Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2015 July 15

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July 15

Online source for biographical information?

Does anyone have suggestions for a good free online source (or sources) for biographical information about celebrities? I usually end up doing newspaper searches for obituaries, but that is a hit-and-miss type of activity. It would be nice to have one source to which I could go regularly to obtain information if I am writing an article or verify information if I am editing. (Of course, it needs to be reliable enough to use for Wikipedia citations.) Eddie Blick (talk) 13:06, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

IMDB is good for film and television, Allmusic is good for musicians. --Jayron32 03:12, 19 July 2015 (UTC)

I used IMDB on some of the first articles that I created, but I was told that it is not reliable, so I stopped using it.Eddie Blick (talk) 23:26, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

WP:RS/IMDB is the relevant policy. The info on their site is user submitted just like Wikipedia. Sadly, they do little to no fact checking and they wont respond to queries about misinformation on their site. Eddie Blick you might try asking your question at the Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard. MarnetteD|Talk 00:05, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

Thanks! I didn't know about that resource on Wikipedia. I'll try posting the question there, as you suggested.Eddie Blick (talk) 00:38, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

Assuming you're referring to film and television celebrities, you might try a few other sources. Biography.com is a site actually created by A&E television network and is based on the show "Biography". It claims to have biographical information on over 7,000 famous people. Rotten Tomatoes Also has biographies. Another great search option is Freeality It has numerous ways in which to search. I would also try the search engine Yahoo under Screen. It may at least take you to sites that may offer link options to reliable information. You can search for both video clips and web sources of information. IMDB as mentioned above also has a biography search function that allows you to refine your search to biographies. Jbkravetz (talk) 01:44, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

Sci-Fi Horror Film circa 1990s

In the 1990s I caught the end of a very strange looking science fiction horror film which starred Vincent Schiavelli. The part I saw was a woman strapped to a table near a subway tunnel and a contraption was hooked to her head preventing her from moving, connected to a conveyor belt on which a face sucking alien was slowly being lowered to attack her as a form of torture. Schiavelli's creepy demeanor certainly made the scene. Does anyone know the name of this film?? -O.R.^Comms 16:21, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

Are you sure it was a film OberRanks? If you check out his filmography for the 90's there are a batch of TV listings for horror/sci fi series that are possibilities. Unfortunately I don't have the time to search further at the moment so hopefully someone else will find the answer for you. MarnetteD|Talk 16:36, 15 July 2015 (UTC)

It was on TV, but I have never been able to figure out which show or episode. I've always wondered... -O.R.^Comms 18:40, 17 July 2015 (UTC)