Emily Osment b. 1992 (Spy Kids 2 and 3, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Olivia Wilde b. 1984 (The Lazarus Effect, Her, TRON: Legacy, In Time, Cowboys & Aliens)
Rafe Spall b. 1983 (The World’s End, Life of Pi, Earthbound, Prometheus, Grindhouse, Dracula [TV], Shaun of the Dead)
Holly Winnard b. 1981 (The Battle for Earth, Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!, Hoodoo for Voodoo)
Edi Gathegi b. 1979 (Beauty and the Beast [2013], X-Men: First Class, Twilight)
Tara Cardinal b. 1978 (Relatively Super, Legend of the Red Reaper, Alien Rising, Apocalypse Z, Bite Nite, Robodoc, It’s Supernatural)
Bree Turner b. 1977 (Grimm, Duel on Planet Z)
Jon Hamm b. 1971 (Sucker Punch, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Charmed, Space Cowboys)
Paget Brewster b. 1969 (The Venture Brothers, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Cyxork 7, Star Patrol)
Jasmine Guy b. 1962 (Dead Like Me, The Vampire Diaries, Lois & Clark)
Andre Johnson b. 1961 (Age of Dinosaurs, 100 Degrees Below Zero, Spider-Man, Blade)
Scott Frank b. 1960 (writer, The Wolverine, Minority Report)
Sharon Stone b. 1958 (Catwoman, Sphere, Total Recall, Beyond the Stars, Badlands 2005)
Shannon Tweed b. 1957 (Homeboys in Outer Space, Deadly Nightmares)
Robert Llewellyn b. 1956 (Red Dwarf, MirrorMask)
Katherine Houghton b. 1945 (The Last Airbender)
Richard Gant b. 1944 (Charmed, Smallville, Godzilla [1998], Babylon 5, Lois & Clark, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday)
Bruce Joel Rubin b. 1943 (writer, The Time Traveler’s Wife, The Last Mimzy, Deep Impact, Jacob’s Ladder, Ghost, Deadly Friend, Brainstorm)
Chuck Norris b. 1940 (Hellbound)
David Watson b. 1940 died 5 October 2014 (Project U.F.O., The Bionic Woman, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Time Tunnel)
Venetia Stevenson b. 1938 (The City of the Dead)
Pamela Mason b. 1916 died 29 June 1996 (Wonder Woman, The Navy vs. the Night Monsters)
Warner Anderson b. 1911 died 26 August 1976 (The Immortal, Destination Moon)
Richard Haydn b. 1905 died 25 April 1985 (Young Frankenstein, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
Sam Jaffe b. 1891 died 24 March 1984 (Battle Beyond the Stars, The Bionic Woman, Batman, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Lost Horizon)
Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot was awarded to the fabulous Olivia Wilde and Robert Llewellyn from Red Dwarf. Without the, there are a few well-known names - Chuck Norris, Sharon Stone, Jon Hamm - but I don't consider them genre iconic. We do have some great Oh That Guys, including our oldest Sam Jaffe and Richard Haydn, but I decided to skew a little younger and use Richard Gant in his role from Babylon 5.
2. Hey, no Star Trek... two days in a row. Yesterday, I wrote how rare a day without Star Trek actors is. Now we have two in a row. But using this to prove Star Trek really isn't a big deal over the past half century is like cherry picking data to say climate change isn't real. Star Trek is a big damn deal in genre.
3. One Canadian, hard to spot. Shannon Tweed was born north of the border, but isn't a regular in the genre TV business.
4. Nepotism aplenty. Some of these are just a matter of being related and not actual nepotism, but in any case, there's a bunch today. Listing oldest to youngest:
Pamela Mason was James Mason's wife. She worked with him on several projects, though I have no idea how she decided doing The Navy vs. the Night Monsters was a good idea.
Venetia Stevenson was married to Russ Tamblyn, then Don Everly. This is more a case of fabulous babe being in the circle of famous people and marrying one of them.
Katherine Houghton was Katherine Hepburn's niece and was cast in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. I count this as nepotism for sure.
Shannon Tweed is the mother of Gene Simmon's children. See Venetia Stevenson for the explanation, though no marriage was actually involved.
Rafe Spall is the son of Timothy Spall, which couldn't hurt in British show business.
Emily Osment is Haley Joel Osment's sister. I consider this more a case of same stage parents instead of actual nepotism.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Movie released
Mission to Mars released, 2000
Prediction:In 2000, forces under nominal U.N. command fighting for the major industrialized nations and their corporate sponsors were fighting a pitched battle to achieve the final solution of the “South Asian” problem. Early in the year, Pakistan had launched two small nuclear missiles against India.
The world was not entirely at peace until October 2000, when Russia, Ukraine and Belarus finally became associate members of the European Community.
Reality: This is the last of the predictions I'm going to use from Professor Wagar's book. Two of his basic ideas are correct, that capitalism was going to go hog wild once the Eastern Bloc was no longer communist and that trouble in the Muslim world was going to be important, but when it comes to actual historical facts, Wagar is way off. Next week, we will get a new regular feature on Tuesdays.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
What did the future of technology look like in 1901. Our pal George Sutherland tells us.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Quibble: Shannon Tweed was well known long before Gene Simmons stole her with his tongue. (Playmate of the Year, Hefner's girl friend at the time, a lot of soft core, etc.; no regular reader of the magazine during her peak appearances there would have missed if you had said, "There is only one Canadian on this list" today.) I don't think there's a question her Playboy association, not her KISS riffing, helped her career.
ReplyDelete(That said, I don't remember any other Playboy models who were primarily that first who have had such a long and enduring career as Ms. Tweed. Several people crossed over from Skinemax fare to TNG, but did very little other than that. She clearly has a business brain at least on the level of Gene Simmons--which is even more rare than successful nepotism.)
You are right about Shannon Tweed's uniquely long-lived success after centerfold career. Playboy got its big early lift with nude pictures of Marilyn Monroe, but that's the magazine getting a boost from an actress and not the other way around.
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