10 random things that happened on this day, October 15th, in showbiz history
1888 A letter written "From Hell" was postmarked on this day for the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee. Was it actually from Jack the Ripper? The letter is now lost and the murders were forever unsolved. The story has fascinated Hollywood forever. Anyone remember the movie From Hell (2001) with Johnny Depp and Heather Graham?
1917 Exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed in France for espionage. Many films have been made about her.
More after the jump including Joan Crawford, Penny Marshall, Michelle Pfeiffer, a missing hunk, and "You Light Up My Life"...
← 1937 The Bride Wore Red, starring Joan Crawford and her then-husband Franchot Tone opens in movie theaters. (You can click on the poster to the left to see it in its full 'tag-line hall of fame' glory)
1943 Happy 75th to Penny Marshall today, one of the most successful female directors of all time. Why did she stop making movies so abruptly after Riding in Cars With Boys (2001) we'll never know. She's one of only three female directors who've had more than one $100 million grossing live-action hit at the US box office (Nancy Meyers and Nora Ephron are the other two).
1951 The first episode of I Love Lucy "The Girls Want to Go to the Nightclub" premieres on CBS...
1965 Steve McQueen and Ann-Margret star in The Cincinatti Kid, new in theaters.
1977 "You Light Up My Life," the classic single from the movie of the same name sung by Debby Boone hits #1 on the Billboard singles charts and stays there for 10 full weeks. In the movie it's sung by Kasey Cisyk with actress Didi Conn lipsynching (the switch to the singing voice is pretty hilarious in this clip since Conn had such a distinct speaking voice). The song will go on to win the Grammy, the ASCAP, the Golden Globe, and the Oscar for composer Joseph Brooks.
1993 Peter Weir's Fearless opens in movie theaters starring Jeff Bridges, the odd film about plane crash survivors nets a supporting actress nomination for Rosie Perez.
1999 The Story of Us starring Bruce Willis & Michelle Pfeiffer and Fight Club with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton both opened in movie theaters. I saw them both that weekend but because of my pfandom I went to the Pfeiffer pfirst.
This was a very strange memorable weekend in my life. I had recently moved to NYC and I had been invited to The Story of Us premiere on the 13th, two days prior -- I dont remember how as The Film Experience wasn't yet a thing. Due to some mix up they had to turn the civilians who were invited to the premiere away with passes to see the movie that weekend but I was able to see Pfeiffer in the pflesh for the very pfirst time (October 13th, 1999!) as she walked the red carpet of sorts (i.e. the sidewalk into the theater which had a red carpert). It was a super exciting weekend.
2010 Red opened wide in movie theaters starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren as gun wielding senior badasses, while Conviction, a true story / Hilary Swank vehicle began its platform release. Hilarious they had kind of equal success during awards season where they both had exactly one major thing to brag about (a Golden Globe Best Picture Comedy nomination for Red, and a SAG nomination for Best Actress for Hilary)
Today's Celebrity Birthdays
Oscar Winners: Jane Darwell (The Grapes of Wrath), Mario Puzo (The Godfather)
Oscar Nominees: Mervyn LeRoy (Random Harvest... he also later received an Honorary), Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay... yes, it's technically the country that is nominated in the foreign film category but whatever. We consider it the director, too)
Actors: Victor Banerjee, Simon Böer, Ali Faizal, Akin Gazi, John Getz, Devon Gummersall, Nigel Green, Linda Lavin, Gavin Lee, Bailee Madison, Brennan Mejia, Larry Miller, Chris Olivero (whatever happened to him?), Zak Orth, Jean Peters, Tanya Roberts, and Dominic West.
Directors: Matteo Garonne (Gomorra, Dogman), Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness)
Today's Birthday Suit
...courtesy of Matt Keeslar in the miniseries Dune (2000)
Whatever happened to him? He had a pretty good run in movies from the mid 90s through the mid 00s including well regarded or high profile things like Waiting for Guffman, Last Days of Disco, Scream 3, and cult favs like Psycho Beach Party, Splendor, and Urbania. But aside from a couple of TV guest gigs he hasn't worked onscreen since headlining the short lived TV show The Middleman 10 whole years ago. What gives? It's not like he was some hunk who couldn't act who aged out of beauty roles. He went to Juillard and was a good actor --- albeit often cast in 'hunk' roles.
Both previous incarnations of Dune onscreen provided plenty of homoeroticism. Do we think the new adaptation (Timothée Chalamet to star) will do the same?