'Cleopatra,' starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, is considered to be an iconic movie. Because it's iconic, people tend to assume that it must have been a runaway success, which is a mistake. Like 'The Golden Compass,' it didn't do badly, but so much money had been spent on it by the time it was released that it had virtually no chance of making a profit. That's despite the fact that the film almost marketed itself, thanks to the fascination of the press at the time around what may or may not have been going on between Burton and Taylor.
The big tragedy here is that much of the $44m budget - $330m today - was spent on scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor. The initial edit was six hours long, and so 20th Century Fox had to get the scissors out and cut away over forty minutes of very expensive footage. When it made less than was projected, Fox temporarily closed, laying off staff and cutting back on expenses wherever possible. They eventually reopened in a diminished state, taking years to make a full recovery.
Most of your favorite celebrities either studied acting in college or went straight from high school into a life of the arts. But, hey, not all of them. Some celebrities actually have advanced college degrees.
Turns out Mayim Bialik is just as much of a genius as the one she plays on The Big Bang Theory. She earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles, focusing on obsessive compulsive disorder among people with Prader-Willi syndrome, a rare condition in which the hypothalamus malfunctions.
Little known fact: Natalie Portman skipped the premiere of Star Wars: Phantom Menace because she was studying for her high school exams. She had two papers published in scientific journals while she was still in high school, and graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Psychology.
Before he was looking for answers on X-Files, David Duchovny was just trying to find the answers for English finals at Princeton University90. David graduated from Princeton in 1982 with a B.A in English. He continued to feed his love of literature by receiving a master’s degree in English Literature at Yale University. David was an excellent writer and poet. His work consistently received praise by his fellow classmates and teachers at Yale. His writing was even nominated for a college prize by the Academy of American Poets.
Sigourney Weaver graduated from Stanford University in 1971 with a bachelor’s in Literature. It was while studying at Stanford that Sigourney realized her true passion in life was to become an actress. Shortly after graduation, she attended Yale for their well-known drama program. She would go on to receive a master’s in Acting from Yale University and become friends with fellow famous actress Meryl Streep.
Meryl Streep is considered one of the most successful actresses of all time. She is also one of the most highly educated. Before collecting an array of Oscars, Meryl collected diplomas. She graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in 1971. Meryl has a habit of being unsatisfied with impressive accomplishments as her acting career has shown, so she attended Yale University and earned a master’s degree in Acting.