Author: jonathanhwinchell

Today Jonathan Goldsmith is 80, Olivia Newton-John and Mary Beth Hurt are 70, and Jim Caviezel and Ben Shenkman are 50. Today is also the birthday of Linda Hamilton, Philip Bosco, Serena Williams, Sheri Moon Zombie, Christina Milian, Richard Herd, Melissa Sue Anderson, Kent McCord, Talulah Riley, Jill Soloway, David Slade, Jake Paltrow, Jillian Barberie, and the late George Gershwin, George Raft, Edmund Gwenn, T.S. Eliot, Joyce Jameson, Donna Douglas, Julie London, Patrick O’Neal, Jack LaLanne, John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed), and Jerry Weintraub. Bessie Smith died 81 years ago in 1937 at age 43. Anna Magnani died 45 years ago in 1973 at age 65. Arthur Hunnicutt, one of my grandmother’s first cousins, and John Cromwell died 39 years ago in 1979. Hunnictt was 69. Cromwell was 92. Paul Newman died ten years ago in 2008 at age 83. Gloria Stuart died eight years ago in 2010 at age 100.

Today Harold Becker is 90, Robert Walden is 75, Mimi Kennedy and Colleen Atwood are 70, and Will Smith is 50. Today is also the birthday of Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Donald Glover, Mark Hamill, Pedro Almodóvar, Michael Madsen, Heather Locklear, Barbara Walters, Zach Woods, Anson Williams, Tate Donovan, Mikael Persbrandt, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Clea DuVall, T.I., Brian Murphy, Aida Turturro, Chris Owen, Jason Flemyng, David Benioff, Jamie Hyneman, and the late Christopher Reeve, William Faulkner, Robert Bresson, Aldo Ray, Shel Silverstein, and Ronnie Barker. John Bonham and Lewis Milestone died 38 years ago in 1980. Bonham was 32. Milestone was 84. Mary Astor died 31 years ago in 1987 at age 81. Don Adams died thirteen years ago in 2005 at age 82. Andy Williams died six years ago in 2012 at age 84.

Today Bert I. Gordon is 96, Gordon Clapp is 70, Kevin Sorbo is 60, Kyle Sullivan is 30, and Ben Platt is 25. Today is also the birthday of Brad Bird, Ian Bohen, Nia Vardalos, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Harriet Walter, John Logan, David Anspaugh, Kenneth Tigar, Ross Mathews, Bridget Jones, Lou Dobbs, and the late Jim Henson, Phil Hartman, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Audra Lindley, who would be 100, Anthony Newley, Arthur Malet, Don Porter, Theresa Merritt, Linda McCartney, and Alan Colmes. Patsy Kelly died 37 years ago in 1981 at age 71. Neil Hamilton died 34 years ago in 1984 at age 85. Theodor Geisel aka Dr. Seuss died 27 years ago in 1991 at age 87.

Today Tom Lester is 80, Julio Iglesias is 75, and Anthony Mackie is 40. Today is also the birthday of Bruce Springsteen, Jason Alexander, Mary Kay Place, Skylar Astin, Kip Pardue, Rosalind Chao, Chi McBride, Hasan Minhaj, Karl Pilkington, Paul Petersen, Alex Proyas, Joshua Oppenheimer, Christopher Miller, and the late Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Mickey Rooney, Walter Pidgeon, Romy Schneider, and Elizabeth Peña. Shirley Clarke died 21 years ago in 1997 at age 77.

Today Toni Basil is 75, and Joan Jett is 60. Today is also the birthday of Nick Cave, Anna Karina, Tatiana Maslany, Tom Felton, Mireille Enos, Bonnie Hunt, Paul Le Mat, Ruth Jones, Art Metrano, Benoît Poelvoorde, Scott Baio, and the late Erich von Stroheim, Paul Muni, John Houseman, Martha Scott, Richard Marquand, Arthur Lowe, and Allan Lane. Marion Davies died 57 years ago in 1961 at age 64. Dan Rowan died 31 years ago in 1987 at age 65. Irving Berlin died 29 years ago in 1989 at age 101. Dorothy Lamour died 22 years ago in 1996 at age 81. George C. Scott died 19 years ago in 1999 at age 71. Marcel Marceau died eleven years ago in 2007 at age 84. Eddie Fisher died eight years ago in 2010 at age 82.

