What do David Lynch, Terrance Malick and Paul Thomas Anderson have in common (besides being acclaimed film directors, of course)? They have utilized the expertise in production design or art direction of Illinoisan Jack Fisk.

In addition to having a rock solid careers in art direction and production design for other directors, Fisk has also directed feature films himself. While working on Terrance Malick’s film Badlands in 1973, he met his future wife, actress Sissy Spacek. The couple has two daughters, both of whom have followed in the family business.

Learn more:
NY Times article on Jack Fisk
Jack Fisk's impressive filmography

If you’ve stared into the massive jaws of Sue the dinosaur at the Field Museum, you have Sue Hendrickson to thank for digging her up!

Sue Hendrickson was born in Chicago but grew up in Munster, Indiana. Hendrickson developed an appreciation for paleontological work in high school by volunteering on digs over her summer breaks. In addition she spent a significant portion of her time salvage diving in shipwrecks and mining amber in the Dominican mountains. After joining a team of paleontologists in the mid 1980s, Hendrickson accompanied the team to the Black Hills Institute in South Dakota. It was there that Hendrickson would discover the ancient remains of the tyrannosaurus rex which was eventually named Sue, after herself. Sue is the largest, most complete, and best preserved T. rex specimen ever found. But this would not be the only major discovery for Hendrickson. She went on to join a team of marine archaeologists that ended up discovering the royal quarters of Cleopatra and Napoleon Bonaparte’s lost fleet from the Battle of the Nile.

Learn more:
Sue the T. rex’s profile from the Field Museum
Sue Hendrickson’s bio

Burl Ives, known for singing the Holiday classic Holly Jolly Christmas, was born near Hunt City in Jasper County in 1909. He is also well-known as the singer-narrator of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a television special that ran for many years in the 1960s.

Ives began singing at a young age, learning the banjo in high school and dropping out of college to become a traveling banjo-playing folk singer.

Ives earned a job with CBS radio in the 1940s, and would go on to record more than 100 albums in his lifetime. 

While his singing career is most well-known, Ives also starred in more than 30 movies, including Smoky, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Big Country, for which he won an Oscar for best supporting actor.

Learn more:
Burl Ives IMDb Biography
Burl Ives - History.com Profile

Illinois’ more than 500 Christmas tree growers produce 250,000 trees with a value of more than $5 million every year.

The practice of decorating trees for the Christmas season can be traced to the early 1500s in Europe. Since that time, the tradition of decorating a tree has continued and expanded worldwide.

While artificial trees have gained popularity since they were first introduced in Germany in the 1800s, more than 25 million real Christmas trees are sold every year in the United States. Every state in the union produces Christmas trees, with Oregon, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Washington producing the most.  

Many cities throughout the country have an official Christmas tree. In Chicago, this tradition started in 1913 when Mayor Carter Harrison lit the first official Christmas tree in Grant Park.

Still looking for the perfect Christmas tree? Check out the links below for information on where to find trees in your community:

TimeOut Chicago – Where to chop down your own Christmas tree
Illinois Christmas Tree Association, with listings of Christmas tree farms across the state

If you enjoy listening to the melodic tunes of The Doors, then you’ve witnessed the work of Ray Manzarek.

Raymond Daniel Manzarek was born in 1939 on the Southside of Chicago. As a child, Ray began taking piano lessons at age 7. He attended St. Rita High School, where he played in a band with his two brothers for school dances and talent shows. He continued to play throughout his time at DePaul University, and graduated with a degree in economics. It wasn’t until he moved to California to attend the UCLA film school that he met his future lifelong wife Dorothy Fujikawa, and fellow film student and poet Jim Morrison. After meeting, the pair decided to combine Morrison’s poetry and Manzarek’s piano prowess in order to create a band. The Doors formed in 1965 after Robby Krieger’s guitar and John Densmore’s drums were added. Manzarek provided the hypnotic and intoxicating undertones for the Doors on a Vox Continental combo organ, a very popular instrument used by numerous other acid rock bands of the late 60s and 70s.    

Manzarek and The Doors started out slow, playing small nightclubs and bars on a nightly basis, but they eventually saw success after songs like “Light My Fire” and “Break on through” became immensely popular. Manzarek played the organ on all six studio albums that The Doors released under Elektra Records, but Jim Morrison’s untimely death in 1971 brought the band’s success to a halt. Manzarek went on to produce a few solo albums, play keyboard for numerous bands and eventually collaborate with Densmore and Krieger on tour and on television. Ray and his wife Dorothy had one son, Pablo, and three grandchildren. In May of 2013, Manzarek died of cancer.

The influence that The Doors had on music still lives on today, as rereleases of their live albums and video footage are still being produced on a yearly basis.

Learn more:
Ray Manzarek Website
The Doors Official Website