Birthday: A.A. Milne

Today is, or would have been, the 131st birthday of author A.A. Milne.

If you don't know who A.A. Milne is, then I feel for you and am questioning what kind of childhood you had.

Milne wrote extensively throughout his life, publishing his first work in 1903 at the age of 21.  Milne wrote extensively for the magazine Punch, while also writing short stories, novels, poems, and plays.  He wrote in many different genres, for both adults and children, and was kind of rather awesome.  What he is most known for, however, is his Winnie the Pooh stories.  As the story goes, Milne's son, Christopher Robin Milne, had a collection of stuffed animals, one a bear named Edward.  Then one day Milne and his son went to the London Zoo where they saw a Canadian black bear named Winnie, which Christopher Robin renamed his bear after.  Milne then began to write stories about the adventures of Christopher Robin, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Christopher Robin's other toys, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Rabbit, and Tigger.

And so, despite the fact that he's been dead for 57 years, and Christopher Robin for 17, today is A.A. Milne's birthday, and he would have been 131.

Birthday: Betty White

Today is the 91st birthday of actress, comedian, singer, author, television personality, and, since 2010, soul surviving Golden Girl, Betty White.

White has had an active career since 1939, when she entered into show business by appearing in radio shows.  She soon got her own radio show, The Betty White Show, before entering into television.  In 1950 she received her first Emmy nomination, for Best Actress in the first year that the category was made.  White went on to appear in the comedy shows Life with Elizabeth, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Love Boat, Mama's Family, The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace, Boston Legal, The Bold and the Beautiful, and most recently Hot in Cleveland.  She was also the hostess of NBC's annual Tournament of Roses Parade, then CBC's Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and now hosts Betty White's Off Their Rockers.  Oh, and for many years she made regular appearances on game shows like Password and Match Game, the former which was hosted by her third husband Allen Ludden.  In her lengthy career, White has received 21 Emmy nominations, won seven Emmy Awards, won one Grammy, and in 1995 was awarded a Star on the Walk of Fame.

Yeah, and she's 91.  Happy birthday!

Birthday: Diana Gabaldon

Today is the 61st birthday of author Diana Gabaldon.

Gabaldon is best known for her Outlander series, which I've been slowly making my way through review, but she's also done a series of shorter works based on a secondary character in the Outlander novels, Lord John Grey.  More recently, she's also taken to writing a series of short stories based in the Outlander world but not actually set during the time of Outlander - including "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" and the forthcoming "The Space Between."  Oh, and there's the Outlander graphic novel, The Exile.  So, yeah. She's a busy woman.

Happy birthday, Ms. Gabaldon!

Birthday: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Today is the 31st birthday of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

As is kind of common among Royals, the Duchess is best known for her marriage in this case to Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and second-in-line to the British throne (plus that of the other fifteen Commonwealth Realms).

She is also one of the Patrons of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, which focuses on young people, armed forces, and sustainable development.  At the time of their marriage, the Duke and Duchess actually set up a gift fund, directing people to donate to one of twenty-six charities instead of giving wedding presents to the Royal couple.

Her rags-to-riches type story (that doesn't actually involve any rags, but definitely involves riches) has been the subject of several films, notably William & Kate, When Kate Met William, Meet the Middletons, and William & Catherine: A Royal Romance.   Oh, and she's also the vessel through which the next heir to the throne will be born, and her pregnancy was announced just last month.

Happy birthday, ma'am!

Birthday: David Bowie

Today is the 66th birthday of musician, and sometimes actor, David Bowie!

Also, today is the day that Bowie announced that he will be releasing an album for the first time in ten years.

Bowie is probably best known for hits like "Space Oddity," "Life on Mars," "Heroes," "Let's Dance," "The Man Who Sold the World," and, of course, "Under Pressure," which he recorded with Queen.  He's consistently been ranked as one of the best singers and/or musicians of all time, and was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.  Being a British citizen, he's also been offered the royal honour of Commander of the British Empire and a knighthood, both of which he turned down.  He's also a sometimes actor, having appeared in a number of roles since 1969, the most notable probably being Jareth the Goblin King in Jim Henson's Labyrinth.

And today he is 66.  And releasing a new album! Happy birthday!

Birthday: Diane Keaton

Today is the 67th birthday of actress Diane Keaton!

