Showbiz History: Greta Garbo, R Crumb, Bill Murray, Cameron Diaz
Thursday, August 30, 2018 at 9:09AM 6 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history
1797 Mary Shelley born. She lived in infamy during her time as a disgraced woman who ran off with an already married man but she'll live forever due to her epistolary novel "Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus," which has had countless editions since its first publication when she was only 20 years old. The book has inspired countless other works of art and the classic Frankenstein monster itself has shown up in over 50 films. Did any of you watch the Mary Shelley biopic starring Elle Fanning earlier this year? Murtada interviewed the director right here.
← 1935 Greta Garbo is Anna Karenina, new in movie theaters. Garbo will win the NYFCC prize, the first of two Best Actress wins in a three year span. Surprisingly, that's not all that rare of a trick...
Olivia de Havilland, Jane Fonda, Liv Ullman, Meryl Streep, and Saoirse Ronan all did it in subsequent decades, too, though de Havilland is the only actress to win two consecutively. Basically when New York Film Critics latch on with love, they hold tight for awhile. Oscar wasn't as generous with Garbo. She wasn't nominated for this film and she never won competitively.
1943 Happy 75th birthday to legendary cartoonist Robert Crumb born in Philly on this day.
1974 The Longest Yard , one of the top ten hits of its year, opens in theaters. It stars Burt Reynolds leading a prison football game with convicts against the guards. Burt later gets a cameo in the remake.
1985 Susan Sarandon and Joe Mantegna star in Compromising Positions new in theaters. But if I remember it correctly, Judith Ivey steals the movie.
1986 The Venice Film Festival begins. Eric Rohmer's The Green Ray wins the Golden Lion but it's not as well loved at home where it receives zero Cesar nominations. For their Oscar submission France chooses the explicitly sexual arthouse hit Betty Blue.
1993 Late Show with David Letterman, premieres on CBS (after Letterman leaves Late Night with David Letterman on NBC). Bill Murray was the first guest. It will run for another 22 years until Letterman's retirement.
Showbiz Birthdays: Elizabeth Ashley, Lewis Black, Joan Blondell, Shirley Booth, Timothy Bottoms, Michael Chiklis, Elden Henson, Jessica Henwick, Marin Ireland, Peggy Lipton, Fred MacMurray, Raymond Massey, David Paymer, Tennis star Andy Roddick, Julien Schoenaerts (Matthias's dad), and Singer Kitty Wells
Today's Birthday Suit: Cameron Diaz. We miss her in movies.
Reader Comments (13)
Uh... American Splendor is Harvey Pekar's biopic, not R. Crumb's.
Crumb does appear in it, as Pekar's jazz-loving buddy who, after becoming an established comics artist, illustrates Pekar's first American Splendor stories and encourages him to keep writing from his unique ordinary-guy POV.
I love both the film and the comics themselves!
Dr -- D'OH! fixed.
Actually, It was Elle Fanning in the Mary Shelley biopic...
I need to read Frankenstein. I've always wanted to. What an incredible achievement for her.
Garbo. Never. Won. an Oscar.
(competitvely)
WTF!
good god i'm having brain farts this morning. apologies.
I do believe Cameron will come back to films but she's basically Goldie Hawned us all.
Burt Reynolds was THE SEX in 1974. Hubba hubba!!!
There is a splendid documentary on Crumb titled Crumb.
Happy Birthday, Cameron Diaz!
She's kind of the epitome of didn't-realize-how-much-I'd-miss-her-till-she-was-gone. I mean, she did do a lot of formulaic dreck, but even in her so-so comedies like Bad Teachers and What Happens in Vegas she was winning. (Her birthday suit — well, bra and panties — in the latter was especially sexy.)
Garbo in Anna Karenina/Camille, Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind and Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - reading the books their images come to mind.
Mary Shelly's "Frankenstein" is more philosophical than most of the movies and yes Burt in his prime was a sex bomb
I always feel bad for Cameron Diaz lol... had all the precursor support and missed out on a nomination twice. TWO TIMES. That sucks. Vanilla Sky, ok. But Being John Malkovich??? Come on... even though I'm totally happy Toni Collette got nominated, so whatever.
The snub of a nom for Anna Karenina seems really ridiculous now, considering tt The Academy nominated six, yes SIX actresses for Best Actress tt yr!!
I guess the academy never took to Garbo in her heydays. She was too elusive n standoffish for them. And she never care for awards or bother to do any campaigning. K Hepburn adopts tt somewhat haughty air but The Academy luvs her instead.