This Day in Hollywood History – May 5th

This Day in Hollywood History

5/5

Births

1908 – Rex Harrison – British actor of stage and screen.  He won both an Academy Award and Tony Awards for his various performances.  His first Tony was for his portrayal of King Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days and his second was for his role as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.  He reprised his stage role as Higgins in the Hollywood adaptation of My Fair Lady and won both the Oscar and the Golden Globe.  Among his many wives were actresses Lilli Palmer, Kay Kendal and Rachel Roberts.

1912 – Alice Faye – American Actress and singer who was one of the top female box-office attractions in the 1930s as the star of lavish 20^th Century-Fox musicals.  She was married to bad leader Phil Harris.

1913 – Tyrone Power – American actor famous for his roles in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, Alexander’s Ragtime Band and Jesse James.  Among his wives were actresses Annabella and Linda Christian.

1926 – Ann B Davis – She in an American TV actress who starred in the Bob Cummings Show.  Her greatest claim to fame is as housekeeper Alice in The Brady Bunch.

1940 – Eric Burdon – British lead singer of rock groups The Animals and WAR.

1942 – Tammy Wynette – Country singer best known for her song “Stand By Your Man” and her tumultuous marriage to fellow singer George Jones.

Deaths

1968 – Albert Dekker – American actor best known for his roles in The Killers and The Wild Bunch.  His death as the result of asphyxiation sparked rumors that he was a closeted homosexual.  He was found naked, kneeling in his bathtub with a noose wrapped around his neck that was looped around the shower’s curtain rod. He was also handcuffed, blindfolded, and had sexually explicit words scrawled on his body in red lipstick.  There were no signs of forced entry, but money and camera equipment were missing from Dekker’s home.  Many speculated that he was killed by a male hustler although no further investigation was done and his death was officially ruled an accident.

This Day in Hollywood History – May 4th

This Day in Hollywood History

5/4

Births

1929 – Audrey Hepburn – Oscar Winning actress for her role Roman Holiday.   Among her other famous roles were in Breakfast at Tiffanys and My Fair Lady.  She was also an activist for child welfare and a spokesperson for UNICEF.

1954 – Pia Zadora – American actress and singer.  She won a Golden Globe  for Best New Star of the Year in 1981 for her role in Butterfly.  Her acting and singing careers never quite took off.

Deaths

1975 - Moe Howard – One third of the Three Stooges. He was the brother of fellow Stooges Shemp and Curly.  Howard played the Stooges’ caustic ringleader. The Stooges appeared in 190 short subjects and more than 20 feature-length films.

1984 – Diana Dors – British actress.  She is best known for being the British answer to Marilyn Monroe.  She played the role of dumb blonde in most of her films.  Her career never really took off in the United States.  She died of ovarian cancer.

2001 – Bonnie Lee Bakley – American wife of actor Robert Blake.  She was the victim of a murderous gunshot wound.  Blake was charged with her death but a jury acquitted him.  He was, however, found responsible for her death in the civil suit brought against him by her children.  He was originally ordered to pay them $30 million but that amount was reduced to $15 million following an appeal.

Events

1970 - Four students were killed on the grounds of the Kent State campus in Ohio by US National Guard.

This Day in Hollywood History – May 1st

This Day in Hollywood History

5/1

Births

1916 – Glenn Ford – American actor.  He starred in such notable films as Gilda and Blackboard Jungle

1916 – Jack Parr –American radio and television talk show host.  He was the original host of The Tonight Show before Johnny Carson.

1927 – Harry Belafonte – Jamaican-American singer, actor and political activist.  He is known for the popular calypso songs he sang in the 1950s, most notably “The Banana Boat Song”.  He starred in such notable films as Carmen Jones with Dorothy Dandridge and Island in the Sun with Joan Fontaine.  He was a very active supporter of Civil Rights in the 1960s and has continued his activism into the 2000s.