While Keaton's movies as of late may have been less than great, she has had a very long and successful career.  Her first major role was in The Godfather as Kay Adams-Corleone, which she followed up with the Woody Allen films Play it Again, Sam, Sleeper, Love and Death, and Annie Hall, winning an Academy Award for her role in Anne Hall. Her second Oscar nomination was for her role in Warren Beatty's Reds, her third for Marvin's Room, and her fourth for Something's Gotta Give.  Other memorable films of hers include Father of the Bride, Baby Boom, The First Wives Club, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and The Family Stone.  In addition to turning 67 this year, she is also appearing in new film The Big Wedding, where she plays Robert De Niro's ex-wife as they attend the wedding of their son, I believe played by Ben Barnes.

I'm looking forward to it, because no matter how bad Keaton's movies may be at times I love them all.  Happy birthday!

Birthday: J.R.R. Tolkien

Yes, he is deceased, but as he's the 5th top-earning dead celebrity and the latest movie based on one of his works just came out (and is killing at the box-office) I figured we could still note what would have been the 121st birthday of legendary author J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tolkien is probably best known for his Middle-earth works, notably The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its prequel The Hobbit.  His works were influenced heavily by Germanic and Old English literature, poetry, and mythology - an influence that you can see throughout the Middle-earth books.  You can also see Celtic influences as well, although Tolkien denied such an influence during his lifetime.  He has been deemed as creating the modern fantasy genre, which means that if you read modern fantasy the author was probably influenced by Tolkien - either directly or indirectly.  Despite having been dead for some time now, works under his name continue to be published, as his son, Christopher Tolkien, continues to publish previously unreleased Tolkien works.  I suspect that this, and the movies, have a large part in the world's continued love affair with Tolkien.

Anywho, happy birthday!

Birthday: Dame Maggie Smith

Today is the 78th birthday of Dame Maggie Smith, a woman who in my humble opinion should be considered to be a national treasure in Great Britain.

Dame Maggie's most recent work has been as the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Violet Crawley in the critically acclaimed Downton Abbey, where she is by and large the best part of the show.  In addition to being a Dowager Countess, she has also been a nun in the Sister Act films, a wizard and a teacher in the Harry Potter films, a Countess in Gosford Park, a Queen in All the King's Men, a Duchess and mother to a King in Richard III, a Greek god in Clash of the Titans, and as Wendy Darling in Hook.

In addition to being an absolutely amazing actress, Dame Maggie is also a mother to actors Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, through her first marriage to actor Sir Robert Stephens (whose last wife, Patricia Quinn, is probably best known as Magenta in The Rocky Horror Picture Show), and a grandmother through both her sons.  Dame Maggie's second husband was playwright and screenwriter Beverly Cross, whose second play, Strip the Willow, is credited with having helped make her a star.  In addition to turning 78 this year, Dame Maggie has also received numerous nominations for her roles in all three works that she's appeared in this year, Downton Abbey, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Quartet, including two Golden Globes (results still pending), two BAFTAs, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards (also still pending), and won an Emmy, a Satellite Award, and a Women Film Critics Circle Award.

Clearly the woman is still going strong, even at 78.  Happy birthday, Dame Maggie!

Birthday: Kit Harington

Today is the twenty-sixth birthday of Kit Harington, better known as (Lord) Jon Snow, on TV's Game of Thrones.

Prior to Game of Thrones, Kit was in absolutely nothing (at least according to his IMDb page).  The only other thing he's been in, so far, is Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, which he appeared in along-side his GoT on-screen father, Sean Bean.  Game of Thrones, however, is not his only book-to-movie adaptation; in the next couple of years he's set to appear in The Seventh Son, based on the young adult novel The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, and after that he is to voice the villain in How to Train Your Dragon 2, which is loosely based on the books by Cressida Cowell.  He has other stuff coming out too, but most importantly is the third season of Game of Thrones (as well as any future seasons, assuming he survives the third, which is an assumption you should never make with this series - the author of the books upon which the show is based, George R.R. Martin, loves killing people).

Point being, happy birthday Kit, and let's hope you survive long enough to do many seasons of GoT.

Birthday: Steven Spielberg

In keeping with the theme of 66th birthdays that we seem to be developing this week, today is the 66th birthday of director-producer Steven Spielberg!

If you don't know who Spielberg is then I suspect that you 1. don't watch movies, 2. live under a rock, and 3. ended up at this site completely by accident.  In his lengthy career, Spielberg has produced 134 titles, written 21 titles, and directed 51 titles.  As a director, he's responsible for Indiana Jones, Schindler's List, Hook, E.T. the Extraterrestrial, Saving Private Ryan, and Jaws, just to name a few.  As a producer (or executive producer) he's been behind Gremlins, The Goonies, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Men in Black.  His projects in development include Robocalypse, Chocky, a remake of When Worlds Collide, Call of the Wild, Jurassic Park IV, Indiana Jones V, two more Tintin movies, and Transformers 4.  When Spielberg isn't involved in movies, he's working on TV shows - he's been an executive producer for Falling Skies, Smash, The River, Terra Nova, United States of Tara, and The Pacific.

