text:
Talk:Concentration

Authoring
My first effort at wikipedia, the last paragraph still needs work I think. Let me know what you think. Aglimme

Sorry, my english is too bad to correct the article, however I signal that molarity and normality are different and distinct concepts. Svante 23:48, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

There should be something about equivalants per litre on this page?

Expanding
Today I expanded this article significantly, adding a table, image, further examples, etc. I still feel it needs some work - in particular, the definition of "normality" is inadequate, and the whole article can be further wikified. Plus I need to double-check all the examples. I'll be revising and tidying later this week, if someone else doesn't. -- FirstPrinciples 14:48, Sep 25, 2004 (UTC)
 * Further units to add: molality & formal -- FirstPrinciples 16:02, Sep 25, 2004 (UTC)
 * OK I added those too. Still needs tidying up. -- FirstPrinciples 07:29, Sep 26, 2004 (UTC)

Weight-volume percentage
Removed the following from the article until clarified.
 * Weight-volume percentage, (sometimes referred to as mass-volume percentage and often abbreviated as w/v) denotes the mass of a substance in a mixture as a percentage of the volume of the entire mixture. For instance: in the previous example 40 grams of ethanol was mixed with 60 grams of water. However, ethanol is less dense than water (with a specific gravity of 0.789), so the total volume of the bottle is 110.7 millilitres; this means that the bottle contains around 36% ethanol, w/v.
 * Note: It is usual practise to label alcoholic beverages with weight-volume percentages, although some less scrupulous manufacturers give the proportion of alcohol as weight-for-weight, thereby making drink appear slightly stronger than it is. In many areas this practice is restricted by fair trading laws.

My reasoning There is a problem here, volumes of alcohol and water do not add. 60g water/1.0g/mL = 60mL. 40g ethanol/0.789g/mL =50.7mL. But 60mL water plus 50.7mL ethanol does not = 110.7mL, but something less than that for a total volume. This is a common demo in introductory chemistry. Combine 10mL water with 10mL alcohol; the expected combined volume is 20mL. Students are quite surprised to find the combined volume to be measurably less. So, if alcohol trade laws are based on this concept they are in error. I have not heard of this weight-volume concentration term and find it troubling even without the above mentioned glitch. It may be an odd term used in the alcohol industry, if so we need to define and explain it better before putting it back in.-Vsmith 22:11, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)

OK, I recant:-) I have heard of weight-volume. Weight-volume percentage is often used for solutions made from solid reagents. It is the weight of the solute in grams multiplied by one hundred divided by the volume of solution in milliliters. Need to re-write this without the volume mixing problems and re-insert. More to do. -Vsmith 01:44, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Still digging. For liquid:liquid solutions such as alcohol: "Volume-volume percentage or % (v/v) describes the ml solute per 100 mL solution. This is most useful when liquids are being mixed. For example, beer is about 5% ethanol by volume. This means every 100 mL beer contains 5 mL ethanol (ethyl alcohol)." (chem lecture notes) Need to re-write and include as volume-volume concentration. Still more to do :) -Vsmith 02:19, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * My apologies, I entered the original information from handwritten notes. Now that I look at it critically, it does seem clearly incorrect. I can't actually figure out what I was trying to say... I believe I was confused about the dissolution of solids (for which 'mass-volume percentage' is aprropriate) but gave a nonsensical example using ethanol. Anyway, I suggest we discard the above 'weight-volume' rubbish; the article should give a simple description mass-mass, mass-volume and volume-volume percentages, and give a concise, accurate example calculation for each. -- FirstPrinciples 13:00, Oct 2, 2004 (UTC)
 * The article is great now. Congratulations to Vsmith. -- FirstPrinciples 08:27, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)

 * The comment about alcohol is (partly) correct: it is usual to give percentage alcohol by volume, but sometimes it can be given by weight, usually with the deliberate intent of causing confusion. (This information may not be particularly relevant for the main article, all the same.) -- FirstPrinciples 13:00, Oct 2, 2004 (UTC)

I fixed the equation for calculating w/v. It read mg/mL × 100, which I changed to g/mL × 100. If you wish to verify this, see the following:

 * http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/grsiext/Labcal.htm

 * http://www.ou.edu/research/electron/bmz5364/calc-percent.html

 * http://www.hamptonresearch.com/support/TipsAToZ.aspx?l=u

In practice, people often make up solutions by adding volumes together, without measuring the final volume. Sometimes, in a volumetric flask, a volume of solute is added and then the solution is made up to the mark with the other component and this is quoted as v/v. The order of addition of the various liquids then makes a difference. An example is ethanol and water; let's say 20 % etoh/h2o v/v. If 20 mls of ethanol are added to a 100 ml volumetric and then made up to the mark, you get one concentration of ethanol. If you added 80 ml of water to the flask and then added ethanol to the mark you would get yet another concentration. If you added 80 ml of water to 20 ml of ethanol you would get yet another concentration. Without deatiled information on exactly how the solution is made it is very hard to duplicate precisely. I really dislike this way of measuring concentration. The same arguments often apply to w/v. Perhaps there is someway to convey these problems to the reader? Measureblur (talk) 15:25, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, but the "Generic formula" in the "Table of concentration measures" needs to be fixed and the "Typical units" note dropped. The formula shown and the [% g/L] are dangerously wrong: % w/v is used all the time in making injectable drug formulations and "(grams solute x 100 / litres solution)" is off by a factor of 10 -- which can be fatal. The generic formula should be:

(grams solute) / (100 x millilitres solution)

and the units are % w/v.

This error shows up elsewhere on the Internet, including a commercial vendor's site. It needs to be clarified.

For more background, see the standard text "Pharmaceutical Calculations" by H.C. Ansel and M.J. Stoklosa (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia)

p.s., I don't know how to edit the graphics in the table. Otherwise I would make the changes now myself.

Decisiondoctor 18:31, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

 * Fixed, I think - don't know much about pharmacological usage, but this has to be about the dumbest distortion of percent. Anyway, the table isn't an image - just uses some alien looking math language markup. Cheers, Vsmith 01:02, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

ppt?
Parts per thousand (ppt) Parts per trillion (ppt) OK we have a problem here ppt cannot mean both per thosand and per trillion. In my experience ppt means parts per trillion.
 * The trouble is, in different contexts it does vary. There are many acronyms with more than one meaning. -- FirstPrinciples 13:00, Oct 2, 2004 (UTC)

Parts per thousand is represented by the per mil symbol: (% symbol with an extra zero), don't know what the code is for it. Looks sorta like this o/oo. -Vsmith 22:57, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)

OK, found it: parts per thousand or 'per mil' ‰.  -Vsmith 00:58, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I still suggest that a warning be added about ppt. For instance, in the context of salinty measurement, 'ppt' very frequently means 'parts per thousand'. Also, at least one acronym dictionary lists ppt as meaning both parts per thousand and trillion (http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?String=exact&Acronym=ppt&Find=Find). -- FirstPrinciples 13:00, Oct 2, 2004 (UTC)

Normality
I suggest this section needs to be revised and expanded with examples. I don't have sufficient chemistry knowledge to do a good job, but maybe someone else can? -- FirstPrinciples 08:27, Oct 8, 2004 (UTC)

Please check 195.229.241.180's edit. — Jeandré 2005-06-28t10:54z

I've updated the normality section, its referencing disambiguation page, and the equation at the bottom, to reflect the standard chemical definition of normality, which is concerned with the gram equivalents in solution. I thought the old version of the equation was a bit misleading -- "valence" may or may not refer to the charge of the ion or the number of bonds connected to the atoms, but we're talking about gram equivalents here, which can include equivalents of electrons - a concept outside the realms of "valence". Hope that makes it clear. Unfortunatley the definition of gram equivalent is somewhat ambiguous in the chemical community, but so it goes.--Lineweaver 23:21, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

The equation given on Normality seems blatantly incorrect. (It should not multiply by the volume in liters) Can someone with good knowledge in this fix it? 173.2.151.197 (talk) 20:19, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Fixed (unless I'm missing something here), used formula from table below. Vsmith (talk) 23:55, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

What on earth does "A normal is one gram equivalent of 5 solutes per liter of solution" mean? I'm trying to learn, about normality so I don't know if this is correct or not. This arbitrary number 5 needs to be justified though! -Halidecyphon (talk) 05:37, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Osmolarity, tonicity
Do these concepts also belong under 'concentration'? -- FirstPrinciples 03:51, Oct 12, 2004 (UTC)

Not really familiar with them (actually never heard of tonicity until I just looked it up), so don't know if we want to include them ??

How about activity, fugacity, and partial pressure? -Vsmith 17:11, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hmm. Ideally, I think the article should be comprehensive as possible. Hence, a mention of most of these terms is probably warranted, even if it's only a sentence or brief paragraph. I get the feeling that osmolarity, activity and fugacity are more relevant than tonicity and partial pressure. -- FirstPrinciples 05:59, Oct 13, 2004 (UTC)

I agree, osmolarity (mOsm/L) is used extensively by physiologists and should be included. mezzaninelounge (talk) 00:26, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

CaCO3 as an example of Formal
When I envisage adding a mole of chalk to a litre of water, I really don't see complete dissociation occuring. I thought calcium carbonate was essentially insoluble in water. If this is right, perhaps a better example is possible.

ppq
There are a few analytical techniques that can measure ppq levels. I changed the text to reflect this as the old version suggested that there are no analytical techniques that can measure ppq concentrations.

How about gaseous concentrations?
The article is almost totally focused on concentrations in liquid systems. It needs to also cover concentrations in gaseous systems ... for example, pollutant concentrations in the ambient atmospheric air, which are commonly expressed as mg/m³, ppm by volume, etc. mbeychok 20:58, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Question about volumetric iodine solution
Could anyone explain to me why a 0.1M iodine solution sold for volumetric analysis is sometimes quoted as 0.1M (0.1N) and sometimes as 0.1M (0.05N)? What is actually in this solution? Thanks! OAP boba 08:20, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Parts per million etc.

