10 (gulp) random things that happened on this day, December 12th, in showbiz history...
1917 Father Edward Flanagan founds Boys Town in Nebraska, a home for at-risk kids. Twenty-one years later the movie version will arrive winning Spencer Tracy an Oscar as Father Flanagan. We talked about this movie quite a bit this summer.
1941 Universal's horror picture The Wolf Man opens in movie theaters with early giants like Lon Chaney Jr in furry face plus Claude Raines, Bela Lugosi, Ralph Bellamy, and Maria Ouspenskaya in support.
Star Trek, Winona Ryder shoplifting, Jennifer Connelly, Regina Hall, and more after the jump...
1964 Shooting begins on the Star Trek pilot "The Cage". Little did any of them know that they'd been spend their whole professional careers defined it.
1970 Not one but two terrific actresses were born on this very day. In the Catskills of New York, Jennifer Connelly arrived to parents who weren't in showbiz. By 10 she was a professional child model and by 12 a professional actress. Her fame may have peaked too early, winning the Oscar for the wrong movie (A Beautiful Mind) when she was only 31, but she's given a number of good performances over the years (Requiem for a Dream chief among them) and she's still a potent screen presence whether the role doesn't make enough use of it (hi, Alita and Noah) or straight up expects it (hi, Snowpiercer). Plus she's married to Paul Bettany so... #blessed. Meanwhile over in Washington DC, Regina Hall was born, also to non showbiz parents. She took much longer to break into acting, she was 27 for her television debut, but sometimes that pays off in endurance. Hall worked steadily for years but it was just in the past few years where people really started appreciating her gifts with the smash hit Girls Trip and a much-discussed NYFCC Best Actress win for the indie Support the Girls.
Jennifer will next be seen in 2021's Top Gun: Maverick with Tom Cruise and Regina will next be seen in the actressy crime comedy Breaking News in Yuba County (with Allison Janney, Awkwafina, Ellen Barkin, Mila Kunis, and Juliette Lewis!). A very happy 50th to both of them today.
1986 Crimes of the Heart, Golden Child, and Three Amigos are the new movies in movie theaters. Golden Child (now arguably forgotten) is the #1 at the box office but the very silly Three Amigos might be the best loved today, unless you count Sissy Spacek's Oscar nomination for Crimes of the Heart. If you're old enough to remember these movies do you like that?
1991 Richard Gere (42) weds supermodel Cindy Crawford (25) in Las Vegas. People magazine call them "The Sexiest Couple"
1997 Scream 2, Home Alone 3, and Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry were all new in theaters that Friday. Were you there on opening night for any one of the three? I probably was for Deconstructing Harry though I hated it at the time. Never saw it a second time to double-check.
2001 Winona Ryder arrested on shoplifting charges. It becomes a major scandal and derails her career. It's crazy to think of what things derail careers and what things barely cause a dent. Despite public ridicule we think Winona handled it beautifully embracing the "Free Winona" t-shirts and such.
2003 Girl with a Pearl Earring, Somethings Gotta Give, Stuck On You, Love Don't Cost a Thing were new in theaters. This was the year that really put Scarlett Johansson over the top to stardom with two acclaimed leading roles. She was just 19.
2019 Just last year on this very day we lost the wonderful character actor Danny Aiello. Remember how great he was in Do The Right Thing?
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 28th to brilliant (and out) French actor Félix Maritaud who you've previously seen in the French Oscar submission BPM (Beats Per Minute), the porn drama Knife + Heart, and as the messy feral lead in the memorable hustling drama Sauvage/Wild. [More Félix NSFW here]
Other celebrities born on this day: Ol' Blue Eyes Frank Sinatra, gangster film star Edward G Robinson, Twin Peaks beauty Mädchen Amick, much-admired actor Bill Nighy, recently departed character actress Phyllis Sommerville, TV star and 'young Bette in Beaches' Mayim Bialik, ubiquitous Oscar nominee Lucas Hedges (next up: French Exit), 20th Century Women's young lead Lucas Jade Zumann, Sirens and Supergirl regular Curtis Lum, 1980s pop star Sheila E, Singer Dionne Warwick, "Where the Boys Are" singer Connie Francis, Superman II's awesome "Ursa" Sarah Douglas, beloved auteur Yasujirô Ozu, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's Gabrielle Ruiz, director Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann), and he who sits patiently at infinite awards shows Don Gummer (aka Mr Meryl Streep).