Showbiz History: Jack's first wedding, Susan's best performance...
Monday, June 17, 2019 at 1:19PM Random things that happened on this day (June 17th) in film history
1919 Happy Beryl Reid Centennial. The British stage actress didn't make many movies but is perhaps best remembered today for her leading role in the lesbian drama The Killing of Sister George which netted her both a Tony Award on stage and a Golden Globe nomination for its film version.
1962 Jack Nicholson, pre-superstardom, marries actress Sandra Knight (their only movie together, The Terror, will be released the next year). The marriage lasted six years. Despite high profile relationships thereafter (Rebecca Broussard, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Anjelica Huston chief among them) Nicholson never tied the knot again.
1988 It was quite an actressy weekend in movie theaters...
Bull Durham (featuring Susan Sarandon's all time best performance), The Great Outdoors (Annette Bening's film debut), and the Cannes Best Actress winning film A World Apart (starring Barbara Hershey) were all new in theaters. It was also the second weekend for the hit twin-comedy Big Business (starring Bette Midler & Lily Tomlin AND Bette Midler & Lily Tomlin). Actressexuals didn't know how good they had it in the 80s.
2018 The Incredibles 2 concludes a record-breaking opening weekend becoming the biggest animated opening of all time (with $182 million in the bank instantly) and one of the top ten openings ever, irrespective of genre. Despite a strong start / crazy good audience response it won't win many 'best of the year' accolades coming in a presumably very distant second for the Oscar, Globe, Annie, Critics Choice, and BAFTA which all go to the late breaking Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 58th to the inimitable French thespian Denis Lavant. What an eccentric and special filmography this man has: L'homme blessé, Lovers on the Bridge, Beau Travail, and Holy Motors are among his exceedingly memorable films.
More Birthdays
Oscar Winners: none?; Oscar Nominees: Thomas Haden Church (Sideways), Greg Kinnear (As Good As it Gets), Christophe Barratier (The Chorus), and Kendrick Lamar (Black Panther); Off Cinema Legends: Barry Manilow, Venus Williams, Igor Stravinsky; Directors: Ken Loach, Louis Leterrier, Phyllida Lloyd; Actors: Manish Dayal, Will Forte, Jodie Whittaker, Setsuko Hara, Jason Patric, Arthur Darvill, John Gallagher Jr, Scott Adkins, Joe Piscopo, Joshua Leonard, Michael Showalter, Erin Murphy (Tabita on Bewitched!)
And, finally, a happy 17th today to twin actresses Cali & Noelle Sheldon of Us (2019) fame.
Crazy trivia: They played Ross & Rachel's infant daughter on the last season of "Friends"!
Reader Comments (6)
In my mind, Isle of Dogs was second in the awards race last year, not The Incredibles 2.
I saw Bull Durham twice the same afternoon.
The twins in US were baby Emma on FRIENDS?? My, how time flies...
When The Killing of Sister George was adapted as a film, Bette Davis was desperate to play Beryl Reid's role, but she was ignored. Back in 1962, she had hoped to recreate her Broadway role in The Night of the Iguana in Hollywood, but the producers went for Ava Gardner.
I just learned a couple of months ago that Jason Patric is the son of Jason Miller and grandson of Jackie Gleason.
Barbara Hershey is the only actress to win consecutive Best Actress awards at the Cannes Film Festival: for Shy People in 1987 and for A World Apart in 1988 (this latter award shared with Jodhi May and Linda Mvusi).