5 random things that happened on this day, February 8th, in showbiz history...
Julie Andrews in her infamous 'kill them with kindness' Globes speech in which she thanked the producer of... wait for it... My Fair Lady.
1921 One hundred years ago movie star Lana Turner was born. More on her later.
1965 The 22nd annual Golden Globe awards honoring the films of 1964 were held. Becket (drama) and My Fair Lady (comedy/musical) took the Best Picture prizes. And at the peak of the popularity of gigantic big screen musicals, it was the "comedy/musical" winners for acting that repeated on Oscar night with Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady) and Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins) both winning here first...
The Globe and Oscars disagreed on the supporting categories that year. In Best Supporting Actor Edmond O'Brien won the Globe for Seven Days in May while Peter Ustinov won the Oscar for Topkapi. In Best Supporting Actress (a year we covered in the Smackdown with special guest Melanie Lynskey): Agnes Moorehead took the Globe for Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte but Lila Kedrova won the Oscar for Zorba the Greek.
1968 Planet of the Apes has its world premiere in NYC (its release will follow in April where it set house records at theaters in NYC - see the ad above). Remember when Don Draper took his son to see that seminal sci-fi classic in Mad Men?
1974 Spin-off of the All in the Family spin-off Maude, Good Times premieres on CBS. It was not quite the first black family sitcom (Julia and Sanford and Son both preceded it) but it was the first to feature a two-parent household.
Jodie Foster and Robert DeNiro in 1976
1976 Taxi Driver premieres in New York City (and will open in theaters the next day). Later that year it wins the Palme d'Or at Cannes (the photo above is from Cannes). In a strange outcome (because you'd think it would be the exact opposite) the film is nominated for Best Picture but not Best Director once Oscar season rolls around. Scorsese had been nominated at the DGA but Oscar's directing branch replaced him with Ingmar Bergman (for Face to Face, with the rest of the DGA's stellar lineup transferred over to Oscar) rather than honor the fresh director shaking things up in US cinema. Scorsese had to wait for Raging Bull (1980) before receiving his first Oscar nomination.
2006 The 48th Grammy Awards are held in Los Angeles with Madonna, Gorillaz and De La Soul opening the show with a performance of "Feel Good Inc" and "Hung Up" Kelly Clarkson became the first American Idol to win a Grammy and U2 became the first (and still only) rock group to ever nab a second win in Album of the Year.
2007 The 57th Berlinale begins with opening night film La Vie En Rose (which would win Marion Cotillard the Oscar a year later). The Mongolia-set Chinese drama Tuya's Marriage wins the Golden Bear at festival's end.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 53rd birthday to stuntman Mike Massa. He was Harrison Ford's stunt double on Blade Runner 2049, Chris Pine's stunt double on Star Trek, and David Boreanaz's stunt double on Angel among many many other credits. Recent credits include The Call of the Wild, Terminator Dark Fate, Hobbs & Shaw, and SEAL Team.
Bonus Birthday Suit
Here's Jack Lemmon's son talking about his movie star dad in front of a gag photo of the two time Oscar winner naked on a bear-skin rug. Wut? Jack Lemmon was born on this day in 1925 and would go on to become a ginormous movie star with a stellar filmography which included Mister Roberts, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, It Should Happen To You, Days of Wine and Roses, Save the Tiger, The China Syndrome, Irma La Deuce, The Odd Couple, Missing, Glengarry Glenn Ross, Grumpy Old Men, and Short Cuts.
Other showbiz birthdays today: Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen (Melvin & Howard), Oscar nominee Dame Edith Evans (The Whisperers, Tom Jones), iconic Oscar nominated legend James Dean (East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause), China's Chao Deng (Shadow, The Mermaid), Oscar's favourite composer John Williams (Star Wars, Jurassic Park), Oscar nominated director King Vidor (The Crowd, The Champ, War and Peace), France's Niels Arestrup (A Prophet, War Horse), Nick Nolte (Warrior, Prince of Tides), William Jackson Harper (The Good Earth, MidSommar), Gary Coleman (Different Strokes), Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies), Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Mary McCormack (Deep Impact, In Plain Sight), Jim Parrack (Suicide Squad, True Blood), Susan Misner (The Americans, Assassination Nation), Brooke Adams (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Dead Zone), Anna Hutchison (Robert the Bruce, Encounter), Cecily Strong (SNL, The Boss), Jonah Blechma (This Boy's Life, Treasure Island), Sweden's Bengt Ekerot (The Magician, The Seventh Seal), Audrey Meadows (the Honeymooners), and oft-adapted novelists John Grisham and Jules Verne.