Showbiz History: Madonna at the Grammys, Judy at the Globes, Tilda at the Oscars
Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at 8:00AM 7 random things that happened on this day, February 24th, in showbiz history...
Judy and Marlon seated together at the Globes; They both won that night.
1955 The 12th annual Golden Globes are held honoring 1954 cinema. On the Waterfront (Drama) and Carmen Jones (Comedy/Musical) took the Best Picture prizes. Both James Mason and Judy Garland (neither of whom ever won a competitive Oscar) of A Star is Born won Globes for their leading work in the Comedy/Musical fields but the fact that the picture lost (when it's a hundred times the film Carmen Jones is) was an ill omen of what would happen later at the Oscars...
1969 The 26th annual Golden Globes are held honoring 1968. The Lion in Winter (Drama) and Oliver! (Comedy/Musical) took the Best Picture prizes.
On that same night across the pond, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie starring Maggie Smith has its Royal Film performance premiere. A year later Maggie would be up for the Globe, BAFTA, and Oscar for that role, losing only the Globe.
1999 The 41st Grammy Awards are held, one of the only Grammy shows I've watched from start to finish! Why? Because it was Madonna's only big Grammy year, of course. The Queen of Pop opened the show and her album "Ray of Light" won 4 trophies. Titanic's love theme "My Heart Will Go On" won four trophies as well. The night belonged to Lauryn Hill, though, who won 5 Grammys for "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill". I can't tell you how often we listened to those two masterpiece albums -- they were on loop in 1998.
2002 The 55th BAFTA Awards with The Lord of the Rings winning Best Film and Gosford Park Best British Film.
2008 The 80th annual Oscars are held honoring the films of 2007. No Country for Old Men takes Best Picture but this particular Oscar year, 2007, is most fascinating for the glorious stat of "most films ever nominated in the acting categories". There are 20 slots annually and 18 films were represented across the four categories. Wow! Only Michael Clayton had multiple acting nominations, winning for Tilda Swinton's insanely great unravelling lawyer.
2013 The 85th annual Oscars honoring the best of 2012 were held. 'Argo f*** yourself' won Best Picture and Ang Lee became a two-time Best Director winner (despite never directing a film that won Best Picture!). But this was also the night that the Academy stiffed Emmanuelle Riva, ON HER BIRTHDAY NO LESS, giving the statue to Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook. Another historic thing that happened on this night 8 years ago was the most recent tie in Oscar history: Best Sound Editing went to both Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty (there have been only six in Oscar's 92 year history). Neither won Sound Mixing where Les Miserable prevailed. To repeat: 2012 was a crazy "share the wealth" year and we cherish those.
2019 The 91st annual Oscars are held honoring 2018. Green Book wins Best Picture (and Mahershala Ali joins the annals of totally uncessary second supporting actor wins alongside Jason Robards and Christoph Waltz, all of whom were wildly superior the first time they won and undeserving the second time!). Even worse though is that Bohemian Rhapsody takes the most Oscars of the night including the all time worst win for Best Film Editing. Glenn Close also loses on her 7th nomination making her the second most nominated never-winning actor of all time (tied with Richard Burton). The only person who lost more was Peter O'Toole who never won despite 8 nominations (he had to settle for an Honorary which Burton never received and Close hasn't as of yet).
It was a frustrating Oscar night but thankfully the Academy made it up to us a year later with their Parasite fever.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 32nd birthday to soon to be twice Oscar-nominated Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Judas and the Black Messiah). He has been building a serious thespian career but he did have one go as the traditional romantic lead with that very R rated duet with Jodie Turner Smith in Queen & Slim.
Bonus Birthday Suit
Happy 55th to Billy Zane who is best known as Titanic's toxic masculine fiance, but who we'll always remember for his androgynous romp with Tilda in Orlando and that sweaty double breakout with Nicole Kidman in the thriller Dead Calm (1989). I mean, can you blame the dog for peeking?
Other showbiz birthdays: Oscar nominee Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver, Battlestar Galactica), Oscar nominated writer/directors Todd Field (In the Bedroom, Little Children), Barry Bostwick (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Cougar Town), Oscar winner Chris Buck (Frozen, Surf's Up), Billy Zane (Titanic, The Phantom) and Michael Radford (Il Postino, 1984), Director Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou, Harriet), O'Shea Jackson Jr (Straight Outta Compton, Ingrid Goes West), Fala Chen (Shang-Chi, Heading South), Deborah Jo Rupp (That 70s Show, WandaVision), Ben Miller (Bridgerton, Paddington 2), Wilson Bethel (Hart of Dixie, Generation Kill), actress/director Helen Shaver (Desert Hearts, Law & Order: SVU), Martha Kelly (Marriage Story, Baskets), and writer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl, Sharp Objects)
And late greats like Emmy nominees Steven Hill (Law & Order, Running on Empty), Abe Vigoda (Barney Miller, The Godfather), James Farentino (Jesus of Nazareth, Dynasty), as well as Oscar nominees Marjorie Main (The Egg and I, Dead End), and Emmanuelle Riva (Amour, Hiroshima Mon Amour), Oscar winning composer Michel Legrand (Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Yentl), plus Apple giant Steve Jobs, and Mexican film star Carlos Navarro (Doña Perfecta, Corazón Salvaje)
Reader Comments (51)
Patryk--I can tell you have strong feelings about The Turning Point. I happen to love it, but probably for most of the reasons lots of folks hate it LOL. However, I have to take exception to the criticism of Anne Bancroft's nomination. Her work is really stunning in this film. And I would put her at No. 3 in the lineup, behind Keaton and Mason respectively.