Name: Russ Meyer
Birthdate: Oakland, California

WWII newsreel photographer who snapped centerfolds for Playboy before turning out his first "skin flicks" in the 1950s. "The Immoral Mr. Teas" (1959) marked the first of a series of soft-core sex romps featuring Meyer's now notorious trademarks: a predilection for oversized breasts; high-speed, disjointed camerawork; anarchic humor; and overblown violence. The huge commercial success of "Vixen" (1968) led to Meyer being invited by 20th Century-Fox to direct such spectacles as "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" (1970), which was scripted by film critic Roger Ebert.