 * It is the ratio of the amount of the substance of interest to the amount of that substance plus the amount of the substance it is in. e.g. 10 parts per million (ppm) sugar in water means that there are 10 mg of sugar in 999,990 mg of water.

If I'm not mistaken, mg are a unit of mass, not amount, so ppm is a ratio of the mass of the solute to the mass of the solvent. Might be a bit pedantic but I'd rather the article was correct than not. Hairy Dude 17:49, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

NIST
Regarding:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, the United States authority on measurement, considers the term molarity and the unit symbol M to be obsolete, and suggests instead the amount-of-substance concentration (c) with units mol/m3 or other units used alongside the SI such as mol/L [1].

 * It is true that NIST has recommended that and various quality assurance organizations that do ISO accreditation have blindly copied it, so that it carries force of law in many industrial labs. However, the idea that molarity is obsolete is by no means generally accepted in academia and currently ACS and IUPAC are considering the matter. I think that under the circumstances wikipedia would be well advised not to proclaim molarity quite dead yet.

nl:Gebruiker:Sokpopje

 * I have added some clarifications on the mass versus volume question and simply added that academia has not accepted NIST's recommendations. (Hope they never will..)

Amount-of-substance concentration
I would suggest that more needs to be said about amount-of-substance concentration, c, in mol. dm-3 or mol. m-3 as this is the standard measure of concentration in the UK as well as being the alternative to molarity offered by the NIST.

molarity
molarity- moles of solute per liter of solvent
 * No, it's moles of solute per liter of solution (solute and solvent together). Shalom (Hello • Peace) 01:30, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

volumes
need to add volumes e.g. used in measuring hydrogen peroxide 129.31.72.52 15:22, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Explain this!
The last sentence of the lead section says:

 * "Analytical concentration includes all the forms of that substance in the solution."

I know what that means, but it's not immediately obvious, nor is it referenced at that point. I'm not sure if it's discussed later. I think a clearer explanation of this point would help readers. Shalom (Hello • Peace) 01:30, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Written awfully
Part of the reason I never became a chemist is they explain things so darn poorly. What the heck does the following mean?

''Normality highlights the chemical nature of salts: in solution, salts dissociate into distinct reactive species (ions such as H+, Fe3+, or Cl-). Normality accounts for any discrepancy between the concentrations of the various ionic species in a solution. For example, in a salt such as MgCl2, there are two moles of Cl- for every mole of Mg2+, so the concentration of Cl- as well as of Mg2+ is said to be 2 N (read: "two normal"). Further examples are given below.''--Filll (talk) 01:30, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

why are there two molarity sections?
they should be combined. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.65.167.164 (talk) 23:32, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

Subsections
The "Normality" section has four subsections (definition, uses, specific cases, practical uses). It is the only term in this list of terms that have subsections. These subsections should either be rolled into a "Normality" page, combined with the first paragraph, or at the very least be annotated as sub-sections. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.116.57.142 (talk) 14:35, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Mass-volume ratio
"i do not know what 's meant by mass volume ratio"

I have removed the "Mass-volume ratio" from the main article until someone can actually provide some details. The above message is the only content in that section. --Freiddie (talk) 00:16, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Percentage Solution
The Percentage solution page duplicates some of the information on this page. As Percentage solution is a measure of concentration, I think that page should redirect to the appropriate place on this page. Grayob (talk) 17:03, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

I inserted the merge templates into the appropriate places. I still think Percentage solution should redirect to the appropriate place on this page. Also I'm not sure if any of the information on the percentage solution page actually needs to be copied over. I think the style and content of the relevant section on the Concentration page is superior. Grayob (talk) 20:51, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

 * The information in the Percentage solution page belongs in a number of different sections of the Concentration page, not just in the Mass percentage (fraction) section. --Ben Best (talk) 06:15, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Definition of Concentration
According to IUPAC (see http://goldbook.iupac.org/C01222.html), concentration is always defined as something "per volume". Thus, mass fraction, mole fraction, and molality are NOT concentrations! If at all, they should only be mentioned here under the header "incorrect usage". RolfSander (talk) 23:03, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

New hatnote
It's fine to have the new redirection from "Chemical concentration" to this page. However, I don't think the hatnote "Chemical concentration redirects here" is useful. It only provides a link to the page where you are already. Besides, there is already the "other uses" hatnote.--RolfSander (talk) 09:19, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Dependence on volume
Dependence starting from the referemce value:
 * $$\rho_i = \frac $$ for mass concentration

--MagnInd (talk) 23:20, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

and

 * $$c_i = \frac $$ for molar concentration--MagnInd (talk) 23:30, 20 June 2012 (UTC)

"SI-units" is not correct, please include a section on Formality.
See the subject. Refer to the page on Systeme Internationale to see that there, "SI units" is used, not "SI-units". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.231.77.227 (talk) 01:57, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Gaseous Concentration
Ditto the comment from 2006 above, what about gaseous concentration? I am having a difficult time doing calculations on gas mixtures because they are very commonly identified by per cent of each component with no further clarification of whether it is percent by moles, by volume or by weight. Betweendust (talk) 04:00, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

Simpler definition?
Although amount sounds less complicated than abundance, we cannot use amount for the general definition. Amount only refers to number of moles. Concentration, however, could also refer to mass or number.--RolfSander (talk) 16:52, 20 June 2019 (UTC)
 * Hi Rolf, thanks for the note. I see what you mean about "amount" being problematic; I hadn't thought about mass-concentrations when I wrote it. But I'm not sure "abundance" entirely captures the meaning either. When I think of "a large abundance", I don't think of "high mass"; I only think of "a big number". I'm not sure there's an easy way of putting a single word to the extent of mass/number/volume/... other than something like "magnitude of a property of a substance" but that sounds awfully clunky!

 * Also, I think it's problematic to have "divided by the total volume". This means what we can only talk about concentration macroscopically, in terms of a total mixture as a whole. It stops us being able to use more nuanced ideas like "local concentration" in a heterogeneous substance, which would be suggested by "per unit volume".

 * Lastly, I think "in a mixture" narrows down the topic too much. Can we not talk about concentration in pure substances? Surely, the molar concentration of water is a common notion. Thanks. Jamgoodman (talk) 22:10, 20 June 2019 (UTC)

 * Hello Jamgoodman, here are my replies:

 * 1) We need a word that summarizes the three terms "amount of substance" (mol), "mass" (kg), and "number". I don't think that such a word exists but I think that "abundance" is pretty close.

 * 2) When you dissolve 1 mol salt in 1 L of water, the resulting concentration is NOT 1 mol/L. That's because we cannot divide by the volume of the water. Instead, we have to divide by the total volume, i.e., by the volume of the resulting solution. In that sense, "total" means "salt+water". It should certainly not exclude any definition of local concentrations.

 * 3) Yes, concentration can be defined for pure substances as well. I guess it is okay to remove "in a mixture".--RolfSander (talk) 11:57, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

 * Fair point about "abundance". I still think it's leaving behind a bit of unstated meaning but I'll concede it's the best choice.

 * I see what you mean by "total" now. But I think it's not immediately apparent that "total" refers to "salt + water" in any given volume, not "salt + water" in an entire beaker if you see what I mean. Thanks. Jamgoodman (talk) 18:12, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

 * Although concentration can also apply to pure substances, I just noticed that the IUPAC Gold Book also uses the term "mixture":

 * Regarding the word "total", I see what you mean but I cannot find a good alternative.--RolfSander (talk) 11:03, 22 June 2019 (UTC)

What does concitertation means
It’s mean the act of doing sjnegihg 2601:406:5000:1806:CDE5:9FD7:C999:93DE (talk) 21:34, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Concentration


text:
User:Aglimme

Aaron Glimme BA Chemistry 1995, University of California, Berkeley.

I just found wikipedia and think it's wonderfull. I teach chemistry at Berkeley High school.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User:Aglimme


text:
Stephen E. Robinson

Stephen Edward Robinson (May 23, 1947 – June 17, 2018) was a religious scholar and apologist, who was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Biography
Stephen E. Robinson was born and raised in Southern California (La Crescenta/La Canada) and served a two-year mission for the LDS Church in the Northern States Mission (Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin). In 1972, he married Janet Bowen (B.A., B.S., CPA), and they have six children. He has been a member of the faculty at Brigham Young University (BYU) since 1986, and he was appointed chairman of the Department of Ancient Scripture there in 1990. Robinson received a B.A. in English and Philosophy from the BYU Honors Program in 1971, graduating with "High Honors with Distinction." He received a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies and Classics from Duke University in 1978, and was tenured at Lycoming College in 1984, after teaching religion there, at Hampden–Sydney College, at UNC-Chapel Hill, and Duke. Robinson also served as chairman of the Scholars Program, of the Religion Department, and of the Faculty Senate at Lycoming. He has published in scholarly venues such as the Society of Biblical Literature, Revue de Qumran, the Coptic Encyclopedia, Journal for the Study of Judaism, and the Anchor Bible Dictionary. Robinson also has several popular books, Are Mormons Christians?, Believing Christ (the "Best Book" Award-winner at ILDS Booksellers for 1995), Following Christ (the "Best Book" at ILDSB for 1996), and How Wide the Divide? (a "Best Book" Award-winner at Christianity Today in 1997). He has received numerous awards for his research, teaching, and writing. Robinson retired in 2012 and received emeritus status at BYU.

Besides his professional work in Biblical Studies, Robinson is also widely known for his ecumenical dialogue with non-Mormon scholars. He was the first practicing Latter-day Saint to be tenured in Religion at a non-Mormon institution (Lycoming College). Robinson and Craig Blomberg, an Evangelical New Testament scholar at the Denver Seminary, co-authored an important book on LDS/Evangelical relations entitled How Wide the Divide? (1997), which in turn led to an ongoing series of friendly and objective exchanges between LDS and traditional Christian scholars.

