Happy birthday June 2nd-ers! Here's what was happening in showbiz or showbiz-related history on the day you were born...
1740 The Marquis de Sade is born. Lives on in immortal infamy and morphs into Geoffrey Rush in 2000 for the SAG & Golden Globe nominated Quills. I always forget that that movie WON Best Picture at the NBR and then wasn't even Oscar nominated for Best Picture (a thing that doesn't happen super often.)
1865 The American Civil War reaches a major turning point signalling the end (basically) when the final Confederate army ceases to exist with a surrender in Missississippi. There's a million movies on the matter (well, not that event in particular). The wounds have obviously become reinfected of late, so expect even more.
1904 Athlete and movie star Johnny Weismuller born in Austria-Hungary (in what is now Romania)...
He goes to the Olympics for Team USA and, most famously, he becomes Tarzan in the classic 1930s and 1940s film franchise.
1937 Sally Kellerman is born in Long Beach, California. She achieves fame and an Oscar nomination for her divisive role in MASH (1970), just discussed right here at the Smackdown.
1941 Baseball player Lou Gehrig dies of ALS (for years more commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's disease" -- he was that famous). Just nine months later the biopic The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright as the Gehrigs is released, becoming a box office hit and an Oscar favorite (11 nominations including Best Picture and 1 win)
1946 Lasse Hallstrom is born in Stockholm, Sweden. He directs many classic ABBA videos before launching his film career. Oscar gloms on to him with the Swedish film My Life as a Dog (1985) but hasn't had time for him post-Chocolat (2000), which we are not fans of but Oscar sure was. Though he hasn't had a hit in quite some time he's married to Lena Olin, so he still wins at life. Next up: The Nutcracker and the Four Realms due for release this November.
1953 The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. This event was portrayed in the first season of the Netflix series The Crown starring Claire Foy. Somehow Queen Elizabeth still reigns and is more popular than ever (at least in film and television). The genes on that one!
Norm Lewis in Broadway Bares in (not sure of the year) and as Caiaphas in Jesus Christ Superstar in Concent (2018)
1963 Handsome Broadway star and sometime TV actor Norm Lewis (Tony nominated for Porgy & Bess) is born in Florida. His voice is incredible so would that there were more movie musicals for him! His most recent role was in Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.
1973 Kevin Feige is born in Boston. Later in life he'll command the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.
1977 Zachary Quinto is born in Pittsburgh
1978 Dominic Cooper is born in London...
1978 Meanwhile across the ocean on that same day, Mark Hamill has his first post-Luke Skywalker movie opening with Corvette Summer. But his co-star young Annie Potts is the one who finds stardom this time (and a Golden Globe nomination back when they used to have a category called "Best Acting Debut!")
1979 Morena Baccarin is born in Brazil. Goes on to fame in Firefly and Homeland on TV, and Deadpool in film.
1989 Dead Poet's Society opens in limited release. It will become a major hit and be nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture.
1995 The Bridges of Madison County opens in theaters. We just discussed it two days ago here at the blog.
2002 The Wire debuts on HBO. Many claim it's the greatest TV series of all time though it's largely ignored by awards bodies during its 5 season run.