Today's Birthdays 7/21

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 7/21/08 at 4:39pm

Chauncey Olcott 07/21/1860 - Feb 18, 1932 legendary balladeer, performer, source material composer “My Wild Irish Rose”, “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” - Honorary pallbearers at his funeral at St. Patrick's Cathedral in NYC included James J. Walker---Mayor of New York City, Alfred E. Smith---Governor of New York State, and George M. Cohan. - THE VOICE OF McCONNELL; sweet bio pic MY WILD IRISH ROSE (w/Dennis Morgan, Arlene Dahl)

C. Aubrey Smith 07/21/1863 - Dec 20, 1948 performer - origs: The Runaway (Billie Burke); The Constant Wife (Ethel Barrymore) [C. Aubrey Smith played the husband!]; film's The Bohemian Girl (Ivor Novello, Gladys Cooper, Ellen Terry, Constance Collier); 1932 Tarzan the Ape Man; Love Me Tonight (Jeanette MacDonald, Maurice Chevalier); The Barbarian (Myrna Loy, Ramon Novarro); Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (Ronald Coleman, Loretta Young); The Scarlett Empress (Marlene Dietrich); The Prisoner of Zenda (Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, David Niven, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.); Thoroughbreds Don't Cry; Eternally Yours; Another Thin Man; Rebecca (Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, Judith Anderson, George Sanders); 1940 Waterloo Bridge (Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor); And Then There Were None; Cluny Brown; An Ideal Husband (Paulette Goddard, Michael Wilding, Glynis Johns); 1949 Little Women (June Allyson, Peter Lawford, Elizabeth Taylor)

Florence O'Denishawn 07/21/1897 - Mar 15, 1991 performer – MUSIC BOX REVUE 1923 (Grace Moore, Robert Benchley); Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 (Fanny Brice, W. C. Fields); Rose Briar (Billie Burke); Honeymoon Lane (Kate Smith)

Ernest Hemingway 07/21/1899 - Jul 2, 1961 writer, source mat’l – A FAREWELL TO ARMS; The Fifth Column (Lee J. Cobb, Franchot Tone); Pulitzer Prize [1953] & Nobel Prize-winning writer [1954]: The Old Man and the Sea [my fav], The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls

Allyn Morgan Joslyn 07/21/1901 - Jan 21, 1981 performer – 1932 Troilus and Cressida (Leo G. Carroll, Otis Skinner, Charles Coburn, P.J. Kelly); origs THE FIREBRAND (Frank Morgan, Edward G. Robinson, Joseph Schildkraut); ARSENIC & OLD LACE

Isaac Stern 07/21/1920 - Sep 22, 2001 1 of the great violinists, saved Carnegie Hall fr the wrecking ball, was married to Nora Kaye. – film's Played the theme of Fiddler on the Roof in the 1971 film; violin, dubbing for John Garfield in the film Humoresque; Tonight We Sing (David Wayne, Anne Bancroft, Ezio Pinza)

Don Knotts 07/21/1924 - Feb 24, 2006 performer – NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS (Andy Griffith, Roddy McDowell); tv’s Emmy Award-winning actor: The Andy Griffith Show [1960-1961, 1961-1962, 1962-1963, 1965-1966, 1966-1967], Matlock, Three’s Company, The Don Knotts Show, The Steve Allen Show

Norman Jewison 07/21/1926 – HERE’S LOVE (replaced before opening)(w/Janis Page, Fred Gwynne, Craig Stevens, Michael Bennett, Baayork Lee); film’s CINCINATTI KID; IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT; FIDDLER ON THE ROOF; MOONSTRUCK. His interview on ACTOR’S STUDIO is 1 of my favs.

Josephine Premice 07/21/1926 - Apr 13, 2001 performer – BLUE HOLIDAY (Ethel Waters); JAMAICA (Lena Horne (bway debut), Ricard Montalban, Alvin Ailey); BUBBLING BROWN SUGAR

John Woodvine 07/21/1929 performer – 1956 TROILUS & CRESSIDA (Jeremy Brett, Rosemary Harris); 1982 NICHOLAS NICKLEBY; tv's & film's The Further Adventures of the Three Musketeers; The Avengers; Doctor Who; The Other Boleyn Girl

Jonathan Miller 07/21/1934 writer, dir, perf – BEYOND THE FRINGE (Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore); 1986 LONG DAYS JOURNEY (Jack Lemon, Kevin Spacey, Peter Gallagher), 2004 KING LEAR (Christopher Plummer, Brent Carver)

