7 random things that happened on this day, January 7th, in showbiz history
1891 Best-selling author Zora Neale Hurston is born in Alabama. Where's her biopic? Hell, where are the movies based on her books and plentiful short stories? The only movie length adaptation has been the TV movie Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005).
1971 Today is the big "5-0" for Jeremy Renner, twice Oscar nominated (The Hurt Locker, The Town), but whose promising gifts were completely swallowed up by a desire to become a franchise star which was both successful in a supporting sense (9 years and counting as Hawkeye in the MCU) and not in the headliner sense (Mission: Impossible... Tom Cruise quickly taking the franchise back, Hansel & Gretel... one and done, The Bourne Legacy... Matt Damon quickly taking the franchise back)...
The actors career took several hits with disturbing allegations of his behavior offscreen but will next be seen in the DisneyPlus series Hawkeye.
1977 The Sentinel, a supernatural horror film starring a whole slew of Oscar nominees and winners like Chris Sarandon, Martin Balsam, Ava Gardner, Arthur Kennedy, Jose Ferrer, Burgess Meredith, Sylvia Miles, and soon to be Oscar winning Christopher Walken premieres in NYC. (The horror genre must have been hot after The Exorcist in Hollywood agency meetings of the mid 70s.)
the late Gene Anthony Ray and Debbie Allen in "Fame"
1982 Fame, the TV series based on the surprise hit movie about New York City's High School for the Performing Arts, debuts as a mid season replacement. Teachers Debbie Allen (Lydia), Albert Hague (Shorofsky) and Anne Meara (Sherwood) and students Lee Curreri (Bruno) and Gene Anthony Ray (Leroy) transferred over from the movie to the series but the rest of the actors were either replacements or playing new characters. It was an instant hit with Emmy voters, receiving 12 nominations (and winning five Emmys) for its first season with Debbie Allen a double nominee, winning for Best Choreography but losing for Best Actress. It ran for six seasons (the first half of which were Emmy nominated but then fresh mid 80s shows like Murder She Wrote, Moonlighting, and Miami Vice began to overthrow the usuals in Outstanding Drama Series). Baby Nathaniel -- it me! -- was obsessed.
Would be so wonderful if some service would stream it. Just putting that out there into the universe. Considering that the world is much more focused on diversity now than it was in the 1980s, it would be interesting to see an early then uncommon example of a multi-racial hit playing for today's audiences. How has the show aged?
1994 Two new comedies, Cabin Boy and The Air Up There open in US theaters
2011 Season of the Witch, one of Nicolas Cage's random actioners (he makes so many) opens to little fanfare. But January is known for random dumps apart from Oscar film expansions.
2018 The 75th Golden Globe Awards were held honoring 2017 movies and television with Three Billboards (drama) and Lady Bird (comedy) triumphant and Big Little Lies and Nicole Kidman (yay) dominating for the small screen.
Today's Birthday Suit:
Happy 37th birthday today to Max Reimelt, a very fine (in both senses of the word) German actor.
We loved him before his very NSFW international breakout as "Wolfgang" on the Waschowski sisters Netflix series Sense8 (2015) due to his award winning work in the gay romantic drama Free Fall (2013). Free Fall was supposed to get a sequel (no news on that in ages so it must have fallen through) but he has multiple films coming up including an unknown role in The Matrix 4 which is in post-production and due at Christmas time.
Other showbiz types celebrating birthdays or anniversaries today: Oscar nominated Ruth Negga (Loving, Ad Astra), super brilliant Aussie treasure Essie Davis (The Babadook, True History of the Kelly Gang, Australia), Oscar winner Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas), Oscar winning screenwriter William Peter Blatty (The Exorcist), 2020 breakout Haley Bennett (Swallow), Robert Ri'chard (Chocolate City, Coach Carter), Robert Sheehan (Umbrella Academy), Lauren Cohan (The Boy, The Walking Dead), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers), Kevin Rahm (Mad Men, Nightcrawler), Liam Aiken (A Series of Unfortunate Events), David Caruso (NYPD Blue), Brett Dalton (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), and the late great Irrfan Kahn (The Lunchbox, A Mighty Heart)...
Terry Moore in "Come Back Little Sheba"
And finally, a happy 92nd birthday today to Oscar nominated Terry Moore (Come Back Little Sheba, Peyton Place) who is one of the oldest living Oscar nominees.