Today's Birthdays 4/3

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 4/4/04 at 12:01am

Washington Irving 4/3/1783 11/28/1859 author: Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, Life of Washington

Leslie Howard 04/03/1893 - Jun 1, 1943 Producer, Writer, Director, Performer; died in an act of war in the Bay of Biscay - Her Cardboard Lover (Jeanne Eagels); The Petrified Forest; Hamlet (Pamela Stanley); film's Petrified Forest, Scarlet Pimpernel, Intermezzo

George Jessel 04/03/1898 - May 24, 1981 husband of Florence Courtney (1919 - ?) divorced, Lois Andrews (1940 - 1943) divorced; 1 daughter;
Norma Talmadge (1934 - 1939) divorced; Vaudeville performer; childhood vaudeville partner of Eddie Cantor - The Passing Show of 1923; The Jazz Singer; Sweet and Low; film’s Valley of the Dolls, Diary of a Young Comic

Peggy Converse 04/03/1905 - Mar 2, 2001 performer; wife of Don Porter (1947 - 2/11/1997) his death - Miss Quis (Peggy Wood, Jessie Royce Landis, written by Ward Morehouse); Wuthering Heights (Don Terry, Edith Barrett)

Jan Sterling 04/03/1921 - Mar 26, 2004 performer; wife of John Merivale (1941-194 divorced; Paul Douglas (1950 - 1959) widowed - This, Too, Shall Pass (Sam Wanamaker); Present Laughter; Two Blind Mice (Melvyn Douglas); The Perfect Setup (Gene Barry, Angie Dickinson); Once for the Asking (Martin Ross); The November People
(Cameron Mitchell, Pamela Reed); film’s The Harder They Fall, Pony Express, High School Confidential, The Incident, Split Second

Marlon Brando 04/03/1924 performer, brother of Jocelyn Brando - I Remember Mama; Truckline Cafe; 1946 Candida; A Flag Is Born (Paul Muni, Steven Hill [debut]); A Streetcar Named Desire (Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter, Karl Malden); film’s Academy Award-winning actor: On the Waterfront [1954], The Godfather [1972]; Apocalypse Now, Last Tango in Paris, One-eyed Jacks; Emmy Award: Roots: Next Generation

Doris Day 4/3/1924 performer - film's Young at Heart, Pillow Talk, April in Paris, Lullaby of Broadway

Miyoshi Umeki 04/03/1929 performer – Flower Drum Song; tv’s & film’s Flower Drum Song, The Horizontal Lieutenant, Sayonara, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father

Marsha Mason 04/03/1942 performer, Wife of Neil Simon (1973 - 1981) divorced – Happy Birthday, Wanda June; The Good Doctor (Christopher Plummer, Rene Auberjonois, Frances Sternhagen, Barnard Hughes); 1996 The Night of the Iguana; film’s The Goodbye Girl, Cinderella Liberty, Blume in Love, Chapter Two, Heartbreak Ridge

Alec Baldwin 04/03/1958 performer – 1986 Loot; Serious Money; 1992 A Streetcar Named Desire; Short Talks on the Universe; 2004 20th Century; tv’s & film’s Pearl Harbor, The Hunt for Red October, Beetlejuice, The Getaway, Married to the Mob, Talk Radio, Working Girl, Miami Blues, Knots Landing

David Hyde Pierce 04/03/1959 performer - bway credits not available; tv's Frasier

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1958 Say, Darling - Vivian Blaine, Johnny Desmond, David Wayne, Elliott Gould, Peter Howard, Robert Morse

1961 The Happiest Girl in the World

ON THIS DAY IN:

1930 - The fledgling film industry patted itself on its collective back this night at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. They were celebrating the 2nd Annual Academy Awards presentation for movies made during the 1928-1929 year. (Movies made during the 1929-1930 year were honored seven months later on November 5.) There were no ‘officially’ announced nominees; but there was a host for the evening’s activities: Writer, director, producer William C. de Mille. No one ran away with all the awards either. The Best Director was Frank Lloyd for The Divine Lady; Warner Baxter was voted Best Actor for his role in In Old Arizona, while Mary Pickford took home the Best Actress award for her part in Coquette. Hanns Kräly penned the script for The Patriot, winning the Best Writing award and the Best Picture of the year was The Broadway Melody produced by Harry Rapf.

1978 - The stars came out to honor Star Wars and other films of 1977 at the 50th anniversary of the Academy Awards. Bob Hope starred as the host of the festivities at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Although Star Wars was nominated in 10 categories including Best Picture, Annie Hall (Charles H. Joffe, Producer) copped the top award, as well as Oscars for Best Director (Woody Allen); Best Actress (Diane Keaton); and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman). Star Wars didn’t get any of the other audience-thriller Oscars either. The Best Actor statuette went to Richard Dreyfuss for his performance in The Goodbye Girl; Jason Robards was acclaimed as the Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Julia); his supporting co-star, Vanessa Redgrave, also took home the golden boy; as did Joseph Brooks for Best Music/Song: You Light Up My Life from the movie with the same title. Don’t feel sorry for Star Wars. though. It was and is a favorite of many in and out of the industry and it was honored with six Academy Awards plus the Special Achievement honor to Benjamin Burtt, Jr. for Sound Effects (for the creation of the alien, creature and robot voices) which he shared with Frank Warner (Close Encounters of the Third Kind - Sound Effects Editing). The other Academy Awards for Star Wars were: Best Music/Original Score (John Williams)

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

Milla