5 random things that happened on this day, March 20th, in showbiz history...
1949 The 20th Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1947. The anti-semitism journalism drama Gentleman's Agreement takes Best Picture with Miracle on 34th Street probably a distant second. We had so much fun discussing this year last summer and we highly recommend you watch Crossfire (which lost all five of its nominations) because it's excellent...
1952 The 24th annual Academy Awards are held honoring the films of 1951. A Place in the Sun and An American in Paris are neck and neck all night (each winning 6 statues) but the musical takes Best Picture. A Streetcar Named Desire, which had led with the most nomations won 3 of the 4 acting Oscars... though obviously it should have taken all of them since it remains the weirdest thing that Marlon Brando's iconic performance was the only one of the quartet that lost! The Best Picture nominees were:
- An American in Paris
- Decision Before Dawn
- A Place in the Sun
- Quo Vadis
- A Streetcar Named Desire
That was quite a race -- Who would you have voted for? I had the pleasure of discussing that battle on "And the Runner Up Is..." last year.
1954 Original Broadway musical The King and I closes after its smash hit three year run (three years was a long run for Broadway back then). The movie version is just two years round the corner and both its star Yul Brynner and its costume designer Irene Sharaff will follow up their Tony wins with Oscars.
1982 Joan Jett's classic single "I Love Rock N Roll" hits #1. It'll stay there for 7 weeks.
2009 The forgotten Julia Roberts & Clive Owen romantic-comedyish movie Duplicity opens. We remember it being pretty damn good! Here was our capsule at the time:
Remember that awesomely hostile sexual chemistry Clive Owen and Julia Roberts had in Closer? It's back in full force only this time twisted slightly to service comedic spy games. They really are a sensational screen couple (and relatively close in age: take note Hollywood. This helps). I'm already eager for a third date with them. Although a second date with this movie might be helpful because it's so damn confusing. Also quite fun.
Today's Birthday Suit
Happy 50th today to out underrated actor Murray Bartlett of Looking and Tales of the City fame who is aging so unfairly beautifully. He's been playing Americans for so long that we forgot he was Australian!
Other showbiz birthdays today: Oscar winning perfection Holly Hunter (The Piano, Broadcast News), David Thewliss (Naked, I'm thinking of ending things), Theresa Russell (Insignificance, Black Widow), Currently nominated Writer / Director Ramin Bahrani (99 Homes, White Tiger), Michael Cassidy (Batman v Superman, Zoom), Freema Agyeman (Sense8, Doctor Who), cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen (Far from the Madding Crowd, Fences), Xavier Dolan (Mommy, I Killed My Mother), Ruby Rose (Orange is the New Black), Vanessa Bell Calloway (Lakeview Terrace, Saints and Sinners), Oscar winning writer/director Spike Lee (Malcolm X, BlacKkKlansman), William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider-Woman, Broadcast News), Michael Rapaport (Beautiful Girls, Atypical), Poland's Jakub Gierszal (Spoor, Dracula Untold), Bianca Lawson (Save the Last Dance, Rogue), Amy Aquino (Working Girl, White Oleander), Natalie Gumede (Titans, Doctor Who), Leila George (Mortan Engines, Animal Kingdom), Jane March (The Lover, Color of Night), and Director Joanna Hogg (Souvenir, Archipelago).
And late greats like another gay actor, Cannes winning and BAFTA and Oscar nominated Sir Michael Redgrave (pictured left) of The Lady Vanishes, The Browning Version, and The Innocents fame who the world owes in perpetuity for bringing us Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave and by extension Natasha Richardson, Joely Richardson, Jemma Redgrave, and Carlo Gabriel Nero. As well as: writer/actor/director Carl Reiner (Oceans 11, The Jerk, The Dick Van Dyke Show), 7 time Emmy nominee Hal Linden (Barney Miller), Oscar nominee Jack Kruschen (The Apartment), Wendell Corey (Rear Window), and Mister Rogers himself, Fred Rogers.