Today Stuart Margolin is 80, and Minnie Driver is 50. Today is also the birthday of Justin Timberlake, Kerry Washington, Jessica Walter, Jonathan Banks, Portia de Rossi, Bobby Moynihan, John Lydon, Philip Glass, Kelly Lynch, Patricia Velasquez, Paul Scheer, Anthony Lapaglia, Peter McRobbie, Nick DiPaolo, Dexter Fletcher, Megan Ellison, Michael St. Michaels, and the late Jean Simmons, Tallulah Bankhead, Carol Channing, Norman Mailer, Jackie Robinson, Suzanne Pleshette, Franz Schubert, Eddie Cantor, Mario Lanza, Joanne Dru, Percy Helton, and Derek Jarman. Samuel Goldwyn died 46 years ago in 1974 at age 94. George Abbott died 25 years ago in 1995 at age 107.
Author: jonathanhwinchell
On this date- January 30
Today Gene Hackman is 90, and Wilmer Valderrama is 40. Today is also the birthday of Vanessa Redgrave, Christian Bale, Phil Collins, Olivia Colman, Charles S. Dutton, Ann Dowd, Brett Butler, Gino Conforti, Steven Zaillian, Andy Milonakis, Wayne Wilderson, Dick Cheney, and the late Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Ireland, David Wayne, Dick Martin, Hugh Marlowe, Tammy Grimes, and Michael Anderson and Delbert Mann, who would be both 100. Mahatma Gandhi and Orville Wright both died 72 years ago in 1948. Gandhi was 78. Wright was 76.
On this date- January 29
Today Katharine Ross is 80, Tom Selleck is 75, and Heather Graham is 50. Today is also the birthday of Oprah Winfrey, Sara Gilbert, Edward Burns, Sam Trammell, Justin Hartley, Adam Lambert, and the late W.C. Fields, Anton Chekhov, Victor Mature, Ernst Lubitsch, Dorothy Malone, Paddy Chayefsky, and John Forsythe. Alan Ladd died years ago in 1964 at age 50. Freddie Prinze died years ago in 1977 at age 22. Jacques Rivette died years ago in 2016 at age 87.
On this date- January 28
Today Nicholas Pryor is 85, and Nick Carter is 40. Today is also the birthday of Alan Alda, Elijah Wood, Will Poulter, Joey Fatone, Susan Howard, Frank Darabont, Marthe Keller, Gillian Vigman, Sarah McLachlan, John Beck, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jack Hill, Mo Rocca, Ariel Winter, Rick Ross, and the late John Banner, who died on his birthday 47 years ago in 1973 at age 63, Tom Neal, Lewis Wilson, who would be 100, Richard Glatzer, Hiroshi Teshigahara, and Maurice Gosfield. Zora Neale Hurston died sixty years ago in 1960 at age 69. Burt Mustin died 43 years ago in 1977 at age 92. Erle C. Kenton died forty years ago in 1980 at age 83.
On this date- January 27
Today James Cromwell is 80, and Phil Rosenthal is 60. Today is also the birthday of Patton Oswalt, Alan Cumming, Bridget Fonda, Rosamund Pike, Mimi Rogers, Frank Miller, Keith Olbermann, Mike Patton, Michael Craig, Tricky, and the late Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Lewis Carroll, Donna Reed, Troy Donahue, John Witherspoon, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Howard McNear, Ingrid Thulin, Sabu, and Milton Kibbee. Andre the Giant died 27 years ago in 1993 at age 46. Jack Paar died sixteen years ago in 2004 at age 85. J.D. Salinger died ten years ago in 2010 at age 91. Pete Seeger died six years ago in 2014 at age 94. Emmanuelle Riva died three years ago in 2017 at age 89.
On this date- January 26
Today is the birthday of Ellen DeGeneres, Eddie Van Halen, Scott Glenn, David Strathairn, Angela Davis, Bryan Callen, Bob Uecker, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Mimi Leder, Henry Jaglom, and the late Paul Newman, Joan Leslie, Gene Siskel, William Hopper, Anne Jeffreys, Roger Vadmin, Maria von Trapp, Charles Lane, and Vito Scotti. Edward G. Robinson died 47 years ago in 1973 at age 79. José Ferrer died 28 years ago in 1992 at age 80. Abe Vigoda died four years ago in 2016 at age 94.