1939 – Judy Collins – American singer and songwriter.  She gained popularity during the 1960s with her folk music and political activism.

1944 – Rita Coolidge– American Grammy-Award winning singer who enjoyed popularity in the 1970s and early 1980s.  She was once married to fellow singer Kris Kristofferson.

Deaths

1952 – William Fox – Founder of the William Fox Studios which eventually became 20^th Century-Fox.  His company was one of the early film production studios that was based out of California.  He died at the age of 73.

1971 – Glenda Farrell – American actress of the 1930s.  She starred in such popular films as Little Caesar, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang and Gold Diggers of 1937

Events

1967 – Elvis Presley & Pricilla Beaulieu marry in Las Vegas.

This Day in Hollywood History – April 30th

This Day in Hollywood History

4/30

Births

1910 – Al Lewis – American actor best known for his role as “Grampa” on the 1960s TV series The Munsters.

1912 – Eve Arden – American actress whose career spanned over 60 years and all forms of media.  She is best known for playing the title role in the television series Our Miss Brooks and as the principle in Grease and Grease 2.

1926 – Cloris Leachman – Academy Award winning actress.  She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in The Last Picture Show.  She is also known for her numerous television roles in series such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

1933 – Willie Nelson – American country singer best known for his songs, “On the Road Again” and “Always on My Mind”.  He is an activist for farmers and helped organize Farm Aid.

1940 – Burt Young – Best known for his role as Paulie in the Rocky movie series.

1943 – Bobby Vee – American pop singer of the 1960s who had hits with such songs as “Take Good Care of My Baby” and “The Night has a Thousand Eyes”.

1944 – Jill Clayburgh –  Award nominated actress who has starred in such films as An Unmarried Woman (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award) and I’m Dancing As Fast As I Can.  She has also had roles in the television shows Ally McBeal, Nip/Tuck and Dirty Sex Money.

1948 – Perry King – American actor famous for his roles in both film and television.  He was the star of the TV series Riptide.  He has also starred in numerous made-for-TV movies.

Deaths

1945 – Adolph Hitler – He committed suicide in his bunker one day after marrying his long-time mistress Eva Braun. His death brings about an unofficial end to WWII

1945 – Eva Braun – Adolph Hitler’s long-time mistress.  She commits suicide with him in his bunker.

1970 – Inger Stevens  – A Swedish born actress who made a career in American films and television.  She played the lead role in the TV series The Farmer’s Daughter and made numerous appearances in shows such as The Twilight Zone and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.  Her most notable film roles were A Guide for the Married Man and Hang ‘em High.  Her death was a suicide.

1974 – Agnes Moorehead – Award – Winning actress most known for her roles in the films Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons as well as her role Endora on the television series Bewitched.

1989 – Sergio Leone – Italian director, screenwriter and producer known for his “spaghetti westerns”.  His most well-known films are the “Man With No Name” trilogy that starred Clint Eastwood.  They include the films A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He died of a heart attack at the age of 60.

Events

1945 – Adolph Hitler commits suicide

1975 – South Vietnam falls to the communist North Vietnamese forces shortly after the last helicopter containing Americans and South Vietnamese leaves the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon.

This Day in Hollywood History – April 29th

This Day in Hollywood History

4/29

Births

1863 – William Randolph Hearst – An American newspaper magnate and publisher.  He has ties to Hollywood when he began an affair with Marion Davies that lasted until his death.  She was his mistress and their relationship was known to most as Marion lived with him at San Simeon and they often threw lavish parties for the Hollywood crowd.  Hearst is also the grandfather of Patty Hearst, who was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974 and held captive for almost two years.

1907 – Fred Zinneman – Academy Award winning director originally from Austria.  Over the span of his career, he won four Oscars and directed such classics as From Here to Eternity and High Noon.

1919 – Celeste Holm – Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for her role in Gentleman’s Agreement.  She was also nominated for her supporting role in All About Eve.

