Today's Birthdays 7/27

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 7/26/05 at 7:32pm

Alexandre Dumas, fils 07/27/1824 - Nov 27, 1895 writer, source material - THE LADY OF THE CAMILLIAS; 1948 LA TRAVIATA; film's Teresa Stratas as LA TRAVIATA

Donald Crisp 07/27/1880 - May 25, 1974 Husband of Jane Murfin (1932 - 1944), performer - THE YANKEE PRINCE (George M., Helen, Josephine & Jerry Cohan); film's Pop in NATIONAL VELVET

Judith Lowry 07/27/1890 - Nov 29, 1976 performer - JB (Raymond Massey, Christopher Plummer, dir. Elia Kazan, by Archibald MacLeish); perf'd on Bway btwn Nov 27, 1916 & Jun 18, 1966!

Joseph Moncure March 07/27/1899 - Feb 14, 1977 writer, source mat'l - THE WILD PARTY

Leo ‘Lippy’ (Ernest) Durocher 7/27/1905 - 10/7/1991 source material - baseball: NY Yankees [World Series: 1928], Cincinnati Reds, SL Cardinals [World Series: 1934/all-star: 1936], Brooklyn Dodgers [all-star: 1938, 1940]; coach: LA Dodgers; “Nice guys finish last."

Gusti Huber 07/27/1914 - Jul 12, 1993 Grandmother of Samantha Mathis (, performer - origs. DIAL "M" FOR MURDER (Maurice Evans); DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

Keenan Wynn 07/27/1916 - Oct 14, 1986 performer son of Ed Wynn - THE MORE THE MERRIER (prod'd & staged by Otto Preminger); film's DR. STRANGELOVE; REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT

Beatrice Pearson 07/27/1920 performer - LILLIOM (Burgess Meredith, Elia Kazan, Constance Dowling)

Norman Lear 07/27/1922 producer - 1986 ARSENIC & OLD LACE (Tony Roberts, Jean Stapleton, Polly Holliday, Abe Vigoda); tv's ALL IN THE FAMILY; MAUDE; MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN & wrote for THE MARTHA RAYE SHOW; film's COME BLOW YOUR HORN; THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKEY'S; FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Vincent Canby 07/27/1924 - Oct 15, 2000 Sr. film critic for NYT from 1965-93; theatre critic from 1993 until his death.

Jerry Van Dyke 07/27/1930 performer Dick's bro - tv's MY MOTHER THE CAR; THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW; COACH

Barbara Ferris 07/27/1942 performer - There's a Girl In My Soup; tv's & film's Children of the Damned (Martin Miller, Bessie Love); The Strauss Family (Derek Jacobi, Jane Seymour); The Krays (Julia Migenes-Johnson)

Maureen McGovern 07/27/1949 performer - Little Women; PRIRATES OF PENZANCE; 1989 3 PENNY OPERA; Cabaret performer; recorded THERE'S GOT TO BE A MORNING AFTER

Maury Chayken 07/27/1949 - performer tv's & film's Cold Comfort, Dances with Wolves, WarGames, Mrs. Soffel, My Cousin Vinny, Cutthroat Island, The Mask of Zorro, Entrapment; Being Julia (Annette Bening, Jeremy Irons, Rosemary Harris)

Simon Jones 07/27/1950 performer - BENEFACTORS (Glenn Close, Mary Beth Hurt, Sam Waterston); Waiting in the Wings; tv's & film's Tattingers; 1994 Miracle on 34th Street; One Life to Live; The Devil's Own (Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt, George Hearn, Treat Williams, Rubén Blades)

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

2000 Nathan Lane stars as Sheridan Whiteside and Jean Smart stars as Lorraine Sheldon in the revival of the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman play, The Man Who Came to Dinner, which opens tonight at the Roundabout Theatre Company's new Broadway house, the American Airlines Theatre. Lane will probably be remembered more for his second starring role of the season, as Max Bialystock in The Producers which won him the Tony for Best Actor.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1940 Bugs Bunny made his debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."

1942 - Peggy Lee recorded her first hit record -- in New York City. With the backing of the Benny Goodman band, Miss Lee sang Why Don’t You Do Right for Columbia Records.

1982 Little Shop of Horrors begins a 2,209 performance run today at Off-Broadway's Orpheum Theatre. Based on the Roger Corman cult classic about a man-eating plant, this Alan Menken-Howard Ashman musical stars Lee Wilkof and Ellen Greene. The 1986 film version of the musical, directed by Frank Oz, will star Rick Moranis, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, John Candy, and Greene reprising her stage role as Audrey.

2003 Actor and comedian Bob Hope dies today at age 100. Though he's known primarily for his film career, he appeared in eight Broadway musicals in the late 1920s and early 1930s, notably Jerome Kern's Roberta, Cole Porter's Red, Hot and Blue! and Vernon Duke's Ziegfeld Follies of 1936.

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

Milla

[wildcat]

Posted: 7/26/05 at 7:58pm

Barbara Ferris was in the chorus of THE PAJAMA GAME in London in '55 or '56 which would have made her about 13 or 14. They started 'em young in those days!

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 9:44am

I'm not sure, but I think I saw Ferris on PBS in "The Strauss Family." Would like to see it again, as well as "The Krays." I wish BBC America would show more of the series fr the 60's & 70's, like "The Duchess of Duke Street" & both Lord Peter Wimsey series....

Milla
Updated On: 7/27/05 at 09:44 AM

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 7/27/05 at 4:11pm

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