Today Jerry Bruckheimer is 75, and Ricki Lake is 50. Today is also the birthday of Bill Murray, Stephen King, Luke Wilson, Cheryl Hines, Ethan Coen, David Wenham, Rob Morrow, François Cluzet, Maggie Grace, Otis Day, Faith Hill, Ann Elder, Nick Castle, Joseph Mazzello, Nancy Travis, Alfonso Ribeiro, Fannie Flagg, Liam Gallagher, Martha Kauffman, Nicole Richie, and the late Leonard Cohen, Henry Gibson, Larry Hagman, Chuck Jones, and H.G. Wells. Walter Brennan died 34 years ago in 1974 at age 80. Alice Ghostley died eleven years ago in 2007 at age 84.

Today George R.R. Martin is 70, Van Jones and Chad Stahelski are 50, and Charlie Weber is 40. Today is also the birthday of Sophia Loren, Jon Bernthal, Maggie Cheung, Asia Argento, Gary Cole, David Haig, Kristen Johnston, Aldis Hodge, Robert LaSardo, Sabine Azéma, Ryan Fleck, and the late Anne Meara, Kenneth More, Fernando Rey, Victor Sjöström, Jay Ward, Upton Sinclair, William Finley, Slappy White, Vittorio Taviani, and Norman Z. McLeod. Glenn Strange died 45 years ago in 1973 at age 74. Roy Kinnear died thirty years ago in 1988 at age 54. Polly Bergen and Eric Lynch aka Eric the Actor aka Eric the Midget died four years ago in 2014. Bergan was 84. Lynch was 39. Curtis Hanson died two years ago in 2016 at age 71.

Today James Lipton is 92, Rosemary Harris is 91, David McCallum is 85, and Jeremy Irons is 70. Today is also the birthday of Jimmy Fallon, Paul Williams, Cheri Oteri, Twiggy, Danielle Panabaker, Sanaa Lathan, Alison Sweeney, Kim Richards, David Bamber, Victor Williams, Randolph Mantooth, Sally Potter, Jean-Claude Carrière, Soledad O’Brien, Mario Batali, and the late Adam West, Cass Elliot, Frances Farmer, Ben Turpin, William Hickey, Ray Danton, and Jóhann Jóhannsson. Rex Ingram died 49 years ago in 1969 at age 73. Bernie Casey and Jake LaMotta died one year ago in 2017. Casey was 78. LaMotta was 95.

Today Robert Blake is 85, and Billy Eichner is 40. Today is also the birthday of James Marsden, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jason Sudeikis, Fred Willard, Frankie Avalon, Aisha Tyler, Alison Lohman, Xzibit, Lance Armstrong, Anna Levine, Beth Grant, Christopher Heyerdahl, Anna Deavere Smith, Gailard Sartain, Mark Romanek, David Mirkin, Ben Carson, and the late Greta Garbo, James Gandolfini, Jack Warden, Samuel Johnson, Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson, June Foray, Grayson Hall, Rossano Brazzi, and Jack Cardiff. Frank Morgan died 69 years ago in 1949 at age 59. Franchot Tone died fifty years ago in 1968 at age 63. Russ Meyer died fourteen years ago in 2004 at age 82.

Today Pat Crowley is 85. Today is also the birthday of Kyle Chandler, Cassandra Peterson (Elvira), Baz Luhrmann, Bryan Singer, Paul Feig, Neill Blomkamp, Bobby Lee, Rita Rudner, Matthew Settle, Bruce Spencer, Sam Esmail, Kevin Clash, Nate Berkus, Mark Osborne, Narendra Modi, and the late Hank Williams, Anne Bancroft, John Ritter, Roddy McDowall, Lupe Ontiveros, David Huddleston, Ken Kesey, Paul Benedict, Dolores Costello, Jerry Colonna, Harold Bennett, George Cleveland, and Edgar G. Ulmer. Richard Basehart died 34 years ago in 1984 at age 70. Grady Sutton died 23 years ago in 1995 at age 89. Red Skelton died 21 years ago in 1997 at age 84.