Robinson died June 17, 2018.

Controversy
In LDS circles, Robinson is generally considered to be orthodox and to have a reliable grasp of LDS doctrine. He came to the center of a conflict between the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) and Salt Lake City publisher Signature Books, through his critical review of the writing of Dan Vogel, by describing it as being patterned after the teachings of Korihor, an atheist orator in the Book of Mormon. According to Daniel C. Peterson, then editor of the FARMS Review, FARMS tried to quiet down the counter-attack by Signature Books by emphasizing that Robinson's review was directed at the methodology of the writings and not the beliefs or character of the authors reviewed.

title: Stephen E. Robinson


text:
Robert Downey Jr.

Robert John Downey Jr. (born April 4, 1965) is an American actor. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $14 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Downey's career has been characterized by some early success, a period of drug-related problems and run-ins with the law, and a surge in popular and commercial success in the late 2000s. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. From 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.

At the age of five, Downey made his acting debut in his father Robert Downey Sr.'s 1970 film Pound. He subsequently worked with the Brat Pack in the teen films Weird Science (1985) and Less than Zero (1987). Downey's portrayal of Charlie Chaplin in the 1992 biopic Chaplin received a BAFTA Award. Following a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, he joined the TV series Ally McBeal in 2000 and won a Golden Globe Award for the role. Downey was fired from the show in 2001 in the wake of additional drug charges. He stayed in a court-ordered drug treatment program and has maintained his sobriety since 2003.

Downey made his acting comeback in the 2003 film The Singing Detective, after Mel Gibson paid his insurance bond because completion bond companies would not insure him. He went on to star in the black comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), the thriller Zodiac (2007), and the action comedy Tropic Thunder (2008). Downey gained global recognition for starring as Iron Man in ten films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Iron Man (2008) and leading up to Avengers: Endgame (2019). He has also played Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009), which earned him his second Golden Globe, and in its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). Downey has also taken on dramatic parts in The Judge (2014) and Oppenheimer (2023), winning an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA Award for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss in the latter.

Early life
Robert John Downey Jr. was born on April 4, 1965, in Manhattan, New York City, the younger of two children. His father, Robert Downey Sr., was a filmmaker, while his mother, Elsie Ann (née Ford), was an actress who appeared in Downey Sr.'s films. Downey's father was one-half Lithuanian Jewish, one-quarter Hungarian Jewish, and one-quarter Irish, while Downey's mother had Scottish, German, and Swiss ancestry. Downey moved often, mainly due to his father's film projects, living in places such as Woodstock, New York, London, New Mexico, California, Connecticut, and Greenwich Village. The family experienced both periods of near-poverty and wealth, depending on the success of the films.

As a child, Downey was "surrounded by drugs." His father was a drug addict, and his mother was an alcoholic. His father allowed him to use drugs at a young age; he said that he gave Downey marijuana for the first time at age six and that Downey also "might have had a little coke" as a child. His father later said that he regretted it. Downey stated that he and his father did drugs together for the first time when he was eight, and that drug use became an emotional bond between him and his father: "When my dad and I would do drugs together, it was like him trying to express his love for me in the only way he knew how."

During his childhood, Downey had minor roles in his father's films. He made his acting debut at the age of five, playing a sick puppy in the absurdist comedy film Pound (1970), and then, at seven, appeared in the surrealist Western film Greaser's Palace (1972). He went to Stagedoor Manor, a summer acting camp in upstate New York, when he was eleven and twelve. Downey's parents divorced in 1977, when he was twelve. He went and lived with his mother in a fifth-floor apartment in New York, as she "needed" him after the divorce, while his sister went to live with their father in California. After a few years, Downey went to live with his father and began attending Santa Monica High School, but dropped out in 1982. At the age of 17, he moved back to New York to pursue an acting career full-time.

Downey worked a number of different jobs to support himself while going to auditions, including clearing tables at Central Falls restaurant, working in a shoe store, and performing as "living art" at the nightclub Area. Meanwhile, Downey got a few parts in local theater and off-Broadway productions. He got his first credited film role in the 1983 film Baby It's You; however, his scenes ended up being cut.

1983–1995: Early work and critical acclaim

Downey began building upon his theater roles, making his debut on stage in 1983 at the Geva Theatre Center in Alms for the Middle Class for a three-week run. He also performed in the short-lived off-Broadway musical American Passion at the Joyce Theater in 1983, produced by Norman Lear. In 1984, Downey got a part in the film Firstborn, where he met Sarah Jessica Parker, and the pair started dating. In 1985, he was part of the new, younger cast hired for Saturday Night Live. Downey has said that Anthony Michael Hall, whom he had met and become friends with on the set of his Weird Science, helped him get the audition. However, he and most of the new crew were dropped and replaced following a year of poor ratings and criticism of the new cast's comedic talents. Rolling Stone magazine named Downey the worst SNL cast member in its entire run, stating that the "Downey Fail sums up everything that makes SNL great."

That same year, Downey had a dramatic acting breakthrough when he played James Spader's sidekick in Tuff Turf and then a bully in John Hughes's Weird Science. Molly Ringwald wanted him for the role of Duckie in John Hughes's 1986 film Pretty in Pink, but the part went to Jon Cryer. He went on to star with Ringwald in his first lead role in The Pick-up Artist (1987). Because of these and other coming-of-age films Downey did during the 1980s, he is sometimes named as a member of the Brat Pack. Downey moved to Hollywood and lived with fellow actors Billy Zane, who later appeared with Downey in Only You (1994), Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kiefer Sutherland, who starred with Downey in 1969 (1988).

In 1987, Downey played Julian Wells, a drug-addicted rich boy whose life rapidly spirals out of his control, in the film version of the Bret Easton Ellis novel Less than Zero. His performance, described by Janet Maslin in The New York Times as "desperately moving," was widely praised, though Downey has said that for him "the role was like the ghost of Christmas Future" since his drug habit resulted in his becoming an "exaggeration of the character" in real life. Soon after completing the film, Downey went into rehab for the first time; the episode would be followed by a number of interventions and stints in rehab over the next decade prior to his 1996 arrest. Zero drove Downey into films with bigger budgets and names, such as Chances Are (1989) with Cybill Shepherd and Ryan O'Neal, Air America (1990) with Mel Gibson, and Soapdish (1991) with Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Cathy Moriarty, and Whoopi Goldberg.

In 1992, he starred as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin, a role for which he prepared extensively, learning how to play the violin as well as tennis left-handed. He had a personal coach in order to help him imitate Chaplin's posture and way of carrying himself. The role garnered Downey an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor at the 65th Academy Awards ceremony, losing to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. In 1993, he appeared in the films Heart and Souls with Alfre Woodard and Kyra Sedgwick and Short Cuts with Matthew Modine and Julianne Moore, along with a documentary that he wrote about the 1992 presidential campaigns titled The Last Party (1993). He starred in the 1994 films Only You with Marisa Tomei, and Natural Born Killers, with Woody Harrelson. He then subsequently appeared in Restoration (1995), Richard III (1995), Home for the Holidays (1995), Two Girls and a Guy (1997), as Special Agent John Royce in U.S. Marshals (1998), and in Black and White (1999).

1996–2001: Addiction-related setbacks and Ally McBeal
From 1996 through 2001, Downey was arrested several times on charges related to drugs, including cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. He went through drug treatment programs and spent time in county jail and prison. He explained in 1999 to a judge: "It's like I have a shotgun in my mouth, and I've got my finger on the trigger, and I like the taste of the gun metal." He said he had been addicted to drugs since the age of eight due to the fact that his father had been giving them to him.

In early 1996, after becoming increasingly concerned for Downey, Sean Penn and Dennis Quaid knocked on his door, took his keys, and took him to a rehab center in Tucson; however, Downey escaped and checked himself out a few days later. In June 1996, Downey was arrested for possession of heroin, cocaine, crack, and an unloaded.357 Magnum handgun while he was speeding down Sunset Boulevard. A month later, while on parole, he wandered into a neighbor's home through the unlocked front door while under the influence of a controlled substance and fell asleep in one of the beds. The family refused to press trespassing charges. The tape of the neighbor's 911 call was made available online, and it became known as the "Goldilocks incident." In November 1996, after spending time in court-ordered rehab, he received a further six months of live-in rehab, three years' probation, and was ordered to undergo compulsory drug testing. In 1997, he missed one of the court-ordered drug tests and had to spend six months in the Los Angeles County jail. After being released, he went into a court-ordered 120-day rehab program.

In 1999, after being clean during the shooting of Wonder Boys, Downey relapsed. During this time, he was struggling with legal bills and had lost his house in Malibu. After Downey missed another required drug test in 1999, he was arrested again. Despite Downey's lawyer, Robert Shapiro, assembling the same team of lawyers that had successfully defended O. J. Simpson during his criminal trial for murder, Downey was sentenced to a three-year prison term at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran, California. At the time of the arrest, all of Downey's film projects had wrapped and were close to release. He had been hired to provide the voice of the devil on the NBC animated television series God, the Devil and Bob, but was fired when he failed to attend rehearsals.

After spending nearly a year in the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Downey, on condition of posting a $5,000 bail, was unexpectedly freed when a judge ruled that his collective time in incarceration facilities (from the initial 1996 arrests) had qualified him for early release. A week after his 2000 release, Downey joined the cast of the hit television series Ally McBeal, playing a new love interest. He was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. He also appeared as a writer and singer on Vonda Shepard's Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life album and sang with Sting a duet of "Every Breath You Take" in an episode of the series. Despite the apparent success, Downey claimed that his performance on the series was overrated and said, "It was my lowest point in terms of addictions. At that stage, I didn't give a fuck whether I ever acted again." In January 2001, Downey was scheduled to play the role of Hamlet in a Los Angeles stage production directed by Mel Gibson.

