6 random things that happened on this day, January 17th, in showbiz history...
1976 "I Write the Songs" by Barry Manilow hits #1. Do you know any 'Fanilows'?
1986 The 3rd Sundance Film Festival kicks off. The Laura Dern led Smooth Talk wins the Grand Jury Prize in the dramatic competition prize, but two queer classics Desert Hearts and Parting Glances, also received jury recognition. Also on this day The Clan of the Cave Bear opened in movie theaters starring Daryl Hannah. I remember it vividly because the poster was cool (Oscar-nominated makeup!) and my mom was reading the best-seller it was based on but wouldn't go to see it because it was rated R...
1996 25th anniversary! The gory energetic vampire flick From Dusk Till Dawn with a very then-cool cast of George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Salma Hayek, Juliette Lewis, and Harvey Keitel opens in theaters. If you ever have the chance to watch the documentary about its making, Full Tilt Boogie, I recommend.
2010 The 67th annual Golden Globe Awards are held with Avatar and The Hangover winning the film prizes and Mad Men, Glee, and Grey Gardens winning the TV prizes. Up in the Air, which had led the film nominations, went home with only Best Screenplay.
2015 'This hit, that ice cold | Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold' 🎵 "Uptown Funk" with that pfabulous first lyric, hits #1
2020 Bad Boys for Life and Dolittle both open in movie theaters. They surprisingly became The #1 and #4 highest grossing films of the year due to the sudden shut down in future competition that happened in March when theaters closed across the country due to the pandemic.
Today's Birthday (Cat) Suit
Today would have been the 94th birthday of the indelibly funny and fierce Eartha Kitt who was born in South Carolina in 1927. Her memorable film and TV roles included Boomerang, St Louis Blues, Holes, Anna Lucasta, Unzipped, the final Catwoman in the 1960s Batman series and the voice of Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove.
Bonus Birthday SuitOther showbiz birthdays today: Tony and Emmy winner and Honorary Oscar recipient James Earl Jones (The Great White Hope, Star Wars) pictured left in Claudine (1974), Song Kang Ho (Parasite, Memories of Murder), Zooey Deschanel (New Girl, Almost Famous), Betty White (Golden Girls, The Proposal), Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine, The Truman Show), James Earl Jones (The Great White Hope, Star Wars), Denis O'Hare (American Horror Story), Hale Appleman (The Magicians, Private Romeo) Naveen Andrews (Lost, Planet Terror), Kelly Marie Tran (The Last Jedi, Raya and the Last Dragon), TV creator Amy Sherman-Palladino (Bunheads, Marvelous Mrs Maisel), Germany's Benno Fürman (Princess and the Warrior, Joyeux Noël), Keith Robinson (Dreamgirls, American Dreams) filmmaker and Mr Julianne Moore Bart Freundlich (Myth of Fingerprints, Trust the Man), genius comic Andie Kaufman, animator Genndy Taratkovsky, puppeteer Shari Lewis, iconic First Lady Michelle Obama, talk show host Maury Povich, and Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs.