6 random things that happened on this day, January 15th, in showbiz history
1948 This date is iffy (the internet can't seem to agree) but some say John Huston's classic The Treasure of Sierra Madre had its premiere in Los Angeles. At any rate, factually, it came out in sometime in January. A year later it will be up for four Oscars including Best Picture and win Best Supporting Actor for Walter Huston, the director's father. Later Huston will direct his daughter Anjelica to an Oscar win for Prizzi's Honor making him the only person in Oscar history to direct two family members to Oscars. The Hustons were the first three-generation Oscar winning family. The Coppolas followed later...
1974 Happy Days premieres on ABC with a plot about Richie Cunningham hoping to lose his virginity to the town's fast girl. In this teenage horny angst way and in its 1950s "nostalgia" setting it was like a spiritual sequel to the smash hit movie American Graffiti (1973) which (non-coincidentally) also starred Ron Howard. The sitcom will spawn FIVE spinoffs (Laverne & Shirley, Blanksy's Beauties, Mork & Mindy, Out of the Blue, and Joanie Loves Chachi) plus two non prime-time cartoons, and two pilots for additional spin-offs that weren't picked up. It would run for 11 seasons but literally "jump the shark" in season 5.
1999 ...twas a banner year in film but not everything was golden. Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino's romantic drama At First Sight, the Annette Bening psychological horror film In Dreams, the James Van der Beek sports movie Varsity Blues, and the Jamie Lee Curtis Donald Sutherland sci-fi horror picture Virus were the first major releases to emerge in the new year (in the US at least) and weren't necessarily screaming "this will be one of the great years of cinema!"
2007 The 64th annual Golden Globes were held with the strange outcome of Babel triumphing in Best Picture Drama (without winning anything else) and the expected outcome of Dreamgirls winning in Best Musical or Comedy. But the happiest wins of the night were Meryl triumphing for The Devil Wears Prada both because nobody gives better speeches and because it's one of her three best performances... and Alexandre Desplat unexpectedly winning Best Score for one of his all-time greatest efforts The Painted Veil (he wasn't nominated at the Oscars because he wasn't yet a default nominee them).
2012 69th annual Golden Globes were held with The Descendants and The Artist emerging as the Best of 2011 winners. That was the night that Hollywood couldn't stop their juvenile giggling about the size of Michael Fassbender's dick and the night Viola drank up and lost to Meryl (predicting the Oscars. sigh). It was also the night that prompted us to make this gif we always wanted to find reasons to reuse.
2019 Carol Channing dies at 97. *sniffle*
Today's Birthday Suit(s)
Happy 50th birthday to Emmy and Oscar winner Regina King, queen of the designer suit and one of Hollywood's most talented forces. For her birthday today, watch One Night in Miami, her directorial debut. It just hit Amazon Prime.
Another actor we love: The very underrated Victor Rasuk who we first fell for in Raising Victor Vargas. Subsequent credits include Godzilla, E.R., Stop-Loss, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, The Mule, and the Fifty Shades trilogy. He would have also made a good choice for "Today's Birthday Suit"
Other showbiz birthdays today: TV star Lloyd Bridges (Sea Hunt, Roots), Jamie Clayton (Sense8, Hung), Andrea Martin (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Diane), Austria's two-time BAFTA nominee Maria Schell (Gervaise, The Heart of the Matter), Marjorie Bennett (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, "Duchess" in 101 Dalmatians), Victor Rasuk (Raising Victor Vargas, Godzilla), Margaret O'Brien (Meet Me in St Louis), and Dove Cameron (Liv & Maddie), Eddie Cahill (Under the Dome, Miracle), Mario van Peebles (Heartbreak Ridge, Damages), Chad Lowe (Life Goes On, Supergirl), composer/actor Ivor Novello, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Phyllis Coates who was the original Lois Lane in Adventures of Superman. (She's one of the oldest living screen actors. Happy 94th to the actress today)