On this date- January 25
Today Leigh Taylor-Young is 75, Stephen Chbosky is 50. Today is also the birthday of Alicia Keys, Jenifer Lewis, Dinah Manoff, Whit Stillman, Olivier Assayas, Gregory Sierra, Diane Salinger, Don Mancini, and the late Virginia Woolf, Etta James, Dean Jones, Tobe Hooper, Mildred Dunnock, Diana Hyland, Gregg Palmer, King Donovan, Youssef Chahine, W. Somerset Maugham, Carlotta Monti, and Harold Lloyd Jr. Al Capone died years ago 73 in 1947 at age 48. Ava Gardner died thirty years ago in 1990 at age 67. Mary Tyler Moore and John Hurt both died three years ago in 2017. Moore was 80. Hurt was 77.
On this date- January 24
Today Daniel Auteuil is 70, and Matthew Lillard is 50. Today is also the birthday of Neil Diamond, Ed Helms, Carrie Coon, Daveed Diggs, Nastassja Kinski, Kristen Schaal, Michael Ontkean, Justin Baldoni, Adrian Edmondson, Phil LaMarr, Michael Des Barres, and the late John Belushi, Ernest Borgnine, Sharon Tate, Marvin Kaplan, Estelle Winwood, Edith Wharton, Henry King, and Haji. Winston Churchill died 55 years ago in 1965 at age 90. J. Carrol Naish died 47 years ago in 1973 at age 77. Larry Fine died 45 years ago in 1975 at age 72. George Cukor died 37 years ago in 1983 at age 83. L. Ron Hubbard died 34 years ago in 1986 at age 74. Ted Bundy died 31 years ago in 1989 at age 42. Chris Penn died fourteen years ago in 2006 at age 40. Pernell Roberts died ten years ago in 2010 at age 81. Theodoros Angelopoulos died eight years ago in 2012 at age 76.
Film Directors Whom I’ve Seen the Most Films by at a Film Festival or in a Theater in Their Original Release
Film directors whom I’ve seen the most films by in a theater in their original release:
Woody Allen (16): Melinda and Melinda (2004); Match Point (2005); Scoop (2006); Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008); Whatever Works (2009); You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010); Midnight in Paris (2011); To Rome with Love (2012); Blue Jasmine (2013); Magic in the Moonlight (2014); Irrational Man (2015); Café Society (2016); Wonder Wheel (2017); A Rainy Day in New York (2019); Rifkin’s Festival (2020); Coup de Chance (2023)
Clint Eastwood (14): Million Dollar Baby (2004); Changeling (2008); Gran Torino (2008); Invictus (2009); Hereafter (2010); J. Edgar (2011); Jersey Boys (2014); American Sniper (2014); Sully (2016); The 15:17 to Paris (2018); The Mule (2018); Richard Jewell (2019); Cry Macho (2021); Juror #2 (2024)
Steven Soderbergh (14): Ocean’s Twelve (2004); Che (2008); The Girlfriend Experience (2009); The Informant! (2009); Contagion (2011); Haywire (2011); Magic Mike (2012); Side Effects (2013); Logan Lucky (2017); Unsane (2018); The Laundromat (2019); Magic Mike’s Last Dance (2023); Presence (2024); Black Bag (2025)
Ridley Scott (12): American Gangster (2007); Robin Hood (2010); Prometheus (2012); The Counselor (2013); Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014); The Martian (2015); Alien: Covenant (2017); All the Money in the Word (2017); The Last Duel (2021); House of Gucci (2021); Napoleon (2023); Gladiator II (2024)
Tim Burton (10): Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005); Corpse Bride (2005); Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007); Alice in Wonderland (2010); Dark Shadows (2012); Frankenweenie (2012); Big Eyes (2014); Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016); Dumbo (2019); Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
Steven Spielberg (10): Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008); The Adventure of Tintin (2011); War Horse (2011); Lincoln (2012); Bridge of Spies (2015); The BFG (2016); The Post (2017); Ready Player One (2018); West Side Story (2021); The Fabelmans (2022)
Wes Anderson (9): The Darjeeling Limited (2007); Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009); Moonrise Kingdom (2012); The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014); Isle of Dogs (2018); The French Dispatch (2021); Asteroid City (2023); The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)- short; The Phoenician Scheme (2025)
Ethan Coen (9): No Country for Old Men (2007); Burn After Reading (2008); A Serious Man (2009); True Grit (2010); Inside Llewyn Davis (2013); Hail, Caesar! (2016); The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018); Drive-Away Dolls (2024); Honey Don’t! (2025). All directed with Joel Coen except Drive-Away Dolls and Honey Don’t!
