18 May 2015

Birthdays
Spencer Breslin b. 1992 (The Happening, Zoom, Wonderfalls)
Luke Kleintank b. 1990 (The Man in the High Castle, No Ordinary Family)
Tabrett Bethell b. 1982 (Legend of the Seeker)
Emmy Robbin b. 1982 (From Dusk Till Dawn [TV], Planet Terror, Sin City)
Eric West b. 1982 (World War Z)
Allen Leech b. 1981 (Primeval)
Matt Long b. 1980 (Helix, Ghost Rider)
Jenn Gotzon b. 1979 (Dragon Day, Hulk)
Saskia Mulder b. 1973 (The Descent)
Cynthia Preston b. 1968 (Ascension, Lost Girl, Carrie [2013], Haven, Andromeda, Relic Hunter, Total Recall 2070, The X-Files)
Nathaniel Parker b. 1962 (Merlin, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Stardust)
Karel Roden b. 1962 (Frankenstein’s Army, Hellboy, Blade II)
Thomas Byrd b. 1960 (Alien Nation [TV], Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Chow Yun-Fat b. 1955 (The Monkey King, Dragonball: Evolution, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End)
Patrick St. Esprit b. 1954 (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Revolution, Super 8, Journeyman, Tremors [TV], The X Files, Angel, Crusade, Beauty and the Beast [1989 TV], Knight Rider)
Gail Strickland b. 1947 (My Apocalypse, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star, Starflight: The Plane that Couldn’t Land, Dark Shadows)
Hugh Keays-Byrne b. 1947 (Mad Max: Fury Road, Farscape, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Badlands 2005, Mad Max)
Andreas Katsulas b. 1946 died 2 February 2006 (Star Trek: Enterprise, Babylon 5, Millennium, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Death of the Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation [TV], Communion, Max Headroom)
Miriam Margolyes b. 1941 (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Merlin, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Phoenix and the Carpet, Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, Morons from Outer Space)
Diane McBain b. 1941 (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Knight Rider, Land of the Giants, Batman)
Dwayne Hickman b. 1934 (Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Dr, Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Mighty Joe Young, The Boy with Green Hair)
Robert Morse b. 1931 (Here Come the Munsters, Twilight Zone [1985])
Fred Saberhagen b. 1930 died 29 June 2007 (author, Berserker series, Earth’s End)
Pernell Roberts b. 1928 died 24 January 2010 (Man from Atlantis, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Sixth Sense [1972])
Liam Sullivan b. 1923 died 19 April 1998 (Misfits of Science, Logan’s Run [TV], Star Trek, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twilight Zone, The Magic Sword)
Bill Macy b. 1922 (Millennium, Starman [TV], Tales from the Darkside)
James Donald b. 1917 died 3 August 1993 (Five Million Miles to Earth)
Frank Capra b. 1897 died 3 September 1991 (director, It’s a Wonderful Life)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot went to Andreas Katsulas from Babylon 5, certainly iconic, and Tabrett Bethell from Legend of the Seeker, maybe not as iconic but certainly a fabulous babe. This year it's the late Liam Sullivan from the Plato's Stepchildren episode of the original Star Trek. I'm geezer enough to think any major guest starring role on TOS is iconic. It should also be noted Mr. Sullivan was in The Magic Sword, which got the MST3K treatment.

2. Canadian spotted! Cynthia Preston was born north of the border and she has several roles on genre TV shows produced in Canada.

3. Siblings spotted! Dwayne Hickman is the younger brother of Darryl Hickman. Saskia Mulder is the younger sister of top model Karen Mulder. Spencer Breslin is the older brother of Abigail Breslin. I don't count any of these relationship as actual nepotism, though the Mulder sisters might qualify, given how much more famous Karen is compared to Saskia.

4. Wait... he's alive? I clicked on Bill Macy's name this morning during research, not knowing if he had any genre credits and kinda sorta thinking he wasn't with us any more. Well, he has genre credits and he's still alive at 93. Good on ya, Mr. Macy!

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.

Movies released
Shrek the Third released, 2007
Battleship released, 2012

 Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982

Prediction: The only major record in track and field that will likely never be broken is Bob Beamon's remarkable 1968 long jump of 29' 2.5", 8.90 meters using the metric system.

Reality: Beamon jumped nearly two feet farther than any human being had ever jumped before and just for extra drama, he did it at the Mexico City Olympics, by far the biggest world stage for track and field. That said, the record was in fact broken by Mike Powell in 1991with 29' 4.25" or 8.95 meters, in a track meet in Tokyo.

Never to be Forgotten: John Stevenson 1923-2015 Mark Evanier, possibly my favorite writer about show business, wrote a piece on his blog about the death of actor John Stevenson, who died on Friday night after a long battle with Alzheimer's. In the 1960s, he started doing voice work and that became his main source of income from that point on, but he did appear in front of the camera in The Invaders and The Six Million Dollar Man. Longtime readers will know that I often don't include voice work in the credits for people's birthday mentions, not because I think it's not important but because I would be typing for hours with some actor's credits. Of all Stevenson's many credits, the three I consider most culturally significant without regard to genre are Mr. Slate on The Flintstones, Dr. Benton Quest on Jonny Quest and the narrator on the 1960s version of Dragnet.

Best wishes to all the family and friends of John Stevenson, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A report on the predictions from the second round of the NBA playoffs and the predictions for the third round, the conference finals.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!