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Biographies

This section is maintained by Geoff Leonard

The web interface provides a very easy to use and convenient interface to the IMDb additions system. Please click the button labelled "Update" near the bottom of every IMDb name page to access that interface. This page describes how to update biographical information directly via e-mail; it also provides an explanation for the formats generated by the web updates system.

We recommend all contributors use the web based update system and avoid the complexities of the direct email interface described below.


Additions


  1. mark the start of the data with the word:
               BIOGR
    

  2. All copyrighted material is excluded from the BIOGRAPHY database. This includes Movie Guides, Newspapers, Biographies etc.

  3. You must stick to the pre-arranged format given below. Any non-conformant entries will be discarded.

  4. Try and keep biographies reasonably concise.

  5. The biography manager has the right to choose which information to use. Information from a number of sources may be combined to provide a single biography.

  6. Run your submission through a spell checker.

  7. Any libelious or slanderous entries will have to be discarded

  8. When submitting Trivia, if appropriate, try and include a date so that some form of chronology can be formed.

FORMAT

The format for submitting entries is described below, but first, here is a simple example we prepared earlier (a more complete example follows the tag descriptions) . . .

Note: To create hyper-links use the following format:
Movie Titles: _Abyss, The (1989)_ (qv) Important
Actor Names: 'Woody Allen' (qv) Important
Please avoid splitting (qv) entries over lines as this will break the software that creates the hyperlinks.

Character Sets

The character set you have to use is either ASCII or ISO-8859-1 depending on the data. If the data has accented characters such as äöñàé... you must use the ISO-8859-1 character set for West European languages. ISO data MUST be MIME compatible, encoded using 'quoted printable' notation. This is usually a setting in your mailer; if in doubt contact your local user support services. No direct 8bit data, please, since many mail systems still drop these characters silently.

Example

------------------------------------------------------------------
NM: Hepburn, Audrey

RN: Hepburn-Ruston, Edda van Heemstra

DB: 4 May 1929, Brussels, Belgium.

DD: 20 January 1993, Tolochenaz, Switzerland. (cancer)

HT: 5' 7"
------------------------------------------------------------------
The tags available for submitting information are:

NM: <Person's Industry Name>
This is the personality's industry name, i.e. the name we all know the person by. The name should be in Lastname, Firstname format.

RN: <Person's Real Name>
This is the name given to the person at birth. Use Lastname, Firstname format for this entry.

NK: <Person's Nick-Name>
The nick-name commonly given to this person.

DB: <Date of Birth>, <Place of Birth>
Date of birth. Please use full date e.g. 10 September 1945. This can be followed by the place of birth if known, eg

         10 September 1945, London, England.

DD: <Date of Death>, <Place of Death>. (cause of death)
Date of death, if known. Again, please state full date. The cause of death, if known should follow the date, eg

         13 October 1954, Beverly Hills, USA. (heart attack) 

HT: <Height of Person>
Height of person (preferably in feet and inches).

BG: <Mini-Biography>
A mini biography. Each line may contain up to 76 characters. There can be any number of BG: lines. Try to avoid simple repetition of information already in the database such as which films a person as starred in. Don't forget that names and titles can be hyperlinked to the relevant entries in the database (see above)

BY: <Mini-Bio author>
Author of description. Enter your name (or pseudonym) here. You may enter anonymous if you wish. You may also supply your e-mail address if you want. Note that in doing so you are granting us permission to publish it.

SP: <Spouse Entry>
Spouses name, followed by start and end of marriage. The name should be inside single quotes and in Firstname Lastname format, followed by (qv) (if the spouse is in the database ) and then the dates of the marriage. If either date is unknown, replace with a ? (see above example). Any other information, eg the marriage ended in divorce should be included after, and outside, of the date section. Start each new entry with a bullet (*).

* 'Freddy Johnson' (qv) (January 1992 - December 1995) (divorced)

BO: <Available Biographies>
Biographies of / books about this person. This line contains the book title, author and possibly ISBN numbers.
Start each new entry with a bullet (*).
Only books about a single person, please; no encyclopedias or collections of interviews.

BT: <Title of Biographical Films about the person>
Biographical films about this person. This line contains the title of any movies of a biographical nature regarding this person. Please follow the hypelink notation for titles listed above. Start each new entry with a bullet (*).

PI: <Title of movie that person is portrayed in>
Films in which this person is portrayed. Please follow the hypelink notation for titles listed above. Start each new entry with a bullet (*).

OW: <Other Works>
Other works. This section describes works, other than movies attributed to the person, e.g. Books, plays, albums etc. One entry per line, please. Start each new entry with a bullet (*).

