Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky 04/25/1840 - Oct 25, 1893 composer, source mat'l - Music in My Heart (Jack Cassidy, Vivienne Segal); Nureyev and Friends; Eugene Onegin; Thoroughly Modern Millie
Ella Fitzgerald 04/25/1918 - Jun 15, 1996 composer, performer - Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie; Uptown...It's Hot!
Paul Mazursky 4/25/1930 director - film's Harry and Tonto, An Unmarried Woman, Scenes from a Mall, The Pickle, Moscow on the Hudson, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Tempest
Jerry Leiber 04/25/1933 lyricist, composer - Dancin'; Smokey Joe's Cafe
Al Pacino 04/25/1940 performer - Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? (Sam Watson, Hal Holbrook); 1970 Camino Real; 1977 The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel; 1979 King Richard III; 1983 American Buffalo (James Hayden, J.J. Johnston); 1992 Chinese Coffee; 1992 & 2003 Salome; 1996 Hughie; film's Academy Award-winning actor: Scent of a Woman [1992]; Scarface, Serpico, The Godfather, Dick Tracy [Tony Award-winning actor: Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie [1969], The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel [1977]]
Talia Shire 04/25/1946 performer, niece of Anton Coppola,sister of Francis Ford Coppola, wife of Jack Schwartzman (? - 1994) his death, David Shire (divorced) - Golden Child; film's Godfather series, Rocky series, For Richer, For Poorer, A Century of Women, Blood Vows
Jeffrey DeMunn 04/25/1947 performer - Comedians; K2; Sleight of Hand; Spoils of War; The Price (Bob Dishy, Lizbeth MacKay); 2002 Our Town (Jayne Atkinson, Frank Converse, Paul Newman, Jake Robards, Stephen Spinella); tv's & film's Ragtime, Frances, The Shawshank Redemption, Rocket Man, The X Files, The Green Mile
James Barbour 04/25/1966 performer - Cyrano - The Musical; Jane Eyre; Assassins; tv's & film's Cyrano - The Musical; Houdini; Eight Crazy Nights
Renée Zellweger 4/25/1969 performer - film's Nurse Betty; Bridget Jones's Diary; Jerry Maguire; White Oleander; Chicago
SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:
1927 When a woman loves sailors so much she follows them all around the world, it's time to Hit the Deck. Vincent Youmans provides the score for Herbert Fields' book adapted from the play Shore Leave. The show will sail through 352 performances.
1929 Patrick Hamilton's drama Rope stars Brian Aherne and Anthony Ireland as two Oxford roommates killing a boy for thrills. Reginald Denham directs at London's Ambassadors' Theatre. Years later, Alfred Hitchcock uses this script as the basis for his film of the same name.
1967 Little Murders happen at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre. Jules Feiffer's black comedy about apathetic responses to violence will have a little run of seven performances. The cast includes Barbara Cook, Elliot Gould, Heywood Hale Broun and Ruth White.
1985 - Big River (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The Tony Award-winning score for the show was written by Roger Miller (his first Broadway production). Daniel H. Jenkins stars as Huck Finn; joining him are Ron Richardson, John Goodman, Bob Gunton, Reathel Bean and Rene Auberjonois. The show, about life on the Mississippi, with Daniel Jenkins in the starring role of Huck Finn, ran for 1,005 performances and won the Tony for Best Musical of the Year. Big River picked up several more Tony Awards: Featured Actor in a Musical to Ron Richardson; Best Director (Musical) to Des McAnuff; Best Book (Musical) to William Hauptman; and Best Scenic Designer and Lighting Designer to Heidi Landesman and Richard Riddell respectively.
1991 Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman's musical adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic 1911 novel, The Secret Garden, opens on Broadway at the St. James Theatre. Susan H. Schulman directs a cast that includes Rebecca Luker and Daisy Eagan.
1999 That's The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm you hear. Brothers George and Ira's music and lyrics highlight this revue opened tonight at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. Mark Lamos stages and co-conceived the project with Mel Marvin. David Marques supplies the choreography. Members of the cast include Michael Berresse, Adriane Lenox, and Orfeh. Although the show will run for only 17 performances, producer Manny Kladitis remained proud to of "brought an unbeatable score to Broadway."
ON THIS DAY IN:
1792 Highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by guillotine.
1915 Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Turkish Empire out of World War I.
1928 - Buddy, the first seeing eye dog, was presented to Morris S. Frank on this day. Many seeing eye organizations and schools continue to offer specially trained dogs “...to enhance the independence, dignity, and self-confidence of blind people...”
On April 25, 1945, during World War II, United States and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe River, in central Europe, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany.
1995 Actress Ginger Rogers died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., at age 83.
(sources: IBDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)
Milla
Wow what a list of famous people born today! I guess people who are born today must be really, really talented people. I mean there is Tchaikovsky, Ella Fitzgerald, Jerry Lieber, and Big river opened on this day in 1985. Hmmm I wonder where I was on Today's date in 1985. Hint, Hint, HINT! ![]()
(Also the first man to die by guillotine under French law died today, which brings me back to my link below.
) Yes! I manage to hint at two things near and dear to me in one thread!
Today is going to be a wonderful day!!!
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