7 random things that happened on this day, March 8th, in showbiz history
1935 The Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy musical Naughty Marietta opens in theaters. It will go on the receive two Oscar nominations: Best Picture and Best Sound Recording. This is one of the first really old movies I ever saw in movie theaters as my parents occassionally took us to the local repertory theater (just a five minute drive away). The only memory I have of it is Jeanette MacDonald singing "Sweet Mystery of Life". When I finally saw Young Frankenstein on cable or DVD many years later (I was very late to that movie) I laughed so hard at Madeline Kahn busting that song out while having sex with the Frankenstein monster. The scene is hilarious even without context, of course, but I had loved the song as a child which made the scene twice as funny. Mel Brooks was 9 years old when Naughty Marietta came out. Maybe his parents also took him to see it?
1985 Mask, starring Cher, opens in theaters, one of that year's best films...
Though it's an adult-centric drama that becomes one of the year's biggest hits and receives two Globe nominations for acting -- all of which are usually good signs for Oscar attention -- the Academy turns their noses up; They only nominated it for Best Makeup (which it won).
1991 Happy 30th anniversary to the French assassin thriller La Femme Nikita which opened in the US on this day, continuing its journey to major international hit status. It won Anne Parillaud the César for Best Actress and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film. Within a handful of years it spawned both an American remake (starring Bridget Fonda) and a Canadian TV series which ran for 5 seasons.
1996 Happy 25th anniversary to Oscar-nominated classic Fargo. The Coen brothers snowy noir opened in limited release on this day. It would win Frances McDormand the first of her two Best Actress Oscars. If she is nominated and wins the Oscar for Nomadland she will be in extremely rare Oscar territory. The only actors who have ever won more than two leading Oscars are Katharine Hepburn and Daniel Day-Lewis. The only other three-time winners (Streep, Bergman, Nicholson, Brennan) all nabbed at least one of their Oscars in the supporting category)
2013 Identify Thief starring Melissa McCarthy is the top new release, opening with big box office, and cementing McCarthy as a bankable star in her first leading role after the Bridesmaids level up.
2019 Captain Marvel opens to mega-bucks as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first female-led movie. Despite their trailblazing of the superhero franchise as the most popular movie genre, they didn't get their first as the DC Extended Universe's Wonder-Woman had been a smash hit two years earlier.
2020 On this day just last year Max von Sydow died. We should have known right then that 2020 was about to go down the toilet.
Today's birthday suit
Cyd Charisse, one of the greatest dancers who ever lived, was born on this day 99 years ago. We'll have to celebrate her Centennial next March which should be fun because...those movies! Brigadoon, Singin' in the Rain, It's Always Fair Weather, Silk Stockings, The Harvey Girls, and The Band Wagon.
Boris KodjoeOther showbiz birthdays today: Austrian-American hunk Boris Kodjoe (Surrogates, Code Black, Brown Sugar) pictured left, James Van der Beek (Dawson's Creek, Rules of Attraction), Camryn Manheim (The Practice, Happiness), Aidan Quinn (Desperately Seeking Susan, Legends of the Fall), Cynthia Rothrock (China O'Brien, The Martial Arts Kid), Freddie Prinze Jr (She's All That, Scooby Doo), Susan Clark (Webster, Porkys), Boris Kodjoe (Surrogates, Code Black), Leon (Cool Runnings, The Temptations), Nora-Jane Noone (The Descent, Brooklyn), Milana Vayntrub (Love, This is Us), Barbara Eve Harris (Messiah, The Wilds), Kit Connor (His Dark Materials, Rocketman), and writer/director Thomas Bezucha (Big Eden, Let Him Go).
And late greats like... Oscar winner Claire Trevor (Key Largo, High & Mighty), Sean McClory (The Quiet Man, The Dead), and Oscar nominee Lynn Redgrave (Georgy's Girl, Gods and Monsters)