On this day as it relates to showbiz history...
1858 Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution. That one that caused Spencer Tracy so much trouble in Inherit the Wind.
1882 Tchaikovsky debuts his "Overture of 1812". It's still used in movies two centuries later in a truly diverse range of movies including The Iron Lady, Laurence Anyways, V For Vendetta and The Blind Side
1918 Novelist Jacqueline Susann is born. Her trashy best-sellers become hit movies and even turn Oscar heads: Valley of the Dolls (1967 best score nomination) and Jacqueline Susann's Once is Not Enough (1975, best supporting actress nomination)
1931 Fright haired boxing promoter Don King is born. Sixty-six and a ½ years later Ving Rhames wins the Golden Globe playing him in a TV movie. Remember that sweet but odd moment when Ving Rhames invited Jack Lemmon on stage with him to share the award he had just lost for 12 Angry Men? King's been played by other actors too including Mykelti Williamson (Ali), Tim Meadows (SNL), and in forthcoming movies he'll be played by Reg E Cathey (Hands of Stone) and Keith David (The Last Punch)
I promise you there's incredible actressy stuff after the jump including a must-see clip...
1941 The Little Foxes premieres in New York City. It's one of Bette Davis's best movies. You must see it if you haven't. It was a chilly joy to watch during our 1941 Smackdown. (It's also worth noting that The Little Foxes is coming back to Broadway with The Lovely Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon alternating parts. Yes, we will try to see it twice because that is all too exciting.)
1942 Isaac Hayes is born. Twenty nine and a ½ years later he wins the Oscar for "Theme Song for Shaft"
1956 Masterful actress Joan Allen is born. How's this for a frightening statistic - she still hasn't won a Globe, a BAFTA, an Oscar, a SAG, or an Emmy despite nominations for each. The only major awards body that's awarded her greatest is The Tonys for "Burn This" in the 1980s which is receiving a revival this coming February on Broadway. No word yet on who will play Allen's winning role. You must watch the clip below of Joan Allen winning the Tony. Look who gave her the prize and look who she was nominated against. It's a multi-orgasmic actressexual moment in showbiz history
1958 David O. Russell is born to terrorize actors whilst helping them snag Oscar nominations
1960 Connie Francis begins work on classic Spring Break movie Where the Boys Are which is released that December. She sings the original title song which becomes a hit but Oscar ignores it.
1964 "The Harmonica Incident" between Manager Yogi Berra and his New York Yankees occurs. Apparently this is quite famous among sports fans but if it hasn't been movie-fied how am I to know of this?
1974 Amy Adams is born. Academy voters & The Hollywood Reporter can't get enough of her
1982 The Beastmaster opens in theaters
1983 Andrew Garfield is born. Still hasn't delivered the career we expected post-Social Network. Damn you, Spider-Man!
1992 Sting and Trudie Styler are married
1993 Jean Claude Van Damme is a Hard Target in movie theaters this day. Dat mullet, doh
please don't read anything into these gifs of Jean Claude choking and spanking a rattlesnake.
1997 A 50 mile stretch of Interstate 65 is renamed "Hank Williams Memorial Lost Highway". For whatever reason there seems to be a renewed interest in Hank Williams last days of late with movies like The Last Ride and I Saw the Light
1999 Jean Claude Van Damme returns in Universal Soldier: The Return but without Dolph Lundren so sad face.
2010 Nanny McPhee 2, Piranha 3D both open but they're no match for the second weekend of The Expendables at the box office starring Jean Claude Van Damme and other former action stars.
If it's your birthday today have a good one. If it's not, Happy Unbirthday to you!