7 random things that happened on this day, December 11th, in showbiz history
1936 King Edward VIII abdicates the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Many years later Madonna will make a movie about it by the name of W.E. but the royal scandal is covered and/or referenced in multiple other movies too.
1964 Singer Sam Cooke is shot and killed at a hotel where he was staying. Leslie Odom Jr plays Cooke in the Oscar-bound One Night in Miami, which is a fictional story about four real life black icons, which takes place earlier that same year...
1967 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner premieres in NYC before its opening in theaters the following day. The race relations drama starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, and Sidney Poitier will go on to score 10 Oscar nominations and 2 wins (Actress and Screenplay).
1980 Magnum P.I. premieres on CBS. The Hawaii set detective show will make tom Selleck a household name and run for 8 seasons. While an instant success it won't start receiving Emmy nominations until season 2.
1987 Throw Momma from the Train, Wall Street, and Empire of the Sun are the new releases in movie theaters with Momma winning the box office weekend. All three will factor into the Oscar race. The former we just discussed during the last Smackdown.
1998 Shakespeare in Love hits US theaters on just 8 screens. It will grow quickly and steadily into a blockbuster ($289 million globally) and in a very heated Oscar race, take the Best Picture crown. It *is* better than Saving Private Ryan, but ouch at that ad campaign after winning (see above). Talk about rubbing it in!
2015 It's opening night for Ron Howard's seafaring drama In the Heart of the Sea (long since forgotten and it's only been 5 years!) which is #2 at the box office and buzzy future Oscar player The Big Short on just 8 screens which will become a sizeable hit as it expands.
Today's Birthday Suit
Actor/painter/sculptor Jean Marais (Beauty and the Beast, Orpheus, Captain Blood, Donkey Skin) born on this day in 1913 in Cherbourg, France.
Jean Marais and Jean Cocteau at the beach in 1938
Jean Marais photographed by Raymond Voinquel, also in 1938
He is best remembered as the muse (on and offscreen) of the auteur/artist/playwright Jean Cocteau. If you've never seen their most famous collaboration, 1946's Beauty and the Beast, you really must. Marais long outlived his famous filmmaker lover dying at age 84 in 1998.
Other showbiz people we born on this day in history: Iconic Rita Moreno, Amour's Jean-Louis Trintigant, Composer Jon Brion (Eternal Sunshine), Fine producer and Mr Sophia Loren Carlo Ponti, Newsies Broadway actor Ben Cook who will next be seen in Spielberg's West Side Story as "Mouthpiece", Desperately Seeking Susan and Smithereens director Susan Seidelman, 'Vampira' herself Maila Nurmi to whom Elvira owes much, Oscar nominee for Marty and former Mrs Gene Kelly, Betsy Blair, and Oscar nominated Roma star Yalitza Aparicio.