Showbiz History: Liz Taylor's Gigantic Film and Marriage
Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 8:00AM 6 random things that happened on this day, October 10th, in showbiz history
1956 Giant with its gargantuan running time and trifecta of iconic stars -- Taylor, Dean, Hudson (plus Mineo & McCambridge!) --gets its world premiere in NYC. It will open for Thanksgiving in movie theaters and lead Oscar nomination morning with 10 citations. Sadly it will lose Best Picture to a much lesser movie, Around the World in 80 Days. But these things happen in Oscar annals.
1963 From Russia With Love, the second Bond film, has its world premiere in London and goes on to become an even bigger hit than the franchise launch Dr No.
it was tie-dye 70s glamour for Liz for her 6th marriage
1975 Hollywood's favourite perpetually tumultuous love affair continues; Elizabeth Taylor (43) remarries Richard Burton (49) just sixteen months after divorcing him. They'll divorce again nine months later making that second marriage much much shorter than the first (which lasted 10 years).
1983 Sir Ralph Richardson dies at 80. Five months after his death Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan: Lord of the Apes opens in movie theaters. He then becomes the first posthumous Oscar nominee within the Supporting Actor category. There has only been one since, Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008). Both actors had lost the Oscar on their first and only other nomination for beloved best picture losers, The Heiress (1949) and Brokeback Mountain (2005) respectively.
1985 Two film legends die on the same day: auteur Orson Welles and movie star Yul Brynner.
2017 Thor Ragnarok premieres in Los Angeles
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 38th to sexy Dan Stevens. He's made such interesting choices since his Cousin Matthew breakout on Downton Abbey. Do you like his... ahem... work?
Other actors born on this day: Zain Al Rafeea from Capernaum (16), Rakul Preet Singh (30), Aimee Teegarden (31), Rose McIver (32), Chiaki Kuriyama aka "GoGo" from Kill Bill (36), Mario Lopez (47), Wendi McLendon-Covey (51), Manu Bennett (51), Bai Ling (54), Bradley Whitford (61), Julia Sweeney (61), Jessica Harper (71), Ben Vereen (74), Charles Dance (74), and Peter Coyote (79)
Other Showbiz Types: Pop star Mya (41), Director Carlos Reygadas (49), Composer Michael Giacchino (53), Director Tim Miller (56), Jodi Benson, the voice of the Little Mermaid (59), Broadway star Victoria Clark (61), Country star Tanya Tucker (62), Van Halen's David Lee Roth (66), and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe (72)
Gone but Not Forgotten: Acting legend Helen Hayes born on this day in 1900, Writer James Clavell born on this day in 1921, Bad movie patron saint Ed Wood Jr (pictured left) born on this day in 1924, Character actor Richard Jaeckel born on this day in 1926, "Large Marge" herself Alice Nunn (Pee-Wee's Big Adventure) born on this day in 1927, Playwright and Oscar nominee Harold Pinter born on this day in 1930, Makeup artist Jay Sebring (recently played by Emile Hirsch) born on this day in 1933, Oscar nominee Daniel Massey (Star!) born on this day in 1933, Broadway star Gary Beach born on this day in 1947, Pop star actress Anita Mui born on this day in 1963, Actor Chris Penn born on this day in 1965
Reader Comments (14)
"Giant with its [...] trifecta of iconic stars -- Taylor, Dead, Hudson"
most unfortunate typo ever
par -- lol. fixed.
Now that we're in the MontyClift mood - great mood, I would say (and hope it lasts) - I wonder what it would be like with Clift in the role of Jett instead of Dean. Surely the audience would cheer for him and Leslie (Taylor) to be together. And the actor would do better than Dean when the character gets older.
Listen, film is subjective, but "Giant" is ridiculously superior to "Around the World in 80 Days" in so many obvious ways. How did it ever lose best picture? (And I like "80 Days"!)
Dan Stevens should be a bigger movie star
Dan Stevens is on those actors people will come around to once he goes grey and is a considered a man,boy is he cute though.
I was literally just wondering the other day why on Earth Giant lost to 80 Days. And I'm not a 80 Days hater either.
If you haven’t seen Dan Stevens’ four appearances on High Maintenance, you need to rectify that asap.
How is that some performers receive nominations like gumdrops and an amazing talent like Ralph Richardson only received one in his lifetime!? I can think of several that he should have garnered nominations for besides The Heiress but if nothing else he should have won for The Fallen Idol.
Though Giant received ten nominations, Liz was snubbed.
Wait, Giant lost to Around the World in 80 Days... OH FUCK YOU ACADEMY AWARDS.
Thor Ragnarok... one of the best films of the MCU!!!!! In all honesty, I think it's one of the best superhero films ever made. It's also one of the funniest. It's a film that features many of Taika Waititi's themes of comedy/tragedy as it relates to Odin's sins and the guilt he had in not being a better father to both Thor and Loki. It's a film that play into the idea of superheroes as there are these serious monologues that then get cut by humor. It's a film about friendship as that scene of Thor and Hulk arguing show exactly that underneath this big angry monster is someone with feelings. Plus, how can anyone not love Hulk be so innocent? BIG MONSTER!!!! HULK!!!!!!!!
"Hulk! For once in your life... do not smash!" "BUT, BIG MONSTER!" Mark Ruffalo deserves a lot more credit for fleshing out the Hulk more as he really brought the humanity in that character. NO BANNER! ONLY HULK!
I think we will add Boseman to that sad list this year.
Dan Stevens can do almost anything at this point. Impressive range.
Who would have predicted that Dan Stevens would have the career he's having now after leaving a phenomenon like Downton Abbey at its height? Doing The Guest as his first project after it was a massive risk, but what a fun film and image-changer. Everything he's done since then has been edgy, challenging, and very un-Downton and probably way more interesting than if he had stayed on the show till its end.
Thanks, GTA James, I missed The Guest when it came out (because Stevens wasn't on my radar yet) and finally watched it this morning. In a parallel universe, that turn led to him becoming the next great action movie star.