Showbiz History: Taraji P Henson, Blade Runner, Roots and the 1977 Emmys
Friday, September 11, 2020 at 12:58PM 7 random things that happened on this day in history
1967 The Carol Burnett Show, which would become a hugely successful influential comedy, premieres on CBS.
1970 Future Oscar and Emmy nominee Taraji P Henson born in Washington DC. Happy 50th birthday to this fine actress. On this same day the classic Five Easy Pieces which will go on to four Oscar nominations world premieres in NYC...
1977 The 29th Primetime Emmy Awards are held. Two shows in their final seasons The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Upstairs Downstairs win the top two prizes. But the night's biggest champ was the event miniseries Roots which had been a ratings sensation and was also an Emmy record breaker receiving an astounding 37 nominations, 13 of which were for acting. Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), James Garner (The Rockford Files), Bea Arthur (Maude), and Carroll O'Connor (All in the Family), won the drama and comedy series acting awards.
Interesting side note: This ceremony took place on the 15th birthday of teen idol Kristy McNichol who was then starring on Family and she won Best Supporting Actress! Sadly there's no video of this online but you can see her second Emmy win "bookends!" two years later here.
1992 Blade Runner (1982) was re-released in movie theaters, but this time the (first) "Director's Cut". Much younger Nathaniel was very excited and went all by his lonesome. Such a great movie.
1994 Legendary Tony and Oscar-winning actress Jessica Tandy died on this day at 85 years of age. Her last film, the Paul Newman vehicle Nobody's Fool, was released three months after her death.
2009 Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself opens in theaters on its star Taraji P Henson's 39th birthday
2010 The 67th Venice International Film Festival concludes. Sofia Coppola's Somewhere wins the Golden Lion unanimously from the jury (over films like Black Swan, Meek's Cutoff, Potiche, Silent Souls, and Attenberg) which was presided over by Quentin Tarantino
Today's birthday suit
Happy 33rd to hunky Tyler Hoechlin (Teen Wolf, Everybody Wants Some!!). His most recent film is Palm Springs (pictured above, reviewed) which is currently streaming on Hulu.
Other actors born today: Hayden Szeto (35), Yu Oh-seong (52), Emmy winner Kristy McNichol (58), Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen (59), Oscar nominee John Hawkes (61), Tony winner Adriane Lenox (64), Tony winner Reed Birney (66), Oscar nominee Amy Madigan (70); Other showbiz types born on this day: Rapper Ludacris (43), Singer Harry Connick Jr (53), Musician Moby (55), Screenwriter Tony Gilroy (64), Director Brian de Palma (80), Oscar winning songwriter Alan Bergman (95) who is one of the oldest living Oscar winners; Gone but not Forgotten: Writer D.H. Lawrence (Women in Love, Lady Chatterley's Lover), Oscar winning composer Herbert Stothart (The Wizard of Oz)
Reader Comments (6)
You can see the 1977 McNichol speech at about the 12 minute mark of her E! True Hollywood Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y7EeA7O5Qg
I love this.
The 1977 Emmys have a lot of interesting wins. Sally Field won her first Emmy for Sybil, and used that project to move from fun sitcom start to major actress. Lindsay Wagner was an early (though technically not the first) winner of an acting Emmy for a genre performance - something emmy hates to reward.
Much as I like her a lot in Hustle & Flow and Hidden Figures especially, I’m still waiting for that role to showcase what Taraji can REALLY do - I shouldn’t moan about someone with an awarded career but she deserves so much more... here’s hoping that Empire ending gives her more time (and Empire’s success gives her more clout) to kickstart more movie roles befitting her potential...
Happy 50th b-day Cookie.
Somewhere was the right winner as it's a film that deserves a better reception in its exploration of loneliness and ennui.
@Nathaniel R
Tandy is a triple crown-er with 3 Tony wins to go with her Oscar and Emmy.
the '77 emmys was also the ceremony where rita moreno collected the final piece of her egot
[for her guest starring role on 'the muppet show']