Mary Badham is 57 today. You know her as Jean Louise ‘Scout’ Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. She was nine going-on 10 when they made the film and she received a best supporting actress Oscar nomination. Badham has just five other film and TV credits.
Yo-Yo Ma is 54.
Simon Cowell is 50.
Sherman Alexie was born 43 years ago today on the Spokane Indian Reservation.
He has written many novels, books of poetry, short stories, and screenplays, including The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1993), Reservation Blues (1995), and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007). His most recent books are Face, a book of poems published earlier this year, and War Dances, a book of short stories that just came out this week.
He wrote, “He loved her, of course, but better than that, he chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.”
Alexie’s books and stories are good stuff, and the movie Alexie adapted from Lone Ranger and Tonto, Smoke Signals, is delightful.
Desmond Tutu is 78.