Six random things that happened on this day (June 11th) in showbiz history
1966 On a Clear Day You Can See Forever starring the great Barbara Harris and John Cullum closes on Broadway shortly before the Tony Awards, where it will lose all three of its nominations. It was snubbed in Best Musical where Man of La Mancha won and Mame, Skyscraper, and Sweet Charity were all nominated. Nevertheless it was quicker than all but Sweet Charity in getting a big screen adaptation. Barbra Streisand starred.
1969 Peter Dinklage is born (Happy 50th!). Do you think he's headed for a fourth Emmy win for Game of Thrones? Do you remember the first time you saw him? For us it was The Station Agent (2003), such a gem from the early Aughts...
On the exact day of Dinklage's birth the John Wayne classic True Grit was released in US movie theaters. Coincidence? Of course but now we're picturing Dinklage as Rooster Cogburn. He could totally pull off an eyepatch and a comic drunken slur.
1975 One of the greatest movies of all time, Robert Altman's Nashville, is released. It goes on to receive 5 Oscar nominations including Best Picture but only wins for Keith Carradine's sexy song "I'm Easy".
1982 / 1993 Beloved director Steven Spielberg apparently owns June 11th. On this day both E.T the Extraterrestrial and Jurassic Park opened in their respective years, setting then box office records. They remain adored today. Adjusted for inflation E.T. is still the 4th biggest hit of all time just behind The Sound of Music and just ahead of Titanic. Jurassic Park is the 18th highest grossing picture of all time just behind Avengers Endgame now and just ahead of Star Wars Episode 1: Phantom Menace, and The Lion King.
2002 American Idol premieres on Fox and we've never been able to escape the gawdy, shameless vocal runs of singing competitions ever since. (sigh)
Today's Birthday Suit
Richard Todd in The Hasty Heart (1949). It's his centennial today but he died 10 years back at 90 years of age. That breakthrough role, which he played on stage prior to the film transfer proved to be his only one with awards glory. He won a Golden Globe for "promising newcomer," and received Oscar and Globe nominations for Best Actor for his role as a dying soldier in a British military hospital in Burma who falls in love with his nurse played by future Best Actress winner Patricia Neal. Have you ever seen it? After that success he was a regular in Hollywood pictures of the 1950s including Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright and the Bette Davis picture The Virgin Queen and is one of MANY actors to have played Robin Hood on the big screen in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952)
Other Showbiz peeps Born on this Day: Oscar and Palme d'Or winning ocean exploring legend Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Oscar nomianted director Michael Cacoyannis; and a slew of actors including Shia Labeouf, Kenjirô Tsuda, Charlie Tahan, Gene Wilder, Yui Aragaki, Joshua Jackson, Ivana Baquero (Pan's Labyrinth), Hugh Laurie, Chad Everett, Robert Hutton, Matt McGrath, Buddy Baer, María Barranco (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), 80s sex symbol Adrienne Barbeau, and the eldest and least famous of the three Gabor sisters, Magda.