Today is the birthday
… of Jean Stapleton. Edith Bunker is 87. She won three Emmys and two Golden Globes in that role.
… of Tippi Hedren. The actress in Hitchcock’s The Birds is 80.
… of Phil Everly. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (with older brother Don) is 71.
Phil and Don transformed the Appalachian folk, bluegrass and country sounds of their Kentucky boyhood into a richly harmonized form of rock and roll. The sons of entertainers Margaret and Ike Everly, a traveling country and western team, the Everly Brothers performed as part of the family act on radio and in concert. On their own, they sang beguilingly of adolescent romance in crisp, shimmering voices. With Don taking the melody and Phil harmonizing above him, the Everlys released a steady string of hit records between 1957-1962 that crossed over from country to pop and even R&B charts.
… of Shelley Fabares. Donna Reed’s television daughter is 66.
… of Dolly Parton. She’s 64.
With their strong feminine stances in the 1960s and 1970s, Dolly Rebecca Parton, along with fellow female pioneers Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, revolutionized the world of country music for women performers. Then Parton took her crusade a step farther by crossing over to the pop world—landing on the cover of Rolling Stone, achieving pop hits, and starring in a series of Hollywood movies. Along the way, however, she ultimately lost much of her core country audience, to the point that in 1997 she dissolved her fan club, which had been one of the staunchest in country music. But Parton’s career—and her appeal to fans of hard country—was far from over. Beginning in 1999 she returned to the music of her youth and began rebuilding a tradition-minded fan base with a series of critically acclaimed bluegrass albums.
… of Desi Arnaz Jr. Little Ricky, Lucille Ball’s TV son, also first appeared 57 years ago today, on I Love Lucy about 12 hours after Desi Jr. was born.
… of comedian Paul Rodriguez, 55.
… of Katey Sagal. The Married…With Children mom is 56.
… of Paul Rodriguez, 55.
… of Drea de Matteo. The actress who was whacked on The Sopranos is 38.
Paul Cezanne was born on this date in 1839. Click Cezanne painting of Chrysanthemums for larger version.
