Showbiz History: Three celebrity weddings and a biopic suggestion
Thursday, December 31, 2020 at 8:00AM 4 things that happened on this day, December 31st, in showbiz history
1992 Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved and the Czech Republic and Slovakia both emerge from the split. Which means, for our purposes here at TFE that they started all new Oscar submission histories ;) Czechoslovakia had had six Oscar nominations and two wins from 23 submissions the bulk of which were in Czech (though one of their winners, The Shop on Main Street was Slovakian). Interestingly enough just after the split in 1993 only Slovakia submitted to the Oscars while the Czech Republic took a year off. The Czech Repubic has since won one Oscar (Kolya) and had two additional nominations (Divided We Fall and Zelary) and a finalist (The Painted Bird last season). The Czech submission this year is Charlatan. Slovakia has yet to be nominated though they have a Holocaust drama this year, The Auschwitz Report...
Boy George and Leigh Bowery
1994 Performance artist/club kid/designer Leigh Bowery dies at just 33 of AIDS related ilness in London. His story is told in the undervalued Broadway musical Taboo which is also about Boy George's rise to fame (Boy George played Leigh Bowery, who was his friend in real life as they were pre-fame clubkids). The sound you hear is us tapping our fingers wondering when some filmmaker is going to be brave enough to make Taboo into a movie, or at least make a Leigh Bowery biopic! Fascinating influential character.
New Year's Eve weddings
1997 Not one but TWO enduring power couple Hollywood weddings on New Years Eve this very day: Will Smith marries Jada Pinkett in Baltimore and Helen Mirren marries director Taylor Hackford (on his birthday) in Scotland. Happy 23rd anniversary to both couples!
2013 After nearly 42 years together comedian/actress Lily Tomlin and her frequent collaborator and screenwriter Jane Wagner marry in Los Angeles.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 60th to Val Kilmer, pictured here with the other stars of Top Gun. It's weird that we've never really talked about Top Gun on this site but here's a fun insightful piece from Consequence of Sound about its unique place as the beginning of the high concept action film and the beginning of the end of the homoerotic action film.
Bonus Birthday Suit
We mention Gong Li a lot so we should give you a break but happy 55th birthday to one of the great film stars, pictured here in one of her rare US movies, Miami Vice. Gong Li rarely does nude scenes but she's so sexually powerful onscreen that perhaps its redundant. For a prime example see Wong Kar Wai's The Hand which is all about her complete sexual power over her tailor and she's fully clothed in every second.
Other birthdays and anniversaries on this day: Oscar winning costume design giant Orry-Kelly (Some Like It Hot, An American in Paris, Les Girls), Two time Tony and two-time Emmy winner Bebe Neuwirth (Frasier, Chicago), James Remar (Sex & the City, The Warrior), Oscar winner Sir Ben Kingsley (Gandhi, Sexy Beast), Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs, The Father), Bond Girl Barbara Carrera (Never Say Never Again), Stage and tv star Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys, Madam Secretary), Oscar winning Producter/Director Taylor Hackford (Ray, White Nights), Oscar nominee Sarah Miles (Ryan's Daughter, Hope and Glory), Tim Matheson (Animal House, The West Wing), underutilized golden age actress Theresa Harris (Baby Face, Jezebel), Oscar winning screenwriter Chris Terrio (Argo), screenwriter Charles Lederer (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, His Girl Friday), Pixar talent Ronnie Del Carmen (Inside Out, One Man Band), best-selling author Nicholas Sparks, former boybander Joey McIntyre (New Years Eve), fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, the late great Disco star Donna Summer, Oscar winning songwriter Jule Styne (Three Coins in the Fountain), and the late singer/songwriter John Denver.
Reader Comments (14)
That locker scene is where I learned about VPLs.
My new year's resolution will be to watch some Gong Li movies, a movie star I've seen in (embarrassed to say) nothing.
Nathaniel, have you read Best Actress by Stephen Tapert? Do you recommend it?
Leigh Bowery was the real fucking deal. Fair dinkum mates. I'll be watching Colin Farrell's sex tape now, thanks.
I love Sarah Miles in Hope and Glory (never saw Ryan's Daughter). I think she would have been a better nominee for Supporting Actress for '87 over most of the nominees.
Gong Li is amazing, but holy moly MIAMI VICE is a terrible film. She, also, isn't that good in it.
My pet special cause for the last few years has been the movie Home Care, which was the Czech Republic's Oscar submission in 2015. It features a spectacular performance by Elena Mihulova as a home care nurse who discovers she has terminal cancer, and really can't do anything about it. The film is about as commercial as it sounds, so it should come as no surprise it never got distributed in the USA. Yet it's very funny, very poignant, brilliantly acted and every scene rings absolutely true. I was lucky enough to see it at a Czech film Festival. It makes me also wonder how many outstanding films are out there that haven't made it here, and won't ever come here.
Being from Slovakia myself (and being an actor, as well), I feel delighted that you mentioned it. Our filmography is slowly rising from the ashes and I hope and believe that it will soon become respected. Thank you!
Il Adore is a beautiful song about Bowery's final days by Boy George.
I like Miami Vice! People bitching about the fact that it's not like the TV show should just fuck off. It's an amazing film and totally gritty. I love Gong Li yet I suggest seeing her in Farewell, My Concubine and Coming Home as the latter is a film more people need to see.
Re: Bebe Neuwirth
Isn't she 3/4 of the way to EGOT? The Internet doesn't seem to think so, but didn't she win a Grammy as one of the principal vocalists on the Chicago cast album?
I very vaguely knew Lee Bowery. I'm good friends with his best friend and we moved in the same circles back in the day but he died very soon after I moved to London. Only met him in passing a couple of times. I know Boy George much better. Taboo is brilliant. Still one of the best things I've ever seen in a theatre, which I'm sure was helped by knowing half the real life characters ans knowing how well the actors nailed them. Luke Evans was in the original cast. As @markgordonuk says above Il Adore is a beautiful song as is Stranger In This World a song for all teenage queers out there. I consider Boy George to be the best songwriter of his generation. Doesn't get half the credit he deserves.
Also a Gong Li/Zhang Yimou festival is first up on my watchlist for 2021. Found a load of their films on VHS in the back of a cupboard a couple of months back. Good job I still have a video recorder.
Val Kilmer turns 61, not 60 on 31 Dec 2020.
He's born in 1959, not 1960.
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