7 random things that happened on this day, November 8th, in showbiz history
1847 Bram Stoker born on this day in Ireland. His 1897 Dracula will go on to become a legendary epistolary novel and of course a beloved batshit crazy movie that we wrote about twice recently
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty premieres in NYC. It becomes the #1 box office hit of 1935 and holds two Oscar records...
It's the last Best Picture winner to *only* win that one top Oscar (two films before it in Oscar's first years won only that prize too, Broadway Melody and Grand Hotel. And it's the only film to ever receive 3 nominations in a lead acting category: Clark Gable and Francot Tone (pictured) and Charles Laughton were all up for Best Actor hogging 75% of the category. They lost to Victor McLaglen in the The Informer. Paul Muni in Black Fury was the fifth nominee *if* you count write-in nominations in those confusing early years before Oscar had settled on 5 as the magic number per category. So if you count him Mutiny hogged 60% of the ballot. P.S. Mutiny has been remade multiple times which is mostly needless as the original remains the best one.
1949 All the King's Men has its world premiere in NYC. It will go on to win Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars beating the more deserving Olivia de Havilland picture, The Heiress for Hollywood's top honor. Curiously neither film won Best Director.
1966 Former actor Ronald Reagan elected Governor of California -- to date he's the only California Governor to ever become President of the United States (though others tried)
1970 Happy 50th anniversary today to the Hammer Horror film Scars of Dracula starring Christopher Lee. It premiered in the UK on this very day.
2002 8 Mile and Far From Heaven both hit movie theaters. 8 Mile's star Eminem later wins the Best Original Song Oscar but sadly Far From Heaven's Julianne Moore loses Best Actress in a highly competitive year for that category.
2019 Roland Emmerich's World War II drama Midway is released in theaters to little fanfare but nevertheless opens at #1 at the box office fending off three other new wide releases Doctor Sleep, Playing with Fire, and Last Christmas as well as the previous weekend's champ Terminator Dark Fate which had no legs whatsoever.
Today's Birthday (Pink Chanel) Suit
Happy 52nd to the inimitable Parker Posey, pictured here in one of her greatest roles as "Jackie-O" in The House of Yes.
Actors celebrating birthdays today: Jade Pettyjohn (20), Kaniehtiio Horn (34), Jocelin Donahue (39), Brooke Lyons (40), Dania Ramirez (41), Derek Tsang (41), Keir O'Donnell (42), Tara Reid (45), Matthew Rhys (46), Gretchen Mol (48), Courtney Thorne Smith (53), Craig Chester (55), Leif Garrett (59), Oleg Menshikov (60), Anne Dorval (60), Michael Nyqkvist (60), Alfred Woodard (68) and Alain Deloin (85), and Norman Lloyd (106 today... the oldest living screen actor of note)
Happy 98th birthday to Walter Mirisch, who with Olivia de Havilland's death this summer became our oldest living Oscar winner
Other showbiz types celebrating birthdays today: Professional Shouter Gordon Ramsay (54), Screenwriter Richard Curtis (64), Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro (66), Singer Bonnie Raitt (71) and Director Paolo Taviani (89), and Oscar winning producer Walter Mirisch (In the Heat of the Night) who turns 98 today and currently our oldest living Oscar winner
Gone but not forgotten: June Havoc (Gentlemen's Agreement) born on this day in 1912, Esther Rolle (Driving Miss Daisy, Good Times) born on this day in 1920, BAFTA winner Stéphane Audran (Discreet Charm of...) born on this day in 1932, Virna Lisi (Queen Margot, The Cricket) born on this day in 1936, and singer Minnie Riperton (and mother of Maya Rudolph) born on this day in 1947.