India Eisley b. 1993 (Underworld: Awakening)
Carlson Young b. 1990 (True Blood, Heroes)
Cherlilyn Wilson b. 1988 (True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, I (heart) Vampires, Supernatural)
Janet Montgomery b. 1985 (Salem, Gothica [TV], Merlin)
Johnny Lewis b. 1983 died 26 Sept. 2012 (Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, Smallville)
Chelan Simmons b. 1982 (Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Kyle XY, Ogre, Stargate: Atlantis, Supernatural, The Collector, Zix:Level Two, Smallville, Wonderfalls, Snakehead Terror, Monster Island, Carrie [2002 TV movie], It [1990])
Ben Foster b. 1980 (30 Days of Night, X-Men: The Last Stand, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, The Punisher, FlashForward)
Andrew Lee Potts b. 1979 (Dracula [2013 TV], Primeval, True Bloodthrist, Alice [2009 TV], Strange)
Brendan Fehr b. 1977 (Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: First Class, Roswell, NightMan, The New Addams Family)
Aksel Hennie b. 1975 (Hercules)
Gabrielle Union b. 1972 (FlashForward, Meet Dave, The Others, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Winona Ryder b. 1971 (Star Trek, S1m0ne, Alien: Resurrection, Dracula, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice)
Michael Daingerfield b. 1970 (Arrow, Smallville, Tooth Fairy, The 4400, Dark Storm, The Time Tunnel [2006], Clash of the Titans [2006 TV], Supernatural, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Catwoman, Kingdom Hospital, Dreamcatcher, Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, Highlander: The Raven)
Grayson McCouch b. 1968 (Gotham, Forbidden Island, Armageddon)
Rufus Sewell b. 1967 (Hercules, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Mermaid Chronicles Part 1: She Creature, Arabian Nights, Dark City)
Joely Fisher b. 1967 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Inspector Gadget, The Mask, Something is Out There)
Tim Minear b. 1963 (writer/producer, American Horror Story, Dollhouse, Angel, Firefly, Wonderfalls, The X-Files, Lois and Clark, Strange World)
Finola Hughes b. 1959 (Charmed, Generation X)
Dan Castellaneta b. 1957 (Futurama, Super 8, Stargate: SG-1, Space Jam, Highlander [TV], ALF)
Deborah Reed b. 1950 (Troll 2)
Kate Jackson b. 1948 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Topper [TV movie], Dark Shadows)
Richard Dreyfuss b.1947 (Coma [2012 TV], Piranha 3D, Tin Man, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bewitched)
Margaret Nolan b. 1943 (Mystery and Imagination, Witchfinder General)
Jack Shepherd b. 1940 (The Golden Compass)
Ralph Bakshi b. 1938 (Cool World, Lord of the Rings, Wizards, Fire and Ice, Spider-Man)
Michael Jayston b. 1935 (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea [1997 TV], Highlander: The Final Dimension, Doctor Who, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [1972], UFO)
Margaret Sheridan b. 1926 died 1 May 1982 (The Thing from Another World)
Robert Hardy b. 1925 (Harry Potter, The 10th Kingdom, Gulliver’s Travels [TV], Frankenstein [1994], Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Supernatural [1977 TV mini-series], Gawain and the Green Knight)
Eddie Constantine b. 1913 died 25 February 1993 (Frankenstein’s Aunt, Alphaville)
Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. I will admit my willfulness with my Picture Slot selections for this date. Last year I went with Margaret Sheridan from the poster of The Thing from Another World and this year it's Rufus Sewell, star of Dark City, a film I loved. The thing is, there are two honest to Odin movie stars on this list with iconic roles, Richard Dreyfuss in Close Encounters and several roles for Winona Ryder. One of them will get the Picture slot in 2015. As for my choices in 2013 and 2014, I will invoke The First Rule of Blogging, coined by myself, which is "You're not the boss of me."
So there.
2. Spot the Canadians! Very tough today to get all three. I'll give two small hints. They are all born after 1968 and there is one actor whose resume looks Canadian but isn't, while a true Canadian has only a smattering of parts in Canadian genre productions.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Prediction: John Smith generally employs his afternoons in perfecting his education. He often goes to the Museum, wherein are preserved specimens of extinct animals such as horses, dogs, cats, sheep and chickens. He loves to study the day in which such beings were the companions of men.
For now, such progress have chemistry and mechanics made that man has no more need of animals. He has killed off some and neglected to foster the multiplication of others, so they disappeared. The whistle of machinery and the hum of motors have taken the place of the song of birds. The forests are deserted and the fields without moos, whinnies or larks.
Reality: This is not the only prediction of mass extinction we have had. John Elfreth Watkins and H.G. Wells wrote things like this, but not quite as complete a massacre. His idea that horses were becoming obsolete was an obvious trend by 1911, but thinking that animal lovers would allow dogs, cats and horses to become extinct is a very strange misread of human nature.
Another sad obituary of someone dead much too young. Elizabeth Norment, best known for her role on the Netflix series House of Cards as Nancy Kaufberger, the executive assistant to Kevin Spacey's Francis Underwood, has died at the age of 61 from cancer. She is remembered here for her roles in Runaway, the 1984 sci-fi movie written and directed by Michael Crichton, and the Twilight Zone story Examination Day, from which the still on the left is taken. The episode is based on a short story by Henry Slesar and is still one of the creepiest pieces of sci-fi I have ever read.
Best wishes to the family and friends of Elizabeth Norment, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Thursday means Lee de Forest, who will be describing the home of the future for the next few weeks.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
The Canadians are Chelan Simmons, Brendon Fehr and Michael Daingerfield. Fehr is hard to guess from his credits, and there are some non-Canadians who had roles on Smallville and Supernatural, two of the most successful shows in Canuck sci-fi history.
ReplyDeleteTwo of three is a passing grade today. Three of three means you are a relative of Brenden Fehr.
who will be describing the home of the future for the next few weeks.
ReplyDeleteOOooh! I am looking forward to THAT!.
....umm, "creepiest pieces of sic-fi YOU have ever written?" Are you moonlighting again?
Oopsie. Fixed.
DeleteAnd de Forest does have some epic strikeout predictions over the next few months.
"Examination Day" was especially creepy when I first read it. I was maybe 11 years old, give or take a year, and the story was in our "Read" magazine (a thing they had in the late 70s for use in classrooms, with short stories like this and, once, the script of "The Trouble with Tribbles"). Imagine a 6th grader, one who was doing well in school, reading THAT story. *shudder*
ReplyDeleteIt did have a lot of good stories, though. I still remember some of them even at this late date.
Thomas M. Disch in his book The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made From quotes the line "the perfect age for science fiction is 13." Long before the Young Adult market started exploiting this to make the nerdy kids feel like they weren't alone, Examination Day used this fact to scare nerdy kids senseless. You have to show Slesar some respect for understanding his market.
Delete