Alex Black b. 1989 (Spider-Man, Charmed)
John Patrick Amedori b. 1987 (TiMER, The Butterfly Effect)
Billy Magnussen b. 1985 (Into the Woods, The Leftovers)
Matt Sadowski-Austin b. 1978 (Dawn of the Dead, Power Rangers)
Daniel Stamm b. 1976 (director, Intruders, The Last Exorcism)
Viv Leacock b. 1974 (Almost Human, Continuum, Eureka, Smallville, Fringe, Hot Tub Time Machine, 2012, Supernatural)
Carmen Electra b. 1972 (The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human, An American Vampire Story)
Shemar Moore b. 1970 (Birds of Prey)
William deVry b. 1968 (Hemlock Grove, Beauty and the Beast [2013], Stargate SG-1, Earth: Final Conflict, The Lost World [TV], Poltergeist: The Legacy, SeaQuest 2032)
Andy Serkis b. 1964 (Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Godzilla [2014], The Hobbit, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Inkheart, Lord of the Rings, The Prestige, King Kong [2005])
Crispin Glover b. 1964 (Hot Tub Time Machine, Alice in Wonderland, Freezer Burn: The Invasion of Laxdale, Beowulf, The Wizard of Gore, Back to the Future, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)
Tim Maculan b. 1963 (Spider-Man 3, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, NightMan)
Paris Vaughan b. 1961 (Buffy the Vampire Slayer [movie])
Mike Pniewski b, 1961 (Resurrection, Coma, From the Earth to the Moon, Superboy, Beauty and the Beast [1989], Spaceballs, The Twilight Zone [1986])
Nicholas Lyndhurst b. 1961 (Gulliver’s Travels [1996 TV], The Tomorrow People [1978], Peter Pan [1976 TV])
Clint Howard b. 1959 (Life with Zombies, The Lords of Salem, Blood Reign: The Third Reich, Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian, Halloween, Star Trek: Enterprise, Total Recall 2070, From the Earth to the Moon, Apollo 13, Deep Space Nine, Leprechaun 2, Space Rangers, Carnosaur, The Rocketeer, Cocoon, Splash, Star Trek)
Yuji Okumoto b. 1959 (Z Nation, Grimm, Inception, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, The Sorcerers, Lois & Clark, Robot Wars)
Geraint Wyn Davies b. 1957 (ReGenesis, Cube2: Hypercube, RoboCop: Prime Directives, Forever, Knight, Highlander, Dracula: The Series, Bionic Showdown)
Louise Jameson b. 1951 (Doctor Who, Space: 1999)
Jessica Lange b. 1949 (American Horror Story, Neverwas, King Kong [1976])
Veronica Cartwright b. 1949 (Resurrection, Eastwick, The Invasion, Invasion [TV], The X-Files, Sliders, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, The Witches of Eastwick, Alien, Invasion of the Body Snatchers [1978], Twilight Zone)
Gregory Itzin b. 1948 (Once Upon a Time, Star Trek: Enterprise, Firefly, Evolution, Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Millennium, Quantum Leap, Eerie, Indiana, Hi, Honey, I’m Dead, Max Headroom, Teen Wolf, Voyagers!, Mork & Mindy)
Michael Brandon b. 1945 (Captain America: The First Avenger, Doctor Who, Dinotopia)
Judith O’Dea b. 1945 (Night of the Living Dead)
Ian Watson b. 1943 (writer and editor)
James Gammon b. 1940 died 16 July 2010 (Altered, The Cell, Monster Squad, Batman, The Invaders, Captain Nice)
George Takei b. 1937 (Star Trek, Lost Girl, The Big Bang Theory, Heroes, The Chronicle, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Oblivion 1 and 2, Beyond Westworld, The Six Million Dollar Man, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twilight Zone, Rodan, Godzilla Raids Again)
Gary Raymond b. 1935 (UFO, Jason and the Argonauts, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man)
Robert DoQui b. 1934 died 9 February 2008 (Deep Space Nine, RoboCop 1, 2, and 3, Starman [TV], My Science Project, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchack: The Night Stalker, I Dream of Jeannie, The Outer Limits)
George R. Robertson b. 1933 (Haven, War of the Worlds [TV], The Twilight Zone [1989], Marooned, Rosemary’s Baby)
Nina Foch b. 1924 died 5 December 2008 (Alien Nation: Dark Horizon, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Outer Limits)
Leslie Phillips b. 1924 (Harry Potter, Aladdin [2000 YV], Cinderella [2000 TV], Tales from the Crypt, The Canterville Ghost, H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man [TV], The Gamma People)
Terry Maloney b. 1917 died 16 March 2008 (artist, New Worlds)
Bruce Cabot b. 1904 died 3 May 1972 (King Kong [1933])
Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot and musings on nepotism. Previous Picture Slotters are George Takei and Jessica Lange. Avoiding repetition, other iconic choices would be Judith O'Dea from Night of the Living Dead, Crispin Glover from Back to the Future and possibly Andy Serkis, though Serkis' most famous roles are as basis for CGI in Peter Jackson films. The winner this year is Clint Howard as the creepy drunk alien that almost destroys the Enterprise just because he's bored. Both he and Veronica Cartwright are siblings of child stars whose careers took off before theirs did. Clint is the younger brother of Ron, Veronica is the older sister of Angela, best known now for Lost in Space. The thing is, all four of these folks are still working steadily well into their fifties and sixties, which is definitely not the average career arc for child actors. For all his good work, I still think of Clint as Ron's weird looking kid brother and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this.
2. Spot the Canadians! Quite often, our Canadian actors are in their twenties or thirties, but today we have quite a spread in ages, with George R. Robertson, Geraint Wyn Davies (born in Wales, family moved to Canada when he was a kid), William deVry, Viv Leacock and Matt Sadowski-Astin.
3. Wait... they're dead? There are two Oh That Guy actors on the list I didn't know were gone. James Gammon might be best known as the manager in Major League and Robert DoQui is the African American actor who played Sgt. Reed in the RoboCop movies.
4. MST3K. George R. Robertson was in Marooned, one of the biggest budget films ever to get the MST3K treatment.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Prediction: Five species likely to go extinct in the next fifty years are the African Elephant, the Grizzly Bear, the Sperm Whale, the Mountain Gorilla and the Whooping Crane.
Reality: Technically, we are only 33 years into these predictions, so it's a little early to say how good they are. The Whooping Crane has been endangered since I was a kid and still is, with less than 500 creatures currently alive. On the brighter side, the number of gorillas in the wild is considered to be about 100,000 and African Elephants number near 700,000. All of these creatures are still listed on endangered species lists though the Grizzly Bear is now in the category called Least Concern, which is as good as the news gets for these species. I couldn't find approximate numbers for the current Sperm Whale population, but they are listed as Vulnerable, the least severe sub-category of Threatened.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
The regular schedule is interrupted by a prediction of future tech from Doctor Who.
Join us then... INTO THE FUTURE!
Every time I see that Tranya-guzzling weirdo, I think, "Wow, Ron produced this movie?" But, of course, I can't always be right.
ReplyDeleteHe has a 52 year career and 228 credits. I pretty sure the jobs he got that weren't in productions his brother did have to count is the dozens.
DeleteOr maybe dozen. I haven't done all the research yet.