Half Century Halle (and other anniversaries)
Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 7:00AM On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...
1040 King Duncan is killed in battle and King Macbeth succeeds him. Shakespeare fictionalizes everything later for Macbeth. So many theatrical productions and movies follow. Out damn spot!
1932 The 1932 Summer Olympics end. This is the Olympic year when gorgeous Buster Crabbe became a gold medalist (pictured left). Hollywood then snatched him right up for movie serials and action adventure franchises including Tarzan The Fearless
1945 Japan surrenders during WW II (the six year war will last only two more weeks.) but movie makers all over the world have never stopped telling the war's infinite stories. On that same day Steve Martin is born in Waco Texas. It only takes him another 68 years to get the Oscar he totally deserved
1946 Two actor birthdays: Blacksploitation actor Antonio Fargas who became "Huggybear" on TV's popular Starksy & Hutch and Susan Saint James TV of McMillan & Wife with Rock Hudson in the 1970s and Kate & Allie with Jane Curtin in the 1980s
1959 Marcia Gay Harden materializes in LaJolla California, presumably already perfect
1963 Emmanuelle Béart, Manon of the Spring herself, and 8 time César nominee is born in France. On the same day in Los Angeles Clifford Odets dies from stomach cancer. Many luminaries of stage and screen visit beforehand. He came to fame as a highly political playwright (four of his works became movies: Golden Boy, Clash By Night, The Big Knife, and The Country Girl). He was also fond of the actresses: married to Luise Rainer during her back-to-back Oscar wins and also took up with Frances Farmer -- he's played by Jeffrey DeMunn in the 1982 biopic Frances.
1965 Jane Fonda marries director/producer Roger Vadim. Together they cook up Barbarella (1968) which lasts forever unlike the marriage
Halle Berry Instagrammed this a month ago. 50 is apparently the new 30 for the extraordinarily beautiful people.
1966 Superstar Halle Berry is born in Cleveland. Becomes the first African-American Miss World contestant twenty years later. Hits the movies 5 years after that with Spike Lee's Jungle Fever as auspicious debut. Happy half century to the Best Actress winner.
1975 The Rocky Horror Picture Show gets its world premiere in London. It's the longest running film in theaters since it still shows regularly at many moviehouses around the world for weekly midnight screenings.
1980 Dorothy Stratten, a nude centerfold, is murdered by her boyfriend. The story was adapted to screen starring Mariel Hemingway and Eric Roberts by the genius Bob Fosse in Star '80 (1983), the influential artist's last film.
1983 Mila Kunis is born in the Ukraine of the Soviet Union. Moves to Los Angeles seven years later and by the age of 11 she's already on TV
1987 Can't Buy Me Love opens in movie theaters. No one could possibly expect that nerdy Dempsey would reemerge years later into a sexy mature leading man that everyone called "McDreamy"
1992 Single White Female opens in movie theaters
1998 How Stella Got Her Groove Back starring Angela Bassett who still had hers (before she lost it and got it back heyyyy) hit movie theaters
2004 The cinematographer Neal Fredericks of sleeper phenomenon The Blair Witch Project (1999) dies suddenly in a plane crash on location for a film
2009 District 9 opens in the US, becomes a huge hit, and even goes on to Oscar nominations including Best Picture in one of the most surprising Oscar years ever (since no one knew when the year began that they'd shift to 10 Best Picture nominees and the studios definitely hadn't prepared for it.)
Reader Comments (10)
NO matter what her filmography's like Berry is part of Academy history her achievement first time Best Actress winner can never be repeated,my hearts still with Sissy in 2001.
I always forget that Star 80 is Fosse; something in my brain puts a "(Schrader)" next to it every time.
Happy birthday, Single White Female! You've always been there when I needed you.
I wasn't reading this blog - or much movie writing at all - when Berry won the Oscar, but it must have been a tough line to walk, feeling the relief of finally seeing a black woman win best actress without the satisfaction of thinking she deserved it.
Talking about Oscar firsts: Lina Wertmüller is celebrating her 88th birthday today - that should be worth mentioning here, shouldn't it?
And talking about European directors: Wim Wenders was born on the same day as Steve Martin.
Oh, and James Horner would have turned 63 today.
The dumping on Halle Berry is ridiculous. Every year we're bombarded with weak tea white performers who win the Oscar or the Emmy. Consider the explicit sex scene in Monster's Ball as sacrificing something the others in her category did not. Berry's acceptance speech framed the racial narrative better than Poitier's honorary and Denzel's second.
It's interesring to look now at 2001 with career hindsight from all 5 nominees.
Halle Berry seemed to have made terrible choices after he Oscar win. She needs a role worthy of her beauty and talent
Halle Berry's Oscar speech was really Oscar worthy.
Point of order: Angela Bassett NEVER lost her groove.
I have to say I'm exhausted by the "Halle Berry didn't deserve the Oscar" talk. There are white women that didn't deserve it who win all the time...and sure, it was a monumental moment, but that's not her fault that fate laid it upon her lap. Let it go, people. Also tired of the "she made poor choices after her Oscar win" talk. No one knows what to do after winning, and the truth is there is no "correct" choice. Let's not pretend black actresses have a plethora of options anyway, even if they are Oscar winners.
@Philip - hear, hear. I actually like Berry's win, and not just (or maybe not even at all) for historical reasons. And yeah, it's not as if Berry was getting offers for The Hours, Far From Heaven, Still Alice, Two Days One Night, Million Dollar Baby, The Queen, The Reader, The Blind Side, etc., etc.