Showbiz History: Irene Dunne's Near-Record, Brittany Murphy's Untimely Death, Scream's Release
Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 7:00AM Today in showbiz history if you need something to celebrate with the world ending* and all...
*too dramatic? That's what it feels like lately, is all...
1812 "Grimm's Fairy Tales" is published. They never stop influencing popular culture thereafter.
1880 Broadway gets the nickname "The Great White Way" when it's first lit up by electricity
1892 Phileas Fog completes his trip 'round the globe in the novel Around the World in Eighty Days (later adapted to the screen)
1898 Irene Dunne, one of the greatest actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age was born on this day in Kentucky. She went on to five leading actress nominations (my favorite is The Awful Truth, 1937) without ever winning.
WHY THAT'S A BIG DEAL IN OSCAR HISTORY IS REVEALED AFTER THE JUMP...
Only Deborah Kerr received more leading actress nominations without a competitive win than Dunne with six. Annette Bening could tie for third place in this particular list if she is nominated this year. If you must have lists ('yes, we must,' I hear you shout in unison!)... it goes like so. (Asterisks indicate honorary Oscars)
1915 Australia troops are evacuated from Gallipoli during World War I. Have you ever seen Peter Weir's acclaimed war drama Gallipoli (1981) starring a very young Mel Gibson?
1919 Gloria Swanson weds the second of her six husbands
1920 The German actress Bruni Löbel is born and goes on to a super long career including co-starring with Montgomery Clift in The Big Lift thirty years later
1921 The wonderful director George Roy Hill, whose classics include The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, A Little Romance, and Thoroughly Modern Millie, is born in Minneapolis
1933 Flying Down to Rio opens in New York City
1946 It's a Wonderful Life gets a charity showing in New York the day before its "official" premiere
1950 Harvey starring Jimmy Stewart premieres
1952 Logan's Run beauty Jenny Agutter (last seen in a spiffy cameo in Captain America: Winter Soldier) is born in Somerset England
1960 Director Kim Ki-Duk (Spring Summer Fall Winter... and Spring) is born in South Korea
1962 The Osmond Brothers make their first appearance on the Andy Williams Show
1965 The Beach Boys release "Barbara Ann"
1966 Sand Pebbles is released. The Robert Wise picture is nominated for 8 Oscars but wins nothing.
1967 The Graduate, an instant then enduring classic, premieres.
1974 The Godfather Part II opens. It wins Best Picture just like Part I did two years prior.
1981 Dreamgirls opens on Broadway. It goes on to win 6 Tonys but loses Best Musical to Nine which wins only 5. They both become Oscar movies in the Aughts (though not Best Picture nominees) but only Dreamgirls is a hit in its big screen version.
1983 Two time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill (yes, it's still weird to type that) is born in Los Angeles
1985 The cult sci-fi drama Enemy Mine (with Dennis Quaid) hits theaters but it's no match for twin Oscar titans and smash hits that had opened two days before on a Wednesday: Out of Africa and The Color Purple
1987 Barbra Streisand's ill fated Nuts premieres
1991 Oliver Stone's JFK opens. It receives 8 oscar nominations and 2 wins (Cinematography + Editing)
1996 Scream hits theaters. I saw it opening night next to a guy I was about to fall in love with (and several other friends - a group outing) and I was so embarrassed at how scared I was while everyone else was laughing. Do you remember your first time with this one?
2002 Gangs of New York hits theaters. Inexplicably goes on to receive 10 Oscar nominations even though it's one of Scorsese's worst
2007 Queen Elizabeth becomes the oldest monarch ever to reign in the UK, surpassing Queen Victoria (who died at 81 years of age), months after Helen Mirren wins the Oscar for playing her.
2009 The very talented Brittany Murphy (Clueless, Girl Interrupted) dies suddenly at only 32 years of age. She had been largely absent from movie theaters since one of her very best performances as the titular doomed girl in the female ensemble drama The Dead Girl (2006).
2019 Rumored release date of the movie version of Wicked. We'll believe it when we see it.
Reader Comments (13)
Annette is our Hillary.
Dreamgirls is being revived in London by Amber Riley!
Amy Adams had better win an Oscar this year, go gurl!!
HOLLA at young Mel..
Like a lot of people my age, I watched Scream for the first time on VHS at a friend's house and definitely found it more scary than funny back then (although time has changed that). It's one of my favourite horror movie ensembles - if only other teen slashers knew how to draw its supporting players so well!
i still get way sad when reminded of brittany murphy's untimely exit
Scream is not just one of my favorite horror films. But it's one of my favorite movies.
Also, it's such a shame about Brittany Murphy. She was so talented. May she rest in peace.
I remember going to see dumb fun movies like Little Black Book solely for Brittany Murphy... she could take the most throw-away vehicle and turn it into something special... Also amazing in Sin City... God I miss her!
Wow, what a great day! Four actress-sexual bullet points:
1. Amber Riley is playing Effie right now in the London revival (or it may be it's first time in the UK?) of Dreamgirls and I'm sure she is slaying it.
2. I was 6 when I first saw Scream and remember being completely in awe by the three women of it: 90's queens Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and Rose McGowan. Can someone throw them some work?
3. I was just watching YouTube clips of Brittany Murphy's Broadway run of A View from the Bridge the other day. What a tremendous talent. Thankfully her laugh is preserved in film.
4. Re: Wicked casting - after watching Hairspray Live! I firmly believe Dove Cameron should be Galinda. How fitting since she portrayed Cheno's daughter in the show.
Deborah Kerr and Annette Bening reprised the character Terry McKay played by Irene Dunne in Love Affair (1939). Respectively in An Affair to Remember (1957) and Love Affair (1994). Is there any curse in this role/story?
Possibly the most succinct explanation for Mirren's unstoppable victory march past such formidable competition that year.
My first go round with Scream, I stopped watching towards the end of Drew scene because OMG too intense. Then, I switched VHS to Liar Liar, a true horror of different kind.
Several years later, I've decided to give Scream another go. I love it. So witty and very influential.
Brittany Murphy's death will always remain a hollywood mystery to me. I recalled her (ex?) husband died suspiciously the following year? Something's not right.
I have always considered Gallipoli to be my favorite male friendship movie (Julia is my favorite female friendship movie). Still, I've probably only been able to handle the sadness of it once or twice. Mark Lee and Mel Gibson are iconically movie star handsome.
Irene Dunne's dance at the 4:00 minute mark is one of my favorites and I can only imagine how incendiary it was in the 1930s:
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/235676/Show-Boat-Movie-Clip-Can-t-Help-Lovin-Dat-Man.html
I adore Irene Dunne. The whole package: beautiful, singing, dancing, comedy, drama. Yet seemingly down-to-earth and approachable. Penny Serenade gets me every time. Does anyone else see a resemblance to Sarah Lancashire?
Yay for Amber Riley! My kids are binge-watching Glee for the first time and it's lovely to remember how great those first few seasons were and how insanely talented the cast is. Walking through the room I heard Lea Michele and Amber in a duet from the B&W holiday episode. Man, those girls can sing.
Kerr was the runner-up for so many times!! 1949, 1956, 1957 & arguably 1953 when she was cast against type for From Here to Eternity & she shld've won in 1960 for the underrated Sundowners & she wld've, had not it been Liz Taylor's near-death miraculous recovery.
But her best two performances were unfortunately o/looked by the Academy: Black Narcissus & The Innocents