On this day in movie history...
1617 Though the exact date of her death is unknown, Pocahontas's funeral was held on this day. She died on a ship with husband John Rolfe (played by Christian Bale in The New World but he wasn't a character in Disney's Pocahontas because that woulda been hella depressing). She was only 21 or 22
1880 "Bronco Billy" Anderson, the original movie cowboy star (he made hundreds of silent shorts) is born
1941 The Sea Wolf starring Edward G Robinson and Ida Lupino is released. Director Michael Curtiz is warming up for his rather incredible peak decade (Captain of the Clouds, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Casablanca, Mildred Pierce and more are next)
1949 Slavoj Zizek of The Perverts Guide to Cinema (2006) is born
1956 The 1955 Oscars. Marty becomes both the shortest film to ever win Best Picture and the first indie to do so.
1958 Gary Oldman is born...
1962 Matthew Broderick and Rosie O'Donnell are both born in New York
1963 Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould marry.
1967 It's the 50th anniversary of wacky musical comedy Thoroughly Modern Millie. The 20s spoof was another big hit for Julie Andrews, queen of the mid 60s. If you missed it, please click on over to Daniel Walber's piece on the movie's Oscar nominated Production design which went up yesterday.
1968 Jaye Davison, the only person to ever "spoil" a movie merely by getting an Oscar nomination for it (Best Supporting Actor, The Crying Game) is born.
1975 Escape to Witch Mountain arrives in theaters
1982 Stage and screen actor Santino Fontana (Hans in Frozen, and Tony nominated as Prince Topher in Cinderella on Broadway) is born. I'm so behind on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend! (I'm at this part where his character Greg has exited Rebecca's life.)
1986 Scott Eastwood, one of Clint's many children, is born. His last name at birth was Reeves and according to Wikipedia it said "Father declined" on his birth certificate. Scandal!
1994 Schindler's List (7 wins), The Piano (3 wins), and Jurassic Park (3 wins) divvy up the 1993 Oscars.
1997 Selena and Liar Liar both open in movie theaters
1999 Shakespeare in Love (7 wins) and Saving Private Ryan (5 wins) fight it out all night at the 1998 Oscars before Harrison Ford finally announces that Shakespeare has prevailed. People like to bitch about this (another reminder that comedy and female-focused films are rarely properly respected) but it's totally the better of the two films.
Exit Video
Also on this day in 1987 we lost musical star Robert Preston to lung cancer. Wasn't he wonderful in Victor/Victoria?