5 random things that happened on this day, February 26th, in showbiz history...
1953 The 10th annual Golden Globes are held with The Greatest Show on Earth (Drama) and With a Song in My Heart (Comedy/Musical) winning Best Picture. In today's world, With a Song in My Heart would not be eligible as it was a biopic of a musician, which the HFPA almost always places in Drama now. It's a pity because it's a dull movie and it was up against... wait for it... Singin' in the Rain...
Why couldn't people see Singin' in the Rain's brilliance in 1952 ?!?
The Academy couldn't either. It did have a tiny bit of awards play, snagging a DGA nomination for co-directors Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen and was one of over a dozen nominees for BAFTA's now defunct category (which included everything from foreign-language films to Hollywood pictures called "Best Film from any source". That category eventually became their main category "Best Film" when they began to focus more on US pictures than UK films.
2005 Halle Berry's ill fated star vehicle Catwoman wins the Razzies for Worst Picture and Worst Actress. In what is surely the coolest moment of her career, Halle Berry accepts her award with hilarious comic timing and teary gratitude.
2010 Hill Harper and Anika Noni Rose host the 41st NAACP Image Awards where Precious cleans up with several prizes. It later overperforms at the Oscars too with a surprise win for Best Adapted Screenplay
2012 The 84th Oscars are held. The Artist and Hugo both win 5 Oscars but The Artist takes the big ones: Picture, Director, Actor. A few years back we were so proud to host a guest blog from the actress Missi Pyle who recalled that Oscar night for us as part of that film's cast.
2017 The 89th Oscars are held honoring 2016 cinema. It's a night everyone remembers, primarily for the once in a lifetime Best Picture confusion when Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced La La Land but the winner was actually Moonlight... and it wasn't corrected until La La Land was already up on stage accepting!
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 42nd birthday to Veronica Ngo, who we became huge fans of this year. She was excellent in Da 5 Bloods as "Hanoi Hannah" (and one of our nominees for Best Actress in a Cameo or Limited Role... the category is still being announced). She also kicked much ass in Furie, Vietnam's Oscar submission in 2019, and promised major drama in the Old Guard sequel (if it gets made) with her brief dangerous appearances in that action hit (all three films are streaming on Netflix). She's already a major star in Vietnam but is ready for international fame. She's trilingual too, speaking both Norwegian (lived there for ten years) and English fluently.
Hollywood should cast her in everything. She's a fine actor and, I mean, look at her!
Other showbiz birthdays: Oscar favourite production designer Dante Ferretti (Hugo, Sweeney Todd), Teresa Palmer (Lights Out, Discovery of Witches), Mark Dacascos (John Wick 3, Only the Strong), Director James Wan (Saw, Insidious), Sweden's Alicia Ageson (The Courier, Vikings), Greg Germann (Ally McBeal, Grey's Anatomy), Bill Duke (Mandy, Commando), producer Drew Goddard (Lost, The Martian), Max Lloyd-Jones (War for the Planet of the Apes, Switched at Birth), Shalim Ortiz (Grand Hotel, Heroes), singers Michael Bolton and Eryka Badu, Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska (Never Gonna Snow Again, In the Name of), and Mrs Lily Tomlin herself writer/director Jane Wagner (Search for Signs of Intelligent Life, Moment by Moment)
BETTY HUTTON CENTENNIAL TODAY
And late greats like centennial cutie Betty Hutton (Annie Get Your Gun, The Greatest Show on Earth) who is just brilliant in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) which you should see whenever you get the chance, Oscar nominee Jackie Gleason (The Honeymooners, The Hustler), Oscar nominee Margaret Leighton (The Go-Between, Dr Kildare), animation giant Tex Avery (Magical Maestro, A Wild Hare), Oscar nominated director Jean Negulesco (Johnny Belinda, Three Coins in the Fountain), Madeline Carroll (The 39 Steps, Prisoner of Zenda), Dub Taylor (You Can't Take it With You, Bonnie & Clyde), and Golden Globe favourite Tony Randall (Pillow Talk, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?), Emmy nominee William Frawley (I Love Lucy, Miracle on 34th Street), and country star Johnny Cash.