Sami Gayle b. 1996 (Vampire Academy)
Matthew Newton b. 1977 (Queen of the Damned, Farscape, The Lost World[TV])
Balthazar Getty b. 1975 (Feast, Charmed, Judge Dredd)
Olivia d’Abo b. 1969 (Invader ZIM, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Eureka, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Conan the Destroyer) Diane Lane b. 1965 (Man of Steel, Judge Dredd, Jumper)
Linda Blair b. 1959 (The Exorcist, Supernatural, Scream, Repossesed)
Michael Kospa b. 1956 (Arrow, Supernatural, Fringe, Apollo 18, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Watchmen, Eureka, The 4400, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Fantastic Four, Dark Angel, Stargate SG-1, The Outer Limits [1996], The X-Files, Highlander [TV])
John Hurt b. 1940 (Alien, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Outlander, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, V for Vendetta, Hellboy, Nineteen Eighty-Four)
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, The Twilight Zone, Return to Oz, Carrie)
Robert Halmi Sr. (producer, Riverworld, Flash Gordon [TV], Hogfather, Dinotopia, Jason and the Argonauts [TV], Alice in Wonderland [TV], Gulliver’s Travels [TV])
Robert E. Howard b. 1906 died 11 June 1936 (author, Conan, Kull, Bran Mak Morn, Solomon Kane)
If I was looking for the best known face on the list, it would depend on the age of the reader. People my age might well choose Bill Bixby, but he's now been dead for 21 years, so younger audiences might only dimly recognize him. John Hurt is another excellent choice for the Picture Slot based on fame, and Linda Blair in her iconic role is another. Any of the actresses qualify using the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot criterion, but after all that, you are now looking at a picture of Robert E. Howard, the pulp fiction writer from the 1920s and 1930s, a man who died at the age of 30 who produced an astonishing number of stories. A lot of his fame now is attributable to a resurgence of interest in his most famous character Conan the Barbarian in the 1960s, some thirty years after he died, when some clever paperback publisher commissioned Frank Frazetta to paint the cover art for Conan and the books flew off of the shelves.
Many happy returns to the living on the list, and to Robert E. Howard and Bill Bixby, thanks for all the memories.
Predictor: T. Baron Russell in A Hundred Years Hence, published 1905
Prediction: Although, in some of their characteristics, they will be greatly ameliorated, advertisements may very likely still constitute one ground of discontent with the newspaper of the future.
Reality: Yeah, they are a ground of discontent because they barely exist anymore, especially the classifieds. It would be too much to ask for someone from 1905 to predict the effect of the Internet on daily life 100 years into the future, though E.M. Forster's 1909 science fiction story The Machine Stops has an entity that is at least metaphorically a lot like the Internet today.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Once again, Isaac Asimov is back to tell us about 2014 from his vantage point in 1964.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
"People my age might well choose Bill Bixby, but he's now been dead for 21 years, so younger audiences might only dimly recognize him."
ReplyDeleteFrom the Quantum Leap discussion, if nothing else:
Magician's Daughter: "...Bill Bixby"
Sam: "The Incredible Hulk?"
MD: "As if a GREAT actor like Bill Bixby would ever play a comic book character. The Magician."
Or, for those of our era, when he costarred with an Academy Award winning actress and Brandon Cruz, on a show with a theme song by Harry Nilsson...