösen megnyerte a Budapesti Nemzetközi Vásár, Várnai Mariannal pedig a szegedi Országos Társadalombiztosító Intézet tervpályázatát. 1935-ben Angliába távozott.(Késői elismerésként 1968-ban a Budapesti Műszaki Egyetem díszdoktorrá avatta.)

1937-ben a Harvard Egyetemen tanított építészetet, majd 1938-tól 1941-ig Gropiusszal dolgozott a Massachusetts állambeli Cambridge-ben. A Bauhaus nemzetközi jellegét és Új-Anglia favázas épületeinek helyi karakterét ötvöző munkásságuk igen erősen hatott a családiház-építészetre, jóformán az Egyesült Államok egész területén. Ezt a stílust példázza Breuer saját lincolni háza (1939) és a waylandi Chamberlain-ház (1940; mindkettő Massachusetts államban).
1946-ban Breuer New Yorkba költözött, ettől kezdve elárasztották megbízásokkal. A fontosabbak: a Sarah Lawrence College színháza a New York állambeli Bronxville-ben (1952); az UNESCO párizsi székháza (1953–58; Pier Luigi Nervi és Bernard Zehrfuss közreműködésével); a Szent János-apátság a minnesotai Collegeville-ben (1953–61); a rotterdami De Bijenkorf Áruház (1955–57); az IBM Kutatóközpont a franciaországi La Guade-ban (1960–62); a New York-i Whitney Museum of American Art (elkészült 1966-ban); az Amerikai Építésügyi és Városfejlesztési Minisztérium épülete Washingtonban (1963–68). Részt vett az UNESCO New York-i épületének megtervezésében is.
1965-ben „Marcel Breuer and Associates" néven irodát alapított New Yorkban. 1966-ban visszavonult. 1981-ben halt meg New Yorkban.

1925-től tervezett csővázas bútorai és berendezési tárgyai, amelyek az egzakt alapformákon nyugvó tervezés példái; a Bauhaus legszebb termékei közé tartoznak azok a művei is, főként lámpák, amelyek azután készültek, hogy az iskola ipari formatervezéssel kezdett foglalkozni. Építőművészeti újító tevékenységét a mindenkori szerkezet- és formaalakítás élvonalában kamatoztatta. Szakmai sokoldalúsága révén annak az építő mesternek a jelképévé vált amelynek megteremtését Gropius a Bauhaus oktatási céljaként - az intézet megalakulásakor - deklarált.