Showbiz History: Inspirational Bette, Presidential Meryl, and Favourite Joe
Sunday, February 21, 2021 at 11:06AM 4 random things that happened on this day, February 21st, in showbiz history...
The Globes weren't crazy about A Streetcar Named Desire
1952 9th annual Golden Globes are held with An American in Paris and A Place in the Sun both winning before battling it out at the Oscars. The Globes weren't that into A Streetcar Named Desire so the only one of the acting wins shared by the two shows was Kim Hunter as "Stellaaaaaa!" I had the pleasure of speaking about this competition on the "And the Runner Up Is..." podcast. And speaking of podcasts, 1951 is one of the few remaining years for the Supporting Actress Smackdown final season.
1981 Prince performs on Saturday Night Live for the first time. Charlene Tilton (Dallas) was the host and he sang "Party Up" from the album "Dirty Mind"...
1990 The 32nd Grammys were held. It was a huge night for movie music since "Wind Beneath My Wings" from Beaches took both Record and Song of the Year and Danny Elfman won a Grammy for his Batman theme, too. What's more music from Working Girl, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and The Milagro Beanfield War also took home Grammies in various categories.
Meryl Streep's jury: Clive Owen, Lars Eidinger, Malgorzata Szumowska, Alba Rohrwacher, Brigitte Lacombe and Nick James at the closing ceremony
2016 The 66th Berlinale ends. Meryl Streep was Jury president and the Golden Bear went to the Italian documentary Fire at Sea which was also the closing night film (and an Oscar nominee in Best Documentary). Director Gianfranco Rosi is hoping to repeat at this year's Oscars with a follow up nomination for his latest doc Notturno.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 30th birthday to beautiful talented British actor Joe Alwyn. Remember his deeply romantic wedding night in The Favourite?
I am hard as a rock and it is our wedding night!
Hee. What a masterpiece.
(P.S. Do you find yourself thinking of him while listening to Taylor Swift's "Folklore" and "Evermore"?)
Other birthdays.today: Titus Burgess (Dolemite is My Name, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Elliot Page (Juno, The Umbrella Academy), Joe Alwyn (The Favourite, Bily Lynn's Long Halftime Walk), Christopher Atkins (A Night in Heaven), Billy Baldwin (Sliver, Backdraft), Writer/director Jordan Peele (Us, Get Out), Aunjanue Ellis (Lovecraft Country, If Beale Street Could Talk), Jennifer Love Hewitt (Party of Five, I Know What You Did Last Summer), Tuppence Middleton (Imitation Game, Sense8), Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones, X-Men Dark Phoenix), William Peterson (CSI, Manhunter), Tyne Daley (Cagney & Lacey, Judging Amy), South Korea's Kang Ha-Neul (Twenty, When the Camelia Blooms), Tony winner Christine Ebersole (The Wolf of Wall Street, American Horror Story), Mélanie Laurent (Inglourious Basterds, Beginners), Patrick Gallagher (Night at the Museum, Glee), Jack Coleman (Dynasty, Heroes), writer/director Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch, The Getaway), German director Margaretha von Trotta (Hannah Arendt, Marianne & Juliane), C-3PO himself Anthony Daniels (Star Wars), director Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces, Head), composer Rupert Gregson-Williams (Wonder Woman, Hacksaw Ridge), writer Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Choke), producer David Geffen (Little Shop of Horrors, Interview with the Vampire), and late greats like Alan Rickman (Die Hard, Truly Madly Deeply), Zachary Scott (Mildred Pierce, Flamingo Road), Lucille Bremer (Yolanda and the Thief, Meet Me in St Louis), Ann Sheridan (King's Row, They Drive By Night), Rue McClanahan (Golden Girls, Maude), and the singer Nina Simone.
Reader Comments (8)
Looking forward to Joe Alwyns Paul Mescal moment now he’s cast in Conversations with Friends.
Wow Ann Sheridan and Zachary Scott born on the same day (though a year apart-I checked) I'll have to watch "The Unfaithful" the revamped version of "The Letter" that they costarred in to celebrate! Best of all Eve Arden is one of the main supporting characters!! A win all around.
Clive Owen always looks so great dressed up.
I think I've said this before but I am very much looking forward to the upcoming 1951 supporting actress smackdown. It gives the perfect excuse to discuss my favourite film (Streetcar) as well as an interesting discussion surrounding the introduction of naturalism in acting and how you can see the difference in the films they nominated.
Quo Vadis, Show Boat, David and Bathsheba, The Great Caruso, A Streetcar Named Desire, The African Queen, An American in Paris, A Place in the Sun, Ace in the Hole, Alice in Wonderland, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Detective Story, The Lavender Hill Mob, The Mating Season, On Moonlight Bay, Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, Royal Wedding, Scrooge (A Christmas Carol), Sirocco, Storm Warning, Strangers on a Train, The Thing from Another World, Three Guys Named Mike... 1951 - what an amazing year to go to the movies! And without covid-19.
P.S.: Nor did I imagine that I'd seen so many films from this year. I must have left three or four off this list - non-english language films and one or the other that I think are weaker.
When Marlon Brando (in his prime) yells up the rafters "Hey "Stellaaaaaa!", I am coming down those steps very quickly.
The interesting case of Thelma Ritter. In 1951 she had three films released by 20th Century Fox. As Young as You Feel, an ensemble movie, The Mating Season and The Model and The Marriage Broker. Funny comedies. The first is best remembered today for being one of Marilyn Monroe's first efforts very close to becoming a star. The other two were successful and although the posters highlight stars like Gene Tierney and Jeanne Craig, respectively, the real protagonist of the stories is Thelma Ritter who appears in the original posters and trailers as if she was secondary. And for The Mating Season she was even nominated as a supporting actress. I wonder if today the situation would be different.
STELLAAAA!!!
That night when Prince played SNL is the infamous episode where Charles Rocket during a "Who Shot C.R.?" skit said "I'd like to know the fucker who did it?" as it was on the air and basically became the beginning of the end of the infamous SNL '80 cast under the eye of the extremely untalented Jean Doumanian. Prince said "fuck" in one of his song but it slipped by w/o anyone noticing.