Laura Ann Kesling b. 2000 (Bedtime Stories)
Tony Oller b. 1991 (The Purge)
Gerran Howell b. 1991 (Young Dracula)
Isabelle Fuhrman b. 1997 (The Hunger Games)
Natalie Dreyfuss b. 1987 (The Originals, True Blood, National Treasure: Book of Secrets)
James and Oliver Phelps b. 1986 (Harry Potter)
Justin Berfield b. 1986 (The Nightmare Room)
Tara Wilson b. 1982 (Almost Human, Lost Girl, Smallville, V, Stan Helsing, Tin Man, Supernatural, The Butterfly Effect, Eastwick)
Anson Mount b. 1973 (Dollhouse, Lost, Smallville)
Daniel Boileau b. 1973 (The Tomorrow People, Eve of Destruction, Supernatural, Fringe, Smallville, Eureka, Stargate: Atlantis, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Dead Like Me, Dark Angel)
Sean Astin b. 1971 (The Strain, Cabin Fever: Patient Zero, Alphas, Dorothy and the Witches of Oz, Lord of the Rings, Hercules [2005 TV], Click, Jeremiah, Perversions of Science, Harrison Bergeron, Encino Man)
Christien Anholt b. 1971 (Ben 10: Race Against Time, Relic Hunter, Doctor Who)
Tea Leoni b. 1966 (Jurassic Park III, The X-Files, Deep Impact)
Alexis Denisof b. 1966 (Grimm, Guardians of the Galaxy, H+, The Avengers, Dollhouse, Angel, Buffy, Highlander [TV])
Samantha Phillips b. 1966 (Andromina: The Pleasure Planet, Phantasm II)
Lee Evans b. 1964 (Doctor Who, The Fifth Element)
James C. Burns b. 1959 (Dinocroc vs. Supergator, Transformers)
Barclay Hope b. 1958 (Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, Witches of East End, Final Destination 5, Eureka, Tooth Fairy, Fringe, Smallville, Stargate SG-1, Paycheck, Battlestar Galactica, Goosebumps, Forever Knight, War of the Worlds [TV], The Twilight Zone [1989])
John Doe b. 1954 (Zombex, The Wizards of Waverly Place, Carnivale, Roswell, The Rage: Carrie 2, Liquid Dreams)
Neil Jordan b. 1950 (director, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, High Spirits, The Company of Wolves)
Diane Baker b. 1938 (Mann & Machine, The Invaders, Journey to the Center of the Earth)
Tom Courtenay b. 1937 (The Golden Compass, Leonard Part 6, The Day the Fish Came Out)
Bernard Bresslaw b. 1934 died 11 June 1993 (Krull, Hawk the Slayer, Jabberwocky, Doctor Who, Blood of the Vampire)
Michael Fairman b. 1934 (Firefly, The X-Files, Quantum Leap, The Powers of Matthew Star, World War III)
Christopher George b. 1931 died 28 November 1983 (City of the Living Dead, Day of the Animals, Wonder Woman, Bewitched)
Larry Gelbart b. 1928 died 11 September 2009 (writer, Bedazzled [2000])
Bert Remsen b. 1925 died 22 April 1999 (Humanoids from the Deep, Deep Space Nine, Evil Spirits, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, TerrorVision, Space, Tucker’s Witch, Wonder Woman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Moon Pilot)
Anthony Burgess b. 1917 died 22 November 1993 (Author, A Clockwork Orange)
Gert Frobe b. 1913 died 5 September 1988 (The Little Vampire, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
Jim Backus b. 1913 died 3 July 1989 (Slapstick (Of Another Kind), C.H.O.M.P.S., Pete’s Dragon, The Ghost Busters [1975 TV], Kolchak the Night Stalker, I Dream of Jeannie, Damn Yankees! [1967 TV])
Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Previous Picture Slotters are Alexis Denisov from Angel and James and Oliver Phelps from Harry Potter. To be honest, Sean Astin is closer to the top of the bill in the The Lord of the Rings movies than the others were in their best known roles, so I don't have any qualms about whether he's iconic on not. There are some other well known names here, but for iconic in genre, I think the other solid choice would be Anthony Burgess for A Clockwork Orange.