The man's a busy man, but hopefully he finds time to celebrate his birthday.

Birthday: Eugene Levy

Today is the 66th birthday of actor Eugene Levy.

Levy really got his start in the Canadian sketch comedy show Second City Television, which later became known as SCTV.  The show was really a big start for a few notable Canadian comics; the original cast consisted of Levy, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara, Harold Ramis, and Dave Thomas.  Later additions to the cast included Rick Moranis and Martin Short.

What Levy is probably best known for, however, is his appearance in all eight American Pie movies - the only cast member to have done so.  Why he felt it necessary to appear in the American Pie Presents films, I don't know, but then I do question a lot of career choices that he's made.  Beyond American Pie and SCTV, Levy is also known for his appearance in a lot of not-so-great sequels of movies with varying greatness, including Father of the Bride Part II, Richie Rich's Christmas Wish, Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and Cheaper by the Dozen 2.  That being said, Levy has also received two stars on Canada's Walk of Fame, one for himself and one as part of the cast of SCTV - one of only four two-time honourees, the other three being his cast members Short, Candy, and O'Hara - has won five Canadian Comedy Awards, one of the few people to do so, received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, was made a Member of the Order of Canada, and, most recently, was presented with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.  Which, really, is a lot of recognition and honours for a funnyman who is best known for his thoughts on masturbation with baked goods.

Happy birthday, Mr. Levy!

Birthday: Vanessa Hudgens

Today is the 24th birthday of singer-actress Vanessa Hudgens!

Best known for her appearance as the love struck Gabriella Montez in the High School Musical trilogy, Hudgens rose to fame through the use of the Disney channel and the attractive duo of her looks and voice.  In addition to starring in all three of the High School Musical films, alongside then-boyfriend Zac Efron, Hudgens has also had lead appearances in Thunderbirds, Bandslam, Beastly, Sucker Punch, and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island - also alongside a then-boyfriend, Josh Hutcherson.  Currently she has four movies in post-production, although I have to admit none of them look all that promising.  It'll be interesting to see where she goes in the future.

Happy birthday, Miss Hudgens!

Birthday: Taylor Swift

For at least another hour or so it is the birthday of country pop singer Taylor Swift.

Swift is best known for her singing career, which, despite being at least based in the country genre, has drawn attention from audiences of many genres and ages.  Her music really embraces the tradition of love and breakup songs and many of her songs are based on the relationships that she's been in, some of which have been deemed rather newsworthy - she has (either allegedly or confirmed) written songs about Joe Jonas, Taylor Lautner, John Mayer, and Jake Gyllenhaal.  She's also allegedly dated Cory Monteith, Zac Efron, and Garrett Hedlund, openly dated Conor Kennedy, and is currently dating Harry Stiles, so you know, expect songs about them in the future.

In addition to dating and writing songs about actors and other celebrities, Swift has also branched out into acting as well.  She had guest appearances in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Saturday Night Live and had starring roles in the feature films Valentine's Day and The Lorax.  Personally, I really liked her in Lorax and.. well, she wasn't the worst part of Valentine's Day.

And with all that, she's only 23!  Happy birthday, Taylor!

Birthday: Ian Somerhalder

Today is the birthday of one of TV's favourite vampires, Ian Somerhalder.

Somerhalder got his start in the short lived Dawson's Creek spin-off Young Americans as a student at a boarding school confused by his attraction to another student - unaware of the fact that said student is actually a girl (played by Katherine Moennig).  For a few years after that he had a lot of bit roles in various TV shows and starring roles in a number of movies, including The Rules of Attraction.  He finally got a real break, however, in 2004 when he was cast as Boone Carlyle for the first season of Lost, where his death was the first major death in a series that liked to kill people.  Currently he appears on The Vampire Diaries as bad boy vampire Damon Salvatore.

No matter how eternal his alter-ego might be, today he is 34.  Happy birthday, Ian!

Birthday: Prince Charles

I usually try to keep this in line with actors and authors, but I like to break my own rules once in awhile.

