Beauty Break: To Catherine Deneuve on her 75th

The French movie star of French movie stars turns 75 today. She's won two prizes at Cannes, two at Berlinale, and two at the Césars (with 12 additional nominations) in her career that's been as lustrous as the famous golden hair. Catherine Deneuve hasn't been as celebrated in recent years as Isabelle Huppert (who is 10 years younger) but her list of classics, hits, and indelible experiments is long: Belle de Jour (BAFTA nomination), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Young Girls of Rochefort, Repulsion, Mississippi Mermaid, Tristana, Donkey Skin, The Hunger, The Metro (César win), Indochine (Oscar nomination, César win), East/West, Pola X, Dancer in the Dark, 8 Women, and Kings and Queen among them.

The last eight years have been quiet but it wasn't so long ago that the one-two-three punch of voice work in the Oscar-nominated Persepolis (2007 -- she voiced both the French & English versions), an amazing performance in Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale (2008), and the delights of François Ozon's comedy Potiche (2010) made an impact...

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Beauty Break: Happy Rita Hayworth Centennial !

'The Love Goddess' herself, Rita Hayworth, was born on this day 100 years ago in Brooklyn. Audiences first noticed her in a small role in Only Angels Have Wings (1939) and she seguewayed into profile boosters like Blood and Sand (1941) and Strawberry Blonde (1941). A natural dancer she made two pictures she obviously cherished with Fred Astaire in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942) -- Astaire went so far as calling her his favorite dancer partner -- and was one of the two ubiquitous pinups of World War II for American soldiers (the other being Betty Grable)...

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Hugh Jackman at 50

by Eric Blume

Hugh Jackman celebrating his 50th birthday.

Let’s all take a moment to celebrate the half-century birthday of one of our most versatile and underrated actors, Hugh Jackman.

Underrated, you question?  Sure, Hugh has a Best Actor Tony for The Boy from Oz, an Emmy Award for hosting the Academy Awards, and a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Les Miserables.  But if you asked folks to list ten of the best working actors, would most people remember to put him on their list?

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Happy 50th to Naomi Watts!

by Nathaniel R

the actress at Venice a month ago

Happy 50th birthday to Naomi Watts, born on this day in England. Many of us think of her as an Australian actress since that's where she first emerged but she didn't move there until she was 14. The first two movies I personally saw her in were Flirting (1991) and Tank Girl (1995). Flirting really ought to be enshrined and preserved for eternity since it gave us early looks at four enduring careers. Naomi has a small role but the three principal players are Nicole Kidman, Noah Taylor, and Thandie Newton. 

Naomi is so young in this clip of the girls "arriving" to a cross-school dance, that she's almost unrecognizable. She's the one in the pink with her hair up. But it's Nicole and Thandie that the cameras follow...

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Funny Girl at 50

by Tim

This past week bore witness to one of the most very important anniversaries imaginable: Funny Girl turned fifty. And if you don't know what Funny Girl is and why it matters, I'm a little shocked you found this site, but I'm happy to explain that it's a Best Picture-nominated musical directed by Oscar favorite William Wyler, and the film debut of cabaret singer-turned-Broadway star-turned embodied deity Barbra Streisand. Who also got some Oscar love, winning Best Actress in a tie with Katharine Hepburn's turn in The Lion in Winter.

Not least among the achievements of Funny Girl is that, when thus compared head-to-head with one of the grandest dames of screen acting, Streisand looks like pretty worth recipient of that honor. Funny Girl, as scripted by Isobel Lennart (who also wrote the book for the 1963 stage version, also starring Streisand), is a gift to its lead, offering pretty much everything you could want to demand of a musical theater actor: broad comedy! tear-jerking heartbreak! steel-willed fortitude! songs where you have to be manic! songs where you have to be pensive!

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