Showbiz History: Frances McDormand's Film Debut
Monday, January 18, 2021 at 8:30AM 7 random things that happened on this day, January 18th, in showbiz history
1942 Dates on this one tend to vary but some sources say the Mickey Rooney/ Judy Garland film Babes on Broadway arrived in movie theaters on this day. A year later it would be up for Best Original Song at the Oscars for "How About You?" but lose to "White Christmas" in the film Holiday Inn...
1962 Shirley Maclaine gets problematic in My Geisha, as an actress trying to land a role in a film version of "Madame Butterfly" by disguising herself as a geisha, in this comedy. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design.
1983 John Sayles' lesbian drama Lianna opens in NYC movie theaters.
the arrival of three major film artists: Joel & Ethan Coen and Frances McDormand
1985 After a nearly year long festival run the Coen Brothers debut Blood Simple opens in US theaters, marking the big screen debut of its leading lady Frances McDormand who had married one of the brothers, Joel Coen, just a week after the movie's world premiere. It quickly becomes a cult / cinephile favourite and their next film (Raising Arizona) finds mainstream success.
1992 The 49th annual Golden Globes are held honoring the films and television of 1991. Bugsy and Beauty and the Beast (back when animated films could compete in Comedy/Musical) win the top film prizes. Silence of the Lambs only wins Best Actress but it would later dominate at the Oscars.
1998 The 55th annual Golden Globes are held honoring the films and television of 1997. Titanic and As Good As It Gets win the film prizes while The X-Files and Ally McBeal conquer the television prizes. Michelle Pfeiffer presented Best Picture! If only the Oscars would give her, or hell any female star of her calibre, that honor.
2008 An interestingly varied weekend at the box office as Woody Allen's obscure even before it opened Cassandra's Dream, the romantic comedy 27 Dresses, the heavily promoted monster movie Cloverfield, and the horror comedy Teeth all arrive in movie theaters.
Today's Birthday Suit
Cary Grant was born on this day in 1904. Here he is in 1932 with his "roommate" and fellow film star Randolph Scott. They lived together, on and off, for over a decade.
Bonus Birthday Suit
It seems crazy that in just a 20 year spread of time from the early 00s through 2021 movies went from getting curious about non-simulated sex scenes -- see birthday boy Mark Rylance in Intimacy in 2001 with Kerry Fox, both terrific in the extremely graphic drama -- to having almost no sex scenes at all! At the time of Intimacy Rylance was only dabbling in screen acting. He didn't really go full Hollywood until the 2010s and an Oscar shortly followed with Bridge of Spies.
Other showbiz birthdays today: Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves, No Way Out), Dave Bautista (Blade Runner 2049), Japan's Takeshi Kitano (Zatôichi, Kikujiro), Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Muppets), Jesse L Martin (Rent, The Flash), Oliver Hardy (of Laurel and Hardy fame), Director John Boorman (Hope and Glory, Excalibur) writer/director David Ayer (End of Watch, Bright), actress/singer Joanna Newsom (Inherent Vice, Popstar), Jane Horrocks (Little Voice, The Witches), South Korea's Jung Yu-mi (Train to Busan, Oki's Movie), Taiwan's Jay Chou (Curse of the Golden Flower, The Green Hornet), Australia's Sean Keenan (Glitch, Drift), Spain's Antonio de la Torre (The Last Circus, I'm So Excited), Germany's Antje Traue (Woman in Gold, Man of Steel), and comic movie star Danny Kaye (The Court Jester, Hans Christian Andersen).
Reader Comments (27)
I don't see the need for non-simulated sex scenes in a movie. That could lead to non-simulated violence, killing, etc. Where do we draw the line?
Julia Roberts and Jane Fonda both presented the Best Picture Oscar solo.
(one was just last year!!)
And Cher
Pedro: LOL
Blood SImple seems underdiscussed - sometimes I feel like one of the few who consider it top-tier Coen brothers, but I LOOOOVE it so much, and I think Frances is brilliant in it.
gary and cher -- ah but if you compare the entire history you'll find that female movie stars are GROSSLY underrepresented in that honor. It's almost always male movie stars and male directors.
