Today's Birthdays 7/26

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 7/26/04 at 10:05am

George Bernard Shaw 07/26/1856 - 11/2/1950 Writer, Source Material, Director – MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION; PYGMALIAN; CAESAR & CLEOPATRA; MAJOR BARBARA; THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER; SAINT JOAN; HEARTBREAK HOUSE; YOU NEVER CAN TELL; My Fair Lady

Aldous Huxley 07/26/1894 - Nov 22, 1963 source material, writer – THE GIOCONDA SMILE; THE DEVILS; books BRAVE NEW WORLD

Gracie Allen 07/26/1895 - 8/27/1964 (NYT says 1905; Those Were The Days says 1906) - Aug 27, 1964 George Burns’ wife, Vaudeville, radio, television and stage actress, source material – GOODNIGHT GRACIE

Herbert Fields 07/26/1897 - Mar 24, 1958 writer, dir., performer, son of Lew Fields, brother of Joseph & Dorothy – HIT THE DECK; 50 MILLION FRENCHMEN; DU BARRY WAS A LADY; PANAMA HATTI; UP IN CENTRAL PARK; KISS ME KATE; BY THE BEAUTIFUL SEA; RED HEAD; I HAD A BALL

Vivian Vance 07/26/1909 - 8/17/1979 performer – ANYTHING GOES; RED, HOT & BLUE; SKYLARK (Gertrude Lawrence); MY DAUGHTER, YOUR SON (Dody Goodman, Robert Alda); tv’s Emmy Award-winning actress: I Love Lucy [1953]; The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, Lucy in Connecticut, The Lucy Show

Paula Bauersmith 07/26/1909 performer – origs LET FREEDOM RING (Will Geer, Tom Ewell); SAIL AWAY; BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S; 1950 20th CENTURY (Jose Ferrer, Gloria Swanson, Werner Klemperer)

Marjorie Lord 07/16/1918 performer - tv's & film's The Danny Thomas Show (I loved this show); Sweet Surrender, Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!, Riding High, Sherlock Holmes in Washington

Virginia Gilmore 07/26/1919 - Mar 28, 1986 performer, Yul Brynner’s ex – CRITIC’S CHOICE (Henry Fonda)

Jacqueline Babbin 07/26/1921 - Oct 6, 2001 producer – RING AROUND THE BATHTUB (Eliz Ashley, Carol Kane, Richard Mulligan)

Jean Shepherd 07/26/1921 - Oct 16, 1999 writer, husband of Lois Nettleton (1961 - 1967) divorced – NEW FACES OF ‘62

Blake Edwards 07/26/1922 producer, dir. – VICTOR/VICTORIA; tv's & film’s PINK PANTHER; 10; VICTOR/VICTORIA; BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY; DAYS OF WINE & ROSES; PETER GUNN

Jason Robards Jr. 07/26/1922 - 12/26/2000 performer Obie Award Winner son of actor Jason Robards Sr., Lauren Bacall’s ex, father of Jake & Sam – DISENCHANTED; 1000 CLOWNS; TOYS IN THE ATTIC; COUNTRY GIRL; ICEMAN COMETH; NO MAN’S LAND; film’s PHILADELPHIA; ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN; ST. VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE

Stanley Kubrick 07/26/1928 - 3/7/1999 director - film's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY; SPARTACUS; DR. STRANGELOVE; THE SHINING; A CLOCKWORKORANGE; LOLITA; PATHS OF GLORY

Barbara Jefford 07/26/1930 performer – TIGER AT THE GATES (Michael Redgrave, written by Jean Giraudoux); 1959 12th NIGHT (Joss Ackland, Judi Dench)

Darlene Love 07/26/1941 performer – origs. LEADER OF THE PACK; CARRIE

Santo Loquasto 07/26/1944 designer – BOOM BOOM ROOM; DOLL’S HOUSE (Liv Ullman, Sam Waterston, Judith Light); MISS MARGARIDA’S WAY; KING OF HEARTS; SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN; RAGTIME; 1995 MONTH IN THE COUNTRY; 2003 LONG DAY’S JOURNEY

Helen Mirren 07/26/1945 (Ilyena Lydia Mironoff, decended fr Russian nobility) performer – 1995 MONTH IN THE COUNTRY (F. Murray Abraham, Ron Rifkin); DANCE OF DEATH (Ian McKellen); tv’s Prime Suspect series, The Hawk, White Knights; has been described as “the ultimate thinking man's sex symbol”

Kevin Spacey 07/26/1959 performer, known as Kevin Fowler at Juilliard – GHOSTS (Liv Ullman); LONG DAYS JOURNEY; LOST IN YONKERS; ICEMAN COMETH; Oscars: American Beauty [1999]; Academy Award-winning supporting actor: The Usual Suspects [1995]; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, L.A. Confidential; A Time To Kill

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1955 The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company presents King Lear. Sir John Gielgud, Helen Cherry and Claire Bloom star in this latest production of the Shakespearean tragedy.

1999 Andrea Martin is The Cat in the Hat in the workshop of the new Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical, The Seussical (later known as Seussical the Musical, and then just Seussical ) in Toronto. Director Frank Galati helms a cast that includes Kevin Chamberlin, Jason Fuchs, Janine LaManna, David Lowenstein, Michelle Pawk, and others. The musical based on the work of late children's author Dr. Seuss (real name: Theodore Geisel) will open at Broadway's Richard Rodgers Theatre Nov. 30, 2000.

ON THIS DAY IN:

On this day in 1775, a postal system was established by the 2nd Continental Congress of the United States. The first Postmaster General was the same gentleman who graces the U.S. $100 bill and who flew a kite with a key attached in a thunderstorm -- Benjamin Franklin. Mr. Franklin was paid $1,000 a year for his job as Postmaster General.

1908 Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte issued an order creating an investigative agency that was a forerunner of the FBI. Presidential Cabinet Secretary. The youngest grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon's youngest brother, and Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore. [When I studied at Peabody in Balto., my apt. on Mt. Vernon Place was in Elizabeth Patterson's home.] He met Theodore Roosevelt at Harvard Law School. After he became President, Roosevelt appointed him United States Attorney General. In that capacity, C.J. Bonaparte founded the FBI and broke up the American Tobacco Trust. He was known as "Charlie the Crook Chaser."

1952 Argentina's first lady, Eva Peron, died in Buenos Aires at age 33.

(sources: IBDB, NYT On This Day, & 440.com’s Those Were The Days, playbill.com)

Milla

[ckeaton]

Posted: 7/26/04 at 10:42am

ckeaton 7/26/1978 IT Consultant, and BroadwayWorld.com poster.

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 7/26/04 at 11:32am

ck, Happy Birthday! You're in great company. Helen Mirren is just about my fav. actress alive.

Milla

[ckeaton]

Posted: 7/26/04 at 12:07pm

Both Helen Mirren and Kevin Spacey are excellent in my view!