Today's Birthdays 9/15 - Robert Benchley, Agatha Christie, Bobby Short, Tommy Lee Jones

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Today's Birthdays 9/15 - Robert Benchley, Agatha Christie, Bobby Short, Tommy Lee Jones#0

Posted: 9/14/03 at 8:51pm

Robert Benchley 09/15/1889 - Nov 21, 1945 father of Nathaniel Benchley, grandfather of Peter Benchley, performer, writer 1889 Robert Benchley, the acclaimed actor, critic, and humorist of the early Twentieth Century, was born today. Benchley was married to Gertrude Darling and made his stage debut in this month in 1923. An example of his incredible wit can be seen in his 1926 review of Jean Bart's Squall, which is about a gypsy woman who leaves her people to satisfy her lusts with an outsider. Included in the dialogue is: "Me Nubi. Nubi good girl. Nubi stay." Responding in his review, Benchley states, "Me Benchley. Benchley bad boy. Benchley go." Tallulah Bankhead, who was a friend of his, called him "as gay and thirsty a gentleman as I ever encountered." - THE MUSIC BOX REVIEW [1923] (Grace Moore into'd ALL ALONE BY THE TELEPHONE); film's

Agatha Christie 09/15/1890 - Jan 12, 1976 source material, writer - 10 LITTLE INDIANS; WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (Una O'Connor, Francis L. Sullivan)

Alexander Kirkland 09/15/1901 - Producer, Writer, Director, Performer, Husband of Gypsy Rose Lee (1942 - 1944) divorced - OUTWARD BOUND (Vincent Price)

Fay Wray 09/15/1907 Wife of John Monk Saunders (June 15, 1928 - 1939) divorced, Wife of Robert Riskin (1942 - 1955) his death, performer - NIKKI (Archie Leach [aka Carey Grant] MR. BIG (Robert Whitehead, Barry Sullivan, Betty Furness, Hume Cronyn, GOLDEN WINGS (Signe Hasso)

Jackie Cooper 09/15/1921 performer, Husband of Hildy Parks (1950 - 1951) divorced - MAGNOLIA ALLEY (Julie Harris, Anne Jackson, Bibi Osterwald, Hildy Parks); REMAINS TO BE SEEN (Janis Page, Ossie Davis); KING OF HEARTS (Cloris Leachman); fav film: THE CHAMP; SKIPPY; SUPERMAN series; TREASURE ISLAND; OUR GANG SERIES; tv's THE PEOPLE'S CHOICE (loved this show)

Bobby Short 9/15/1924 - pianist, singer, performer - performing in cabaret at the Carlyle for umpty-ump decades; regular on 1st Playboy TV series; autobiography: Black & White Baby

Henry Silva 9/15/1928 performer - The Bravados, Green Mansions, Oceans Eleven, The Manchurian Candidate, Johnny Cool, Sharky’s Machine, Above the Law, Dick Tracy

Roy Brocksmith 09/15/1945 - Dec 16, 2001 performer - 1976 3PENNY OPERA (Raul Julia, Blair Brown); 1977 TARTUFFE (Victor Garber, Tammy Grimes, John Wood); STAGES (Jack Warden); THE 3 MUSKETEERS (Liz Callaway)

Tommy Lee Jones 09/15/1946 performer - A PATRIOT FOR ME ([TLJ's debut] Maximillion Schell, Dennis King); 4 IN A GARDEN; ULYSSES IN NIGHTTOWN (Zero Mostel, Swen Swenson, David Ogden Stiers [debut], Margery Beddow [my director]); film's THE FUGITIVE; tv's ONE LIFE TO LIVE (used to see him all the time in my UWS neighborhood)

Michael Countryman 09/15/1955 performer - FACE VALUE [never officially opened] (Jane Krakowski, Mark Linn-Baker, B.D. Wong); 1995 HOLIDAY (Tony Goldwynn); 1999 NIGHT MUST FALL (Matthew Broderick)

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris 09/15/1972 (Elly Stone)

1976 Ntozake Shange's For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf opens on Broadway at the Booth Theatre following a run at the Public Theatre. The drama, featuring seven female characters represented by colors of the rainbow, combines poetry and dance to explore the plight of women. Shange herself is in the cast of the production, which runs 742 performances.

Man of La Mancha 09/15/1977 - Richard Kiley, Emily Yancy

1980 - The Elephant Man made its debut on Broadway with rock singer David Bowie in his acting debut.

ON THIS DAY IN:

1938 Thornton Wilder performs today as the Stage Manager in Our Town on Broadway. Although he is the author, he is filling in for the vacationing Frank Craven. Since the playwright was performing, he took the liberty of putting back in some of his own words that producer Jed Harris had cut for the run. During this run, Wilder's acting is reported by John Mason Brown, a critic of the time, as better than Sinclair Lewis' performance in the dramatization of his own novel, "It Can't Happen Here."

1965 - It was a grand time in Hooterville. Oliver (Wendell) Douglas and his socialite wife Lisa; storekeeper Sam Drucker; Arnold the Pig and a whole bunch of funny neighbors showed up at Green Acres on CBS-TV. Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor headed a memorable cast in this, the first of six seasons on the network.

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

Milla