TM: <Trade Mark>
Trade Marks. Descriptions of a person's recognisable trait. Usually something oft repeated over a number of films. This section is not intended to hold information such as hair color or other such data unless it truely is a trademark. Each line must start with the TM: tag. Start each entry with a bullet (*).

TR: <General Trivia>
Trivia. Split each trivia point over as many lines as required. If possible, include a date for the trivia point so that some sort of time-line can be listed. Each line must start with the TR: tag and each new piece of trivia should be bulletted using * - see examples.

QU: <Personal Quotes>
Quotes made by that person. Each quote should be enclosed by quotation marks and contain no more than 76 characters per line. There may be more than one QU: line. Note: quotes from films belong in the Quotes section of the database, NOT this section. Start each new entry with a bullet (*).

IT: <Interviews>
Interviews. Details of a Journal/Magazine holding an interview with the person. One line per entry, the format is,

IT: * "<journal>" (<country>), <date>, Vol. <volume>, Iss. <issue>, pg. <pages>, by: <author>, "<title>", <language>
The <date> field is in the following format:
<day> <month> <year>
e.g.
2 December 1968
February 1957
1994
Example:
IT: * "Empire" (UK), 1995, Vol. 5, Iss. 10, pg. 25-33, by: Arnold Aufer, English
The first line of each new entry should be bulletted using *

AG: <Agent's Address>
Agent's address. A contact address for information on the person.
Start each new entry with a bullet (*).

PT: <Pictorials>
Pictorials. Details of a Journal/Magazine holding a pictorial including the person. One line per entry, the format is,

PT: * "<journal>" (<country>), <date>, Vol. <volume>, Iss. <issue>, pg. <pages>, by: <photographer>, "<title>"
See notes in IT: section for specific field formatting.

Example:
PT: * "Sight & Sound" (UK), 1996, Vol. 5, Iss. 10, pg. 54, by: John Alist, English
The first line of each new entry should be bulletted using *

CV: <Cover Photos>
Cover Photos. Details of a Journal/Magazine on whose cover the person has appeared. One line per entry, the format is,

CV: * "<journal>" (<country>), <date>, Vol. <volume>, Iss. <issue>
Example:
CV: * "Premiere" (UK), July 1997, Vol. 5, Iss. 10
The first line of each new entry should be bulletted using *

WN: <Where Are They Now?>
Where Are They Now?. This section describes what the person is currently up to. Please add the date if known. Split the entry over as many lines as required. Each line must start with the WN: tag and the first line should be bulletted using *

SA: <Salaries>
Salaries. This section details salaries paid for work. Start each new entry with a bullet (*), then list the title of the project followed by the salary paid and any relevant details, eg

SA: * _Striptease (1996)_ (qv) -> $12,500,000

AT: <Articles>
Articles. Details of a Journal/Magazine holding an article about the person. One line per entry, the format is,

AT: * "<journal>" (<country>), <date>, Vol. <volume>, Iss. <issue>, pg. <pages>, by: <author>, "<title>", <language>
See notes in IT: section for specific field formatting.

Example:
AT: * "Sight & Sound" (UK), 1996, Vol. 5, Iss. 10, pg. 54, by: John Alist, English
The first line of each new entry should be bulletted using *

Note: The NM: field is required, all other fields are optional.

Also, these fields are extendable, so if you think of any new fields you'd like to see, drop me a line.

More complete example

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
NM: Hamilton, Linda

DB: 26 September 1956, Salisbury, Maryland, USA.

BG: Born in Salisbury, Maryland, USA, following high school Linda
BG: studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown,
BG: Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. 
BG: In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg.
BG: Her first parts where small parts in TV series, with her biggest
BG: break coming with her role in _Terminator, The (1984)_ (qv).
BG: Most known to public at large from her part in the TV series
BG: _"Beauty and the Beast" (1987)_ (qv) (before
BG: _Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)_ (qv), at least). 

BY: Steinar Bang 

SP: * 'Bruce Abbott' (qv) (19 December 1982 - 1989)

TR: * Won the "Best Female Performance" and "Most Attractive Female"
TR:   awards for her appearance in _Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)_ (qv)
TR:   at the 1992 MTV movie awards
TR: * Mother of Dalton Abbott, born 4th October 1989.
TR: * Recently, she's been living with director 'James Cameron' (qv), who is
TR:   the father of her second child.
TR: * Linda is an LA Dodgers fan.
TR: * Has an identical twin sister Leslie.

AG: * Linda Hamilton
AG:   c/o ICM
AG:   8899 Beverly Blvd.
AG:   Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
AG:   (agent: Mr. R. Shapiro)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Corrections

  1. mark the start of the data with the word:
              CORRECT-BIOGR
    

  2. include a description of your correction in a free text over as many lines as you need