Today's Birthdays 3/23

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 3/23/09 at 10:26pm

Hazel Dawn 03/23/1891 - Aug 28, 1988 performer - The Demi-Virgin (Charley Ruggles); Keep Kool (Ruby Stevens [aka Barbara Stanwyck, her last bway show before going off to Hollywood]; My Romance (Anne Jeffreys); tv's & film's Kraft Television Theatre; Devotion; Margie (Jeanne Crain)

Joan Crawford 03/23/1905 - May 10, 1977 performer - film's Academy Award-winning actress: Mildred Pierce [1945]; A Woman?s Face, Night Gallery, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, Above Suspicion, Grand Hotel

Akira Kurosawa 03/23/1910 - 9/6/1998 director - Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Ran, Rhapsody in August, The Idiot, The Bad Sleep Well

James [Jamie] Hammerstein 03/23/1931 - Jan 7, 1999 Producer, Director, Stage Manager; Son of Oscar Hammerstein II - 1951 Music in the Air; Maggie; Me & Juliet; orig Damn Yankees; orig Flower Drum Song; Absence of a Cello (Mala Powers, Charles Grodin); The Paisley Convertible (Bill Bixby, Marsha Hunt, Betsy Von Furstenberg, Joyce Bulifant); Wise Child (Donald Pleasence); Butley (Alan Bates); State Fair; (1995 at the Lambs) Music in the Air (Emily Loesser, Jason Workman, Dennis Kelly, Keith Juroskow, Andy Gale, John Fiedler, Milla Ilieva, prod'd by BT McNichol); Jamie collaborated w/me on my show "I'll Take Romance" which was a tribute to his Pop. Andy Gale dir'd.

Monique Van Vooren 03/23/1933 performer - John Murray Anderson's Almanac; Man in the Moon (E. Lynn Nickerson); film's Andy Warhol?s Frankenstein, Ash Wednesday, Sugar Cookies

Kathy Morath 03/23/1955 performer - A Change in the Heir [I LOVED this show!]; Nick & Nora (Barry Bostwick, Joanna Gleason, Christine Baranski, Debra Monk, Chris Sarandon)

Amanda Plummer 03/23/1957 daughter of Tammy Grimes & Christopher Plummer, goddaughter of Michael Learned - The Stitch in Time [never officially opened]; 1981 A Taste of Honey; Agnes of God; 1984 The Glass Menagerie; 1986 You Never Can Tell; 1987 Pygmalion (Peter O'Toole, John Mills); film's The Fisher King, Joe Versus the Volcano, The World According to Garp, Pulp Fiction

Hope Davis 03/23/1964 performer; Partner of Jon Patrick Walker - Two Shakespearean Actors; 19997 Ivanov; God of Carnage[!]

Melissa Errico 03/23/1970 performer, sister-in-law of John McEnroe, wife of Patrick McEnroe - Dracula, the Musical (Tom Hewitt, Kelli O'Hara); Anna Karenina; 1993 My Fair Lady; 1998 High Society; Amour (Malcolm Gets, Lewis Cleale, Norm Lewis, Chris Fitzgerald, Nora Mae Lyng, Bill Nolte)

SHOWS THAT OPENED ON THIS DATE:

1939 The Hot Mikado - Bill Robinson

1940 It's Separate Rooms for an actress who'd rather sleep with her pet Chihuahua than her playwright husband. Glenda Farrell and Lyle Talbot are the twosome. This comedy by Alan Dinehart and Joseph Carole will run 613 performances.

1949 Detective Story - Ralph Bellamy, Meg Mundy, Lee Grant, Les Tremayne

1950 Great to Be Alive! - Vivienne Siegel, Swen Swenson

1971 This downtown One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest soars more successfully than its earlier Broadway flight. Kirk Douglas starred in that short-lived production of the Ken Kesey novel. William Devane heads this cast in Dale Wasserman's revised adaptation. It will run for 1,025 performances at the Mercer-Hansberry Theatre in Greenwich Village.

1995 Matthew Broderick teaches Broadway How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as the Frank Loesser musical is revived at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Broderick will win the Tony for his performance then be 'succeed'ed by John Stamos for a brief stint before returning to close the show July 14, 1996 with his real-life sweetheart (and future wife) Sarah Jessica Parker. I'll never forget MB used to sit & listen to my rehearsals with Paul Trueblood while waiting for his to begin. Paul taught him his role in HT$IB....

ON THIS DAY IN:

1743 - It was the first London performance of Handel?s Messiah, and King King George II was in the audience. In the middle of the Hallelujah Chorus, the King rose to his feet in appreciation of the great piece! The entire audience followed suit out of respect for the King. And so began the custom of standing during the singing of the Hallelujah Chorus.

1775 Patrick Henry called for America's independence from Britain, telling the Virginia Provincial Convention, "Give me liberty, or give me death!"

1950 And the Oscar for Best Actor goes to ... Broderick Crawford for his portrayal of corrupt politician Willie Stark in All the King?s Men. Thus we recall the 22nd Academy Awards, held at the RKO Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. The host for the evening, actor Paul Douglas, helped Hollywood pat itself on the back, as they celebrated the films of 1949. All the King?s Men also won the Academy Award for Best Picture (Robert Rossen, producer) and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress (Mercedes McCambridge). Other winners this night included Best Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz for Letter to Three Wives, Best Actress: Olivia de Havilland for The Heiress and Best Supporting Actor: Dean Jagger for Twelve O?Clock High. On a musical note, the Best Music/Song Oscar was awarded to Frank Loesser for Baby, It?s Cold Outside from Neptune?s Daughter. And who did Broderick Crawford beat out for the Best Actor prize? Kirk Douglas, Richard Todd, John Wayne and Gregory Peck.

1964 Actor Peter Lorre died today in Hollywood. Known mainly as a film actor, in the 1950s he appeared at several theatres doing monologues and poetry readings. He was 60 years old.

1998 - The movie, Titanic, won a record-tying 11 Oscars at the 70th Annual Academy Awards (tying the number of awards won by Ben-Hur in 1959). Comedian/actor Billy Crystal kept the crowd at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and the millions watching on TV, in stitches as Titanic (James Cameron, Jon Landau, producers) won (big breath now) 11 Oscars including: Best Picture; Best Director (James Cameron); Best Music/Song (James Horner (music) and Will Jennings (lyrics) for My Heart Will Go On, performed by Céline Dion). Not a bad return for a measly investment of $200 million. And yes, Virginia, there were other winners: Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt took top acting honors as the misanthropic writer and the waitress who softens his heart in As Good as it Gets. The Best Supporting Actor Oscar went to Robin Williams for Good Will Hunting and Best Supporting Actress was Kim Basinger for her L.A. Confidential part.

2003 The film version of the musical Chicago wins six Oscars including Best Picture at the 75th Anniversary Academy Awards. The win marks the first time a movie musical has taken home the Best Picture Oscar in more than three decades (Oliver! was the last, in 196 . Other Oscars for the film include Catherine Zeta-Jones for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of killer showgirl Velma Kelly. (Zeta-Jones was nominated in a category that also included her Chicago co-star, Queen Latifah.)

(sources: IBDB, IMDB, NYT's ON THIS DAY, 440.com?s Those Were The Days, Playbill.com, imdb)

Milla