Today's Birthdays 2/8

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 2/8/05 at 9:30pm

Jules Verne 2/8/1828 - 3/24/1905 French author; ‘the father of science fiction’: writer: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in Eighty Days

Charles Ruggles 02/08/1886 - Dec 23, 1970 performer - Rainbow (Brian Donlevy); The Pleasure of His Company (Cyral Ritchard, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Dolores Hart, George Peppard); The Captains and the Kings (Joseph Campenella, Lee Grant, Peter Graves, Conrad Nagelfilm's (my fav) Bringing Up Baby

Dame Edith Evans 02/08/1888 - 10/14/1976 [ibdb says 1978] English performer - The Lady with a Lamp; Evensong (Jane Wyatt); Tattle Tales (Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Fay); 1934 Romeo & Juiliet (Brian Ahern, Katharine Cornell, Brenda Forbes, Basil Rathbone, Orson Wells); film's Scrooge, Look Back in Anger, David Copperfield, The Madwoman of Chaillot

King Vidor 2/8/1894 - 11/1/1982 American film director - The Wizard of Oz (1939) (Kansas scenes) (uncredited); Stella Dallas; The Citadel; Northwest Passage; Duel in the Sun; Ruby Gentry; War and Peace

Ray Middleton 02/08/1907 - performer - In 1946 he will star opposite Ethel Merman in Annie Get Your Gun and be featured in Man of La Mancha. Roberta (Bob Hope, Fred MacMurray, George Murphy); Knickerbocker Holiday (Walter Huston); George White's Scandals [1939] (Ann Miller); Annie Get Your Gun (Ethel Merman); Love Life (Nanette Fabray); Too True to Be Good (Lillian Gish, Cedric Hardwicke, Eileen Heckart, Glynis Johns, Robert Preston, Cyril Ritchard, David Wayne); Man of La Mancha (Joan Diener, Richard Kiley, Eleanore Knapp)

Myron McCormick 02/08/1908 - performer - Cary Nation (Mildred Natwick [bway debut], Joshua Logan); Goodbye Again (Osgood Perkins, James Stewart); The Damask Cheek (Flora Robston, Celeste Holm, Zachary Scott); Thunder Rock (Frances Farmer, Morris Carnovsky, Lee J. Cobb); How to Get Tough About It (Jose Ferrer); State of the Union (Ralph Bellamy, Ruth Hussey); Joy To The World (Alfred Drake); South Pacific (Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza); No Time for Sergeants (Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Roddy McDowall)

Betty Field 02/08/1913 - Sep 13, 1973 performer; Wife of Edward Lukas (1957 - ?) divorced; Wife of Raymond Olivare (1968 - 1973) her death; 3 stepchildren; Wife of Elmer Rice (1942-1956) divorced; three children - Page Miss Glory; Room Service (Eddie Albert); Drean Girl (Wendell Corey); 1958 The Waltz of the Toreadors (Melvyn Douglas, Lili Darvas); 1963 Strange Interlude (Jane Fonda, Ben Gazzara, Pat Hingle, Geraldine Page, Franchot Tone, Richard Thomas); Where's Daddy? (Beau Bridges); All Over (Colleen Dewhurst)

Georges Guétary 02/08/1915 - Sep 13, 1997 performer - Arms and the Girl (Victor Young); Portofino (Helen Gallagher); film's An American In Paris

Lana Turner 2/8/1921 - 6/29/1995 American film actress - film's Ziegfeld Girl, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Madame X, Love Finds Andy Hardy

Jack Lemmon 02/08/1925 - 6/27/2001 (John Uhler Lemmon III) perfomer - 1953 Room Service (John Randolph, Everett Sloane); Face of a Hero (Russell Collins, Ed Asner, Betsy Blair, Albert Dekker, Sandy Dennis, George Grizzard); Tribute (Catherine Hicks); 1986 Long Day's Journey Into Night (Peter Gallagher, Kevin Spacey); film's Academy Award-winning actor: Mr. Roberts [1955], Save the Tiger [1973]; The Apartment, The Odd Couple, Grumpy Old Men series, Some Like It Hot, The China Syndrome, Airport ’77, The Fortune Cookie, Irma La Douce, Days of Wine and Roses, Bell, Book and Candle, My Fellow Americans, Out to Seaperformer

Audrey Meadows 2/8/1926 - 2/3/1996 sister of actress, Jayne Meadows; performer - tv's & film's Emmy Award-winning actress: The Jackie Gleason Show [1955]; The Honeymooners, That Touch of Mink

James Dean 02/08/1931 - 9/30/1955 performer; killed in car crash - See the Jaguar (Arthur Kennedy); The Immoralist (Louis Jourdan, Geraldine Page); film's Giant, East of Eden, Rebel Without A Cause

John Williams 2/8/1932 - Academy Award-winning composer: film scores: Schindler’s List [1993], E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial [1982], Star Wars [1977], Fiddler on the Roof [1971]; Jurassic Park, Home Alone series, JFK, Indiana Jones series, Born on the Fourth of July, The Accidental Tourist, Superman series, Jaws series, The Deer Hunter, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Black Sunday, Midway, The Towering Inferno, Earthquake, The Paper Chase, The Poseidon Adventure; conductor: Boston Pops

Robert Klein 02/08/1942 performer - The Apple Tree (Alan Alda, Larry Blyden, Barbara Harris, Mary Louise); Leonard Sillman's New Faces of 1968; Morning Noon and Night (Charlotte Rae); They're Playing Our Song (Lucie Arnaz); The Sisters Rosensweig (Jane Alexander, Madeline Kahn); TV’s Bloopers & Practical Jokes

Brooke Adams 02/08/1949 performer; Wife of Tony Shalhoub (1992 - present) - The Heidi Chronicles [replacement]; film's Days of Heaven, Gas Food Lodging, O.K. Crackerby

Mary Steenburgen 02/08/1953 performer; Wife of Ted Danson (1995 - present) - 1993 Candida; film's Nixon, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Back to the Future, Part 3, Parenthood, Melvin and How

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1947 The Story of Mary Surratt - John Patrick's depiction of the execution of the boarding-house keeper in whose home President Lincoln's assassination was planned performs just 11 times. Dorothy Gish stars.

1954 The Immoralist stars James Dean as an Arab boy attempting a seductive blackmail. Louis Jordan and Geraldine Page are the couple he may ensnare. Based on Andre Gide's novel, Ruth and Augustus Goetz's play will run for three months at the Royale Theatre.

1956 Middle of the Night plays at ANTA. Edward G. Robinson and Gena Rowlands play an older man and younger woman who fall in love. Joshua Logan provides the direction.

1960 A Lovely Light Dorothy Strickney

1973 Finishing Touches stars Barbara Bel Geddes and Gene Rupert star in Jean Kerr's domestic comedy, Finishing Touches, which runs 164 performances at the Plymouth Theatre.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1693 A charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

1915 D.W. Griffith's silent movie epic about the Civil War, "The Birth of a Nation," premiered in Los Angeles.

1968 Three college students died in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, S.C., during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley.

2004 Taboo, which marked the debut of famed talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell as Broadway producer, closes after just 100 performances. The musical also served as the Broadway debut for its composer-lyricist and co star, George O'Dowd (a.k.a. Boy George). Also featured in the cast: Euan Morton, Sarah Uriarte Berry, Raúl Esparza and Liz McCartney.

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

Milla Updated On: 2/8/05 at 09:30 PM