Skye McCole Bartusiak b. 1992 died 19 July 2014 (Lost, Firestarter 2: Rekindled, The Darkling, Storm of the Century)
Keir Gilchrist b. 1992 (Delete, Matty Hanson and the Invisibility Ray, ReGenesis)
Kirsten Prout b. 1990 (Twilight, Kyle XY, Meteor Storm, Elektra, Stargate SG-1, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Jeremiah, Mindstorm, First Wave)
Matt Cohen b. 1982 (Supernatural)
Lucas Bryant b. 1978 (Haven, Beauty and the Beast [2013], Odyssey 5)
Karan Ashley b. 1975 (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers)
J. Trevor Edmund b. 1969 (Return of the Living Dead III, Frogs!, Alien Nation [TV])
Naomi Watts b. 1968 (Allegiant, Insurgent, King Kong, The Ring, Sleepwalkers, Tank Girl)
Mira Sorvino b. 1967 (Intruders, Falling Skies, Space Warriors, Mimic, The Stuff)
Maria Canals-Barrera b. 1966 (Wizards of Waverly Place)
Arie Verveen b. 1966 (Sin City)
Bellina Logan b. 1966 (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Jacob’s Ladder)
Christopher Evan Welch b. 1965 died 2 December 2013 (War of the Worlds, The Stepford Wives [2004])
Janeane Garafalo b. 1964 (Werewolf Bitches from Outer Space, Southland Tales, What Planet Are You From?, Mystery Men)
Susan Walters b. 1963 (Teen Wolf [2014 TV], Star-Crossed, The Vampire Diaries, Carnivale, I Married a Monster)
Sylvia Kristel b. 1952 died 18 October 2012 (Dracula’s Widow)
John Sayles b. 1950 (writer, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Piranha, Brother From Another Planet, The Secret of Roan Inish, Clan of the Cave Bear, The Howling, Battle Beyond the Stars, Alligator)
Michael Flynn b. 1947 (Lightspeed, Halloweentown High, The Darkling, Asteroid, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Werewolf)
Jeffrey Jones b. 1946 (10.0 Earthquake, Dr. Dolittle 2, Sleepy Hollow [1999 movie], Invader ZIM, Tales from the Crypt, Amazing Stories, Howard the Duck, The Twilight Zone, Beetlejuice, Transylvania 6-5000)
Herbert Jefferson Jr. b 1946 (Star Trek: Renegades, Apollo 13, Outbreak, Starflight: The Plane That Couldn’t Land, Knight Rider, World War III, Battlestar Galactica [1979], The Bionic Woman, The Immortal)
Fiona Lewis b. 1946 (Innerspace, Strange Invaders, The Fury, Tintorera: Killer Shark, Bram Stoker’s Dracula [TV 1974], Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Fearless Vampire Killers)
J.T. Walsh b. 1943 died 27 Feb. 1998 (Pleasantville, Dark Skies, The X Files, Lois & Clark, Needful Things)
Marshall Bell b. 1942 (Stargate: Atlantis, The Astronaut Farmer, God vs Evil, Sliders, Virus, W.E.I.R.D. World, The Puppet Masters, The X Files, Tales from the Crypt, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Hard Time on Planet Earth, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge)
Ronald Lacey b. 1935 died 15 May 1991 (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Raider of the Lost Ark, Red Sonja, Buckaroo Banzai, Blakes 7, The Last Days of Man on Earth, The Fearless Vampire Killers)
Janet Munro b. 1934 Died 6 December 1972 (Darby O’Gill and the Little People, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, The Crawling Eye)
Ralph Ahn b. 1926 (Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace)
William Windom b.1923 died 16 August 2012 (The Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman [1993 TV], Space Rage, Automan, The Greatest American Hero, The Bionic Woman, The Girl with Something Extra, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, The Invaders, Star Trek, Twilight Zone)
Peter Finch b. 1916 died 14 January 1977 (First Men in the Moon)
Prosper Mérimée b. 1803 died 23 September 1870 (Le Venus d’Ille, Lokis, La Chambre bleue)
Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. Last year, before I had done as much research as I do now, I went with Ronald Lacey, the Nazi agent whose face melts off in Raiders of the Lost Ark. This year, I went with fabulous babe Naomi Watts in a tender scene from Peter Jackson's King Kong. With this birthday list, we need something nice start things off, because this one is rough.
