Gust avrakotos biography of albert

The Launch of the Project

In the spring of 2010, the Liberal and Applied Arts College at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA), under the leadership of Dean Brian Murphy, launched the Charlie Wilson Oral History Project directed by Paul J. P. Sandul, Assistant Professor of History. On March 25, 2011, ten individuals who knew Charlie Wilson came together at the SFA campus to participate. Since then, the project has grown to include more than 30 interviews with more than 45 hours of recorded histories. The project, and hence this website, is ongoing as more interviews are currently being conducted and subsequently transcribed.

Who Was Charlie Wilson?

Charles Nesbit Wilson served as United States Representative for the Second Congressional District of Texas, which stretched from Nacogdoches to Beaumont in East Texas, from 1973-1996. Today, largely thanks to the book and Hollywood movie, Charlie Wilson's War, many people only think of Charlie in connection to the Soviet-Afghanistan War because he appropriated funding to the Afghanistan Mujahedeen's (freedom fighters) fight against the Soviet Army in the 1980s. Charlie, however, had a much longer list of accomplishments than this war, many of which greatly improved the lives of East Texans.

Charlie was born and raised in the small East Texas town of Trinity. After graduation from Trinity High School, he briefly attended Sam Houston State University before going to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1952. While he worked as a weapons specialist at the Pentagon, Charlie ran for and won his home district's State Representative race in 1961. While representing East Texas as a State Representative from 1961 to 1966 and as a State Senator from 1966 to 1972, Charlie befriended Arthur Temple, Jr., the East Texas timber baron, moved to Lufkin, and managed the Big Tin Barn retail outlet for Temple Industr

“Charlie Wilson’s War” is that rare Hollywood commodity these days: a smart, sophisticated entertainment for grownups. Based on the late George Crile’s sensational bestseller about how an unlikely trio of influential and colorful characters conspired to generate covert financial and weapons support for the Afghan Mujahideen to defeat the Russians in the 1980s — and armed America’s future enemies in the process — Mike Nichols’ film is snappy, amusing and ruefully ironic. But not even the stellar talent on both sides of the camera may be enough to make these qualities alluring to general audiences or those much under 40, making B.O. prospects a mid-range thing.

Crile’s 2003 book unfolded the full story of exploits little noticed when they happened, a story that once more proves truth can be stranger than fiction, and in this case far more outrageous. Charlie Wilson was a liberal Democratic congressman from East Texas known as “Good Time Charlie” for his swinging-bachelor lifestyle. He had women everywhere (including, as the book points out, the present director’s current wife, Diane Sawyer) and was a big-time boozer, but also possessed a strong knowledge of history and a keen interest in foreign affairs.

Although the narrative begins with Charlie (Tom Hanks) in a Las Vegas hot tub with three naked ladies and another guy — and soon has them all doing coke in a limo — Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who knows a thing or three about Washington, D.C., generally play down Charlie’s more licentious and easily caricatured aspects in favor of his bright, inquisitive and resourceful traits. Charlie is the first to admit his faults, but his most salient talent is as a master operator who can talk to and get along with anyone. Hanks, who in certain ways does not ideally match up with Charlie’s cocky personality and looks, persuasively

American actor (1967–2014)

Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical productions, including leading roles, from the early 1990s until his death in 2014. He was voted the greatest actor of the 21st century in a 2024 ranking by The Independent.

Hoffman studied acting at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He gained recognition for his supporting work, notably in Scent of a Woman (1992), Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and Almost Famous (2000). He began to occasionally play leading roles, and for his portrayal of the author Truman Capote in Capote (2005), won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Further Oscar nominations came for playing a brutally frank CIA officer in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), a priest accused of child sexual abuse in Doubt (2008), and the charismatic leader of a Scientology-type movement in The Master (2012).

While he mainly worked in independent films, including The Savages (2007) and Synecdoche, New York (2008), Hoffman also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Twister (1996) and Mission: Impossible III (2006). He played Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games series (2013–2015), in one of his final roles. The feature Jack Goes Boating (2010) marked his debut as a filmmaker. Hoffman was also an accomplished theater actor and director. He joined the off-BroadwayLAByrinth Theater Company in 1995, where he directed, produced, and appeared in numerous stage productions. Hoffman received Tony Award nominations for his performances in the Broadway revivals of Sam Shepard's True West (2000), Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night (2003), and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman (2012).

Hoffman

American politician (1912–1994)

For the baseball player, see Tip O'Neill (baseball).

Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr. (December 9, 1912 – January 5, 1994) was an American Democratic Party politician from Massachusetts who served as the 47th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, the third-longest tenure in history and the longest uninterrupted tenure. He represented northern Boston in the House from 1953 to 1987.

Born in North Cambridge, Massachusetts, O'Neill began campaigning at a young age by volunteering for Al Smith'