Today's Birthdays 6/20

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 6:03pm

Lillian Hellman 06/20/1905 - Jun 30, 1984 writer, dir; wife to Dashiell Hammett(?) - The Children's Hour, The Little Foxes, Another Part of the Forest, Watch on the Rhine and the book to Candide

Errol Flynn 06/20/1909 - 10/14/1959 performer - film's Captain Blood, In the Wake of the Bounty, The Charge of the Light Brigade, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Too Much Too Soon; autobiography: My Wicked, Wicked Ways

Ellis Rabb 06/20/1930 - Jan 11, 1998 Producer, Writer, Director, Performer, Artistic Director; Husband of Rosemary Harris (December 4, 1959 - 1967) divorced - origs Look After Lulu (Jack Gilford, Philippa Bevans, Roddy McDowall); War & Peace (Rosemary Harris, Donald Moffat); Exit the King (Patricia Connolly, Richard Easton, Eva Le Gallienne); The Grass Harp; 1975 The Royal Family; The Loves of Anatol (Michael Learned, Patricia Brooks [loved this singer!])

Olympia Dukakis 06/20/1931 performer; wife of Louis Zorich - The Aspern Papers; Who's Who in Hell; Social Security; film's Academy Award-winning actress: Moonstruck [1987]; Steel Magnolias, Working Girl, The Cemetery Club, Death Wish, Look Who’s Talking; cousin of U.S. presidential nominee, Michael Dukakis

Martin Landau 06/20/1931 performer; Husband of Barbara Bain (1957 - 1993) divorced - film's Academy Award-winning supporting actor: Ed Wood [1994]; Mission Impossible, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Tucker: The Man and His Dreams, By Dawn’s Early Light, Mistress, North by Northwest, Pork Chop Hill, Without A Trace, The Evidence

Danny Aiello 06/20/1933 performer; married to Sandy Cohen (1955 - present) 4 children - Lamppost Reunion; Gemini; Knockout; The House of Blue Leaves (Julie Hagerty, Stockard Channing, Ben Stiller); film's Lady Blue, Moonstruck, Do the Right Thing, Ruby, Mistress, Me and the Kid, The Cemetery Club, The Pickle, The Godfather Part 2, Fort Apache, The Bronx, Harlem Nights, Dellaventura, Brooklyn Lobster [for which he was pd $75 p/d]

John Mahoney 06/20/1940 performer; He was formerly an English professor who taught at many colleges. Met actor John Malkovich in a Chicago acting class, who encouraged him to join the Steppenwolf theater company. - Prelude to a Kiss; The House of Blue Leaves; tv's & film's Frasier, Cheers, The Human Factor, Primal Fear, In the Line of Fire, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Ten Million Dollar Getaway, Love Hurts, The Russia House, Tin Men, Moonstruck, The Manhattan Project

Chuck Wagner 06/20/1958 performer; Starred as Harrison Howell in the US Tour of Kiss Me Kate - 1984 The Three Musketeers; Into the Woods; 2004 Dracula, the Musical; tv's & film's General Hospital; The Sisterhood

Nicole Kidman 06/20/1967 performer; born in Hololulu, USA - The Blue Room; film's Bewitched; Days of Thunder; Far and Away; Malice; Batman Forever; Billy Bathgate; The Portrait of a Lady; Eyes Wide Shut; Practical Magic: Moulin Rouge

Josh Lucas 06/20/1971 performer; His parents organized campaigns against nuclear power plants and, for his safety, moved 30 times before he was 13 years old. - 2005 The Glass Menagerie (Jessica Lange, Christian Slater, Sarah Paulson); tv's & film's Snowy River: The McGregor Saga [1 of my fav tv series]; American Psycho; A Beautiful Mind; Coastlines; Sweet Home Alabama [ADORABLE IN THIS!; Empire Falls

AND A SPECIAL HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PETER FILICHIA!

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1910 Fanny Brice, born Fannie Borach, debuted in the New York production of the Ziegfeld Follies. It wasn’t long before Brice became known as America’s funny girl.

1929 The musical revue Hot Chocolates opens a 219-performance run today at the Hudson Theatre, featuring some of the great stars of Harlem nightclubs, including the Broadway debut of Louis Armstrong, and a score by Fats Waller, Harry Brooks and Andy Razaf.

1955 Almost Crazy with Kay Medford

1984 Design For Living with Jill Clayburgh, Frank Langella, Raul Julia, Lisa Kirk

1989 A musical version of Death of a Salesman? That's what the Jewish boy in The Loman Family Picnic dreams of writing while his family stresses about his bar mitzvah. The play by Donal Margulies opens at the Manhattan Theatre Club's City Center Stage 2.

2000 Composer-lyricist-librettist Kirsten Childs' musical about Viceca "Bubbly" Stanton, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin gets its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons. Wilfredo Medina directs and A.C. Ciulla choreographs the musical memoir starring LaChanze.

2003 Bounce, the first musical collaboration between composer Stephen Sondheim and director Hal Prince, opens a tryout in Chicago. It will move on to Washington DC and play out a limited run without opening in New York.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1837 - Princess Victoria became Queen Victoria of England on this day, following the death of her uncle, King William IV. The Princess was only 18 when she was called to rule Britannia. Her first duty, "Hey, let’s call this the Victorian Age! Party on, subjects!" said she. And so it was for over 63 years until her death in 1901.

1937 - W2XBS (later WCBS-TV) in New York City televised the first TV operetta. Pirates of Penzance, composed by Gilbert and Sullivan, was presented to a very small viewing audience. Television was a new, experimental medium at the time.

1948 - Toast of the Town premiered on CBS-TV. New York entertainment columnist and critic Ed Sullivan was the host. It started his TV career that would span 23 years on a weekly basis. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made their television debut on the show. Also on the guest list: Rodgers & Hammerstein and pianist Eugene List. The first show of Toast of the Town cost $1375 to produce, including just $375 for the talent.

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

Milla

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 6:05pm

These threads are the bane of my existence.

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 6/19/07 at 6:16pm

be that as it may, I love Gregory Peck. so there!

Milla

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 6/20/07 at 10:06am

bump