Today's Birthdays 6/10 - Tonys Break

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 8:51pm

Hattie McDaniel 6/10/1895 - 10/26/1952 American actress and singer - film's Academy Award-winning actress: Gone with the Wind [1939]: 1st African-American to win Oscar; Judge Priest, The Little Colonel, Showboat, Saratoga, Since You Went Away

John Gilbert 06/10/1899 - Jan 9, 1936 composer; performer; left at the alter by Garbo; His performances after that were devoid of the sparkle that he once had and he began to drink heavily. Added to that, the whole industry was moving towards sound and while his voice was not as bad as some had thought, it would not match the image that he portrayed on the screen. Even his characters had changed in such films as 'Redemption (1930)' and 'Way for a Sailor (1930)'. He was no longer the person that bad things happened to, but he now was the cause of bad things which happen. MGM would do little to help John adjust to the new sound medium as Mayer and Gilbert had a fierce and nasty confrontation over Garbo. John was still under contract to MGM for a very large salary, but the money meant little to him. His contract ran out in 1933 after he appeared in 'Fast Workers' as a riveter. Greta would try to restore some of his image when she insisted that he play opposite her in 'Queen Christina (1933)', but, by then it was too late. He would appear in only one more film and would die of a heart attack in January 1936. - Street Singer (Cesar Romero, Jack Kelly [Grace's uncle]); film's His Hour; The Big Parade; 'La Boheme (1926) (Lillian Gish); A Woman of Affairs (Garbo); Flesh & the Devil

Frederick Loewe 6/10/1901 - 2/14/1988 Producer, Composer, Arranger - Great Lady (the great opera singer Dorothy Kirsten played the maid in this show; Tullio Carminati; Irene Bordoni); show's & film's Oscar-winning composer: Gigi [1958], My Fair Lady, Brigadoon, Camelot, Paint Your Wagon [w/lyricist Alan Jay Lerner]

Robert Cummings 6/10/1908 - 12/2/1990 performer - The Roof; Ziegfeld Follies of 1934; The Wayward Stork (Art Lund, Lois Nettleton); tv's & film's Emmy Award-winning actor: Twelve Angry Men [1954]; Love That Bob, The Bob Cummings Show, My Hero, Dial "M" for Murder, The Carpetbaggers

Judy Garland 6/10/1922 - 6/22/1969 performer; mother of Liza Minnelli and Lorna & Joey Luft; wife of Sid Luft (1952 - 1965) divorced, Mark Herron (1964 - 1967) divorced, Mickey Deans (1969 - June 22, 1969) her death, Vincente Minnelli (1945 - 1951), divorced, David Rose (1941 - 1945) divorced - Her Broadway experience consisted of three concert shows, Judy Garland at the Palace: Two-a-Day in 1951, Judy Garland in 1959, and Judy Garland at Home at the Palace; film's The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, A Star is Born, Easter Parade, The Harvey Girls, Judgment at Nuremberg

June Haver 6/10/1926 – 7/4/2005 performer; She had announced, the year before, that she would become a nun after her studio contract ran out. True to her word, she entered the convent. She only stayed a few months. It was after she left the convent that she was seen with Fred MacMurray. After they were wed, the couple adopted twin girls. June's last foray into the glare of the camera lights was when she played herself in the television production of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour. She still lives on the ranch she shared with her husband who died on November 5, 1991. - film's The Dolly Sisters, Look for the Silver Lining, Love Nest

Lionel Jeffries 6/10/1926 director – 1987 Pygmalion; film's Water Babies, Wombling Free, Amazing Mr. Blunden, The Railway Children; actor: Jekyll and Hyde, Prisoner of Zenda, Lola, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Those Fantastic Flying Fools, Oh Dad Poor Dad [Momma’s Hung You in the Closet & I’m Feeling So Sad], Camelot, Fanny, The Revenge of Frankenstein, Bhowani Junction

Kevin Corcoran 6/10/1949 performer - film's A Tiger Walks, Johnny Shiloh, Savage Sam, The Shaggy Dog, my fav Old Yeller; played Tommy Kirk's brother in five different films: Old Yeller (1957), The Shaggy Dog (1959), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Bon Voyage! (1962) and Savage Sam (1963). Savage Sam was the sequel to Old Yeller , following the adventures of the Coates brothers and Savage Sam, son of Old Yeller.

Andrew Stevens 6/10/1955 performer; dir.; son of actress, Stella Stevens; Kate Jackson's ex - film's Code Red, Dallas, Emerald Point N.A.S., Illicit Dreams, Scorned, The Terror Within, The Bastard, The Rebel; producer: Crash Dive, The Boy Who Saved Christmas, A Murder of Crows, Submerged

Wendy Makkena 06/10/1963 performer – 1987 Pygmalion; 1989 Lend Me a Tenor [replacement]; Side Man

Gina Gershon 06/10/1966 performer; Juilliard alum - Cabaret [replacement]; tv's & film's Basic Instinct; Sliding Doors (Gwyneth Paltrow); Big Love (Bill Paxton)

Alisa Klein 06/10/1971 performer - Beauty and the Beast; Grease [replacement]; Thoroughly Modern Millie

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1976 Neil Simon's California Suite opens on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The play about couples and their troubles with each other and other couples stars Tammy Grimes, George Grizzard, Jack Weston, Leslie Easterbrook and Barbara Barrie. The production will run through the next year playing 445 performances before closing July 2, 1977.

1982 Harvey Fierstein's play, Torch Song Trilogy, opens on Broadway. The comedy-drama, which will go on to run 1222 performances and win the Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play. Besides Fierstein the production features pre-"Golden Girls" Estelle Getty. The play is actually composed of three one-acts focusing on homosexuality and family values. Fierstein and Matthew Broderick will co-star in the film version.

1993 She Loves Me with Judy Kuhn, Boyd Gaines, Sally Mayes & Louis Zorich

1999 Harry Groener plays Noel Coward to Twiggy's Gertrude Lawrence in Sheridan Morley's If Love Were All opening Off-Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. The musical revue, which focuses on the relationship between the actress and her friend and frequent co-star, playwright Coward, is directed by Leigh Lawson.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1801 The North African state of Tripoli declared war on the United States in a dispute over safe passage of merchant vessels through the Mediterranean.

1935 Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio, by William G. Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith.

On June 10, 1967, the Six-Day War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a United Nations-mediated cease-fire.

1973 Playwright William Inge commits suicide in Hollywood, California. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for the drama Picnic. He also penned Come Back, Little Sheba, Bus Stop, and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. He is 60 years old.

1985 Socialite Claus von Bulow was acquitted by a jury in Providence, R.I., on charges he'd tried to murder his heiress wife, Martha 'Sunny' von Bulow.

2001 Several high-profile Broadway shows close after being shut out of the Tony Awards. Despite a last-minute cash infusion from songwriter Alanis Morrisette, Jane Eyre ends a six-month money-losing run. Also closed today, Ed Kleban musical A Class Act and Faith Prince's Bells Are Ringing revival.

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

Milla