On this day: Liz & Dick Divorced, Harry Potter Published
Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 8:00AM On this day in history as it relates to the movies...
1819 The bicycle is patented by W.K. Clarkson, Jr. which could be why June has lots of bicycle holidays like "bike to work week" and such. There's even a Bicycle Film Festival happening in NYC this very weekend.
1904 Peter Lorre is born
1922 Underappeciated film star Eleanor Parker is born. Her two best known classics are Caged (1950, her first nomination in one of the all time best Best Actress years) and The Sound of Music (1965, snubbed in supporting actress). Also born on this day is two-time Oscar recipient Dick Smith, an indisputable giant in movie makeup. Among his classics: The Godfather, The Exorcist, Amadeus, and Taxi Driver
1925 Charles Chaplin's The Gold Rush premieres in Hollywood
1956 Chris Isaak, hot musician and David Lynch favorite, is born
1970 Paul Thomas Anderson is born. We thank him forever for Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and There Will Be Blood, but we wan't to be that excited about one of his movies again. The last two...
Divorced on this day in '74. Remembered by Fall '75
1974 And we were just talking about Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ! Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were not Martha and George in real life but their love was volatile all the same. They got divorced on this day in 1974 ten years after their wedding (which followed that globally scandalous Cleopatra affair). But you can't keep Liz & Dick separated for long on or offscreen. The crazy lovebirds got remarried 1 year, 3 months and 14 days later.
1975 Sonny & Cher divorce. Unlike Liz & Dick they don't get back together. Meanwhile, in unrelated news on that very same day two FBI agents are murdered on an Indian Reservation. Leonard Peltier is later convicted. The Val Kilmer movie Thunderheart (1992) is loosely inspired by this but with all the facts changed. Very very loosely inspired. Anyone remember that movie? I had kind of a thing for Val Kilmer back then.
1997 J.K. Rowlings first Harry Potter book is published in the U.K. It goes on to become a worldwide phenomenon. Not to horrify but how long until they remake those movies, do you think? (Bitchpleez you know it's going to happen)
1998 Out of Sight hits theaters. That was a goodie
2009 The Hurt Locker opens in theaters. Already an awards presence for '08 (with a Spirit nomination) now it's Oscar eligible & wins Best Picture
2012 Nora Ephron dies. What a loss
2015 The US Supreme Court declares a constitutional right to marriage to same sex couples. Now Jules & from The Kids Are All Right and all the other movie gays can get married - how long until we see gay married couple characters in movies? Twenty years? The movies can be quite slow on this stuff
Reader Comments (13)
The last two PTA films were excellent!! Inherent Vice is top three this decade.
I miss charming Clooney. I get that he is alternating Coens clown (that applies to Money Monster, too) with serious actor (The Descendants) but he's the best when he mixes charm and performance. I love him in Up in The Air, flirting with that stunning Vera Farmiga.
Out of Sight is his best performance except for Michael Clayton (his best serious non-charming performance).
Speak for yourself when you discuss present day PTA. You simply resent his dropping of Julianne Moore from his features. She's awesome in Boogie Nights and Magnolia. But no one truly appreciated those Altman-like ensembles until after he retired from making them. Though Inherent Vice certainly benefited from a filmmaker who was no stranger to wrangling a large cast.
susan hayward came back from the dead?!?
I have waited for Harry Potter remakes since I saw the first film when I was 10 or something and I hated it. Now I think I was too harsh on the films but I would still rejoice if we would get remakes or tv remakes. Alas, the world in continued with Fantastic Beasts that is apparently a trilogy and you know eventually the Harry Potter and the Cursed child play which opens soon is going to made a film too. Probably in 15 years when the cast is the right age (and Radcliffe and Watson probably more open to retuning to Harry Potter, they would not do so now). Normally I like cinematic universes continuing not remakes but I just still can't like the films so I can't be excited for Fantastic Beasts. And Rowling should just write other nook series set in the same universe and not screenplays and plays etc.
par -- right? it sorta changes the meaning of I WANT TO LIVE! AS A ZOMBIE
jake -- yeah, i'll never get its appeal. I think he lost so much as a filmmaker when his focus narrowed to one or two male protagonists at war even though THERE WILL BE BLOOD is awesome. But i didn't want that to become the norm!
cal roth: I agree that Clooney is his most charming there, but I'd take it a step further. I believe that OUT OF SIGHT is that rare movie where both leads (George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez) have never looked better. I realize that evaluating peak Clooney prettiness and peak Lopez prettiness is subjective, but I suspect enough people would agree with my suggestion.
I think he lost so much as a filmmaker when his focus narrowed to one or two male protagonists at war
He gained when he honed his focus.
THERE WILL BE BLOOD is awesome
It's boring.
I agree Eleanor Parker is terribly underappreciated. For someone who managed to accumulate three Oscar nominations and was a major star in her day it's a pity she isn't better remembered now. She absolutely should have had one more nod for Sound of Music but she gave several other performances, Home from the Hill, Never Say Goodbye etc., that were of note.
Par-That cover is from '74, probably complied just after Susan Hayward had made her final appearance on the Oscars with Charlton Heston to award Best Actress and though it was common knowledge that she was terminally ill in Hollywood they tried to put a brave face on it since she had looked so good on the program. But she was gone by March of '75.
I was in junior high when these two iconic showbiz couples divorced.
Elizabeth Taylor was a before my time, but even as a kid, I remembered how people either adored or despised her! Listening to grownups discuss Liz' latest divorce was quite entertaining.
As for Sonny and Cher, this gay boy lived to see TV's sexy Dark Lady in all her Bob Mackie glory every week. I was actually glad S&C split, because I always tried to ignore Sonny while focusing on Cher. And while we didn't have the internet back then for all the dish, we did have Rona Barrett!
I still miss Nora Ephron, but I'm thankful for all of the joy and pleasure J.K. Rowling has given me.
I think you're wrong about the possibility of re-makes, don't forget Rowling would have to give permission, and she can be very picky.
I hope that the next Harry Potter adaptation is a seven season show. And, if they do it in the next 15 years, we all know that Cumberbatch will play Snape.
Devin D -- i think it could be a much better TV series than films. Especially if they cast better child actors.