Showbiz History: Robert Preston Centennial, Audra's Sixth and More
Friday, June 8, 2018 at 12:00PM 
Happy Robert Preston Centennial! He was born on this day in 1918 and went on to screen immortality via The Music Man (1962, Tony win for the stage version) and Victor / Victoria (1982, Oscar nomination). Other famous films include: Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), Mame (1974) and his last feature film The Last Starfighter (1984). We had planned a whole thing but this week has been bu-sy.
Here's what else was happening on this day in showbiz history...
1933 Comedienne Joan Rivers born. How soon do you think til she cracked her first joke?
1948 The Milton Berle show premieres on CBS
1949 "1984" by George Orwell is first published. It's one of the world's most famous novels and has been adapted for film and stage. Fittingly on the same day as that dystopian classic warns of government surveillance the FBI names several famous Hollywood actors as communists. The report will fuel the anticommunist hysteria and result in the famous blacklist of the 1950s, that stain on Hollywood, which put many great talents out of work for their political beliefs.
1950 Kathy Baker born in Texas and Sônia Braga born in Brazil. Both are fine actors with multiple awards in their careers but they were snubbed by Oscar in key years. Baker for Street Smart (1987) and Braga for both Kiss of the Spider-Woman (1985) and Aquarius (2016)
1969 21st Emmy Awards. "Get Smart" wins Best Comedy
1970 Singer Seu Jorge born in Brazil. He acts in two famous films City of God and The Life Aquatic and provides wonderful soundtrack support for the latter.
1984 Ghostbusters and Gremlins face off on opening night in movie theaters. Ghostbusters wins the weekend and the year but Gremlins is better. Yeah, you heard me!
1993 "Supermodel of the World" by RuPaul hits record stores. Love that record so much. My favorite song on it is "Back to my roots"
2007 La Vie En Rose hits theaters. Eventually wins Marion Cotillard the Oscar.
2012 Prometheus opens in movie theaters. Nothing is ever going to measure up to the first two Alien pictures but this one is undervalued. At the very least it's tech elements are gorg.
2014 The Tony Awards. Audra McDonald wins her sixth Tony (a record) for playing Billie Holliday in "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill" McDonald has won at least one Tony in every acting category!
Reader Comments (7)
Prometheus: tech elements AND fassy!
I finally tracked down the largely forgotten Lumet film Child's Play, and Robert Preston was simply splendid. His performance in Victor/Victoria is an all-timer for me. Adore.
Kathy Baker is so underappreciated. Picket Fences is my obsession. Love.
Happy Birthdays!
And I'm sure there will be a seventh. At her age, what are the odds there will *never* be another theater season in which she gives a standout performance in any of four categories? Very, very low. She's not even 50. If her career ends with nine or ten competitive wins, I will not be surprised.
Related but unrelated: What's going to happen with Meryl? In terms of Best Actress, she's as close to Katharine Hepburn's record as Hilary Swank. She basically needs a fifth win to raise the bar—especially now that her nomination count is old news.
Robert Preston is awesome yet how come no one mentioned his underrated performance in Junior Bonner with Steve McQueen and Ida Lupino?
Alien³ is top three Fincher.
"Prometheus" is a great sci-fi movie and a dazzling IMAX 3-D experience.
Just saw McDonald on Wednesday with The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Sublime.