Today's Birthdays 9/18
Today's Birthdays 9/18
#0Today's Birthdays 9/18
Posted: 9/17/05 at 10:25pm
Harold Clurman 09/18/1901 - Sep 9, 1980 Producer, Director, Performer, Husband of Stella Adler (1943 - 1960) divorced, founding member of the Group Theatre - THE GOAT SONG; PARADISE LOST; CASEY JONES (Charles Bickford, Van Heflin, Peggy Conklin, Charles J. Dingle, Joseph Sawyer, Eunice Stoddard); ROCKET TO THE MOON; ALL MY SONS; THE YOUNG & THE FAIR; THE TIME OF THE CUCKOO; THE EMPEROR'S CLOTHES; PIPE DREAM; A TOUCH OF THE POET; A SHOT IN THE DARK; film's Deadline at Dawn (Susan Hayward, Paul Lukas, Marvin Miller)
Greta Garbo 9/18/1905 - 4/15/1990 performer - film's Camille, Grand Hotel, Ninotchka, Mata Hari, The Painted Veil, Anna Christie
Agnes De Mille 09/18/1905 - Oct 6, 1993 director choreographer, niece of Cecil B. De Mille - 1936 HAMLET (Leslie Howard); OKLAHOMA; CAROUSEL; GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES; GOLDILOCKS; JUNO; KWAMINA; COME SUMMER (Ray Bolger)
Rossano Brazzi 9/18/1916 - 12/24/1994 performer - South Pacific, Three Coins in the Fountain, The Barefoot Contessa, A Certain Smile
Jack Warden (John Lebzelter) 09/18/1920 Emmy Award-winning performer; husband of Vanda Dupre (divorced); served in the 101st Airborne during the Second World War; fought in The Battle of the Bulge during WWII; boxed as a welterweight under the name "Johnny Costello" in his youth; fought on the same card as Charles Durning in Madison Square Garden - LULLABY (Mary Boland, Kay Medford); A VIEW FR THE BRIDGE; A VERY SPECIAL BABY (Sylvia Sidney, Jack Klugman, Luther Adler, Carl Low); THE BODY BEAUTIFUL; STAGES (Caroline Kava, Max Wright, Howland Chamberlin, Tom Aldredge); tv's & film's Brian’s Song, N.Y.P.D., Bad News Bears, Shampoo, From Here to Eternity, All the President’s Men, Donovan's Reef, The Wackiest Ship in the Army, The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing, Being There, A Dog of Flanders
Robert Blake (Michael James Vijencio Gubitosi) 9/18/1933 Sondra Blake (25 November 1961 - 1983) (divorced) 2 children; Bonnie Lee Bakley (15 November 2000 - 4 May 2001) (her death) 1 child, after over a year following her death, Blake was arrested for the murder of his wife Bonnie. He was acquitted on 16th March 2005. Almost had the role of Jim Rockford on "The Rockford Files" (1974), but Stephen J. Cannell thought that, since Rockford didn't like to fight, the diminuitive Blake would have seemed too cowardly in the role. To prepare for the role of Hannibal Lecter, Anthony Hopkins had watched Blake's performance in In Cold Blood (1967) several times (Hopkins said this having visited Blake, whom he didn't know personally, in prison after being accused of murdering his wife). Passed on Ratzo Ritzo in Midnight Cowboy (1969), and lost out on a role in The Godfather (1972) (presumably in the role of Michael or Sonny). He also turned down the role of Angel in The Wild Bunch (1969) - Emmy Award-winning performer: Baretta [1974-75]; film's In Cold Blood; Pork Chop Hill; PT 109;Our Gang series; Little Beaver & Red Ryder series
Fred Burrell 09/18/1936 performer - ILYA DARLING (Merlina Mercouri, Orson Bean, Hal Linden, Johnny La Motta); JUDGMENT AT NUREMBURG (Maximillian Schell, Geo. Grizzard, Robt Foxworth, Marthe Keller, Michael Hayden)
Anna Deavere Smith 09/18/1950 writer, performer, Other plays include "Fires in the Mirror" and "House Arrest." She teaches at both NYU's Law School and its Tisch School of the Arts - TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES 1992; tv's WEST WING
William Ryall 09/18/1954 performer - Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; ME & MY GIRL; GRAND HOTEL; BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE GOES PUBLIC; 1995 HOW TO SUCCEED; HIGH SOCIETY; 1999 AMADEUS; SEUSSICAL
James Gandolfini 09/18/1961 performer - 1992 A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE; ON THE WATERFRONT (Ron Eldard, Kevin Conway, Jerry Grayson [suffered a heart attack on stage during a press preview]; tv's & film's Emmy Award-winning actor: The Sopranos [2000, 2001]; A Stranger Among Us, Terminal Velocity, Crimson Tide, Get Shorty
SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:
1911 Disraeli, a new drama, opens tonight on Broadway at the Wallack's Theatre. It stars George Arliss as the British prime minister in this play by Louis N. Parker. Arliss' memorable performance gains him so much credit, he is asked to reprise his role in the film version. This stage production ran 280 performances on Broadway.
1925 The first musical comedy hit of Rodgers and Hart opens tonight at the Knickerbocker Theatre. It is Dearest Enemy, which contained Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's music and lyrics and Herbert Fields' words. "Here in My Arms" and "By and Bye" are two popular songs that come from this musical. They were sung by the stars of the show, who were three superstars of the era: Helen Ford, Flavia Arcaro and Charles Purcell. The show will run 286 performances.
1940 Johnny Belinda - Helen Craig, Horace McNally. Oh how I loved Jane Wyman's movie of this.
1968 Lovers & Other Strangers - Dick Van Patten, Renee Taylor, Mary Louise Wilson
1985 Song and Dance - an interpretation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's music, opens tonight at the Royale Theatre. Bernadette Peters, Christopher D'Amboise, Gregg Burge (wonderful dance, & school friend), Scott Wise. The show included the music of Lloyd Webber's album "Variations" and the songs from a cycle by Webber and Don Black called Tell Me on a Sunday. It ran 474 performances.
2001 Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren star in a Broadway revival of Dance of Death. Also on this date, Reefer Madness, a musical based on the campy anti-drug film, opens Off-Broadway.
ON THIS DAY IN:
1927 The Columbia Broadcasting System was born on this day. The Tiffany Network, as CBS was called, broadcast an opera, The King’s Henchman, as its first program.
1948 - The Original Amateur Hour returned to radio on ABC, two years after the passing of the program’s originator and host, Major Bowes. Bowes brought new star talent into living rooms for 13 years. Ted Mack, the new host, had also started a TV run with The Original Amateur Hour on the DuMont network in January of 1948.
1955 - What had been The Toast of the Town on CBS Television (since 194
became The Ed Sullivan Show. This “rilly big shew” remained a mainstay of Sunday night television until June 6, 1971.
1965 - Larry Hagman (Captain Tony Nelson) and Barbara Eden (Jeannie) starred in the first episode of I Dream of Jeannie on NBC-TV making weekly magic that lasted until September 1, 1970.
1968 actor Franchot Tone died of lung cancer in NYC. I remember a wonderful story about how ex-wife Joan Crawford helped to take care of him til his death.
(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com’s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com)
Milla
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