1922 – Tommy Noonan – Born in Delaware, he is best known as the hapless boyfriend of Marilyn Monroe’s gold-digging character Lorelei Lee in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and as Judy Garland’s pal in A Star is Born.  He never achieved leading man success and later in his career produced soft-core fare such as Promises! Promises!, starring Jayne Mansfield and 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, with Mamie Van Doren.

1947 – Tommy James – Best known as the lead singer of the popular sixties rock groups Tommy James and the Shondells that had hits with such songs as “Crimson and Clover”, “Mony, Mony”, and “Crystal Blue Persuasion”.

1955 – Kate Mulgrew – American actress best known for her role as Captain Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager.  She also played the wife of popular TV sleuth Columbo.

1955 – Jerry Seinfeld –  American comedian and actor best known for playing himself on the long-running TV show, Seinfeld, which was “about nothing”.

1958 – Eve Plumb –  “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!”.  Best known as the middle sister on The Brady Bunch.

1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer – American actress who has been nominated for several Academy Awards.  Her most notable films are The Fabulous Baker Boys, Dangerous Liaisons, Batman Returns and Scarface.  Early in her career, she had a brief marriage to actor Peter Horton, from the TV show Thirtysomething and is currently married to TV producer David E. Kelley

1958 – Daniel Day Lewis – Two-time Academy Award winning British actor for his roles in My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood.

1970 – Uma Thurman – American actress best known for her roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies and Dangerous Liaisons.  Previously married to actor Gary Oldman from 1990-1992 and Ethan Hawke from 1998-2004.

Deaths

1968 – Frankie Lymon –  Lead singer of Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers.  They sang  the hit song “Why Do Fools Fall in Love”.  After his youthful success didn’t continue into his adulthood, Lyman drifted in to a world of drugs and eventually died from a heroin overdose.  The film, Why Do Fools Fall in Love chronicles his adult life as a polygamous and the legal battles that took place after his death by the wives he left behind.

1980 – Alfred Hitchcock –  The great British director who was the king of suspense.  His most notable films were The Birds, Vertigo and Rear Window. 

1984 – Marvin Gaye  –  American singer who is most identified with the Motown sound.  He had enormous hits with songs such as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “What’s Goin’ On” and “Sexual Healing”.  He was fatally shot by his own father in the heat of an argument.

1992 – Mae Clarke –  American actress of the 1930s who is most known for being the person whom James Cagney smashed in the face with a grapefruit in The Public Enemy.

Events

1945 – Adolph Hitler marries long-time mistress Eva Braun

1975 – The last of US forces/personnel under Operation Frequent Wind begin to leave Viet Nam in a helicopter airlift that aids over 1000 Americans and over 6000 Vietnamese to safety before North Vietnamese tanks overrun the South the next day.

1988 – TV journalist Diane Sawyer and director Mike Nichols marry.

1988 – Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson marry.

This Day in Hollywood History – April 28th

This Day in Hollywood History

4/28

Births

1929 – Carolyn Jones – American actress, best known for her portrayal of Morticia Addams in The Addams Family television series of the 1960s.   At one time, she was married to TV producer extraordinaire, Aaron Spelling.

1941 – Ann-Margaret – Five-time Golden Globe Award winning American actress.  She has been nominated for the Oscar, and Emmy and a Grammy.  She was born in Sweden but raised in America and has been a citizen since 1949.  She made a career as a sex-symbol and is still considered to be one of the most beautiful actresses.  Her most famous film appearances were in Bye, Bye Birdie, Carnal Knowledge, Tommy and The Grumpy Old Men films.

1948 – Marcia Strassman – American actress best known as Julie, Gabe Kaplan’s wife on Welcome Back, Kotter.  She also had a recurring role on M*A*S*H.  Currently, she is battling breast cancer.

Deaths

1970 – Ed Begley –  He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in 1963s Sweet Bird of Youth.  He is the father of actor Ed Begley, Jr.

