Today's Birthdays 4/16 - Happy Easter!

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 4/16/06 at 7:03pm

John Millington Synge 4/16/1871 - 3/24/1909 poet, playwright: The Playboy of the Western World, The Aran Islands, Shadow of the Glen, Riders to the Sea, The Well of the Saints

Charles Chaplin 04/16/1889 - 12/25/1977 1 of the all-time greats. Broadway credits not available. Chaplin made over 30 films for Mack Sennett’s Keystone company. In these films Chaplin developed the cane-twirling clown with the baggy pants. The character of the little tramp came to fulfillment in the 1915 film, The Tramp.

Later, he formed United Artists Corporation with Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith, and produced many independent films including The Gold Rush in 1925, City Lights in 1931 & Modern Times in 1936. His first talkie was The Great Dictator in 1940. & 1 of his most remembered films was made in 1952, Limelight. Chaplin was ostracized from the American film community & denied reentry after a trip abroad, because of his refusal to become an Amer. citizen, his left-wing causes & his marriages to several teenagers, Chaplin lived in Switzerland from 1952 until 1972 with his 4th wife Oona, daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill. In 1972, he was permitted to return to the U.S. to accept a special award at the Annual Academy Awards. In 1975 he was knighted by the Queen of England.

Les Tremayne 04/16/1913 - Dec 19, 2003 performer - Heads or Tails (Werner Klemperer); Detective Story; film's The War of the Worlds, Francis Goes to West Point, The Slime People, I Love Melvin

John Hodiak 4/16/1914 - 10/19/1955 performer - The Chase (Kim Hunter); orig The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial; film's The Miniver Story; Lifeboat; Song of Russia; The Harvey Girls; A Bell For Adano

Barry Nelson 04/16/1920 performer - Rat Race (Ray Walston); Wake Up, Darling (Kay Medford); Cactus Flower (Lauren Bacall, Brenda Vacarro); The Engagement Baby (Constance Towers); The Act; film's Airport, The Shining, Pete ’n’ Tillie, The Human Comedy, Island Claw, Shadow of the Thin Man

Sir Peter Ustinov 04/16/1921 - Mar 28, 2004 performer; father of Tammy Ustinov; grandson of Alexandre Benois; son of Nadia Benois; authored autobio - The Love of Four Colonels (Rex Harrison, Lili Palmer); Romanoff and Juliet (Natalie Schafer, Jack Gilford, Elizabeth Allen); Photo Finish; The Unknown Soldier and His Wife; Halfway Up the Tree; Who's Who in Hell; Beethoven's Tenth; Academy Award-winning actor: Spartacus [1960], Topkapi [1964]; Quo Vadis, Death on the Nile, Beau Brummel

Henry Mancini 04/16/1924 - June 14, 1994 composer - Anthony Newley / Henry Mancini; A Woman of Independent Means (Barbara Rush); Victor / Victoria; film's Academy Award-winning composer: Moon River [1961], Days of Wine and Roses [1962], Breakfast at Tiffany’s score [1961], Victor/Victoria score [1982]; composed themes for The Pink Panther, Mr. Lucky, Peter Gunn, Charade, NBC Mystery Movie, NBC Nightly News, Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet; 20 Grammy Awards

Edith Adams 04/16/1927 performer; wife of Ernie Kovacs (1955 - 1962) his death - orig Wonderful Town; Li'l Abner; tv's & film's The Apartment, The Oscar, Love with the Proper Stranger, The Ernie Kovacs Show; spokesperson for Muriel Cigars: “Hey big spender, spend a little time with me.”

Ellen Barkin 04/16/1954 performer; wife of Ron Perelman (2000 - 2/14/06), Gabriel Byrne (1988 - 1993) divorced - Short Talks on the Universe; tv's & film's Emmy Award-winning actress: Before Women Had Wings [1997 miniseries]; Diner, Tender Mercies, Wild Bill, Bad Company, Daniel, Sea of Love, Eddie and the Cruisers; my fav The Big Easy [Dennis Quaid, Nead Beatty, John Goodman, Charles Ludlam](1 very HOT movie)

Jon Cryer 04/16/1965 performer; son of Gretchen & David Cryer - Brighton Beach Memoirs [replacement]; tv's & film's Two and a Half Men; Glam; Hot Shots (Charlie Sheen); Pretty in Pink

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1965 Anne of Green Gables plays at London's New Theatre. Based on L.M. Montgomery's novel it stars Polly James as the orphan Anne who changes the lives of those around her. Donald Harron adapted the book and provides the lyrics for Norman Campbell's score.

1981 Copperfield - Christian Slater, Mary Stout, Brian Matthews, Barrie Ingham, Mary Mastrantonio, Keith Perry

1990 August Wilson's The Piano Lesson opens tonight at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Charles S. Dutton stars alongside S. Epatha Merkerson as siblings in 1930s Pittsburgh who struggle over the choice to sell a family heirloom. Lloyd Richards directs the production that will run 320 performances.

2000 Palm Sunday traditionally commemorates Jesus Christ's entrance into the city of Jerusalem. This Palm Sunday, however, marks the official entry of Jesus Christ Superstar into the Broadway season, as the revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock opera opens at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts.

2001 The Proof is in the Pulitzer. The prestigious award goes to David Auburn's drama about a troubled young woman trying to prove that a mathematics breakthrough is her own work and not cribbed from her math-genius father.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1920 A pair of marooned teenagers discover love in The Blue Lagoon. Norman MacOwen and Charlton Mann based their drama on the novel by H.De Vere Stacpoole. Harold French and Faith Celli are the twosome at London's Prince Of Wales Theatre.

1968 Author Edna Ferber died today in New York. She successfully collaborated with George S. Kaufman on the plays and Stage Door. Her novel "Show Boat," was the basis for the musical. She was 81 years old.

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

Milla