Showbiz History: Linda Blair movies, Kurt Russell's Emmy nod, and Burt Reynolds on a bear-skin rug
Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 9:00AM 8 random things that happened on this day, February 11th, in showbiz history...
1975 Sarah T Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic starring fresh Oscar nominee Linda Blair airs on NBC. It was the second of a handful of TV movies she made after The Exorcist that all traded on the dichotomy of her being young and innocent in scary adult situations...
1977 In Search of Noah's Ark goes into wide release after a Christmas time limited release. It's one of those rare documentaries that successfully crossed over to become an enormous mainstream theatrical hit.
1979 Elvis, A TV biopic airs on ABC starring Kurt Russell as Elvis and Shelley Winters as his mother. Kurt Russell was nominated for Best Actor at the Emmys, one of only two mainstream nominations the actor ever received in a strangely underappreciated career. The other was a well earned Globe nomination for Silkwood (1983).
1983 Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" the quintessential 80s hit, is released.
1998 The 48th annual Berlinale commences. At festival's end Brazil's fantastic drama Central Station wins the Golden Bear. We're still sad it didn't nab the Oscar that year.
2005 Hitch, starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes, and Kevin James opens. It's a huge hit.
2007 The 49th annual Grammy Awards are held. The Dixie Chicks own the evening winning Record of the Year for "Not Ready to Make Nice" and Album of the Year for their comeback post downfall by daring to criticize the sitting Republican president. They knew what was up. We still worship that song and watch the video once in a while. Hey, let's do so right now.
2012 Superstar Whitney Houston dies accidentally drowning in the bathtub. She was 48.
Today's Birthday Suit
Burt Reynolds would have been 83 today (he passed away in 2018). Here he is in his infamous Cosmopolitan photoshoot that supposedly cost him the Oscar nomination for Deliverance (1972). Of course no one really knows why people aren't nominated when they aren't... but it makes good mythology.
Other showbiz birthdays today: Tina Louise (the last surviving cast member of Gilligan's Island), Oscar winning writer/director Joseph L Mankiewicz (played in Mank by Tom Pelphrey) of All About Eve fame, Eva Gabor (Gigi, Green Acres, The Rescuers), Oscar nominee Kim Stanley (Seance on a Wet Afternoon, Frances), Jennifer Aniston (Friends, Cake), Leslie Nielsen (The Naked Gun, Forbidden Planet), Oscar winning screenwriter Sidney Sheldon (The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer, I Dream of Jeannie), Carey Lowell (Sleepless in Seattle, Licence to Kill), Damian Lewis (Homeland), Q'orianka Kilcher (The New World, The Alienist), Taylor Lautner (Twilight Saga, Abduction), Japan's Takashi Shimura (Rashomon, Seven Samurai), Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones), Germany's Lisa Vicari (Dark, Luna), Diane Franklin (Better Off Dead, The Last American Virgin), Dylan Arnold (Mudbound, Halloween Kills), Poland's Maciej Musial (The Witcher, 1983), Isaiah Mustafa (Shadowhunters, It Chapter Two), surfer Kelly Slater, rock star Sheryl Crow, Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child fame, and one of South Korea's greatest actresses Jeon Do-Yeon (The Housemaid, Secret Sunshine)
Reader Comments (15)
Reynolds hit no precursors, even the globes who loved Deliverance. He would have been an okay nominee, but couldn't crack into a strong year, thanks to The Godfather boys especially.
Honestly Pacino is Reynolds worst Oscars enemy. Category frauding and taking a spot in 72, and Reynolds being delightfull7 worthy for Starting Over would have been a worthy replacement for Pacino's And Justice For All nod.
Do we know if Reynolds was campaigned in lead or supporting for Deliverance? I wouldn't be surprised if category confusion helped cost him the nomination too. He could be argued into either category.
Re: Pacino's category fraud, it wasn't Pacino's fault. He was so annoyed at being nominated in the supporting category that he boycotted the Oscars that year. As I understand it, paramount had decided that everyone in it other than Brando should be considered supporting.
Those Linda Blair posters made me think "That's soooo 1970s..."
For some reason, looking at Kurt Russell as Elvis, I thought I was looking at Martin Sheen.
Still love Not Ready to Make Nice also, and appreciate the group for changing their name to The Chicks due to the racial history associate with Dixie. An all-around good group.
Agreed on Starting Over being Burt's best career peak performance.
I don't like Burt Reynolds, but I enjoyed the doc "I Am Burt Reynolds".
Kurt Russell is always a welcome presence onscreen and adept at both comedy and drama but I have to honestly say that I've only seen him be extraordinary a couple of times. This Elvis film is definitely one of them. He captured Presley's essence and mystique about as well as it could be done.
One small correction-Master dancer Eleanor Powell passed away on this day in 1982, she was born November 21st in 1912. Be that as it may she deserves to be better remembered, she was Fred Astaire & Gene Kelly's equal in terms of dance. Perhaps if all of her films hadn't been puff pieces she's have more of a lasting reputation. A shame she's magic onscreen.
And then wasn’t Burt Reynolds annoyed w/PTA at the actual movie (Boogie Nights) he was nominated for?
Burt Reynolds was a very sexy star at his peak- who unfortunately derailed his career by making to many bad movies.
Burt turned down Terms of Endearment and Jack NIcholson won the Oscar. Burt never stopped kicking himself for that.
But Burt would never be as great as Jack in that movie.
Jeon Do-Yeon's performance in Secret Sunshine may be the best performance by an East-Asian actor, ever
That Elvis movie is probably one of the most underrated TV movies ever. Not only because it was Kurt Russell breaking into adult film roles following a period of being in Disney movies. It's also the first film he did with John Carpenter that would be the beginning of one of the great actor-director collaborations ever.
It should also be noted that Russell's performance was largely based on the time he met Elvis in the movie It Happened at the World's Fair as it was Russell's first film playing kid who is paid a quarter to kick Elvis in the shins. Russell was wowed by the King yet Elvis was more starstruck towards Russell's father Bing. Bing was then a noted character actor in TV/film westerns as Elvis was a fan of Bing and asked Bing if he was alright if Elvis wore a cowboy hat the way Bing does in the westerns in case Elvis did a western. Bing was like "sure". That is why Elvis will always be.... THE KING.
Burt Reynolds. An amazing actor but he really never knows when he has a good thing going. He still should've won the Oscar for Boogie Nights and he should've kissed PTA's ass for saving his career but no, he blows it as usual but I still love Burt Reynolds. My dad loved him as well.
God, no. Robin Williams deserved it (and won) for "Good Will Hunting."
Cal roth, but Burt still would have won the Oscar for Jack's role.
thevoid--to add insult to injury, I believe the movie Burt turned down Terms of Endearment for was Stroker Ace. Yikes!
I remember as a kid watching The Tonight Show, where Burt was often a guest. He spoke many times of how disappointed he was that he didn't get the nomination for Deliverance. Trying to win the Oscar meant a lot to him.