1977 – Ricardo Cortez –  American actor whose career began in the silent era.  He was sold to audiences as the Latin Lover type along with fellow actors Rudolph Valentino and Ramon Navarro.

This Day in Hollywood History – April 27th

This Day in Hollywood History

4/27

Births

1922 – Jack Klugman – American actor who appeared in films but is most notable for his memorable roles on television.  He won two Emmy Awards for his portrayal of slovenly Oscar Madison in the TV adaptation of The Odd Couple.  He later had a successful run playing Quincy, M.E. in the late 70s and early 80s.  He died in 2007 at the age of 83

1932 – Anouk Aimee – Popular French film actress.  She starred in A Man and A Woman in 1967, a film that brought her international fame as well as a Golden Globe for Best Actress and and Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.  She was married to British actor Albert Finney from 1970 to 1978.

1937 – Sandy Dennis – Academy and Tony award winning American actress.  She received the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of George Segal’s alcoholic wife in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  She died on March 2, 1992 from ovarian cancer.

1959 – Sheena Easton -  Scottish singer who has made some occasional forays into acting.  She had a string of hits in the 80s, most notably, For Your Eyes Only, the theme from the 1982 James Bond film of the same name.

1962 – Grant Show – He rose to fame as Jake Hanson on the popular Melrose Place TV drama.  Most recently he starred as a swinger in the cancelled series Swingtown.

Deaths

1965 – Edward R. Murrow – An acclaimed broadcast journalist of the 30s, 40s and 50s.  During WWII, he made regular broadcasts from London, often as a blitz was occurring and began each show with the  famous line, “Hello America.  This is London calling.”  In the post war era, he hosted several programs including Person to Person and became known for his signature sign-off, “Good night, and good luck.”  He was a life-long heavy smoker and died from lung cancer at his home.

1996 – Joan Bennett – American film, television and stage actress.  Her film career began in the 1920s with silent movies.  In 1966, she starred in one of her most famous roles as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard  in the cult TV soap opera, Dark Shadows, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination.  Bennett died at the age of 80 from a heart attack.

Events

1981 – Former Beatle’s drummer Ringo Starr marries actress Barbara Bach.

This Day in Hollywood History – April 25th

 This Day in Hollywood History

4/25 

Births

1912 – Gladys Presley- Mother of the King of Rock n’ Roll, Elvis

1940 – Al Pacino –  An American actor and director best known for playing Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy.  After being nominated 7 previous times for an Academy Award for his performances is the first two Godfather installments, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, …And Justice For All, Dick Tracy  and Glengarry Glen Ross, he won for his portrayal of a blind Army officer in Scent of A Woman.  Pacino was among the last generation of Hollywood stars that began their career studying under Lee Strasberg at the famed Actors’ Studio.  In his personal life, Pacino has been linked to his Godfather co-star Diane Keaton and Beverly D’Angelo.

1946 – Talia Shire – She is the twice Oscar-nominated co-star of the Godfather trilogy.  She is the sister of director Francis for Coppola and aunt of actor Nicholas Cage and director Sofia Coppola.  She is, perhaps, best known for her portrayal if Adrian in the Rocky movies.

Deaths

1972 – George Sanders – He was an Academy Award winning British actor and brother of fellow actor Tom Conway.  He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Addison DeWitt, the mentor of Marilyn Monroe’s character, Miss Casswell, in All About Eve.  Later in his career, he played Mr. Freeze in the Batman 1960s TV series.  Sanders also has the destinction of having been married to two of the Gabor sisters.  He was first married to Zsa Zsa from 1949-1954 and later to Magda for 6 weeks in 1970.  His death was a suicide.  In his suicide note he worote, “Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck” He was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the English Channel.

1995 – Ginger Rogers – She appeared in 73 films during her long Hollywood career.  Most notable were her films with Fred Astaire during the 1930s.  In a departure from the usually light fare and musicals she was known for, she starred in a dramatic role in 1940s Kitty Folye, which earned her a Best Actress Oscar.

