Today's Birthdays 12/21

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 12/21/04 at 1:47pm

Harold Lang 12/21/1920 - Jul 26, 1985 performer - orig Kiss Me, Kate; Make A Wish; 1952 Pal Joey; Shangri-La (Jack Cassidy, Alice Ghostley, Carol Lawrence; Ziegfeld Follies of 1957 (Carol Lawrence, Bea Lillie, Billy DeWolfe); I Can Get It For You Wholesale (Barbra Streisand, Elliott Gould, Lillian Roth)

Phyllis Love 12/21/1929 performer - The Member of the Wedding; origs The Country Girl (Uta Hagen, Paul Kelly); The Rose Tatoo (Maureen Stapleton, Elli Wallach, Don Murray, Martin Balsam, Sal Mineo); Bus Stop (Kim Stanley, Elaine Stritch, Patrick McVey); The Egghead (Karl Malden)

Jane Fonda 12/21/1937 performer; daughter of Henry Fonda, sister of Peter Fonda - There Was a Little Girl; Invitation To A March; The Fun Couple (Dyan Cannon); 1963 Strange Interlude (Ben Gazzara, Richard Thomas, Franchot Tone, Pat Hingle, Betty Field, Geraldine Page); film's China Syndrome; 9 to 5; Tall Story (Tony Perkins); Cat Ballou; Klute; Julia; Agnes of God; Old Gringo; Barbarella

Larry Bryggman 12/21/1938 performer - 12 Angry Men; Checking Out; 1979 Richard III (Al Pacino); Prelude to a Kiss; Proof; tv's & film's As The World Turns; And Justice for All; Die Hard 3

Josh Mostel 12/21/1946 son of Zero & Kate Mostel performer - Unlikely Heroes; A Texas Trilogy I & II; 1989 3 Penny Opera (Maureen McGovern, Alvin Epstein, Georgia Brown, Sting, Larry Marshall, Fiddle Viracola); My Favorite Year; Getting Away With Murder (Christine Ebersole, John Rubenstein, Terrence Mann); tv's & film's Delta House; Radio Days; Wall Street; Murphy's Law; 90210; City Slickers 1 & 2

Francis Ruivivar 12/21/1960 - May 23, 2001 performer; died very young, we did a show together, very sweet man - Chess; Shogun, the Musical; Passion

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1889 Beatrice Cameron stars as Nora Helmer in the U.S. premiere of Henrik Ibsen's groundbreaking drama, A Doll's House at Palmer's Theatre.

1915 Peter Pan - Maude Adams, Ruth Gordon

1920 Marilyn Miller triumphs in the title role of the musical Sally, setting off a decade of musicals about put-upon maidens. Various parts of the score are written by Jerome Kern, Victor Herbert, B.G. DeSylva, Guy Boldon and Clifford Grey. Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, the mixture runs 561 performances at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

1941 Brooklyn, U.S.A. - Sidney Lumet, Roger De Koven

1942 Katharine Cornell opens a wartime revival of Chekhov's Three Sisters with herself as Masha, Judith Anderson and Olga, and Ruth Gordon as Natalya. Making his Broadway debut in the tiny role of The Orderly is future Hollywood star Kirk Douglas.

1961 Take Her, She's Mine - Art Carney; Elizabeth Ashley, Richard Jordan, Karen Black [u/s]

1965 (ibdb says 1966) Neil Simon's slightest comedy of the 1960s, The Star-Spangled Girl opens a 261-performance run at the Plymouth Theatre. Richard Benjamin and Tony Perkins play roommates alternately in love with and repelled by their pretty but jingoistic neighbor, played by Connie Stevens.

1978 A Broadway Musical - the brilliantly funny Anne Francine

1980 Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley, about a reunion of three sisters, opens at the Manhattan Theatre Club tonight. Mary Beth Hurt, Mia Dillon, Julie Nesbitt, and Peter MacNicol are in the cast. A film version is released in 1986.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1620 Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower went ashore for the first time at present-day Plymouth, Mass.

1898 Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium

1988, a bomb exploded aboard a Pam Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.

(sources: IBDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com, IMDB)

Milla