Before the end of his first season on Ally McBeal, Downey was arrested on Thanksgiving in 2000, when his room at Merv Griffin's Hotel and Givenchy Spa in Palm Springs, California, was searched by the police, who were responding to an anonymous 911 call. Downey was under the influence of a controlled substance and in possession of cocaine and valium. Rolling Stone later ran a six-page investigation into the weekend's events. Despite the fact that, if convicted, he would have faced a prison sentence of up to four years and eight months, he signed on to appear in at least eight more Ally McBeal episodes.

In April 2001, while Downey was on parole, a Los Angeles police officer found him wandering barefoot in Culver City. He was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs but was released a few hours later, even though tests showed he had cocaine in his system. After this last arrest, Ally McBeal executives ordered last-minute rewrites and reshoots and fired Downey, despite the fact that Downey's character had resuscitated Ally McBeal's ratings. The Culver City arrest also cost him a role in the high-profile film America's Sweethearts, and the subsequent incarceration prompted Gibson to cancel his Hamlet production. In July 2001, Downey pleaded no contest to the Palm Springs charges, avoiding jail time. Instead, he was sent into drug rehabilitation and received three years of probation, benefiting from California Proposition 36, which had been passed the year before with the aim of helping nonviolent drug offenders overcome their addictions instead of sending them to jail. Downey spent a year at the court-ordered drug-treatment facility. By this time, Downey was homeless, too much of an insurance liability to be employable, and on the verge of bankruptcy.

The book Conversations with Woody Allen reports that director Woody Allen wanted to cast Downey and Winona Ryder in his 2003 film Melinda and Melinda but was unable to do so because he could not get insurance on them. Allen stated, "We couldn't get bonded. The completion bonding companies would not bond the picture unless we could insure them. We were heartbroken because I had worked with Winona before [on Celebrity] and thought she was perfect for this and wanted to work with her again. And I had always wanted to work with Bob Downey and always thought he was a huge talent."

In a December 18, 2000, article for People magazine titled "Bad to Worse," Downey's stepmother, Rosemary, told author Alex Tresnlowski that Downey had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder "a few years ago" and added that this was "the reason he has a hard time staying sober. What hasn't been tried is medication and intensive psychotherapy." In the same article, Dr. Manijeh Nikakhtar, a Los Angeles psychiatrist and co-author of Addiction or Self-Medication: The Truth, claimed she received a letter from Downey in 1999, during his time at Corcoran II, asking for advice on his condition. She discovered that "no one had done a complete [psychiatric] evaluation [on him] ... I asked him flat out if he thought he was bipolar, and he said, 'Oh yeah. There are times I spend a lot of money and I'm hyperactive, and there are other times I'm down.'"

In an article for the March 2007 issue of Esquire, Downey stated that he wanted to address "this whole thing about the bipolar" after receiving a phone call from "the Bipolar Association" asking him about being bipolar. When Downey denied he had ever said he was bipolar, the caller quoted the People article, to which Downey replied, "'No! Dr. Malibusian said [I said I was bipolar] ... ', and they go, 'Well, it's been written, so we're going to quote it.'" Downey flatly denied being "depressed or manic" and said that previous attempts to diagnose him with any kind of psychiatric or mood disorder have always been skewed because "the guy I was seeing didn't know I was smokin' crack in his bathroom. You can't make a diagnosis until somebody's sober."

2001–2007: Resurgence
After five years of substance abuse, arrests, rehabilitation, and relapse, Downey was ready to work toward a full recovery from drugs and return to his career. In discussing his failed attempts to control his addictive behavior in the past, Downey told Oprah Winfrey in November 2004 that "when someone says, 'I really wonder if maybe I should go to rehab?' Well, uh, you're a wreck, you just lost your job, and your wife left you. Uh, you might want to give it a shot." He added that after his last arrest in April 2001, when he knew he would likely be facing another stint in prison or another form of incarceration such as court-ordered rehab, "I said, 'You know what? I don't think I can continue doing this.' And I reached out for help, and I ran with it. You can reach out for help in kind of a half-assed way and you'll get it and you won't take advantage of it. It's not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems ... what's hard is to decide to do it."

Downey got his first post-rehabilitation acting job in August 2001, lip-syncing in the video for Elton John's single "I Want Love." Video director Sam Taylor-Wood shot 16 takes of the video and used the last one because, according to John, Downey looked completely relaxed and "the way he underplays it is fantastic." Downey was able to return to the big screen after Mel Gibson, who had been a close friend to Downey since both had co-starred in Air America, paid Downey's insurance bond for the 2003 film The Singing Detective (directed by his Back to School co-star Keith Gordon). Gibson's gamble paved the way for Downey's comeback, and Downey returned to mainstream films in the mid-2000s with Gothika, for which producer Joel Silver withheld 40% of Downey's salary until after production wrapped as insurance against his addictive behavior. Similar clauses became standard in his contracts throughout the 2000s. Silver, who was getting closer to Downey as he dated his assistant Susan Levin (later Susan Downey), also got the actor the leading role in the comedy thriller Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the directorial debut of screenwriter Shane Black.

After Gothika, Downey was cast in a number of leading and supporting roles, including well-received work in a number of semi-independent films: A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Good Night, and Good Luck; Richard Linklater's dystopian, rotoscoped A Scanner Darkly (in which Downey plays the role of a drug addict); and Steven Shainberg's fictional biographical film of Diane Arbus, Fur, in which Downey's character represented the two biggest influences on Arbus's professional life, Lisette Model and Marvin Israel. Downey also received great notice for his roles in more mainstream fare such as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Disney's poorly received The Shaggy Dog.

On November 23, 2004, Downey released his debut musical album, The Futurist, on Sony Classical, for which he designed the cover art and the track listing label on the CD with his son Indio. The album received mixed reviews, but Downey stated in 2006 that he probably would not do another album, as he felt that the energy he put into doing the album was not compensated. In 2006, Downey returned to television when he did voice acting on Family Guy in the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler". Downey had previously telephoned the show's production staff and asked if he could produce or assist in episode creation, as his son Indio is a fan of the show. The producers of the show accepted the offer and created the character of Patrick Pewterschmidt, Lois Griffin's long-lost, mentally disturbed brother, for Downey.

Downey signed on with publisher HarperCollins to write a memoir, which in 2006 was already being billed as a "candid look at the highs and lows of his life and career." In 2008, however, Downey returned his advance to the publishers and canceled the book without further comment. In 2007, Downey appeared in David Fincher's mystery thriller Zodiac, which was based on a true story. He played the role of San Francisco Chronicle journalist Paul Avery, who was reporting on the Zodiac Killer case.

2008–2019: Iron Man and further success

Despite all of the critical success Downey had experienced throughout his career, he had not appeared in a "blockbuster" film. That changed in 2008, when Downey starred in two critically and commercially successful films, Iron Man and Tropic Thunder. In the article Ben Stiller wrote for Downey's entry in the 2008 edition of The Time 100, he offered an observation on Downey's commercially successful summer at the box office:

"Yes, Downey is Iron Man, but he really is Actor Man ... In the realm where box office is irrelevant and talent is king, the realm that actually means something, he has always ruled, and finally this summer he gets to have his cake and let us eat him up all the way to the multiplex, where his mastery is in full effect."

In 2007, Downey was cast as the title character in the film Iron Man, with director Jon Favreau explaining the choice by stating, "Downey wasn't the most obvious choice, but he understood what makes the character tick. He found a lot of his own life experience in 'Tony Stark'." Favreau insisted on having Downey, as he repeatedly claimed that Downey would be to Iron Man what Johnny Depp is to the Pirates of the Caribbean series: a lead actor who could both elevate the quality of the film and increase the public's interest in it. For the role, Downey had to gain more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms) of muscle in five months to look like he "had the power to forge iron."

Iron Man was released worldwide between April 30 and May 3, 2008, grossing over $585 million worldwide and receiving rave reviews that cited Downey's performance as a highlight of the film. By October 2008, Downey had agreed to star in two Iron Man sequels, as part of the Iron Man franchise, as well as The Avengers, featuring the superhero team that Stark joins, based on Marvel's comic book series The Avengers. He first reprised the role in a small appearance as Iron Man's alter ego Tony Stark in the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk, as a part of Marvel Studios' depicting the same Marvel Universe on film by providing continuity among the movies.

After Iron Man, Downey appeared alongside Ben Stiller and Jack Black in the Stiller-directed Tropic Thunder. The three actors play a Hollywood archetype, with Downey playing self-absorbed multi-Oscar-winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus – as they star in an extremely expensive Vietnam-era film called Tropic Thunder. Lazarus undergoes a "controversial skin pigmentation procedure" in order to take on the role of African-American platoon sergeant Lincoln Osiris, which requires Downey to wear dark makeup and a wig. Both Stiller and Downey feared Downey's portrayal of the character could become controversial:

"Stiller says that he and Downey always stayed focused on the fact that they were skewering insufferable actors, not African Americans. 'I was trying to push it as far as you can within reality', Stiller explains. 'I had no idea how people would respond to it'. Stiller screened a rough cut of the film [in March 2008] and it scored high with African Americans. He was relieved at the reaction. 'It seems people really embrace it', he said."

When asked by Harry Smith on CBS's The Early Show who his model was for Lazarus, Downey laughed before responding, "Sadly, my sorry-ass self."

Released in the United States on August 13, 2008, Tropic Thunder received good reviews, with 83% of reviews positive and an average normalized score of 71, according to the review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively. It earned US$26 million in its North American opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first three weekends of release. The film grossed $180 million in theaters before its release on home video on November 18, 2008. Downey was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Lazarus.

Opening in late April 2009 was a film Downey finished in mid-2008, The Soloist. The film was delayed from a November 2008 release by Paramount Pictures due to the studio's tight end-of-year release schedule. Critics who had seen the film in 2008 were mentioning it as a possible Academy Award candidate. Downey picked up an Academy Award nomination for the 2008 release year for his role in Tropic Thunder.

The first role Downey accepted after Iron Man was Sherlock Holmes in Guy Ritchie's adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. Warner Bros. released it on December 25, 2009. The film set several box office records in the United States for a Christmas Day release, beating the previous record-holder, 2008's Marley & Me, by nearly $10 million, and finished second to Avatar in a record-setting Christmas weekend box office. Sherlock Holmes ended up being the 8th highest-grossing film of 2009. When Downey won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his role as Sherlock Holmes, he noted in his acceptance speech that he had prepared no remarks because "Susan Downey told me that Matt Damon was going to win so don't bother preparing a speech."

Downey returned as Tony Stark in the first of two planned sequels to Iron Man, Iron Man 2, which was released in May 2010. Iron Man 2 grossed over $623 million worldwide, becoming the 7th highest-grossing film of 2010. Downey's other commercial film release of 2010 was the comedy road film, Due Date. The movie, co-starring Zach Galifianakis, was released in November 2010 and grossed over $211 million worldwide, making it the 36th highest-grossing movie of 2010. Downey's sole 2011 film credit was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which opened worldwide on December 16, 2011.

In 2012, Downey reprised the role of Tony Stark in The Avengers. The film received positive reviews and was highly successful at the box office, becoming the third highest-grossing film of all time both in the United States and worldwide. His film, the David Dobkin-directed dramedy The Judge, a project co-produced by his production company Team Downey, was the opening film at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. Downey played Tony Stark again in Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Three of his scenes from The Avengers and Avengers: Endgame were used as archive footage in the first episode of the Disney+ series Loki. Downey hosted The Age of A.I., a YouTube documentary series released in 2019.

2020–present: Post-Marvel
In 2020, Downey starred in Dolittle, playing the titular character, depicted in the film as a 19th-century Welsh veterinarian who can communicate with animals. This was the second film from Team Downey. It was a box office disappointment and received negative reviews from critics, who called it "too long [and] lifeless."

In 2023, Downey portrayed antagonistic bureaucrat Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. He took a pay cut to work on the film, earning $4 million in lieu of his usual $10–20 million upfront salary. Downey would later describe Oppenheimer as "the best film" in which he has appeared to date. The biopic and Downey's performance received critical acclaim. For the role, he won a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Also in 2023, Downey hosted the television series Downey’s Dream Cars, where he and his team converted some of Downey's cars from gas to electric.

Downey next starred in a 2024 television adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen's historical satire novel The Sympathizer on HBO, portraying five supporting antagonistic roles representing the American establishment. His multi-role performance earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Downey Jr. will next make his Broadway debut in McNEAL, from playwright Ayad Akhtar, playing a gifted novelist with a difficult family life and a potentially problematic interest in artificial intelligence. Previews will begin on September 5th, 2024 and open on September 30th at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre, playing a strictly limited engagement through November 24th.

Music
Downey has sung on several soundtracks for his films, including Chaplin, Too Much Sun, Two Girls and a Guy, Friends and Lovers, The Singing Detective, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. In 2001, he appeared in the music video for Elton John's song "I Want Love." He released a CD in 2004 called The Futurist, and while promoting his film Tropic Thunder, he and his co-stars Ben Stiller and Jack Black were back-up singers for "The Pips" to Gladys Knight singing "Midnight Train to Georgia."

Downey's most commercially successful recording venture to date (combining sales and radio airplay) has been his remake of the 1973 Joni Mitchell Christmas song "River," which was included on the Ally McBeal tie-in album Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas, released in 2000; Downey's character Larry Paul performs the song in the Ally McBeal episode "Tis the Season."

Business
On June 14, 2010, Downey and his wife Susan opened their own production company called Team Downey. Their first project was The Judge. In 2024, Downey launched a coffee company named Happy with Craig Dubitsky.

Relationships and family
Downey started dating actress Sarah Jessica Parker in 1984 after meeting her on the set of Firstborn. They were both 18 and moved in together after eight weeks of dating. The couple separated eight years later, in 1991, due to his drug addiction.

Downey married actress and singer Deborah Falconer on May 29, 1992, after a 42-day courtship. Their son was born in September 1993. The strain on their marriage from Downey's repeated trips to rehab and jail finally reached a breaking point; in 2001, in the midst of Downey's last arrest and sentencing to an extended stay in rehab, Falconer left Downey and took their son with her. Downey and Falconer finalized their divorce on April 26, 2004.

In 2003, Downey met producer Susan Levin, an executive vice president of production at Joel Silver's film company, Silver Pictures, on the set of Gothika. Though Susan twice turned down his romantic advances, she and Downey did quietly strike up a romance during production. Despite Susan's worries that the romance would not last after the completion of shooting given that "he's an actor; I have a real job," the couple's relationship continued after production wrapped on Gothika, and Downey proposed to Susan on the night before her thirty-first birthday. In August 2005, the couple were married in a Jewish ceremony at Amagansett, New York. A tattoo on one of his biceps reads "Suzie Q" in tribute to her. The Downeys' first child, a son, was born in February 2012, and their second, a daughter, was born in November 2014.

Downey has been a close friend of Mel Gibson since they starred in Air America. Downey defended Gibson during the controversy surrounding The Passion of the Christ and said "nobody's perfect" in reference to Gibson's 2006 DUI. Gibson said of Downey: "He was one of the first people to call and offer the hand of friendship. He just said, 'Hey, welcome to the club. Let's go see what we can do to work on ourselves.'" In October 2011, Downey was honored at the 25th American Cinematheque Awards. Downey chose Gibson to present him with his award for his life's work and used his air time to say a few kind words about Gibson and explain why he chose him to present the award.

Sobriety
Downey says he has been drug-free since July 2003 and credits his wife with helping him overcome his drug and alcohol habits, along with his family, therapy, meditation, twelve-step recovery programs, yoga, and the practice of Wing Chun kung fu, the martial art he learned from Eric Oram, who is also a fight consultant in several of Downey's movies. Oram was Downey's personal fight coordinator in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. In December 2015, Downey was chosen as one of 91 people to be pardoned by the Governor of California, Jerry Brown, for his prior drug offenses. The pardon does not erase Downey's criminal record, but it does allow him to serve on a jury. Oram wrote a letter in support of Downey's pardon to Governor Brown. When asked on The Oprah Winfrey Show how he was able to make his sobriety stick this time, Downey said, "It's really not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems. What's hard is to decide to do it."

Religious beliefs
Downey has described his religious beliefs as "Jewish Buddhist." In the past, Downey has been interested in Christianity and the Hare Krishna movement.

Political views
In a 2008 interview, Downey stated that his time in prison changed his political point of view somewhat, saying: "I have a really interesting political point of view, and it's not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can't go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You can't. I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics ever since."

However, when asked about the quote in a 2015 interview to promote Avengers: Age of Ultron, he denied that his previous statement reflected any longstanding beliefs on his part and stated, "I wouldn't say that I'm a Republican or a liberal or a Democrat."

Downey has shown support for the Democratic Party. He donated to Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2012. In 2014, Downey attended a fundraiser for the Democratic Party and donated to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In 2016, Downey appeared in an Internet video urging the American public to vote against Donald Trump in the then-upcoming presidential election. In 2020, Downey took part in a virtual fundraiser for Joe Biden's presidential campaign, with fellow Avengers actors and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Downey serves on the board of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, a nonprofit organization that advocates for criminal justice reform to reduce incarceration, improve the outcomes of formerly incarcerated individuals, and build healthier communities.

Environmentalism
In January 2020, during the promotion of his film Dolittle, Downey announced that he had made the decision to adopt a vegan diet in response to the debate about the climate crisis, stating that "I'm a one-man carbon footprint nightmare colossus" and believing he can do his part to contribute. Downey previously announced the opening of Footprint Coalition, an organization he launched to reduce carbon footprints around the world using advanced technology. The Footprint Coalition promotes technologies that protect the environment, such as French insect-farming startup Ynsect, the bio-based alternative to plastic manufacturer RWDC, and bamboo toilet paper manufacturer Cloud Paper.

In January 2024, Downey stated that he was a pescetarian and had to give up his vegan diet due to low levels of vitamin B12, calcium, and iron. He co-authored Cool Food: Erasing Your Carbon Footprint One Bite at a Time, which advocates a low-carbon plant-based diet to reduce carbon footprints.

Acting credits and accolades
Downey has appeared in over 70 films over the course of his career. According to Rotten Tomatoes, Downey's most commercially successful films include Tropic Thunder, Oppenheimer, the Sherlock Holmes film series, and several Marvel Studios films, including Captain America: Civil War and the Iron Man and Avengers series. Downey's films have grossed over $14 billion worldwide, making him the third highest-grossing actor of all time, according to The Numbers. He was named Hollywood's highest-paid actor by Forbes from 2013 to 2015. He has received various accolades, including two BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and one Academy Award.

Studio album

 * The Futurist (2004)

title: Robert Downey Jr.


text:
Restoration (1995 film)

Restoration is a 1995 historical drama film directed by Michael Hoffman from a screenplay by Rupert Walters, based on the 1989 novel of the same title by Rose Tremain. It stars Robert Downey Jr. as a 17th-century medical student exploited by King Charles II. The film was shot in Wales and won the Academy Awards for art direction and costume design.

Plot
Young doctor, Robert Merivel, enters into King Charles II of England's service after saving the King's favorite spaniel. Merivel revels in debauched pleasure and popularity at court until the King arranges for him to wed Celia, a royal mistress who has fallen out of favor. The arranged marriage is to fool the King's favorite mistress, Barbara Castlemaine. Merivel is given an estate named Bidnold in Suffolk, and Celia is installed in a house in Kew where the king can secretly visit. Merivel lives a life of debauchery there, but also finds pleasure in restoring the house to its former beauty with assistance from Will Gates, who manages the estate. Matters become complicated when Merivel breaks the King's cardinal rule and falls in love with Celia. The King commissions artist Elias Finn to paint Celia's portrait. He tricks Merivel into revealing his romantic feelings for Celia, who does not return Merivel's affections. After discovering Merivel's romantic feelings for Celia, the King banishes him from court and back to his life as a physician.

Merivel rejoins his old friend, John Pearce, who now runs a Quaker sanitarium. There, Merivel meets Katharine, a troubled young woman whose husband abandoned her after their daughter drowned. Merivel and Katharine become lovers. When Pearce contracts consumption, Merivel tends his dying friend. They discover that Katharine is pregnant with Merivel's child. After Pearce's death, Merivel and Katharine leave.

The pair returns to London just as the Great Plague has hit. Katharine gives birth to a daughter, Margaret, via Caesarean section, but dies from the procedure. Before her death, Merivel promises Katharine he will care for Margaret.

As the plague continues killing people, Merivel is compelled to do what he can as a physician. He leaves Margaret with a wet nurse, and goes into the city. He separates the sick from the well, who have all been quarantined together, and eases the suffering of the dying. When asked his name, Merivel says he is John Pearce, as a tribute to his friend. Under this misnomer and in disguise, Merivel is summoned to the palace. The King fears that Celia has contracted the plague. Merivel assures him that she has a treatable fever and is with child. Merivel realizes his life now is more rewarding and fulfilling than the one he left behind.

The court is notified that the city is ablaze. Merivel races back to save his infant daughter but is unable to find her. He falls through the burning floor and lands in a small row boat below. Unconscious, he floats on the river current away from the city. He awakens back at Bidnold, being cared for by Will Gates. As Merivel recuperates, he grieves his lost daughter. Soon after, the King and his entourage arrive. He has discovered the doctor's true identity and is impressed with the man that Merivel has become. With that, the King steps aside to reveal the nurse holding Margaret. For his courage and good work in treating plague victims, the King returns Bidnold to Merivel, promising it will never be taken away. The film ends with Merivel returning to London to establish a new hospital with the King's assistance.

Reception
Restoration won Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for Eugenio Zanetti and Best Costume Design for James Acheson. The film was also entered into the 46th Berlin International Film Festival. According to the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, of critics have given the film a positive review based on  reviews, with an average rating of. The site's critics consensus reads, "Restoration spins an engaging period yarn out of its bestselling source material, brought to life through the efforts of an eclectic ensemble cast led by Robert Downey Jr." At Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Peter Travers, in a favorable review for Rolling Stone, praised the film for its timely AIDS parable and described Ryan as miscast in the role of the troubled Katharine. In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Restoration crams in more research and period detail than it can comfortably digest, but its story is not overwhelmed by such overkill".

Rose Tremain, author of the novel on which the film was based, said of the film that it had a beautiful texture to it. She was however disappointed with the film's storytelling, and said the story has no logic and so does not move the audience. The disappointment led her to take up scriptwriting herself.

Soundtrack
Composer Michael Tavera's main theme is based on the music from The Fairy-Queen by Henry Purcell.

Track listing

 * 1) "If Love's A Sweet Passion (From the Fairy Queen)" 1:31
 * 2) "Main Titles" 2:57
 * 3) "Frost Dance In C (From King Arthur)" 1:34
 * 4) "A Night With Lulu" 1:21
 * 5) "Minuet In G (From Abdelazer)" 0:53
 * 6) "Here The Deities Approve (From the Ode welcome to all the Pleasures)" 2:28
 * 7) "A Creature Of The New Age" 1:09
 * 8) "Overture In D (From the Fairy Queen)" 1:26
 * 9) "The Wedding" 1:39
 * 10) "Hornpipe In D Minor (From the Fairy Queen)" 1:26
 * 11) "Arrival In Bidnold" 1:08
 * 12) "The Cabinet Of Curiosities" 2:54
 * 13) "The Land Of Mar" 1:11
 * 14) "The Lie" 1:19
 * 15) "A New Ground (In E Minor)" 0:52
 * 16) "Merivel Woos Celia" 2:26
 * 17) "Katharine Sleeps" 3:23
 * 18) "Taking Bidnold Back" 1:35
 * 19) "Muzette 1 In A Minor (From 3e Livre De Pieces De Viole)" 2:56
 * 20) "The Right Knowledge" 2:06
 * 21) "The Plague" 2:09
 * 22) "Katharine's Death" 4:37
 * 23) "Night Sweats" 3:03
 * 24) "Hospital" 2:54
 * 25) "Doctor Merivel" 1:50
 * 26) "Listening To Celia's Heart" 1:39
 * 27) "The Fire" 3:18
 * 28) "Allegro From Sinfonia (Act II) (From the Indian Queen)" 1:19
 * 29) "Your Child I Believe" 1:13
 * 30) "Newcastle (Traditional)" 0:38
 * 31) "2nd Overture In D (From King Arthur)" 1:27

title: Restoration (1995 film)


text:
B. J. Thomas

Billy Joe Thomas (August 7, 1942 – May 29, 2021) was an American singer widely known for his country, contemporary Christian, and pop hits of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Popular songs by Thomas include "Hooked on a Feeling" (1968), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (1969), "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (1975), "Don't Worry Baby" (1977), and "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" (1983).

In 2014, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Early life and education
Billy Joe Thomas was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on August 7, 1942. He was the son of Geneva and Vernon Thomas. BJ grew up both in and near Houston; he graduated from Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg, Texas.

BJ Thomas sang in a church choir in his teens and later joined the musical group The Triumphs with Tim Griffith (lead guitar), Tom Griffith (bass), Denver "Zeke" Zatyka (keyboards), Don Drachenberg (vocal and sax), and Ted Mensik (drums). During his senior year, he made friends with Roy Head of Roy Head and The Traits. The Traits and the Triumphs held several Battle of the Bands events in the early 1960s.

1960s–1970s
In 1966, Thomas and the Triumphs released the album I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Pacemaker Records), featuring a hit cover version of the Hank Williams song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". The single sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The follow-up single, "Mama", peaked at No. 22. In the same year, Thomas released a solo album of the same title on the Scepter Records label. Thomas achieved mainstream success again in 1968, with the song "The Eyes of a New York Woman". Five months later, the more successful single "Hooked on a Feeling" featured the sound of Reggie Young's electric sitar; it was first released on the album On My Way via Scepter Records. "Hooked on a Feeling" became Thomas' second million-selling record.

A year later, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid featured Thomas performing the Bacharach/David song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", which won the Academy Award for best original song that year. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970. Its sales exceeded one million copies, with Thomas being awarded his third gold record. The song was also released on an album of the same title. His other hits of the 1970s included: "Everybody's Out of Town", "I Just Can't Help Believing" (it reached No. 9 in 1970 and was covered by Elvis Presley), "No Love at All", "Mighty Clouds of Joy", and "Rock and Roll Lullaby".

After experiencing hits with Scepter Records, his label for six years, Thomas left the label in 1972. He was with Paramount Records from 1973 to 1974; during that time he released Songs (1973) and Longhorns & Londonbridges (1974). In 1975, Thomas released the album Reunion on ABC Records, which had absorbed the Paramount label. It contained "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", which was the longest-titled No. 1 hit ever on the Hot 100. It was his first big hit since 1972 and secured him his fourth gold record. In 1976, Thomas released Home Where I Belong, produced by Chris Christian on Myrrh Records, the first of several gospel albums. It was the first Christian album to go platinum, and Thomas became one of the biggest contemporary Christian musical artists of the period. Thomas embraced his newfound faith, but sometimes clashed with fundamentalist Christian fans because he still performed his previous popular hits.

On MCA Records, Thomas and Chris Christian recorded his last Top 40 hit single, "Don't Worry Baby". It appeared on his last pop album, which also included the adult contemporary hit "Still the Lovin' Is Fun".

1980s–2010s
During the 1980s, Thomas had little success on the pop charts, but some of his singles topped the country singles chart. Two of those songs included "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" and "New Looks from an Old Lover" in 1983. Additionally, "Two Car Garage" reached No. 3 on the country charts. In 1981, on his 39th birthday, Thomas became the 60th member of the Grand Ole Opry. His Opry membership later lapsed, with the Opry classifying him as a non-regular "guest artist". He scored another hit, recording "As Long as We Got Each Other", the theme song for the television series Growing Pains. The first-season theme was a solo for Thomas; it was re-recorded as a duet with Jennifer Warnes for the second and third seasons. For the show's fourth season, it was re-recorded with British singer Dusty Springfield, however the Thomas/Warnes version was used for season five and part of season seven. Thomas first released the track on his 1985 album Throwing Rocks at the Moon via Columbia Records.

Thomas also wrote two books, including the autobiography Home Where I Belong and starred in the movies Jory and Jake's Corner. Several commercial jingles including ones for Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Bell Telephone, have featured him singing and his music. On December 31, 2011, Thomas was the featured halftime performer at the 2011 Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. On April 2, 2013, he released The Living Room Sessions, an album with acoustic arrangements of well-known hits. It featured guest appearances with established and emerging vocalists, accompanying Thomas on seven of the album's twelve tracks.

On December 3, 2013, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced that the 1969 single "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" by Thomas would be inducted into the 2014 Grammy Hall of Fame.

Personal life and death
Thomas married singer-songwriter Gloria Richardson in December 1968. They had three daughters: Paige (born in 1970), Nora (adopted from North Korea in 1978), and Erin (born in 1979).

Shortly after his career began, Thomas became dependent on drugs and alcohol, which led to his marriage nearly ending. On January 28, 1976, he became a Christian less than a month after Gloria did. Most press sources indicated that Thomas had been sober since he and Gloria reconciled in 1976.

