Salvador Dali

Haha, cool!

Not Dali. (Pretty sure, apart from a 7 or 8-year stint in the USA, he spent most of his life in Spain).

4. I was exceptionally prolific throughout the course of my long life.

5. A slightly older contemporary artist motivated me to explore more radical styles, beginning a fruitful rivalry between the two of us.

Voltaire ?

Sorry Francois, we must have posted at the same time!

Claude Monet

Not Monet.

6. Subsequently, we were often paired by critics as leaders of modern art.

Pablo Picasso? (or Georges Braque - I don't know which one was older).

Pablo Picasso is correct. I admit, this one was rather easy.

His full birth name was: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso.

7. During the first decade of the 20th century, my style changed as I experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas.

8. My work is often categorized into different periods, including an African-influenced period.

9. I achieved universal renown (and immense fortune) for my revolutionary artistic accomplishments.

10. My later work encompasses Cubism, Neoclassical and Surrealism.

11. My most famous works include a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.

12. I became one of the best-known figures in 20th-century art.

Your turn. Francois!

Indeed, the 6th clue gave it away.

> I was born in Italy in 1921.

> My family fled the Fascist regime in 1923 and settled in France.

> I grew up in Marseilles and after working on the docks, I began a career in show business as a music-hall singer.

Yves Montand. I don't understand how the regulars come up with the clues when it's their turn to try to stump the panel. That's why I have always passed when I get one right.

Yves Montand, it is.

> I was discovered by Edith Piaf in Paris and joined her show
> I became a celebrated singer
> I played in Henri-Georges Clouzot masterpiece The Wages of Fear
> I had an affair with Marilyn Monroe
> I was married to Simone Signoret
> I played in Jean de Florette

Here's YM in his prime, singing the original Les Feuilles Mortes (Autumn Leaves), from a Jacques Prévert's poem.

Message to Foolsnobody: Why not give it a shot? Pick someone you know of fairly well, look them up online, and start with birth info, and off you go. (Page 108 has the list of who has been done so far.)

Good one, Francois! I thought of Charles Aznavour or Charles Trenet, but neither of them was born in Italy. And thanks for that lovely rendition of Autumn Leaves by Yves Montand. This Duke Ellington arrangement, with Ozzie Baily on vocals and Ray Nance on violin, is also beautiful:



Foolsnobody, PM me and I’ll try to give you some tips on how to assemble a set of clues.

Thank you for posting the video, Arthur.

Magnifique!

What a silky voice! I actually preferred Ozzie’s French rendition to his English one. His sensibility while singing the French lyrics is really amazing. I suspect it’s because the English lyrics are less poetic and turn the song into a “I miss you” kind of thing.

I loved the violin too.

@Cliffg37 maybe next time; I'd have to pre-plan it! I'm almost 74 years old; I've forgotten a lot of famous people!

I don't know how I guessed Yves Montand so fast.

1. I was born in 1974 in Washington DC.
2. I am half Irish (father) and half Jewish (mother)
3. Few people realize, I play a clarinet.

4. My parents divorced when I was only two years old.

5. In my youth, I did some modeling, showing off different clothes and clothing styles for stores and magazines.

Blaine