Pedro - i somehow don't think any actors would sign up to be killed for real onscreen. ;) But a lot of people enjoy sex and many people throughout history have done it for money or art.
Pedro, I, personally, don't see the need for non-simulated eating or drinking scenes in a movie. Once a person actually sips the water or swallows the food, well, that could lead to non-simulated violence, killing, etc. Where do we draw the line?
Hellllloooo Mark!
Beat Takeshi can be an acquired taste (both as filmmaker and actor) but man, Hana-Bi ("Fireworks", 1997) is mind-blowingly good, and poignant. That last scene...
I have all of Joanna Newsom's albums. Except for her brief appearance in "Portlandia", I didn't know she appeared in films. She and Bill Callahan were a perfect pair, but alas...
There was a period in my early movie-going years when I'd watch any film that features Jane Horrocks. She's quite good in Life is Sweet, Born Romantic, Little Voice and the fairly recentSunshine on Leith. Wildly talented, Horrocks can truly sing like those singers with big voices. I am ashamed to admit on this site that I am not a fan of Ab-Fab but respect her work in it.
I have seen almost all of John Sayles' films but Lianna wasn't one of them along with Casa de los Babys -- I need to rectify that soon. My favorite has always been Men With Guns -- such a beautiful postnational film.
I like "How About You" by Burton Lane -- a quintessentially New York song. I love how it was used in The Fisher King too.
I'd like to see Gere and Roberts do it or Johansson and Murray or for older Hollywood Hoffman and Redford or Meryl and DeNiro.
The photos of Grant and Scott are very gay to 21st century eyes- someone should really do a film inspired by their "bachelor " days
It's been great to see two female legends (Roberts and Fonda) present BP back-to-back. Give me ten more years of this, please, Academy.
In that 20 year span the movie culture changed from exploring indie films of the 90's to lowest common denominator so the most money can be made. PG-13 makes more money then R rated movies. That means no sex or nudity, bloodless violence, and simple themes that can be easily understood. In the meantime TV became more niche- with expanding channels and platforms that didn't need a majority of viewers but only a small group of passionate fans allowed for all these things.
Jess Weixler was so good in Teeth. I'm surprised she hasn't had a more prominent career.
Blood Simple is so good -- top 5 Coen Bros. for sure. I got to see it in the theater during its 2003 (?) remaster and it was phenomenal.. the score, the little visual tricks, the plot that keeps twisting in unknown directions, the Holly Hunter voicemail.
It’ always super exciting to have a female best picture presenter!
I hope the academy continue what they had just started and go with someone like nicole kidman this year! She’s a star , globally famous and well respected! Is there a better choice around?
The next PB presenter should be Diane Keaton or Meryl Streep. Nicole Kidman certainly deserves a shot, but maybe a few years down the road.
Not PB, BP as in "Best Picture". Also, can we talk about how creepy it is that Pedro thinks that the wonderful act of sex is comparable to the horrible act of killing a human being? Eeek.
Oh my God, they were roommates!
Diane Keaton should have presented BP a long time ago, for everything that need to be not mentioned. But I think that the defense of his friend and ex Woody Allen made everything more difficult. 😭 Especially now that "the good guys" are back in power.
I wanted to be the bed mattress of the bedroom in the house where Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were "roomates". I swear.
I wanted to be the bed mattress of the bedroom in the house where Cary Grant and Randolph Scott were "roommates". I swear.
I think Blood Simple is also Holly Hunter's first film as she has a voice cameo in the movie. She and Frances were roommates in college.
Daniella, that is why you don’t usually see actors eating in movies or series.
At stupid comments like these?
@Susanita Woody Allen may be persona non grata due to the shenanigans of Mia, Ronan and Dylan Farrow, but I really don't think people hold it against Keaton that she's standing by her friend. Hell, Scarlett Johansson stood beside him and got double nominated not long after that.
@Pedro Because really eating food on camera is a slippery slope to murder? I can't tell at this point if you're trolling us or really believe this nonsense. Sometimes, just sometimes, you have to actually put some food in your mouth on camera and swallow it. People don't die as a result. Same with sex.