2. What's that smell? Yeah, that's the smell of death around you. William Windom lived well into his 80s, Prosper Mérimée died at 66, not a bad run back in the 19th Century, but all the rest of the deceased died young, and that's Peter Finch (60), Janet Munro (38), Ronald Lacey (55), J.T. Walsh (54), Sylvia Kristel (60), Christopher Evan Welch (48) and Skye McCole Bartusiak (21). I can't think of any single day list this bad before and I hope I don't have to type another before next September 28th.
3. So much respect. John Sayles, one of the few truly independent filmmakers in the world. He goes off and writes scripts like The Spiderwick Chronicles, Piranha, Clan of the Cave Bear, The Howling, Battle Beyond the Stars and Alligator so he can fund his writer/director stuff himself, free from studio control. He's made several of my favorite movies of the past thirty years, including Brother from Another Planet, Matewan , Eight Men Out, Passion Fish, Lone Star, Men with Guns, Limbo, Sunshine State, Casa de los babys and Honeydripper. There's no one quite like him.
4. The Oh That Guys. I guess William Windom might have been an Oh That Guy, but I would put him at the "Hey, it's Abe Vigoda!" level of fame, since he had a couple sitcoms in the 1960s and a regular recurring role on Murder She Wrote. Of the rest, I would say Jeffrey Jones might be close to that level as well, but I might only think that way because I loved Deadwood so much. I would put Ronald Lacey, Marshall Bell and J.T. Walsh at the Oh That Guy level of recognition for sure.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories and I hope I don't see so many of you on any list soon.
Movies released
Looper released, 2012
Prediction: This preachy novel alternates between lectures to young students about the past and the love stories of the same students. A war which began in the year 2000 killed half of Earth's population and began a century-long dark age which had some salutary effects: the "holocaust . . . burned away all of the economic rot, cancelled all the bad debts!" Modern America is a debilitated remnant of the old American civilization, and is contrasted with the idyllic Federation of thirteen Asian states where much of the novel is set. A subplot deals with the struggles of a young male to overcome his tendency toward violence and learn how to love. America is diagnosed as having destroyed itself through its bad attitude--hence the title.
Reality: Regular readers will recognize a summary of a plot like this is lifted from Paul Brians' excellent catalog of nuclear holocaust fiction, and once again I thank him for compiling it. The only positive thing to say here is that in reality, we have avoided a big nuclear war - and so far even a small one since Nagasaki - and that great shared dread of the 20th Century is no longer in the back of everyone's mind.
In this post, you have to cherish the tiny bits of good news where you can find them, I guess.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Yet another dip into the nearly inexhaustible pool of predictions that is known as The OMNI Future Almanac.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Ah, yes, the nuclear age. What I remember most about the 80s is that I figured I had a 50/50 shot of getting out of the decade alive. It began with the USSR invasion of Afghanistan and the act of war by Iran invading the American embassy in 1979, continued with Reagan joking that "we begin bombing in five minutes" in front of a live microphone and NOT joking about the useless "Star Wars" SDI, and ended half a step away from hardliners regaining control of the USSR in 1991. I lived two miles from a factory which made airplane parts, so I knew we were on the list of targets. We had jokes like, "If nuclear winter comes, I'll learn to ski" and "Nuclear war means never having to say you're sorry." Oh, and that movie, "The Day After," didn't help.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased there hasn't been another nuclear war but I was part of the last generation which grew up in the shadow of "the bomb," without the kind lies of "duck and cover." It's *always* in the back of my mind, but I'm glad the younger generation doesn't have that worry.
We had "drills" where we would get under our desks in elementary school. That was actually useful advice in case of an earthquake, always a possibility in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I grew up in Alameda and the Naval Air Station was a prime target if we got into The Big One. We would have been in the very scary zone.
Delete2. What's that smell? Yeah, that's the smell of death around you.
ReplyDeleteHey now. I wasn't NEAR this place all weekend...
Jeffrey Jones in Howard the Duck and Beetlejuice made him a perfect memory thereafter, while J. T. "more in need of a blowjob than any white man in history" Walsh was always "Oh, That Guy!"
ReplyDeleteJeffrey Jones was also in Deadwood, so he definitely at the "Hey, it's Abe Vigoda!" level for me.
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