Today in History: Page's Second Globe, Larry & Viv's Affair, Etc...
Sunday, March 5, 2017 at 9:01AM Looking for something to celebrate today? On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...
1874 Oscar nominee Henry Travers (Mrs Miniver) was born in England
1908 Future Oscar winner, "Henry Higgins" and "Dr Dolittle" himself Sir Rex Harrison is born
1922 FW Murnau's silent classic Nosferatu premieres in its home country of Germany. On the same day in Italy the future super controversial auteur Pier Paolo Pasolini (120 Days of Sodom, The Gospel According to St Matthew) is born
1936 Dean Stockwell is born in California. He will go on to have an epically lengthy career starting as a child star in the 40s and still working occasionally today. On the same day the '35 Oscars were held with Mutiny on the Bounty taking Best Picture and Bette Davis winning her first Oscar for Dangerous. Oscar was already doing "sorry about last time" awards as that one was obviously for her far superior work in Of Human Bondage.
Geraldine Page, Larry & Viv, and Harrison Ford after the jump...
Larry & Viv begin their affair
1937 Fire Over England, the first screen pairing of Larry & Viv (Olivier & Leigh) and the film that led to their separate divorces and marriage in 1940, and her winning the Scarlett O'Hara gig, opens in the UK
1939 Samantha Eggar is born in Hampstead London. She goes on to be Oscar nominated for The Collector (1965) which you should see if you ever get a chance. Strange picture
1956 Adriana Barraza, is born in Mexico. Becomes an acclaimed actress at home and later an Oscar nominee for Babel (2006)
1959 The Golden Globes were held with The Defiant Ones taking Best Picture, Drama. It would go on to lose the Oscar to sweeping musical Gigi. On the same in Argentina Almodóvar favorite Darío Grandinetti (Talk to Her, Julieta, Wild Tales) is born
Geraldine Page didn't just give her best performance in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) but she also got Paul Newman lovin' and Golden Globe statue for her trouble
1963 The '62 Golden Globes are held and Geraldine Page wins her second consecutive Best Actress prize. As with the previous year she goes on to lose the Oscar (first to Sophia Loren, who wasn't Globe nominated and then to Anne Bancroft, who she had beaten at the Globes). Oscar wouldn't come around for another 23 years. On this same day legendary country singer Patsy Cline dies in a plane crash at the age of 30. Jessica Lange is later Oscar nominated for her biopic Sweet Dreams (1985)
1969 Rena Riffel of Showgirls fame is born. She played Penny, excuse me, Hope. "Nobody wants to fuck a Penny"
1970 Popular disaster flick Airport is released. It later wins 10 Oscar nominations and a win for Helen Hayes, her second from two nominations
1974 Eva Mendes is born in Miami. What do you suppose her and Ryan Gosling are up to today for her big day?
1982 Seminal mainstream gay drama Making Love goes wide after a couple of weeks in limited release. Thirty-five years later mainstream gay films are still rare in movie theaters though we've just had our first gay Best Picture winner
1983 Speaking of seminal gay history...
Wham! made their first appearance on American television on this day in the early 80s. George Michael RIP
You can put it anywhere you want.
1999 Cruel Intentions in which Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillipe are very very naughty opens in movie theaters
2010 Tim Burton's Eyesore in Wonderland begins its ugly billion dollar 3D reign of terror in movie theaters around the world
2015 Harrison Ford crashes his aeroplane in California scaring the entire world. Thankfully he was fine but for broken bones. He was better in time for The Force Awakens premiere
Reader Comments (13)
Love these "on this day" posts! Always full of informative tidbits.
That is an awesome picture of Larry and Viv...man alive those were beautiful people!!
That's a very apt description of The Collector. It is a strange picture, I appreciated both the performances and the skill with which it was made but it creeped me out and I doubt that I'll ever watch it again.
I LOVE Airport in all it's overblown big budget glory!! Helen Hayes is an elfin delight but the real acting comes from Maureen Stapleton. Jacqueline Bissett was probably the chicest stewardess to ever fly the friendly skies, even if it was only a soundstage.
I miss Calista Flockhart.
Nat: Thank you for remembering the lovable Henry Travers, Oscar nominated for his heart-breaking turn in Mrs Miniver. Frequently cast in Greer Garson's films (Random Harvest, Madame Curie), he appeared in many notable films. Chief among them are Ball of Fire, It's a Wonderful Life, The Bells of St. Mary's and The Yearling.
Joel 6: I fully agree about Maureen Stapleton in Airport, and mentioned this here a few weeks ago.
I think I am the only person I know who has seen all five Best Supporting Actress nominees of 1970 and is completely and utterly fine with Helen Hayes wining that second Oscar. Yes, I would have voted for her. She is the only actress who I have really been rooting for to finally get another scene, and she is the only reason I'm not completely ruling out re-watching that thing at some point in the distant future. (My overall favorite supporting actress of 1970 would be Diana Dors in 'Deep End', though, but I think she wasn't eligible for the Oscar that year.)
And Eva Mendes - any actress whose filmography contains titles as diverse as '2 Fast 2 Furious', Werner Herzog's 'Bad Lieutenant' and 'Holy Motors' must be very special indeed.
Also, I feel like throwing the birth of revolutionary socialst Rosa Luxemburg in 1871 into the mix; Luxemburg was portrayed by Baraba Sukowa in a 1986 biopic (directed by Margarete von Trotta), which brought her a richly deserved Best Actress award in Cannes; also Fassbinder is said to have planned a biopic before he died, with his favoured candidate for the title role being Jane Fonda - which would have been pitch perfect casting I would have loved to see.
I have a long-running obsession with both the '88 supporting categories. The women for obvious reasons, and the men because it's SUCH a weird list and winner. Anyway, I've always felt a twinge of sympathy for Dean Stockwell, who probably, maybe, expected to win that night.
The Golden Globes used to be held in March? Didn't Harrison Ford get into another plane crash (or incident) this year, too? So many questions.
P.S. Cruel Intentions is terrible and yet I find myself (re)watching it more often than the far superior Dangerous Liaisons.
Mareko - that surprised me, too
Mike in Canada: Can you please clarify which actual year you mean by '88: eligibility or ceremony? Unfortunately, these days one has to ask... As you don't mention anyone, I don't know.
MrW: Now you know one person who has seen all the nominated performances for Supporting Actress of 1970. Actually, I have ALL the supporting performances -both male and female- in Oscar history.
Marcos: Eligibility - the Rain Man year. Stockwell lost to Kevin Kline, which, though I wasn't paying attention back then, must have been a surprising win.
@ Marcos: I know plenty of people who have seen all nominated performances of 1970. But I know nobody besides me who has seen all five and agrees that Hayes was the best of the bunch.
Yeah, I've seen all five and would have given it to any of the other four before Hayes (said without a recent rewatch of any of them).
MrW: Now I get it!!! :)
Mareko. The Globes r pegged to the Oscar which were held on the 1st or 2nd Sun o Apr then. Thus, it was also held in 1st wk o Mar, abt one mth plus before Oscars, which is what is currently happening now too