Showbiz History: Oscar's fav movie producer, MASH finale, and Fury Road's Oscar night.
Sunday, February 28, 2021 at 9:00AM 5 random things that happened on this day, February 28th, in showbiz history...
1921 One hundred years ago today movie producer Saul Zaentz was born in New Jersey. He won the Best Picture Oscar three times: One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, and The English Patient. That gives him the all time record for "Most Best Picture wins" which he shares in a tie with Sam Spiegel (On the Waterfront, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia). The living producers that share second place with 2 wins each are Clint Eastwood and Albert S Ruddy (though they're both 90 years old) and Dede Gardner & Jeremy Kleiner (who are fairly young as producers go winning for both 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight so they could conceivably tie this three-time record... though it obviously won't be easy to do!
1983 M*A*S*H airs its final episode after 11 seasons. The vast majority of the television audience in the US was watching. I remember my oldest brother crying and being confused about why...