10 random things that happened today, September 19th, in showbiz history
1913 Frances Farmer born in Seattle. She becomes a movie star and is eventually committed to an asylum as told in the movie Frances (1982) -- See, American Horror Story wasn't the first time Jessica Lange won awards for living in an asylum.
1927 Happy 92nd birthday to Tony winner and Oscar nominee Rosemary Harris! We thank her for all her fine performances and for bringing another great actress, Jennifer Ehle, into the world...
1941 Happy 77th today to Belgian director Gérard Corbiau. He's the only Belgian director to have two films nominated for the Oscars in foreign film. The Music Teacher (1988) and Farinelli (1994) - remember those? He only made four feature films in his career for some reason (he's still alive) but half of them went on to Oscar recognition which is a pretty great stat.
1952 Charlie Chaplin, who had a lot of enemies in the government during the communist witch hunt era in Hollywood, barred from reentering the US after a trip abroad. He did not return, even to visit, for 20 years until the 44th Academy Awards where he received an Honorary Oscar and a standing ovation.
1970 The Mary Tyler Moore Show debuts. It will run for seven seasons and win the Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series for three consecutive years as well as Emmys for a whole swath of classic TV stars: Cloris Leachman, Ed Asner, Betty White, Valerie Harper, Ted Knight, and Mary Tyler Moore herself of course. I haven't seen the whole series but I have seen it's classic pilot which is just hilarious. Highly recommended.
1986 David Lynch's classic Blue Velvet opens in movie theaters.
1997 LA Confidential and In & Out both open in movie theaters, which means 40% of the Supporting Actress class of '97 debuted together: Kim Basinger (who won) and Joan Cusack (who we were so thrilled to see nominated).
2003 Underworld, starring the very sexy pairing of Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman becomes a hit when it arrives in movie theaters, just in time to capitalize on the now kinda dead supernatural--romance fad.
2014 The Maze Runner, a movie about Patty Clarkson pulling a fast one on a bunch of teenage boys becomes a hit when it arrives in movie theaters, just in time to capitalize on the now kinda dead YA-dystopia fad.
← 2016 Angelina Jolie files for divorce for Brad Pitt. It's ridiculous to be sad about breakups of complete strangers but... still sad about it!
Other Birthdays Today
Oscar winners: screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, actor Jeremy Irons, songwriter Paul Williams
Oscar nominees: Actor William Hickey (RIP), Screenwriter Patrick Marber
Actors: Moshe Ashkenazi, Broadway star Stephanie J Block, Alessandro Borghi, Broadway star Ramin Karimloo, Sanaa Lathan, Cheri Oteri, and Adam West (RIP)
Other Showbiz People: Director Gérard Corbiau -- two of his films were Oscar nominees for Belgium in foreign language film in their years: The Music Teacher (1988) and Farinelli (1994), Talk show host Jimmy Fallon, 80s rock star Lita Ford, Director Markus Imhoof (his new film Eldorado is the Swiss submission for the Oscars this year), Talk show host James Lipton, Composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (RIP), Documentarian Alex Lora, Director Sally Potter, composer Nile Rodgers, and iconic model Twiggy.
Today's Birthday Suit: Kevin Zegers
Remember how randomly gratuitous all his nudity was in Transamerica, in scenes with his screen mother no less (!), Oscar nominated Felicity Huffman. Zegers mostly works in TV now, most recently on Fear the Walking Dead.
