On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...
1868 George Arliss, who won the Oscar for Disraeli (1929) born
1912 RMS Titanic set sail on this day from England on her first and last voyage. The rest is the subject of history, lore, and several plays and movies, most famously James Cameron's Oscar devouring Titanic (1997)
1925 The Great Gatsby is published. The classic novel failed at first but after F Scott Fitzgerald's death it became an indisputable classic, lateradapted to plays and movies and so on...
1927 Piero Tosi, costume designer, born in Italy. He was recently honored with an honorary Oscar after 5 nominations during his long international career
1929 Max Von Sydow born in Sweden. Becomes one of the all time great screen actors
Daughters of Darkness (1971). Delphine did the sexy sapphic French blonde vampire before Deneuve got around to it in The Hunger (1983)
1932 Two key international screen stars born: Omar Sharif born in Egypt and future French film star Delphine Seyrig (Jeanne Dielman, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgouise, Last Year at Marienbad, Daughters of Darkness) born in Beirut. Also born on this day was burlesque icon Blaze Starr. She got a biopic in 1989 starring Paul Newman and Lolita Davidovich.
1936 Small Town Girl, starring Janet Gaynor and Robert Taylor hits movie theaters
1951 Action star Steven Seagal born in Detroit
1953 House of Wax, premieres in NYC, ushering in the then-brief (but unfortunately returned to us) 3D craze
1960 Ruth E Carter, two time costume design Oscar nominee (Malcolm X and Amistad), born in Massachusetts. Next up for Ruth are two Chadwick Boseman pictures, the biopic Marshall and Marvel's solo outing for Black Panther
1967 It's the 39th annual Academy Awards. Elizabeth Taylor wins her second Oscar for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf - well deserved
1968 It's the 40th annual Academy Awards, the 1967 race that Mark Harris so brilliantly covered in "Pictures at a Revolution"
1970 Paul McCartney officially leaves the The Beatles. It's considered their breakup since John Lennon's 1969 departure had not been publicly stated. On this same day French auteur Christophe Honoré is born. (What's become of him since Love Songs in 2007?)
(We're so glad that it's been in fashion to show up at the Oscars in our lifetimes because in some years in history, this wasn't the case. I mean only two of the five 1971 best actress nominees. How awful!)
1972 The 44th annual Academy Awards. The French Connection is the big winner but this is also the night Jane Fonda won one of the all time most deserving statues for Klute (1971). Such a masterful star turn!
1973 Guillaume Canet (Marion Cotillard's other half) born in France.
1980 Actor Charlie Hunnam (next up King Arthur) born in England and producer Jordan Horowitz (La La Land, The Kids are All Right) born in New York
1981 Michael Pitt, currently onscreens in Ghost in the Shell, born in New Jersey On this same day Excalibur opens in movie theaters, advertised with one of the all time great movie posters.
1983 Jamie Chung born in San Francisco. She'll take over the role of Blink from Fanbing-bing in the tv wing of the X-men franchise that they're calling "Gifted" - not to be confused with the movie in theaters right now by that name
1984 Mandy Moore born in New Hampshire. Remember what a good Disney princess voice she made in Tangled?
1985 Future Oscar nominee Barkhad Abdi (Captain Philipps) is born in Somalia.
1987 Michael J Fox comedy The Secret of My Success opens in movie theaters
Haley Joel Osment visits the classroom in Teachers, TVLand's often gut-bustingly funny show
1988 Haley Joel Osment born in Los Angeles. Just 11 years later he's Oscar nominated for horror classic The Sixth Sense (1999). Did you see his guest spot on "Teachers" recently? He plays the lazy unemployed husband of one of the central teachers. That show is the funniest... though strangely they ended their second season with the only terrible and unfunny half hour they've ever produced (a musical episode... and nobody could sing!)
1990 Alex Pettyfer, 'the kid' from Magic Mike born
Cher's much-celebrated eye candy cameo in The Player (1992), arriving to a black and white party in fire engine red
1992 Happy 25th to force-wielding Daisy Ridley born in London on this day. On this same day two 90s classics of much different trajectory were released. One of the only original musicals released in the 1990s, Disney's Newsies was outright dismissed but it came roaring back to life via cable and DVD and the somewhat common trajectory of its young fans growing up and still loving the movie. Robert Altman's scathing showbiz satire The Player was released to huge acclaim at the time but weirdly people talk about it so little now. Even within the context of Altman discussions.
2020 Trolls 2 is slated to open with Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick reprising their voicework. Will Justin have another Oscar nominated song to go with it?
If he does can he open the ceremony again? That was great fun.