Today's Birthdays 4/17 - The VERY Late Edition

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 11:10pm

Artur Schnabel 4/17/1882 - 8/15/1951 Austrian pianist and teacher

Isak Dinesen 4/17/1885 - 9/7/1962 Danish writer; source mat'l

Irene Castle 04/17/1893 - Jan 25, 1969 performer, married to Vernon Castle - Watch Your Step (Vernon Castle)

Thornton Wilder 04/17/1897 - 12/7/1975 writer - Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist: The Bridge of San Luis Rey [1928] and playwright: Our Town [1938], The Skin of Our Teeth [1943]

Gregor Piatigorsky 4/17/1903 - 8/6/1976 - Russian-born cellist: performed worldwide; teacher: Univ. Southern California; 1 of the 4 all-time greats! legend has it, he escaped the Soviet Union by crossing a river w/his cello (a Strad?) on his back.

Arthur Lake 4/17/1905 - 1/9/1987 performer - films' Blondie series, It’s a Great Life

Marta Eggerth 04/17/1912 Wife of Jan Kiepura (1936 - 1966) his death - Higher and Higher (June Allyson, Vera Ellen); 1943 The Merry Widow; Polonaise; film's For Me & My Gal

William Holden 4/17/1918 - 11/16/1981 performer; - film's Academy Award-winning actor: Stalag 17 [1953], Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Born Yesterday, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Casino Royale, The Moon is Blue, Network, Picnic, Sunset Boulevard, The Towering Inferno, The World of Suzie Wong; SOB; forever the "Golden Boy" (Barbara Stanwyck, Lee J. Cobb, Adolphe Menjou, Sam Levene)

Olivia Hussey 4/17/1951 performer - Ice Cream Man, Stephen King’s It, Psycho 4: The Beginning, Death on the Nile, The Bastard, & stunningly gorgeous in Romeo and Juliet

Rebecca Luker 4/17/1961 performer; wife of Danny Burstein; 2007 BackStage Bistro Award Winner - The Phantom of the Opera; The Secret Garden; 1994 Show Boat; 1998 The Sound of Music; 2000 The Music Man; Nine [replacement]; Mary Poppins; tv's Cupid & Cate; Law & Order SVU

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1917 Peter Ibbetson - Lionel & John Barrymore

1939 No Time for Comedy - Katharine Cornell, Laurence Olivier

1964 Cafe Crown Theodore Bikel, Sam Levene, Tommy Rall, Alan Alda, & my dear friend Ken Richards (who told me hysterically funny stories about rehearsals, etc. of this show)

1977 I Love My Wife - Joanna Gleason (bway debut), James Naughton

1979 Whose Life is it Anyway?

1994 Two years after the infamous riots following the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles, Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 opens on Broadway at the Cort Theatre. The text of this solo show is taken from interviews she had with people directly or indirectly involved in the case. The play premiered at the Center Theatre Group/ Mark Taper Forum and also ran Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre prior to its Broadway run.

2000 The London revival of Tom Stoppard’s play, The Real Thing, that deals with love, marriage and adultery from varying perspectives, officially opens at the Barrymore Theatre. Stephen Dillane and Jennifer Ehle will both win Tony Awards for their portrayals, and the show, directed by David Leveaux, wins the Best Revival Tony.

2008 A Catered Affair Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, Harvey Fierstein, Leslie Kritzer, Matt Cavenaugh, Philip Hoffman, Kristine Zbornik

ON THIS DAY IN:

1790 American statesman Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia at age 84.

1961 - The 33rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Bob Hope, ended the ten year drought during which producer, writer, director Billy Wilder could not capture the elusive Oscar. Wilder was no stranger to Oscar, though. He had three of the golden statuettes sitting on his mantle (or wherever the Wilders keep their awards) from previous years. But this year, the winnings were much sweeter. Not only did Mr. Wilder receive the Oscar for Best Writing/Story and Screenplay/Written Directly for the Screen (shared with I.A.L. Diamond) and the Best Director Oscar (both for The Apartment), he and The Apartment also received the top award, Best Picture. There were other happy Oscar recipients this night at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, as well. Burt Lancaster took the Best Actor honors and Shirley Jones, the Best Supporting Actress, for their performances in Elmer Gantry. Elizabeth Taylor was voted Best Actress for her role in Butterfield 8. Spartacus, nominated in six categories, won four Oscars, including one for Peter Ustinov as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The Best Music/Song was awarded to Never on Sunday and Manos Hadjidakis from the foreign flick: Pote tin Kyriaki. Yes, we know ... it’s all Greek to you. Some one-Oscar wonder films from 1960: Sons and Lovers, The Alamo, The Time Machine, Exodus. Some multi-nominations but no wins from that year include: Inherit the Wind, The Sundowners, Cimarron, Sunrise at Campobello, Psycho, Bells are Ringing, The Magnificent Seven, Can-Can.

1967 - Comedian Joey Bishop got the opportunity to attempt to unseat the king of late night, Johnny Carson. The Joey Bishop Show made its debut on ABC-TV this night. Bishop, Regis Philbin (announcer) and Johnny Mann (music) couldn’t beat Carson, but held out until December 26, 1969 (the show’s last broadcast). I looooove Joey Bishop. The classiest of the Rat Pack!

1993 A federal jury in Los Angeles convicted two former police officers of violating the civil rights of beaten motorist Rodney King; two other officers were acquitted.

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

Milla

[thatgirl712]

Posted: 4/18/08 at 11:29pm

Happy Birthday William Holden