Pedro Almodóvar (8): Broken Embraces (2009); The Skin I Live In (2011); I’m So Excited! (2013); Julieta (2016); Pain and Glory (2019); Parallel Mothers (2021); Strange Way of Life (2023)- short; The Room Next Door (2024)
Noah Baumbach (8): Greenberg (2010); Frances Ha (2012); While We’re Young (2014); Mistress America (2015); De Palma (with Jake Paltrow) (2015); The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017); Marriage Story (2019); Jay Kelly (2025)
Joel Coen (8): No Country for Old Men (2007); Burn After Reading (2008); A Serious Man (2009); True Grit (2010); Inside Llewyn Davis (2013); Hail, Caesar! (2016); The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018); The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). All directed with Ethan Coen except The Tragedy of Macbeth.
Adam McKay (8): Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004); Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby (2006); Step Brothers (2008); The Other Guys (2010); Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013); The Big Short (2015); Vice (2018); Don’t Look Up (2021)
Martin Scorsese (8): The Aviator (2004); Shutter Island (2010); Hugo (2011); The Wolf of Wall Street (2013); Silence (2016); Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (2019); The Irishman (2019); Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Denis Villeneuve (8): Incendies (2010); Prisoners (2013); Enemy (2013); Sicario (2015); Arrival (2016); Blade Runner 2049 (2017); Dune (2021); Dune: Part Two (2024)
Bong Joon-ho (7): The Host (2006); Tokyo! (segment: “Shaking Tokyo”) (2008); Mother (2009); Snowpiercer (2013); Okja (2017); Parasite (2019); Mickey 17 (2025)
Danny Boyle (7): Millions (2004); Slumdog Millionaire (2008); 127 Hours (2010); Trance (2013); Steve Jobs (2015); T2 Trainspotting (2017); 28 Years Later (2025)
Guillermo del Toro (7): Pan’s Labyrinth (2006); Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008); Pacific Rim (2013); Crimson Peak (2015); The Shape of Water (2017); Nightmare Alley (2021); Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (with Mark Gustafson) (2022)
Luca Guadagnino (7): I Am Love (2009); A Bigger Splash (2015); Call Me by Your Name (2017); Suspiria (2018); Bones and All (2022); Challengers (2024); Queer (2024)
Hong Sang-soo (7): On the Beach at Night Alone (2017); The Day After (2017); The Novelist’s Film (2022); Walk Up (2022); A Traveler’s Needs (2024); By the Stream (2024); What Does That Nature Say to You (2025)
Richard Linklater (7): Bernie (2011); Before Midnight (2013); Boyhood (2014); Last Flag Flying (2017); Hit Man (2023); Blue Moon (2025); Nouvelle Vague (2025)
Terrence Malick (7): The New World (2005); The Tree of Life (2011); To the Wonder (2012); Knight of Cups (2015); Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey (2016); Song to Song (2017); A Hidden Life (2019)
Christopher Nolan (7): The Dark Knight (2008); Inception (2010); The Dark Knight Rises (2012); Interstellar (2014); Dunkirk (2017); Tenet (2020); Oppenheimer (2023)
Alex Ross Perry (7): Listen Up Philip (2014); Queen of Earth (2015); Golden Exits (2017); Her Smell (2018); GHOST: Rite Here Rite Now (2024); Pavements (2024); Videoheaven (2025)
On this date- January 23
Today Richard Dean Anderson is 70. Today is also the birthday of Mariska Hargitay, Chita Rivera, Ewen Bremner, Jack Reynor, Gil Gerard, David Patrick Kelly, Arlene Golonka, Gail O’Grady, Tiffani Thiessen, Mark Boal, Richard Roxburgh, Shin’ichi Chiba, Kyle Newacheck, Lou Antonio, Derek Cianfrance, Captain C.B. Sully Sullenberger, and the late Ernie Kovacs, Jeanne Moreau, Rutger Hauer, Randolph Scott, Frances Bay, Dan Duryea, Bob Steele, Ralph Graves, Franklin Pangborn, and Django Reinhardt. Paul Robeson died 44 years ago in 1976 at age 77. Jack Oakie died 42 years ago in 1978 at age 74. Johnny Carson died fifteen years ago in 2005 at age 79. Jonas Mekas died one year ago in 2019 at age 96.
Winchell's Film Column 