On March 23, 2021, Thomas announced on his official Facebook page that he had stage IV lung cancer and was being treated in Texas. He died on May 29 at his home in Arlington, Texas, at the age of 78.

Selective discography

 * On My Way (1968)
 * Longhorns & Londonbridges (1974)
 * Reunion (1975)
 * You Gave Me Love (When Nobody Gave Me a Prayer) (1979)
 * Love Shines (1983)
 * Love to Burn (2007)
 * The Living Room Sessions (2013)

title: B. J. Thomas


text:
Harry Chapin

Harry Forster Chapin ( CHAY-pin; December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy Award-winning artist and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, has sold over 16 million records worldwide.

Chapin recorded a total of 11 albums from 1972 until his death in 1981. All 14 singles that he released became hits on at least one national music chart. Chapin's best-known songs include "Taxi" and "Cat's in the Cradle."

As a dedicated humanitarian, Chapin fought to end world hunger. He was a key participant in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger in 1977. In 1987, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his humanitarian work.

Biography
Harry Forster Chapin was born on December 7, 1942, in New York City, the second of four children of percussionist Jim Chapin and Jeanne Elspeth, daughter of the literary critic Kenneth Burke. His brothers, Tom and Steve, would also become musicians.

The earliest Chapin to come to America was Samuel Chapin, who was the first deacon of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1636. His other great-grandparents on his mother's side had immigrated in the late 19th century. Chapin's parents divorced in 1950, with his mother retaining custody of their four sons, as Jim spent much of his time on the road as a drummer for Big Band-era acts such as Woody Herman. Chapin's mother married Films in Review magazine editor Henry Hart a few years later.

Chapin's first formal introduction to music was trumpet lessons at The Greenwich House Music School under Mr. Karesick. Harry's younger brothers Tom and Steve were choirboys at Grace Episcopal Church in Brooklyn Heights, and through them Chapin met "Big" John Wallace, a baritone with a five-octave range, who later became his bassist, backing vocalist, and straight man onstage. Chapin began performing with his brothers while a teenager, with their father occasionally joining them on drums. Chapin graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1960 and was among the five inductees in the school's Alumni Hall of Fame for the year 2000. He briefly attended the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and was then a student at Cornell University, but did not complete a degree.

Chapin originally intended to be a documentary film-maker and took a job with The Big Fights, a company run by Bill Cayton that owned a large library of classic boxing films. Chapin directed Legendary Champions in 1968, which was nominated for a documentary Academy Award. In 1971, he began focusing on music. With John Wallace, Tim Scott, and Ron Palmer, Chapin started playing in various nightclubs in New York City.

Early music career (1971–1972)
In 1972, there was a bidding war over Chapin between music business heavyweights Clive Davis at Columbia and Jac Holzman at Elektra. Chapin signed a multi-million dollar recording contract with Elektra Records. The contract was one of the biggest of its time. It granted him free recording time, along with many other perks.

The same year, Chapin released his debut album, Heads & Tales. The album was an international success, selling over one million units. Its success was due to the top-25 Billboard Hot 100 hit single "Taxi." The song also became a top-5 hit in Canada. The success of the song in America is credited to American radio personality Jim Connors, who helped promote the song on the radio despite its length, and helped it to stay on the charts for 16 weeks. It became the number-one requested song for 10 weeks in a row. The song was performed on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which received so many calls that Chapin returned the next night. It was the first time in the show's history that a performer had been called back the next night. It was also one of the first performances on The Midnight Special, with John Denver hosting.

When asked if the song was true, Chapin said "It's emotionally true, if not literally true. I've been in the film business on and off for a lot of years and wasn't doing well at one point. So, I went out and got a hack license for bread, and during the month that I was waiting for it to come through, I heard an old girlfriend of mine had gotten married and instead of becoming an actress, she married a rich guy. I envisioned some night I'd be driving a cab in the big city streets and this lady would get in the back, and I'd turn and look at her and she'd look at me and know we both sold out our dreams." Billboard ranked "Taxi" as the 85th song of the year. "Taxi" also earned Chapin a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist of the Year.

The follow-up album, Sniper and Other Love Songs, was also released in 1972. The album's title song, "Sniper," is a semi-fictional account of the University of Texas tower shooting. The single release from the album, "Sunday Morning Sunshine," charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a top-40 hit on Billboard Adult Contemporary. The album was less successful than the last, selling 350,000 units. The album also contained the Chapin anthem "Circle." In 2004, the double album Sniper and Other Love Songs and Heads & Tales was released. It contained previously unreleased tracks from both albums.

Career peak (1973–1975)
In 1973, Chapin released his third album, Short Stories. The album sold over 1 million units and produced another international hit, "W.O.L.D.," a song about an aging disc jockey who has given up his entire life and family for his career. The song is sung from the point of view of the disc jockey, who is singing to his ex-wife. It was inspired by American radio personality Jim Connors. Chapin wrote the song when he listened to Connors calling his ex-wife in the WMEX studio in Boston. The song became a top-40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, a top-10 hit in Canada, and a top-10 and -20 hit in various other countries. Other notable songs from the album not released as singles are "Mr. Tanner," "Mail Order Annie," and "They Call Her Easy." The song "Mr. Tanner" was loosely based on a pair of New York Times concert reviews of baritone Martin Tubridy – once in 1971 and once in 1972.

In 1974, Chapin released his most successful album, Verities and Balderdash, which sold 2.5 million units because of the number 1 hit "Cat's in the Cradle." The song is about a father who does not find time for his son during the boy's childhood; ultimately the son grows up to be just like his father, not making any time for his dad. The song earned Chapin another Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and Chapin was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Verities and Balderdash peaked at number four on the Billboard 200. The album's follow-up single, "I Wanna Learn a Love Song," charted at number 7 on Billboard Adult Contemporary. The song is a true story of how Chapin met his wife, Sandra Chapin. "30,000 Pounds of Bananas" was included on the album and became the number-one requested song for a few weeks, despite not being released as a single. It is a semi-fictional account of a truck crash that occurred in Scranton, Pennsylvania, transporting bananas—based loosely on a March 18, 1965, accident involving truck driver Gene Sesky. Other notable songs from the album include "Shooting Star," "Halfway to Heaven," and "Six String Orchestra."

In 1975, Chapin released his fifth album, Portrait Gallery, which produced a top-40 Billboard Adult Contemporary hit, "Dreams Go By." However, it was less successful than the last, selling 350,000 units. Chapin also wrote and performed a Broadway play, The Night That Made America Famous, which earned two Tony Award nominations and two Drama Desk Award nominations.

Later years (1976–1981)
By 1976, Chapin was established as one of the most popular singers of the decade. He released his first live album, Greatest Stories Live. The album sold 2.1 million units. However, Elektra Records underwent a management change and gave almost no promotion for his later albums with Elektra, but they all sold at least 250,000 units each and charted successfully.

By the end of the decade, Chapin concentrated more on touring than producing hit singles, but still released one album a year. He earned an estimated $2,000,000 per year (approximately $11.75M in 2017) until his death in 1981, making him one of the highest-paid artists in the world. Chapin's album Dance Band on the Titanic sold poorly, but it was voted Album of the Year by The Times of London. In 1980, his recording contract with Elektra expired. Chapin signed a one-album contract with Boardwalk Records and released his ninth studio album, Sequel, which was described as his fastest-breaking album. Three singles were released, with all of them becoming hits. The first single, "Sequel," became a top-25 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is a follow-up to “Taxi.” The second single, "Remember When the Music," became a top-50 hit on the Adult Contemporary Chart. The last single, "Story of a Life," became a hit on the Bubbling Under chart. The album sold 500,000 units.

Philanthropic work
Chapin resolved to leave his imprint on Long Island. He envisioned a Long Island where the arts flourished, universities expanded, and humane discourse was the norm. "He thought Long Island represented a remarkable opportunity", said Chapin's widow, Sandy.

In the mid-1970s, Chapin devoted much time and effort to social activism, including raising money to combat hunger in the United States. His daughter Jen said: "He saw hunger and poverty as an insult to America. He co-founded the organization World Hunger Year with radio personality Bill Ayres, before returning to music with On the Road to Kingdom Come. He also released a book of poetry, Looking ... Seeing, in 1975. More than half of Chapin's concerts were benefit performances (for example, a concert to help save the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, New York, as well as hunger causes such as food banks), and proceeds from his concert merchandise were used to support World Hunger Year. Among those he helped is filmmaker Michael Moore, who, in 1977, got help funding his Mid-Michigan based independent newspaper startup, The Flint Voice, with Chapin benefit concerts.

On October 15, 1977, a one-time benefit concert called Four Together - Concert for World Hunger and featuring Chapin and three other renowned folk and country rock singer-songwriters -- Gordon Lightfoot, James Taylor and John Denver -- was performed at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Mich. The performance -- which lasted nearly three hours -- was played live on CKLW AM 800, and raised money to combat world hunger.

Chapin's social causes at times caused friction among his band members. Chapin donated an estimated third of his paid concerts to charitable causes, often performing alone with his guitar to reduce costs.

One report quotes Chapin's widow saying soon after his death – "only with slight exaggeration" – that "Harry was supporting 17 relatives, 14 associations, seven foundations, and 82 charities. Harry wasn't interested in saving money. He always said, 'Money is for people,' so he gave it away." Despite his success as a musician, he left little money and it was difficult to maintain the causes for which he raised more than $3 million in the last six years of his life. The Harry Chapin Foundation was the result.