Today is the 64th birthday of Charles, Prince of Wales.  To the best of my knowledge, Prince Charles is the eldest Prince of Wales in the history of the title and is the longest serving-heir apparent, narrowly beating out the former Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII and Prince Charles' great-great grandfather.

Presuming that he outlives his mother - not necessarily a guarantee, given as within his family women are known to live long, while men not so much - he is, as the title would suggest, the future King of Great Britain, Ireland, and the British Dominions beyond the Seas - in essence, King of sixteen sovereign states within the Commonwealth.  At this point, he'll presumably be titled Charles III, although given the historical connotations of his name I'm predicting he'll go with something else - probably George.

Either way, for today he is still a prince and it is his birthday.  Happy birthday, sir!

Birthday: John Cleese

Today is the 73rd birthday of British actor, comedian, and many other things, John Cleese.

Cleese really became famous through his work as a member of Monty Python, where he starred and wrote for both the sketch show and the four movies. Cleese went on to do his own show, Fawlty Towers with then wife Connie Booth, then embarked on a film career of his own.  He has appeared in two James Bond films, two Harry Potters, and three Shreks, and a large number of stand alone films.  I always love when I see Cleese in something, just because he's such a funny man.  In addition to his lengthy film and TV career, Cleese has also been honoured in other ways; a species of lemur has been named for him (Avahi cleesei), an asteroid has been named for him (9618 Johncleese), and a New Zealand rubbish heap has been named for him (Mt Cleese).  He has also declined both a CBE and a life peerage, the former because he thought it was "silly" and the latter because it would require staying in England year round and England in the winter was "too much of a price to pay."  He did, however, play Sir Lancelot the Brave in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, so he's definitely got his titles.

Happy birthday, sir!

Birthday: Cary Elwes

Today is Cary Elwes' 50th birthday!

Elwes has been around for a long time now, and no that's not intended to be an old joke.  He got his start as a disco dancer in the 1979 Yesterday's Hero, but since then has gone on to great things.  Well, okay, great thing: eight years after his appearance in Yesterday's Hero Elwes took on the role of the dashing Westley in the film adaptation of The Princess Bride.  This film really made him, or at least his 25-year-old self, recognizable to people of all generations.  Since then he's been in a number of movies, but has yet to really recapture the greatness of Princess Bride.  You can see him in Glory, Days of Thunder, Bram Stroker's Dracula, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Liar Liar, and both Saw and Saw 3D, to name some of his movies.  In my opinion, the appeal of having Cary Elwes in films is more the moment of "hey, it's Westley!" than anything else, but I still enjoy watching him act.

Happy 50th!

Birthday: Kevin Kline

Today is actor Kevin Kline's 64th birthday!

Kline has been in roughly a gazillion movies over the previous thirty years, most of them really good.  He was nominated for the BAFTA for best Newcomer in his first film, the 1982 Sophie's Choice, and has been on a role since then.  Since then he's been in The Big Chill, A Fish Called Wanda, Chaplin, Dave, Life as a House, De-Lovely, A Prairie Home Companion, As You Like It, and many, many more films.  He's one of those actors that I don't really actively seek out but I always love to watch when I come across.

Happy birthday, Mr. Kline!

Birthday: Christopher Lloyd

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."

Today is the 74th birthday of everyone's favourite and occassionally mad... well, everything really.  Christopher Lloyd has played everything from the mad scientist who discovered time travel, in the Back to the Future trilogy, to Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and its sequel, to Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Jim Ignatowski in the TV series Taxi.

As a child I watched a lot of movies with Christopher Lloyd in them, he was always the excentric character that I really liked watching - with the exception of Roger Rabbit where he freaked me out.  While the quality of his movies may have gone a bit downhill in more recent years, I'll always have a soft spot for him and will continue to watch his movies - or at least continue to watch the old ones.

Happy birthday, sir!

Birthday: Roger Moore

We finished off the James Bonds starring Roger Moore this week, so I think it's rather appropriate that today is his 84th birthday.

Roger Moore, or rather as he's more properly known Sir Roger Moore, got his start in a lot of movies that, to be honest, I've never seen, before being cast as James Bond in the 1973 Live and Let Die.  Moore would go on to play Bond in more movies than any other actor (to date), completing his run as the spy in the 1985 A View to Kill. His career appeared to be at it's pinnacle in the 70s and 80s, slowing down after he finished off Bond, but I do have to admit that my favourite of his roles (out of the eight movies of his that I've seen) was as the Chief in the 1999 Spice World.  Because as bad as Spice World was, it was also absolutely awesome.

Happy 84th, Sir Roger!