Patricia Elliott 07/21/1942 performer; 1973 Tony Award® winner for Best Featured Actress in a Musical A Little Night Music – HEDDA GABLER (Claire Bloom); MONTH OF SUNDAYS (Jason Robards, Lynn Thigpen); TV'S One Life to Live

Edward Herrmann 07/21/1943 performer – MOON CHILDREN (Jill Eikenberry, James Woods, Louis Zorich); 1980 PHILA. STORY (Frank Converse, Blythe Danner); DEEP BLUE SEA (Blythe Danner); film’s ELEANOR & FRANKLIN; Big Business, Beacon Hill, Reds, The Paper Chase, Mrs. Soffel, The Great Gatsby, The Aviator; I Think I Love My Wife; Gilmore Girls;

Leigh Lawson 07/21/1945 performer; husband of Twiggy, partner of Hayley Mills (? - ?); son Jason – 1989 MERCHANT OF VENICE (OY!); NOISES OFF (Patti LuPone, Richard Easton, Peter Gallagher, Faith Prince, Kate Finneran)[replacement]

Garry Trudeau 07/21/1948 writer, lyricist, source material - DOONESBURY

Lillias White 07/21/1951 performer – BARNUM; CARRIE; HOW TO SUCCEED; THE LIFE

Robin Williams 07/21/1952 writer, performer – ROBIN WILLIANS – LIVE ON BROADWAY (IMHO a genious!), if someone could lasoo him in a book show, hallelujah! Wrote for Richard Pryor Show, tv's & film's Academy Award-winning actor: Good Will Hunting [1997]; comedian and/or actor: Mork and Mindy, Good Morning, Vietnam, Mrs. Doubtfire, Dead Poet’s Society, Popeye, The Fisher King, Hook, Comic Relief, Patch Adams, What Dreams May Come, Jumanji, Jakob the Liar; Happy Feet; License To Wed; Night at the Museum

Arija Bareikis 07/21/1966 performer - The Last Night of Ballyhoo; tv's & film's Snow Falling on Cedars; Crossing Jordan; Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; Frame of Mind

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1931 Shoot the Works - Imogene Coca, (future Senator} George Murphy

1976 A revival of Guys and Dolls features a cast composed entirely of African-American actors, led by Robert Guillaume, Norma Donaldson and Ken Page. It will run 239 performances

ON THIS DAY IN:

1958 - The last of Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts programs aired on CBS-TV. Many artists got their start on Talent Scouts, including Tony Bennett, Pat Boone, The McGuire Sisters and a singer named Connie Francis -- who not only sang, but played the accordion, as well.

1980 Peter Pan grows up today -- and gets married. The Tony nominated star of the Broadway's then-current revival, Sandy Duncan, takes just enough time off from Neverland to marry A Chorus Line dancer Dan Correia. Not long after her gig replacing Twiggy in 1983's My One And Only, Duncan will leave Broadway for sunnier climes, as she joins the cast of the televsion sitcom "The Hogan Family." Duncan is expected to return to Broadway this August as Roxie Hart in the current revival of Chicago at the Shubert Theatre.

1998 Boxer-turned-TV star Tony Danza, known for his work on "Taxi" and "Who's The Boss," takes over the lead role of Eddie in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge. He succeeds Tony-winning Best Actor Anthony LaPaglia in the Tony-winning Best Revival of a Play about a man afraid of losing his niece and the security of his own sexuality.

1998 At 8:30 this morning a construction elevator falls from a high floor of the Conde Nest building on Broadway between 42nd and 43rd street, causing the scaffolding on the outside of the half-erected building to plummet to the ground. Damage caused by the accident forces nearby Broadway productions Cabaret and Side Man to cancel tonight's performances. Side Man is able to resume performances July 28, but Cabaret will not be as lucky. Its home at the time, the Kit Kat Klub, proves to be inaccessible for nearly a month following the accident. By the time Cabaret resumes performances August 20, new leading ladies Jennifer Jason Leigh and Blair Brown are in the cast, with original stars Natasha Richardson and Mary Louise Wilson having missed their planned final performances. Come November, Cabaret will move out of the Kit Kat Klub into a larger venue twelve blocks away called Studio 54.

(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT On This Day, & 440.com’s Those Were The Days)

Milla