6 random things that happened on this day, January 21st, in showbiz history
1973 Jane Fonda marries activist Tom Hayden (they were already pregnant with son Troy Garity, who followed his mom into the acting profession). Hayden is played by Eddie Redmayne in the Best Picture hopeful Trial of the Chicago 7 which takes place from 1968 through 1970. The couple divorced in 1990.
1978 The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever hits #1 on the Billboard 200 Album chart (where it will stay for an incredible six months). One week later the film will lose all of its categories at the Golden Globes even Best Song "How Deep Is Your Love" which loses to "You Light Up My Life"...
1982 Jet Li makes his film debut at the age of 19 in Shaolin Temple which premiered on this day in Hong Kong. He was billed as Lianjie Li but during the press tour, they settled on his nickname "Jet" for future movies as it was easier for international audiences to pronounce and remember. Jet Li hasn't been making movies recently due to health problems but he does have a brief role as the Emperor in Mulan, currently streaming on Disney+
1995 The 52nd annual Golden Globes are held. Forrest Gump and The Lion King, the top two box office grossers of 1994, take the Best Picture prizes. None of the Globe categories transferred fully intact to Oscar that season but it's worth noting that their Foreign Language Film lineup was better than Oscars. For the 1994 film year they chose Farinelli (Belgium), Eat Drink Man Woman (Taiwan), the ravishing epic Queen Margot (France), the brilliant Three Colors Red (Switzerland), and the Gong Li picture To Live (Hong Kong) while Oscar only included the first two, alongside Burnt by the Sun (Russia), Before the Rain (Macedonia), and Strawberry & Chocolate (Cuba). Different submission rules accounts for some of the differences of course. In both cases, though, what a good year for that category!
1996 The 53rd Golden Globes were held on this day, exactly a quarter century ago, celebrating the 1995 film year. Sense & Sensibility and Babe share Best Picture honors making this particular Globe year way better than the Oscas which gave the top prize to Braveheart (*vomits*)!
2001 The 58th Golden Globes are held. Gladiator and Almost Famous take the Best Picture prizes while The West Wing and Sex & The City are honored in TV. But all that anyone remembers about this evening was Liz Taylor's drunk confused and giddy exuberance when announcing...
"GLADIATOR!"
Today's Birthday Suit
Today would have been the 95th birthday of bodybuilder / philanthrophist / actor Steve Reeves who was a famous star in the 1950s for Italian-made sword and sandal epics, most notably the Hercules series. We first learned his name, as so many teenagers of the 80s and 90s surely did, via Tim Curry's "sweet transvestite" in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Let me show you around, maybe play you a sound
You look like you're both pretty groovy
Or if you want something visual, that's not too abysmal
We could take in an old Steve Reeves movie
Other showbiz birthday today: Oscar winner Geena Davis (Thelma & Louise, Accidental Tourist), Oscar winner Paul Scofield (The Crucible, A Man For All Seasons), Oscar nominee J Carrol Nash (Sahara, A Medal for Benny), Craig Roberts (Submarine, Neighbors), Telly Savalas (Kojak), Booboo Stewart (Twilight Saga), Michael Wincott (The Crow, Talk Radio), Izabella Miko (Coyote Ugly, Clash of the Titans), Ken Leung (Lost, The Inhumans), Robbie Benson (Beauty & The Beast, Harry & Son), Karina Lombard (Legends of the Fall, Wide Sargasso Sea), Svetlana Khodchenkova (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Director David F Sandberg (Lights Out, Shazam!), Steve Reeves (Hercules franchise), Lars Eidinger (Clouds of Sils Maria, My Little Sister), Ann Wedgeworth (Sweet Dreams), Bollywood's late actor Sushant Singh Rajput (Dil Bechara, MS Dhoni The Untold Story), Benny Hill (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Benny Hill Show), Baby Spice Emma Bunton (Spice World), and director Gorô Miyazaki (son of Hayao) whose latest Earwig and the Witch (2020) is hoping to be an Oscar nominee in Best Animated Feature this year.