2. Spot the Canadians! When you see the Supernatural/Smallville combo, your first guess is Canadian, and all three of today's birthday Canucks have that on their credit lists. Barclay Hope is a little older than the average Canadian in genre productions, but Daniel Boileau and Tara Wilson are of the usual demographic. Anson Mount was on Smallville, but he's not Canadian.
3. Nepotism or not? Sean Astin is now 44 and he has had a successful career on his own merits, but that doesn't change the fact his dad is John Astin and his mom is Patty Duke. His family connections may have helped open the door, but like Josh Brolin, Sean Astin has proven himself on his own and good on him.
4. The Guy at the Door or The Man Who Walked Away. Michael Fairman turns 71 today, not that old by today's standards, but he is the oldest alive on the list and everyone older is dead. More than that, he shares a birthday with the British actor Bernard Bresslaw. More interestingly and more to his credit in my book, Fairman used to be in Scientology and he quit. I remember when he was the actor in TV ads for the Dianetics book. I have a lot of respect for the people who can walk away from that organization.
5. Fun facts to know and tell. Punk rock fans will remember John Doe as the founder of the L.A. band X. What I didn't know is that he has become a working actor with over 70 credits on imdb.com. My other favorite tidbit from today's research is that Gert Frobe and Jim Backus were born on the exact same day. "No, Mister Howell, I expect you to die!" Okay, that's mixing genres too much I think.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list, especially Michael Fairman, and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Prediction: Hundreds of millions of the human race pass lives of a kind of dull monotonous toil which develops only the muscular, at the expense of the higher, faculties of the body; they are almost entirely cut off from social intercourse with their fellow-men, and they sink prematurely into decrepitude simply by reason of the lack of a cheap and abundant supply of mechanical power, ready at hand wherever it is wanted. Scores of "enterprises of great pith and moment" in the industrial advancement of the world have to be abandoned by reason of the same lack. In mining, in agriculture, in transport and in manufacture the thing that is needful to convert the "human machine" into a more or less intelligent brainworker is cheaper power. All the technical education in the world will not avail to raise the labourer in the intellectual scale if his daily work be only such as a horse or an engine might perform.
Reality: Sutherland hits the nail on the head here. A lot of manual labor, though certainly not all, has been made obsolete by 20th Century inventions, and generally other work can be found. Sometimes, work for good pay is replaced by work for less good pay, but that is not completely the blame of technology. Looking at the big picture, the population of the world has more than quadrupled since Sutherland wrote his book and standard of living has increased dramatically in nearly every corner of the world. It's easy to be worried about the future, but we have done amazing things in the past 100 years and if we grow wiser instead of just cleverer, we might be able to do even more.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Thursday belongs to the bold and incorrect, chronicled faithfully in the book The Experts Speak.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
I love spotting John Doe in a show, but my favorite appearance of his is a cameo in Joan Jett's cover of the Replacements' "Androgynous"....
ReplyDeleteFor mashups of those two, your choice is certainly better than "Mr. Magoo, I expect you to die!" "Eh, what's that? I'll just see what's over here..."
ReplyDeleteI saw John Doe on Roswell and said, "Naw, it couldn't be the same one." Then realized that Rachel Sweet was a coproducer of SportsNight. We were getting old even then.
For mashups of those two, your choice is certainly better than "Mr. Magoo, I expect you to die!" "Eh, what's that? I'll just see what's over here..."
ReplyDeleteI saw John Doe on Roswell and said, "Naw, it couldn't be the same one." Then realized that Rachel Sweet was a coproducer of SportsNight. We were getting old even then.