 

This Day in Hollywood History – April 24th

This Day in Hollywood History

4/24

Births

1934 – Shirley MacLaine – Oscar-winning older sister of Warren Beatty.  She starred in numerous Oscar-worthy roles in movies such as The Apartment and Some Came Running.  She later became known for her interest in astrology and other spiritual matter concerning past lives and life beyond death.

1936 – Jill Ireland – British Actress who is most known to American audiences for her marriage to actor Charles Bronson.  She passed away from breast cancer on May 18, 1990.

1942 – Barbra Streisand – Award-winning singer and actress.  She has won numerous Grammies and an Oscar for her portrayal of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.  She was previously married to actor Elliot Gould and is currently married to actor James Brolin.

Deaths

1968 – Tommy Noonan – He died at the age of 46 from a brain tumor.  Noonan is best known as the hapless boyfriend of Marilyn Monroe’s gold-digging character Lorelei Lee in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and as Judy Garland’s pal in A Star is Born.  He never achieved leading man success and later in his career produced soft-core fare such as Promises! Promises!, starring Jayne Mansfield and 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt, with Mamie Van Doren.

1974 – Bud Abbott – One half of the comedy duo Abbot and Costello.  He is best known for playing the straight man to Lou.

1986 – Wallis Warfield Simpson (The Duchess of Windsor) – She is the American divorcee whom Prince Edward VIII abdicated his thrown for. 

Events

1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

This Day in Hollywood History – April 23rd

This Day in Hollywood History

Births

 1928 – Shirley Temple Black – The greatest child star of all time and one of the only ones to actually not succumb to all the pitfalls of stardom that we all hear about in the tabloids.  Little Shirley Temple didn’t grow up to freebase crack, rob a video store or sue her parents for swindling her earnings.  Instead, Shirley Temple did what all good child stars should do – she went on to become the US Ambassador to Ghana.

1932 – Halston – Born Roy Halston Frowick, he shortened his name to just Halston and became a world-famous designer.  He was also one of the more prolific regulars at Studio 54 where he hung out with the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Andy Warhol.  One of his crowning achievements was designing the pillbox hat that was popularized by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.  Unfortunately, Halston left us too soon when he passed away from complications of AIDS.

1936 – Estelle Harris – She is best known for playing George Castanza’s mother on Sienfeld.

1936 – Roy Orbison – Blind singer of the monster hit Pretty Woman.

1939 – Lee Majors – The one and only Six Million Dollar Man and later star of The Fall Guy.  His other claim to fame is being the one-time husband of Farrah Fawcett.

1943 – Hervé Villechaize – The diminutive actor was best known for playing Tattoo, the side-kick of Ricardo Montalbon on Fantasy Island and the evil henchman Nick Nack in the James Bond flick, The Man with the Golden Gun. 

1944 – Sandra Dee – The sweetheart of the 1950s and early 1960s.  Best known for her roles in A Summer Place and Imitation of life, and Gidget, Sandra Dee project the image of the squeaky clean girl next door.  Later, she married rock n’ roll crooner Bobby Darin.

1949 – Joyce DeWitt – As Janet Wood, she was one third of Three’s Company.

1960 – Valerie Bertinelli – She was the drug-free daughter on One Day at A Time and later married guitarist Eddie Van Halen and has a son named Wolfgang.

Deaths

1983 – Buster Crabbe – He is best known as an Olympic medalist who later became the star of the Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s.

1986 – Otto Preminger – Austrian director of such famous Hollywood films as Laura, Anatomy of Murder and Carmen Jones. 

1990 – Paulette Goddard – Actress in such notable films as The Women and The Cat and the Canary.  She had marriages both to Charlie Chaplin and Burgess Meredith.

Events

1969 – Sirhan Sirhan sentenced to death for assassinating former Attorney General, Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy.