Today's Birthdays 8/18

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 8/18/08 at 10:13pm

Virginia Dare 8/18/1587 - before 1591, First English child born on Roanoke Island in what would become the United States, not far from where I grew up.

Antonio Salieri 8/18/1750 - 5/7/1825 Italian composer source material - AMADEUS

Otto Harbach 08/18/1873 - Jan 24, 1963 Writer, Lyricist, Composer - HIGH JINKS (Elaine Hammerstein); SUNNY; SONG OF THE FLAME (w/Geo. Gershwin); ROSE MARIE; THE CAT & THE FIDDLE; THE FIREFLY; NO NO NANETTE; ROBERTA; THE DESERT SONG; NEVER GONNA DANCE

Leo Slezak 8/18/1873 - 6/1/1946 Austrian opera singer and film comedian; father of Walter & grandfather of Erika & Victor Slezak

Gus Edwards 08/18/1879 - Nov 7, 1945 Producer, Composer, Writer, Lyricist, Director - ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1910 (Fanny Brice); TINTYPES

Moffat Johnston 08/18/1886 - Nov 3, 1935 Director, Performer - 6 CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR; 1923 HAMLET (John Barrymore; 1932 CAMILLE (Lillian Gish); origs THE STREETS OF NY (Dorothy Gish); TWENTIETH CENTURY (William Frawley, Eugenie Leontovich); FLOWERS OF THE FOREST (Katharine Cornell, Burgess Meredith)

Alan Mowbray 08/18/1896 - Mar 25, 1969 Writer, Director, Performer - ENTER LAUGHING (Vivian Blaine, Sylvia Sydney, Alan Arkin)

Frieda Altman 08/18/1904 - 1/14/2002 performer - orig CARRIE NATION; THE WALTZ OF THE TORREADORS (Ralph Richardson, Louise Kirtland); THE VISIT; A DISTANT BELL (Martha Scott); tv's & film's Failsafe; Ride With Terror (Vincent Gardenia, Gene Hackman, John Connell, John McMartin)

Don Keefer 08/18/1916 performer - DEATH OF A SALESMAN; FLIGHT INTO EGYPT (Paul Lukas, Zero Mostel, Jo Van Fleet, prod'd by Irene Mayer Selznick); tv's & film's All My Children; Quincy M.E.; Barnaby Jones; Gunsmoke; Rabbit Run; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Liar, Liar

Matt Mattox 08/18/1921 - Choreographer, Performer - CARNIVAL IN FLANDERS (Dolores Grey, John Raitt, dir. Preston Sturgis); SAY DARLING (Peter Howard, Robert Morse, Vivian Blaine, Johnny Desmond, David Wayne, Robert Downing, Sr., Elliott Gould); JENNIE (Mary Martin)

Jean Eckart 08/18/1921 - 9/6/1993 Producer, Designer - THE GOLDEN APPLE; SHE LOVES ME; OH DAD POOR DAD; ANYONE CAN WHISTLE; FLORA THE RED MENACE; MAME

Shelley Winters 08/18/1922 [ibdb says 1920] - 1/14/2006 performer, writer - ROSALINDA (Gene Barry); 0KLAHOMA [replacement]; origs A HATFULL OF RAIN (Ben Gazzara, Harry Guardino, Anthony Fanciosa); GIRLS OF SUMMER (Pat Hingle, George Peppard, Arthur Storch); MINNIE'S BOYS; EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS (Carol Kane); film's HARPER; A TOUCH OF BLUE; DIARY OF ANNE FRANK; BIG KNIFE; NIGHT OF THE HUNTER; A PLACE IN THE SUN

Robert Redford 08/18/1937 performer, director - THE HIGHEST TREE (Diana Douglas); LITTLE MOON OF ALBAN (Julie Harris); SUNDAY IN NEW YORK (Conrad Janis); BAREFOOT IN THE PARK (Elizabeth Ashly, Mildred Natwick); film's All the President’s Men, Quiz Show, Sneakers; Academy Award-winning director: Ordinary People [1980]; A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show; [my favs:] THE WAY WE WERE; THE HORSE WHISPERER [I cried buckets thru this 1, & especially love the theme song "A Soft Place To Fall"], The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Out of Africa [fabulous soundtrack]

Martin Mull 8/18/1943 performer - tv's & film's Roseanne, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Take This Job and Shove It, Portrait of a White Marriage, The History of White People in America

Patrick Swayze 08/18/1952 performer; choreographer - GOODTIME CHARLEY; 1996 Chicago [replacement]; 2006 Guys & Dolls; film's Dirty Dancing; Ghost; Grandview, U.S.A.

Craig Bierko 8/18/1965 (NYT & IMDB list Craig's BD as August 18; IBDB says July 18. I'm happy to celebrate it twice!] performer; Given title "Sexiest Broadway Star" from People Magazine. [November 2000]; Was originally cast as Chandler in "Friends." Turned down the role. - To Be Or Not To Be; 2000 The Music Man (Rebecca Luker); Thou Shalt Not; tv's & film's The Court; The Cinderella Man; The Long Kiss Goodnight; Sex & the City; Madman of the People; Cinderella Man; Scary Movie 4

Edward Norton 8/18/1969 performer - film's Fight Club, American History X, Keeping the Faith, The People vs. Larry Flynt, The Score; Kingdom of Heaven

Christian Slater [Christian Michael Leonard Hawkins] 08/18/1969 performer; husband of Ryan Haddon (2000 - 2005) divorced, 2 children; son of Mary Jo Slater & Michael Hawkins - 2005 The Glass Menagerie; COPPERFIELD (Beulah Garrick, Barrie Ingham, Mary Mastrontonio, Keith Perry, Mary Stout, Brian Matthews, Katharine Buffaloe; 1982 MACBETH (Nicol Williamson, Andrea Weber, Tom McDermott); MERLIN (Doug Henning, Chita Rivera, Pat Gorman, Nathan Lane); film's Windtalkers; Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Murder in the FirstY oung Guns, Interview with the Vampire, [my fav] Untamed Heart

Shows which opened on August 18:

1925 Texas Guinan and Jack Haley Sr. star in the revue Gay Paree, which opens a 190-performance run at the Shubert Theatre today.

1981 My Fair with Rex Harrison, Milo O'Shea, Cheryl Kennedy [replaced by] Nancy Ringham, Svetlana McLee Grody

2002 Broadway gets its first revival of The Boys From Syracuse since the 1939 original. The revival stars Tom Hewitt, Erin Dilly, Lee Wilkof, Chip Zien and Georgia Engel.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1958 The novel "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov was published.

1981 Playwright and screenwriter Anita Loos dies today. Her play, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, was the basis for the popular stage musical of the same name. That musical, which starred Carol Channing, was filmed with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in 1953.

1997 Beth Ann Hogan became the first coed in the Virginia Military Institute's 158-year history.

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

Milla