… of Mick Jagger. He’s still can’t get no satisfaction, even at 68. (Especially at 68.) And time isn’t really on his side so much any more, is it?
… of Bob Lilly. He’s 72. My god the years do go by.
… of Oscar-winner Helen Mirren, 66.
… of Dorothy Hamill, 55. Another that makes one wonder where the years have gone. Her gold medal was at the 1976 Winter Olympics.
… of two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey. He’s 52. Spacey won for best supporting actor for The Usual Suspects and leading actor for American Beauty.
… of Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock. From Arlington, Virginia, she’s 47.
Two great comediennes were born on this date — Gracie Allen in 1895, 1897 or 1902 (her birth certificate was destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake) and Vivian Vance in 1909.
Because George Burns lived to be 100 and managed to stay in show business nearly until then (playing God, no less), Gracie, who died in 1964 has been largely forgotten. She was the true comedic talent of the two, however. On their radio and television programs George was the straight man, Gracie had the good lines.
At the end of their show, George Burns would say, “Say goodnight, Gracie.” Urban myth has it that she said, “Good night Gracie,” but, in fact, she always just said “Goodnight.”
“Were you the oldest one in the family?” “No, no, my mother and father were much older.” — Gracie Allen
“They laughed at Joan of Arc, but she went right ahead and built it.” — Gracie Allen
“When I was born I was so surprised I didn’t talk for a year and a half.” — Gracie Allen
Vivian Vance was two years older than her long-time co-star Lucille Ball, though many thought Vance to be much older because her I Love Lucy character Ethel Mertz was married to Fred, played by actor William Frawley, who was 18 years older. Miss Vance died of cancer in 1979.
Actor Jason Robards was born on this date in 1922. Robards won two best supporting actor Oscars and was nominated a third time. NewMexiKen liked Robards in A Thousand Clowns, but Martin Balsam got the acting Oscar for that fine film.
Humorist Jean Shepherd was born in Chicago on this date in 1921. As they so often do, The Writer’s Almanac had a nice, succinct essay (from 2004):
… He’s remembered for the autobiographical stories he told on the radio about a boy named Ralph Parker growing up in Hohman, Indiana. One of his stories was made into the movie A Christmas Story (1983), which he narrated. It’s about a boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas, even though every adult in his life says that he’ll shoot his eye out. The stories Shepherd told on-air were always improvised, but he later wrote them down and published them in collections like In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash (1967) and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters (1972).
Shepherd said, “Some men are Baptists, others Catholics. My father was an Oldsmobile man.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856), Carl Jung (1875) and Aldous Huxley (1894) were born on July 26th. So were Blake Edwards (1922) and Stanley Kubrick (1928).
George B. McClellan took command of the Army of the Potomac 150 years ago today, five days after Bull Run (Manassas). McClellan loved to play soldier, but hated to play war.
President Truman signed Executive Order 9981 desegregating the U.S. military on July 26, 1948.
Mary Jo Kopechne might have been 71 today, but she died in 1969.