Death
On the afternoon of July 16, 1981, Chapin was driving on the Long Island Expressway en route to perform at a free benefit concert at Lakeside Theater at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, that evening. At 12:27 p.m. Chapin had reportedly put on his emergency flashers, decelerated his vehicle's speed to 15 mph, and had weaved from the far-left lane to the center lane, to the left lane, and then back to the center lane before his vehicle was struck from behind by a semi-trailer truck. The force of the collision crushed the rear of the car, ruptured the fuel tank, and dragged the car several hundred feet on the pavement. Passers-by managed to help the unconscious Chapin out of his engulfed 1975 Volkswagen Rabbit. Chapin was immediately taken by helicopter from the crash site outside Jericho, New York, to the nearby Nassau County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:05 p.m. due to internal bleeding.

Chapin's widow won a $12 million decision in a negligence lawsuit against Supermarkets General, the owners of the truck involved.

Chapin is buried in the Huntington Rural Cemetery in Huntington, New York. His epitaph is taken from his 1978 song "I Wonder What Would Happen to This World":

Legacy
Chapin's work on hunger included being widely recognized as a key player in the creation of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger (under 39th President Jimmy Carter) in 1977 (he was the only member who attended every meeting).

Chapin was also the inspiration for the antihunger projects USA for Africa and Hands Across America, which were organized by Ken Kragen, who had been Chapin's manager at the end of Chapin's career, after Fred Kewley. Kragen, explaining his work on these benefit events, said, "I felt like Harry had crawled into my body and was making me do it."

From around 1975 until the owners changed the format of the station in the late 1990s, WNEW-FM, 102.7, a NYC radio station with the motto "Where Rock Lives" held an annual "Hungerthon" every Thanksgiving, to benefit Harry Chapin's World Hunger League. During the 24-hour period of the event, little to no music was played, with the exception of the iconic "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie played at noon and 6 p.m. For the remainder of the day, during every DJ's four-hour show, guests such as Harry himself, other music stars, and experts on hunger brought to the listeners information about the severity of hunger in America, in New York City, and in the tri-state area, sometimes in graphic detail.

After Chapin's death, the "Hungerthon" continued, and at the "U.S. Live Aid" concert in Philadelphia at JFK Stadium in 1985, Kenny Loggins was presented with the first "Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award" by actor Jeff Bridges for his work for the World Hunger League in fighting hunger in America. Since WNEW-FM changed formats, other New York stations have continued to do fundraisers for the charity. In 1987, singer Kenny Rogers was awarded the first-ever "ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award" from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Since 1987, the ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award has been bestowed more than 20 times to various artists for their various "humanitarian contributions." The ASCAP awards are now presented by Why Hunger, the organization originally co-founded by Harry Chapin and Bill Ayres as World Hunger Year.

Four additional organizations once presented awards in the name of Harry Chapin in the past. They include the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award—now known as the Music Business Association or MusicBiz, the Harry Chapin Award for Contributions to Humanity by the National Association of Campus Activities (NACA), the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award for Community Service from the Long Island Association, and the Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award by Long Island Cares.

Before his death, Chapin had worked with Peter M. Coan for several years on Chapin's biography, Taxi: The Harry Chapin Story. Soon after Chapin's death, his estate notified Coan that he must return all materials related to the book and that he "no longer had the rights to the book-in-progress". Coan sued the estate, receiving a $65,000 settlement in 1990. Taxi was published in September 1990.

The Lakeside Theatre at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, New York, was renamed Harry Chapin Lakeside Theatre during a memorial concert held one month after his death, as a tribute to his efforts to combat world hunger. Other Long Island landmarks named in honor of Chapin include a graduate-student apartment complex at Stony Brook University, a theater in Heckscher Park in Huntington, New York, and a playground at the intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights.

The village of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, has hosted the Harry Chapin Run Against Hunger, a 10k, 5k, and fun run, since 1981.

On December 7, 1987, on what would have been his 45th birthday, Chapin was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his campaigning on social issues, particularly his highlighting of hunger around the world and in the United States.

In 1994, admirers of the late singer's passionate fight against hunger renamed the then 11-year-old Southwest Florida Food Bank (Fort Myers, FL) the Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida, in tribute to Chapin, and with the permission of his widow.

In 2001, Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" was ranked number 186 of 365 on the Recording Industry Association of America list of Songs of the Century.

Chapin was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

On September 27, 2011, former U.S. Representative Alan Grayson wrote an article on the internet publication The Huffington Post about Chapin's song "What Made America Famous".

Singer and songwriter Guthrie Thomas has long publicly stated that Chapin's song "Cat's in the Cradle" is one of the most difficult songs to perform, due to Chapin's master guitar playing and his brilliant syncopation of the lyrics, meaning each word must fit perfectly and in time with the playing. Also, despite seeming social and political differences with Chapin, Dr. James Dobson often quotes the entirety of "Cat's in the Cradle" to illustrate dynamics of contemporary American families.

A children's picture book was created using the lyrics of "Mr. Tanner" and the illustrations of Bryan Langdo; it was published by Ripple Grove Press in May 2017.

Greenwich Entertainment released a documentary film titled Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something. It was directed by Rick Korn and produced by Jason Chapin. It was released theatrically and through virtual cinema on October 16, 2020 (World Food Day).

Family
Chapin's widow is now chair of the Harry Chapin Foundation, where she continues to pursue his legacy. His son, Josh, is involved with the foundation, along with other family members.

Chapin often remarked that he came from an artistic family. His father Jim, brothers Tom and Steve, and daughter Jen Chapin are musicians, while his nieces, Abigail and Lily Chapin, perform under the name the Chapin Sisters. His paternal grandfather, James Ormsbee Chapin, was an artist who illustrated Robert Frost's first two books of poetry; his maternal grandfather was the philosopher and rhetorician Kenneth Burke.

Chapin's brothers sometimes performed with Harry at various times throughout his career, particularly during live performances. They played with him before his solo career took off, and were credited on the albums Greatest Stories Live, Legends of the Lost and Found, and Chapin Music! Tom and Steve continued to perform together (often with Harry's former bandmates) occasionally after his death.

Country singer Mary Chapin Carpenter is Chapin's fifth cousin.

Awards and recognition
Grammy Awards

 * 1972 || "Taxi" || Best New Artist of the Year ||
 * 1975 || "Cat's in the Cradle" || Best Pop Male Vocal Performance ||
 * 1986 || Harry Chapin || President's Merit Award || Won
 * 2011 || Harry Chapin || Hall of Fame Award || Won
 * 1986 || Harry Chapin || President's Merit Award || Won
 * 2011 || Harry Chapin || Hall of Fame Award || Won
 * 2011 || Harry Chapin || Hall of Fame Award || Won
 * 2011 || Harry Chapin || Hall of Fame Award || Won

Rock Music Awards

 * 1976 || Harry Chapin ||Public Service Award|| Won
 * 1976 || Harry Chapin ||Public Service Award|| Won

Billboard

 * 1973 || Harry Chapin ||Trendsetter Award|| Won
 * 1973 || Harry Chapin ||Trendsetter Award|| Won

Rockies

 * 1976 || Harry Chapin ||Public Service Award|| Won
 * 1977 || Harry Chapin ||Public Service Award|| Won
 * 1977 || Harry Chapin ||Public Service Award|| Won
 * 1977 || Harry Chapin ||Public Service Award|| Won

Other awards and honors

 * Harry Chapin ASCAP Award
 * Congressional Gold Medal of Honor
 * Long Island Music Hall of Fame
 * Ten Outstanding Young Americans, 1977

Studio albums

 * Heads & Tales (1972, Elektra)
 * Sniper and Other Love Songs (1972, Elektra)
 * Short Stories (1973, Elektra)
 * Verities & Balderdash (1974, Elektra)
 * Portrait Gallery (1975, Elektra)
 * Greatest Stories Live (Double Album, 1976, Elektra)
 * On the Road to Kingdom Come (1976, Elektra)
 * Dance Band on the Titanic (Double Album, 1977, Elektra)
 * Living Room Suite (1978, Elektra)
 * Legends of the Lost and Found (Double Live Album, 1979, Elektra)
 * Sequel (1980, Boardwalk Records)
 * Re-released as Remember When the Music with bonus tracks (1987, Dunhill Compact Classics)
 * Storyteller (1999, BOA Records, a re-release of Sequel)

Posthumous album

 * The Last Protest Singer (1988, Dunhill Compact Classics)

Compilation albums

 * Anthology of Harry Chapin (1985, Elektra)
 * The Gold Medal Collection (1988, Elektra)
 * Harry Chapin Tribute (1990, Relativity Records)
 * The Bottom Line Encore Collection (1998, Bottom Line / Koch)
 * Story of a Life (1999, Elektra)
 * Onwards and Upwards (2000, Harry Chapin Foundation)
 * VH1 Behind the Music: The Harry Chapin Collection (2001, Elektra)
 * Songwriter (2002, Harry Chapin Foundation)
 * The Essentials (2002, Elektra)
 * Classic Hits of Harry Chapin (2003, Warner Special Products)
 * Heads & Tales / Sniper and Other Love Songs (2004, Elektra. Double CD re-release of first two albums with bonus tracks)
 * Introducing ... Harry Chapin (2006, Rhino Records)
 * Bottom Line Archive Series: Live 1981 (2015, The Bottom Line Record Company)
 * The Singles A's & B's (2019, Wounded Bird Records)

Singles

 * "Taxi"
 * "Could You Put Your Light On, Please"
 * "Sunday Morning Sunshine"
 * "A Better Place to Be"
 * "W.O.L.D."
 * "Cat's in the Cradle"
 * "What Made America Famous?"
 * "I Wanna Learn a Love Song"
 * "Dreams Go By"
 * "A Better Place to Be (Live)"
 * "Flowers Are Red"
 * "Sequel"
 * "Remember When the Music"
 * "Story of a Life"

Video / DVD releases

 * An Evening With ... Harry Chapin (also known as "The Book of Chapin") (1998)
 * Rockpalast Live (2002)
 * Remember When: The Anthology (2005)
 * You Are the Only Song (also known as "The Final Concert") (2006)
 * Cotton Patch Gospel

title: Harry Chapin