Today's Birthdays 9/7

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 9/7/08 at 10:01pm

Elizabeth I 9/7/1533 - 3/24/1603 Queen of England [1558-1603]: daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; the Elizebethan Era was named after her

Elia Kazan 09/07/1909 - 9/23/2003 Producer, Director, Performer, Other, Stage Manager - orig CHRYSALIS (Humphrey Bogart, Elisha Cook); would go on to direct the award-winning plays Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire; won 3 Academy Awards, including an honorary Oscar in 1999; Gentleman’s Agreement [1947], On the Waterfront [1954]; East of Eden, A Streetcar Named Desire , Splendor in the Grass, Viva Zapata!, Pinky, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Sir (John) Anthony Quayle 9/7/1913 - 10/20/1989 performer - tv's & film's The Bourne Identity, The Eagle Has Landed, MacKenna’s Gold, QB VII, 21 Hours at Munich, Anne of a Thousand Days, Lawrence of Arabia, The Wrong Man, The Guns of Navarone

Peter (Sidney Ernest Aylen) Lawford 9/7/1923 - 12/24/1984 performer - film's LITTLE WOMEN, Ocean’s 11, Mrs. Miniver, The Longest Day, Exodus, The Oscar, Harlow; member: Rat Pack;

Charles Braswell 09/07/1924 - May 17, 1974 performer - origs. A THURBER CARNIVAL (Peggy Cass, Tom Ewell, Paul Ford, Alice Ghostely, SAIL AWAY; WILD CAT; HOT SPOT (Joe Campanella, Judy Holliday, Carmen De Lavallade, Geo. Furth, Mary Louise Wilson); ME & THEE; I HAD A BALL; MAME; COMPANY

Francois Billetdoux 09/07/1927 - 11/29/1991 source material; Husband of Katarina Renn - TCHIN-TCHIN (Anthony Quinn, Charles Grodin, Margaret Leighton)

John Harkins 09/07/1932 - Mar 5, 1999 performer - orig. WEST SIDE STORY; MOTHER COURAGE & HER CHILDREN (Ann Bancroft, Barbara Harris, Zohra Lampert, John Randolph, Gene Wilder); ANTIGONE (Tandy Cronyn)

Buddy Holly 09/07/1936 - Feb 3, 1959 source material - BUDDY HOLLY STORY (Paul Hipp)

John Phillip Law performer 9/7/1937 - 5/13/2008 [Wow! His passing completely slipped by me!] Tartuffe (Hal Holbrook, Salome Jens, Tony Lo Bianco, Laurence Luckinbill, Michael O'Sullivan, Roy Scheider); The Changeling [Directed by Elia Kazan] (Faye Dunaway); film's The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming, Barbarella (he was exquisitly beautiful in this movie, IMHO even more so than Jane Fonda), The Love Machine; The Young and the Restless; Murder, She Wrote; The Cassandra Crossing; The Spiral Staircase; The Hawaiians; Hurry Sundown; Chinaman's Chance

Jerry Zaks 09/07/1946 Director, Performer - TINTYPES; LEND ME A TENOR (Philip Bosco, Jane Connell, Tova Feldshuh, Victor Garber, Ron Holgate, J. Smith-Cameron); 6 DEGREES OF SEPARATION; 1992 GUYS & DOLLS; FACE VALUE (Jane Krakowski, B.D. Wong, Mark Linn-Baker, Gina Torres); LAUGHTER ON THE 23rd FLOOR; A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM; EPIC PROPORTIONS (I LOOOOVED this Show. Also marks anniv. of it's opening night in 1999); 45 SECONDS FR BROADWAY; LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Saw this tonight 9/6 & had a great time! Didn't see it off-bway. Hunter Foster, Kerry Butler, Doug Sills, Rob Bartlett (reminded me exactly of Zero Mostel))

Julie Kavner 9/7/1951 performer - tv's & film's Emmy Award-winning actress: Rhoda [1977-78], The Simpson’s: voice of Marge Simpson [1991-92]; The Tracy Ullman Show, This is My Life, Radio Days, I’ll Do Anything, Hannah and Her Sisters

Kristin Griffith 09/07/1953 performer - A TEXAS TRILOGY: LU AMM HAMPTON LAVERTY OBERLANDER (Diane Ladd, Josh Mostel); A TEXAS TRILOGY: THE OLDEST LIVING GRADUATE (Fred Gwynne); tv's & film's Law & Order; The Long Way Home; Interiors

Corbin Bernsen 9/7/1954 performer - tv's & film's L.A. Law, Major League, Tales from the Hood, The Dentist, Major League: Back to the Minors, The Dentist II; Psych; Dead Air

Michael Feinstein 09/07/1956 performer, consultant; Feinstein's - MICHAEL FEINSTEIN CONCERT SERIES

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DAY:

1949 Diamond Lil with Mae West, Sylvia Syms (cabaret star)

1953 Anna Russell's Little Show

1999 Epic Proportions, a zany new comedy by Larry Coen and David Crane, begins tonight at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre. The show about the filming of an epic motion features Tony Award-winner Kristin Chenoweth and a number of other actors known for their comedic work: Alan Tudyk, Ruth Williamson, Ross Lehman and Richard B. Shull, who passed away during the show's brief run. Jerry Zaks directs. I think I was 1 of a handful that loved this show, but love it, I did.

2001 Performances begin for the Off-Broadway musical The Spitfire Grill at The Duke on 42nd. Starring Liz Callaway and Phyllis Somerville, the show by James Valcq and Fred Alley won the 2001 Richard Rodgers Production Award.

ON THIS DATE:

1927 American television pioneer Philo T. Farnsworth succeeded in transmitting an image through purely electronic means by using a device called an image dissector.

1947 Brooks Atkinson defends Arthur Miller in The New York Times, arguing that Miller’s All My Sons is not Communistic and calling the playwright “a young man of genuine talent for the stage.”

1966 - The final episode of the original The Dick Van Dyke Show was seen on CBS-TV. Van Dyke played Rob Petrie, the head comedy writer for The Alan Brady Show. Rob worked with two other comedy writers, Sally (Rose Marie) and Buddy (Morey Amsterdam), both of whom were good friends of Rob and his wife Laura (Mary Tyler Moore). Can still be seen in syndication.

1971 - After nine years and 216 shows, The Beverly Hillbillies was seen for the final time on CBS-TV. Not to weep for Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen), Granny (Irene Ryan), Elly Mae (Donna Douglas), Jethro Bodine (Max Baer, Jr.), Mr. Drysdale (Raymond Bayley), Miss Hathaway (Nancy Kulp) or the rest of the Hillbillies’ crew, however. The show has been in syndication since it left the network.

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

Milla