8 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history. Does this bring back any memories for you?
1616 Playwright William Shakespeare dies. 400+ years later his work is still constantly performed.
1928 Shirley Temple born in Santa Monica...
The singing / dancing / acting pint-sized performer will become the most popular child star of all time, the biggest box office draw for half of the 1930s, and a juvenile Oscar winner.
1953 Shane premieres in NYC. The family drama/western becomes an immediate classic and receives 6 Oscar nominations, eventually winning for Best Cinematography
1990 Dev Patel is born in London. He becomes a gangly star with Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and then surprises everyone by morphing into a hunky leading man by the time of Lion (2016). Next up the period comedy The Personal History of David Copperfield and the medieval fantasy/horror The Green Knight
1996 Ang Lee's beyond lovely adaptation of Sense & Sensibility won the BAFTAs for Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress. It lost all three races at the parallel Oscar ceremony. This was Kate Winslet's first major showbiz prize. She'd win two more BAFTAs after this (The Reader and Steve Jobs)
1999 Alexander Payne's best film (you heard me) Election opens in movie theaters with a brilliant leading turn from Reese Witherspoon. Audiences don't get into it but it will grow in esteem in a major way after the fact, becoming a modern classic.
2001 Fatboy Slim's single "Weapon of Choice" is released. The awesome music video stars Christopher Walken in full dancer mode
2016 Beyoncé's Lemonade premieres on HBO
2021 No movies are yet scheduled to open on this Friday despite so many 2020 movies being delayed until 2021. *sniffle*. We pray with all our might that movie theaters will be strong and healthy exactly a year from now