On this day: Billie Holiday, Sandy Powell, Wham!, Coppola, and More
Friday, April 7, 2017 at 9:44AM on this day in showbiz related history
1915 Billie Holiday born in Philadelphia. The iconic singer's voice is still heard in many films and tv shows as is her life story. The Billie biopic Lady Sings the Blues (1972) was nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Actress for Diana Ross. Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, a stage play about Billie, was also an awards magnet with Audra McDonald winning the Tony...
1921 Underrated cinematographer Bill Butler (Grease, The Conversation, Jaws, Rocky II, Damian: The Omen) born in Colorado
1928 James Garner, Emmy winner (The Rockford Files) and Oscar nominee (Murphy's Romance), born in Oklahoma.
1939 During Old Hollywood's "greatest" year, the director Francis Ford Coppola was born. He'd eventually be a superstar of New Hollywood. Everybody always wants to talk about The Godfather films but my three personal favorite Francis creations are totally Apocalypse Now (1979), The Conversation (1974), and Sofia Coppola (1971)
1946 Visual effects giant Stan Winston born in Virginia. He won 4 Oscars during his influential career and the best you can say about his key films (Aliens, T2 Judgment Day, and Jurassic Park) is that the effects still look sensational to this day
1949 South Pacific debuted on Broadway starring Mary Martin and swept the Tony Awards. The film version nine years later didn't thrill Oscar as much with only 3 minor nominations (winning for Sound)
1954 Recent Honorary Oscar recipient Jackie Chan born in Hong Kong on this day
Derek Jarman lives on in the careers of both Tilda Swinton and Costume Designer Sandy Powell
1960 Sandy Powell, one of the greatest costume designers in the history of cinema, born in London. Did you know that her first feature film was also Tilda Swinton's first feature film? They debuted in Derek Jarman's Caravaggio (1986)
1964 Bad boy Oscar winner Russell Crowe born in New Zealand
1970 The 42nd Academy Awards crowns Midnight Cowboy Best Picture. It's the only X-rated film to have ever won but the MPAA's ratings were much more severe back then.
Yekaterina Golubeva and Guillaume Depardieu in the amazing POLA X
1971 Guilliaume Depardieu (son of French superstar Gerard) was born on this day in Paris. Sadly he died in his thirties but he was briefly really something to look at onscreen. Two super sexy recommendations: Tous le matins du monde (1991) and Pola X (1998).
1985 Wham! became the first western act to perform in China. Glenn reviewed a documentary on that tour recently right here
1986 Jason Ralph, currently starring on The Magicians, born in Texas
1989 An unknown beauty named Nicole Kidman (we... um, like her a little) gets her international breakthrough with Dead Calm, new in theaters on this day
1995 Smash hit Bad Boys and the Johnny Depp/Marlon Brando oddity Don Juan de Marco both open in theaters
2006 Nicole Holofcener's Friends with Money hits theaters in limited release. Remember that one?
2012 The Hunger Games Songs from District 12 and Beyond randomly tops the Billboard charts for a week.
2017 Today's new releases in theaters are Gifted starring Chris Evans, the amusing odd Colossal starring Anne Hathaway, The Smurfs: Lost Village, one of last year's most acclaimed foreign animated pictures Your Name, and yet another variation on the grumpy old men comedy genre, Going in Style.
Reader Comments (8)
Nice to see YOUR NAME finally get out into American cinemas. It's really quite good.
RE Friends with Money I remember Frances McDormand being mightily pissed off in queue.
mark -- that's my takeaway memory too. She's been mightily pissed off on screen ever since ;)
"Honorary Oscar recipient Jackie Chan" still takes some getting used to, doesn't it? But I love it, and I'm loving it more and more the more often I repeat it.
In terms of famous film people being born, you mind if I throw in writer, director and producer Alan J. Pakula (who got an Oscar nomination in each of these three capacities, each for a different film, and in three different decades)? He was born on the same day as James Garner.
I can't wait to see Audra McDonald on stage in London this June ... I'm counting the days ....
I thought Jennifer Aniston looked all wrong for her role in Friends With Money, but I was glad to see her trying to stretch her acting muscles.
And I still think The Conversation would be a fascinating choice for Hit Me With Your Best Shot.
LOL, I accidentally read that last bit as:
The Smurfs: Lost Village, one of last year's most acclaimed foreign animated pictures