Hector David Jr. b 1989 (Power Rangers Samurai, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Wyatt Russell b. 1986 (The Walking Dead: Webisodes, Cowboys & Aliens, Solider, Escape from L.A.)
Thomas Ian Nicolas b. 1980 (Halloween: Resurrection, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, Harry and the Hendersons [TV])
Jeremy Ray Valdez b. 1980 (Constantine, The Nightmare Room)
Adam Croasdell b.1980 (Supernatural, Dark Realm)
Lucy Gaskell b. 1980 (Misfits, Being Human, Vampire Killers, Doctor Who, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God)
Adrian Grenier b. 1976 (Goodbye World, A.I. Artificial Intelligence)
Chiwetel Ejiofor b. 1977 (Doctor Strange, The Martian, 2012, Children of Men, Serenity)
Peter Serafinowicz b. 1972 (Guardians of the Galaxy, Shaun of the Dead, Star Wars: Episode I – The One We Don’t Mention, Jack and the Beanstalk [TV 1998])
Jamie Glover b. 1969 (An Adventure in Space and Time, Jupiter Moon)
Fiona Shaw b. 1958 (True Blood, Harry Potter, Super Mario Bros.)
Sue Lyon b. 1946 (Alligator, The Astral Factor, The End of the World)
Ron Glass b. 1945 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Serenity, Firefly, Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space, The Twilight Zone [1985])
Robert Pine b.1941 (The Event, Journeyman, Star Trek: Enterprise, Black Scorpion, Star Trek: Voyager, Indepencdence Day, Quantum Leap, ALF, Knight Rider, Empire of the Ants, Munster, Go Home!)
Lawrence Pressman b. 1939 (Dr. Dolittle 2, Dark Angel, The X-Files, Mighty Joe Young [1999], Deep Space Nine, Man from Atlantis, Tucker’s Witch)
Tura Satana b. 1938 died 4 February 2011 (The Astro Zombies)
Nick Adams b. 1931 died 7 February 1968 (Mission Mars, Invasion of Astro-Monster, Monster of Terror, Frankenstein Conquers the World, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits)
Susan Cummings b. 1930 (Twilight Zone)
George Clayton Johnson b. 1929 (writer, Logan’s Run, Star Trek, Twilight Zone)
William Smithers b. 1927 (The Amazing Spider-Man [TV], The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea)
Fred Gwynne b. 1926 died 2 July 1993 (Pet Sematary, The Mysterious Stranger, Harvey [1972 TV], The Munsters)
Earl Hamner Jr. b. 1923 (writer, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)
Joe Shuster b. 1914 died 30 July 1992 (writer/artist, Superman)
Thomas Gomez b. 1905 died 18 June 1971 (Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Bewitched, Twilight Zone)
John Wyndam b. 1903 died 11 March 1969 (author, Day of the Triffids, the Midwich Cuckoos)
Nikola Tesla b. 1856 died 7 January 1943 (inventor/writer)
Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, The Slot went to Peter Serafinowicz for being the voice of Darth Maul and Ron Glass as Shepherd Book on Serenity and Firefly. I truly love the work of Chiwetel Ejiofor in Children of Men and Serenity, but instead, for personal reasons, I went with Fred Gwynne out of the make-up that makes him iconic as Herman Munster.
Ever since I was a kid, I felt sorry for typecast actors, and for Fred Gwynne more than most. We can look at his picture and say he is not movie star pretty - see below for further proof - but he had a remarkable talent. I was really stunned by how good he was in drama when I saw him in Clifford Odet's Paradise Lost on PBS in the early 1970s, and in the late 1980s movie Ironweed, starring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson and featuring Tom Waits, I was blown away by how beautiful his baritone voice was. The thing a suburban kid in California couldn't know was how much Broadway loved Fred Gwynne. He was a working actor his entire life. He didn't need my pity, but he certainly deserved my admiration and love.
2. Wait... he's alive? Earl Hamner's most famous work is as the creator of The Waltons, but he also wrote some genre as well. Because we have people who died very young like Nick Adams and relatively young like Fred Gwynne, Hamner is not the Guy at the Door, but I do want to show my respects to Mr. Hamner and hope him many happy returns.
3. Nepotism FTW. Regular commenter Jay M. points out that Wyatt Russell is the son of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Prediction: In the present Empire of Germany there are no other great figures to balance the Imperial personage, and I do not see how other great figures are likely to arise.
Reality: I was reading an essay recently that re-told many stories about Kaiser Wilhelm being a Donald Trump sized asshole. I'm going to give Herbert a pass that he didn't foresee the rise of Hitler thirty after he published this book.
Movie star pretty. See Omar Sharif.
Like most honest to Odin movie stars from the 1950s and 1960s, Sharif didn't make any genre until later in his career, He is pictured here as Captain Nemo from the 1973 version of The Mysterious Island and he played a sorcerer in 1996 version of Gulliver's Travels. Commenter Jay M. also nominates Oh Heavenly Dog as genre, but like with angel stories, I'm idiosyncratic about what I count and what I don't with these type of films.
Best wishes to the family and friends of Omar Sharif, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Saturday means a visit from our (overly) optimistic pal Morris Ernst and his book Utopia 1976.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Mr. Sharif was also in "Oh, Heavenly Dog!" which qualifies as fantasy to me: private eye comes back from the dead as Benji to solve his own murder. (I have a soft spot for that movie - I'm just a fan of dogs.)
ReplyDeleteMr. Glass also did a turn as a devil in the 80s Twilight Zone episode "I of Newton", opposite Sherman Hemsley as a college professor, a role Mr. Glass seemed to enjoy chewing the scenery with.
Is Wyatt Russell related to Kurt Russell and/or Goldie Hawn?
You are right about Russell and the post has been updated. It's remarkable how much I remembered of that short bit from The Twilight Zone just from mentioning the title.
DeleteAs for Oh, Heavenly Dog, I mentioned it in the update, but it's the kind of movie I can go either with.
Fiona Shaw is iconic. And she was in a show at BAM last year or the year before. (Yes, working the ref, but Lily's sister deserves a lot of credit.)
ReplyDeleteAnd, geez, Sue Lyon really was only 14 or 15 when she filmed her iconic role. I'm almost inclined to say it was a good thing for Dominique Swain that no one saw the remake. (Lyon has 27 IMDB acting credits; Swain has 69.)
Iconic in Lolita doesn't count on this blog. And you are right about Fiona Shaw, no quibbles.
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