Today's Birthdays 4/29
Today's Birthdays 4/29
#1Today's Birthdays 4/29
Posted: 4/29/07 at 12:21am
Duke Ellington 4/29/1899 - 5/24/1974 Edward Kennedy Ellington, who, taking the surname "Duke," became one of the 20th century's most important musician-composers. His Broadway shows, Beggar's Holiday and Pousse-Cafe, made little mark, but shows that draw on Ellington's music, such as Sophisticated Ladies and Play On!, are only likely to multiply in the century ahead.
Fred Zinnemann 4/29/1907 - 3/14/1997 director - film's Academy Award-winning director: High Noon [1952], From Here to Eternity [1953], A Man for All Seasons [1966]
Thomas Ewell 04/29/1909 - Sep 12, 1994 performer - They Shall Not Die (Ruth Gordon, Dean Jagger, Claude Raines); Ethan From (Raymond Massey, Ruth Gordon); Small Wonder (Joan Diener, Jack Cassidy, Tommy Rall, Mary McCarty); The Seven Year Itch (Vaness Brown, Joan Donovan); The Tunnel of Love (Darren McGavin, Nancy Olson); film's Tony Award-winning actor: The Seven Year Itch [1953]; The Tom Ewell Show, Easy Money
Celeste Holm 04/29/1919 performer, wife of Frank Basile (29 April 2004 - present), Wesley Addy (1961 - 31 December 1996) (his death), A. Schuyler Dunning (1946 - ?) (divorced) 1 son, Francis Davies (1940 - ?) (divorced), Ralph Nelson (1938 - 1939) (divorced) 1 son - Gloriana; orig The Time of Your Life; Oklahoma; Bloomer Girl; The King and I [replacement]; Interlock (Rosemary Harris, Maximilian Schell); Habeas Corpus (Jean Marsh, June Havoc, Richard Gere); The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall (Taina Elg); tv's & film's Academy Award-winning actress: Gentlemen’s Agreement [1947]; All About Eve, High Society, The Tender Trap, Three Men and a Baby, Alchemy, Promised Land
Richard Kline 04/29/1944 performer - 1971 Mary Stuart (Salome Jens, Nancy Marchand); Narrow Road to the Deep North (Cleavon Little); 1972 Twelfth Night (René Auberjonois, Blythe Danner)
John Waters 04/29/1946 writer, director, sourve mat'l - Hairspray; film's Eat Your Make Up!, Something Wild, Forever Hollywood, Sweet and Lowdown; director, writer: Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, Serial Mom
Jan A.P. Kaczmarek 4/29/1953 composer - Composer; Academy Award winner for "Finding Neverland" (2004). Jan's first success in the United States came in theater. After composing striking scores for productions at Chicago's Goodman Theatre and Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum, Jan won an Obie and a Drama Desk Award for his music for the New York Shakespeare Festival's 1992 production of John Ford's "Tis Pity She's A Whore," directed by JoAnne Akalaitis, starring Val Kilmer and Jeanne Tripplehorn. Educated as a lawyer, he abandoned his planned career as a diplomat to write music in order to finally gain freedom of expression. Jan is a film composer with scores to such films as "Total Eclipse", "Bliss", "Washington Square", "Aimée & Jaguar", "The Third Miracle", "Lost Souls", "Edges of the Lord", "Quo Vadis" and Adrian Lyne's "Unfaithful."
Jerry Seinfeld 04/29/1954 performer - Jerry Seinfeld: Live On Broadway; tv's Emmy Award-winning producer: Seinfeld [1992-1993]
Kate Mulgrew 04/29/1955 performer - White Liars & Black Comedy; o/b Tea At Five; tv's & film's Columbo, Ryan’s Hope, Roots, Daddy, Throw Momma from the Train; Voyager
Daniel Day-Lewis 4/29/1957 performer - film's Academy Award-winning actor: My Left Foot [1989]; The Unbearable Lightness of Being, In the Name of the Father, Age of Innocence, Gandhi, A Room with a View; Gangs of NY; The Ballad of Jack & Rose
Michelle Pfeiffer 4/29/1958 performer - film's Dangerous Liaisons, Batman Returns, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Grease 2, Ladyhawke, Scarface, The Witches of Eastwicke, The Age of Innocence; Deep End of the Ocean; Chasing Montana
Philip Lehl 04/29/1964 performer - Blood Brothers (Con O'Neill, Kerry Butler, Barbara Walsh, James Clow, Jan Graveson, Mark Michael Hutchinson); The Kentucky Cycle (Stacy Keach)
Uma Thurman 4/29/1970 - performer - film's The Truth about Cats and Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Mad Dog and Glory, Final Analysis, Robin Hood, Henry and June, Dangerous Liaisons, Kiss Daddy Goodnight, The Producers, The Women; The Accidental Husband; In Bloom
SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:
1940 Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne head the cast in Robert E. Sherwood's There Shall Be No Night. This drama describes the courage of the Finns recently overrun by Russian invaders. It plays at the Alvin Theatre on Broadway.
1968 - Hair made its way from Greenwich Village to to the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway. The show certainly opened eyes. It was the first time that actors appeared nude in a Broadway musical. Hair ran for 1,844 shows on and off Broadway. It was even more successful in its London run later. Big songs from the show: Hair (The Cowsills) and Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The 5th Dimension).
1990 A Change in the Heir with Judy Blazer, J.K. Simmons, Jan Neuberger, Brian Sutherland, Jeffrey Herbst, Jennifer Smith, Mary Stout - Yes, I had a great time at this show...
1996 It's "No Day But Today" for the cast of the Broadway sensation Rent, which opens tonight at the Nederlander Theatre. Michael Greif directs this musical that made names for such actors as Anthony Rapp (last season's You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown), Adam Pascal (AIDA), and Daphne Rubin-Vega (OB's Gum). Taye Diggs (from the movies "GO" and "How Stella Got Her Groove Back") and Idina Menzel, who were both showcased in Andrew Lippa's recent The Wild Party, also star. A total of five Tony nominations were given for this work, which was written by the late Jonathan Larson. Larson ironically never saw any of the success that his musical brought having died in January 1996 of an aortic anuerysm. His legend lives on, though, as the musical has continued to rack up over 1,000 performances on Broadway and a whopping total of 7 national and international companies, all of which have been theatrical powerhouses.
2001 Two-time Pulitzer winner August Wilson continues his epic chronicle of 20th century African-American life when King Hedley II opens on Broadway. Two Tony-winning musical comedy stars take on dramatic roles in the play: Brian Stokes Mitchell and Leslie Uggams.
2002 Broadway and TV comedian Carol Burnett makes her debut as a playwright when her Hollywood Arms, co-written with her daughter, Carrie Hamilton, opens at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. It will transfer to Broadway in late 2002.
2003 Enchanted April with Jayne Atkinson, Elizabeth Ashley, Molly Ringwald, Michael Hayden, Dagmara Dominczyk, Michael Cumpsty, Patricia Conolly
ON THIS DAY IN:
1429 Joan of Arc entered the besieged city of Orleans to lead a victory over the English.
1966 Paula Strasberg, an early member of the Actors Studio (with husband Lee) and also a drama coach, died today at age 55.
(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)
Milla
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