Sami Gayle b. 1996 (Vampire Academy)
Beverly Mitchell b. 1981 (Toxin, The Crow: City of Angels, White Dwarf, Quantum Leap)
Willa Ford b. 1981 (Friday the 13th [2009])
Christopher Masterson b. 1980 (Haven, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Strange Frequency, Millennium)
Matthew Newton b. 1977 (Queen of the Damned, Farscape, The Lost World [TV])
Jennifer Spence b. 1977 (Continuum, Supernatural, SGU Stargate Universe, Eureka, The 4400, The Core)
Balthazar Getty b. 1975 (Feast, Charmed, The Hunger [TV], Habitat, Judge Dredd)
Rebekah Elmalogou b. 1974 (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome)
Gabriel Macht b. 1972 (The Spirit)
Karen Finneran b. 1971 (Bewitched [2005], Wonderfalls, Night of the Living Dead [1990])
Olivia d’Abo b. 1969 (Sleeping Beauty [2014], Nuclear Family, Eureka, Invader ZIM, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Conan the Destroyer)
Qing Xu b. 1969 (Looper)
Diane Lane b. 1965 (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, Jumper, Judge Dredd)
Linda Blair b. 1959 (The Green Fairy, Supernatural, Monster Makers, PSI Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, Sorceress, Repossessed, The Exorcist)
Tyrone Power Jr. 1959 (Mansion of Blood, Lorelei: Witch of the Pacific Ocean, Cocoon)
Michael Kospa b. 1956 (Arrow, Supernatural, Fringe, Apollo 18, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Earth’s Final Hours, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Impact, Watchmen, Flash Gordon [2007 TV], Eureka, The 4400, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Final Days of Planet Earth, Fantastic Four [2005], Dead Like Me, Carrie [2002 TV], Smallville, Jeremiah, The Immortal [2001], Seven Days, Dark Angel, Stargate SG-1, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, The X-Files, Highlander [TV], Sliders)
John Wesley Shipp b. 1955 (The Flash [2015 and 1991], Teen Wolf [2012], The Neverending Story II)
Jim Jarmusch b. 1953 (director, Only Lovers Left Alive)
John Hurt b. 1940 (Hercules [2014], Doctor Who, Snowpiercer, Only Lovers Left Alive, Labyrinth [2012], Harry Potter, Melancholia, Outlander, Hellboy, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, V for Vendetta, Roger Corman’s Frankenstein Unbound, The Story Teller, Spaceballs, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Alien, The Ghoul)
Seymour Cassel b. 1935 (Wicked Stepmother, Star Trek The Next Generation, Tales from the Darkside [TV], Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Invaders, Batman, Twilight Zone)
Bill Bixby b. 1934 died 21 November 1993 (The Incredible Hulk, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone)
Piper Laurie b. 1932 (Bad Blood, Dead Like Me, The Faculty, Beauty and the Beast, The Twilight Zone [1985], Return to Oz, Carrie)
Jon Cedar b. 1931 died 14 April 2001 (Asteroid, Tales from the Darkside, The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, Capricorn One, The Manitou, Day of the Animals, Time Travelers, The Invisible Man [1975])
Robert Halmi Sr. b. 1922 died 30 July 2014 (producer, Riverworld, Flash Gordon [TV], Hogfather, Dinotopia, Jason and the Argonauts [TV], Alice in Wonderland [TV], Gulliver’s Travels [TV])
Ann Sothern b. 1909 died 15 March 2001 (The Manitou, My Mother the Car)
Robert E. Howard b. 1906 died 11 June 1936 (author, Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane)
Conrad Veidt b. 1893 died 3 April 1943 (The Thief of Bagdad [1940], The Man who Laughs, The Hands of Orlac, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previously, I had Robert E. Howard in the Picture Slot, the pulp writer from Texas who died very young but more or less started the sword and sorcery genre which would become popular in the 1960s when Frank Frazetta's paintings were used as the paperback covers. There are plenty of iconic choices here, with Bill Bixby, John Hurt and Linda Blair best-known to American audiences, but instead we have Conrad Veidt from the 1928 silent film The Man Who Laughs, taken from a story by Victor Hugo. Very few people today have seen this film, but writer Bill Finger did and it was his suggestion that this should be the look for The Joker, and that makes it iconic in genre. If Americans know Veidt at all, it's from Casablanca or The Thief of Bagdad or possibly the other silent horror films he made. For my money, no actor playing The Joker looks half as scary as Veidt does here.
2. Spot the Canadians, I dare you! There are three credit lists that have That Canadian Feeling, but only two are from the Great White North. Instead of giving the answer later, I will grade the work of anyone who puts up a guess. I'm back teaching classes and I have to get back into the swing of grading.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Prediction:“I give Castro a year. No longer.”
Reality: Well, here we are 55 years later, Castro is still alive and in power and more than that, the United States is finally getting around to re-establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba. I was thinking of saving this prediction until after Fidel died, but I'm not sure I'll be writing the blog that long.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
It's time to get to the creepy stuff from Anticipations that made H.G. Wells an "important voice" in the politics of Edwardian England.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
I'm going with Christopher Masterson and Jennifer Spence as Canadians. Fairly certain we would have heard if Linda Blair was.
ReplyDeleteYou have one right and one wrong, and Linda Blair is not Canadian, as you correctly surmised. There is another credit list that screams Canadian and is not screaming a falsehood.
DeleteI'm going to go with Spence and, though he's older than the Canuck standard, Michael Kospa.
DeleteWe have a winner! Please no more calls. Spence and Kospa are Canadian, Masterson got work because casting directors knew him from Malcolm in the Middle.
Delete"Among the known creatures of the universe, only the Terran human bares its fangs to express friendship." - Alan Dean Foster
ReplyDeleteI think Veidt is just baring his fangs.
Domesticated dogs smile with open mouths, but they might just be mimicking their masters.
DeleteIn Hugo's story, the guy had his face surgically altered so he had to show his teeth.