7 random things that happened on this day, December 15th, in showbiz history
1939 Gone With the Wind has its world premiere in Atlanta, Georgia. The premiere was very well documented because the movie was so famous even before release. It was three days (!!!) of festivities in Georgia for the world premiere to usher in the surefire blockbuster. NYC followed a few days later and LA just after Christmas before the movie went nationwide in January of 1940. If you adjust for inflation it's still the highest grossing movie of all time (with Star Wars, The Sound of Music, E.T. and Titanic completing the top five).
1978 Ryan O'Neal risks a sequel to his blockbuster Oscar hit Love Story (1970) called Oliver's Story, new in theaters on this day. It's hard to capture lightning in a bottle twice and critics and audiences weren't fond...
1984 Superstar Olivia Newton-John (then 36) marries actor Matt Lattanzi (then 25). They'd met on Xanadu (1980) where he was a dancer. He even had his own brush with fame, outside of Olivia, briefly as the lead of the sex comedy My Tutor (1983)
1995 A big Friday in movie theaters, twenty-five years ago today, as children's fantasy adventure Jumanji, cop drama Heat, and the romantic comedy remake Sabrina all open wide. Meanwhile French oddity City of Lost Children and future Golden Globe champ Sense and Sensibility both open in limited release.
1997 Spice World has its world premiere in the UK before a Boxing Day release. If you ask us all pop stars should make a big gaudy comic movie about themselves at the peak of their fame.
2004 Million Dollar Baby arrives in movie theaters, upsetting Martin Scorsese's (The Aviator) and Annette Bening's (Being Julia) plans to finally win their Oscars. Scorsese gets his two years later. Annette still waits.
2006 Dreamgirls opens in limited release before going wide for Christmas. It's a big hit and scores 8 nominations but in the end it only wins two Oscars: Sound Mixing and Best Supporting Actress. It's Oscar claim to fame? It's one of the six most-nominated films that DID NOT score a Best Picture nod.
Today's Birthday Suit:
Happy 38th to Charlie Cox
As annoying as all those Disney announcenents were this past week for their feeling of cannibalization (franchise franchise franchise gobble gobble), one rumor thrills. Several sites are speculating that Cox, who was so smashingly good as blind crime-fighting lawyer Daredevil, is reprising that role twice over, as a guest on the forthcoming She-Hulk series as well as in the next Spider-Man film. I'll believe it when I see it but it's nice to dream about. Mmmm Charlie Cox. Dreamy.
Other showbiz people born on this day (actors unless otherwise noted): Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) , Adam Brody (The OC, Promising Young Woman), TV star Don Johnson (Miami Vice), Ralph Ineson (The Witch), Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned, Salem), Helen Slater (Supergirl, The Legend of Billie Jean), Tim Conway (The Carol Burnett Show), the late Mrs Pierce Brosnan Cassandra Harris (For Your Eyes Only, Remington Steele), Oscar nominated Jeff Chandler (Broken Arrow), Director John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Rookie), Director Julie Taymor (Frida, The Glorias), Harry Lister Smith (stage & screen & voice work), Oscar winner Katina Paxinou (For Whom the Bell Tolls), and cinematographer Joseph Macdonald (The Sand Pebbles).
And because we love Olivia de Havilland and Vivien Leigh, here's an extra gif of them just landed on the tarmac in Atlanta in advance of the GWTW premiere to start your day.
