Category Archives: The Big Screen

RIP Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Wayne Swayze (August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009)

Patrick Swayze was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best-known for his roles as romantic leading men in the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was listed by People magazine as its “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1991.

Wikipedia Link

To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before…

Enterprise

On September 8, 1966, “The Man Trap” was first released upon the world. This, the first episode of one of the most famous TV Shows in history, Star Trek.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Bond

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born August 25, 1930) is an Oscar-winning Scottish film and stage actor who is best known as the original cinematic James Bond. His character’s catch phrase “Bond, James Bond” has become considerably famous.

Sean ConneryWikipedia Link

RIP Elvis!

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935–August 16, 1977)


Wikipedia Link

Elvis Aaron Presley, was an American singer, musician and actor. He is a cultural icon, often known as “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, or simply “The King”.

Happy Birthday, Han Solo/Dr. Jones!

 Solo! Hay lapa no ya, Solo!

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford (July 13, 1942 – )

Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. His career has spanned six decades and includes roles in several Hollywood blockbusters, including Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, Air Force One, and What Lies Beneath. At one point, four of the top six box-office hits of all time included one of his roles. Five of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry.

In 1997, Ford was ranked No. 1 in Empire‘s “The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time” list. As of July 2008, the United States domestic box office grosses of Ford’s films total over US$3.5 billion, with worldwide grosses surpassing $6 billion, making Ford the third highest grossing U.S. domestic box-office star. Ford is the husband of actress Calista Flockhart.

RIP Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine (January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012)

Ernest Borgnine (born Ermes Effron Borgnino) was an American film and television actor whose career spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, winning an Oscar in 1955 for Marty. On television, he played Quinton McHale in the 1962–1966 series McHale’s Navy and co-starred in the mid-1980s action series Airwolf, in addition to a wide variety of other roles. Borgnine was also known for his role as Mermaid Man in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Borgnine earned an Emmy Award nomination at age 92 for his work on the series ER.

 

Anniversary of Jaws

Jaws Poster

In 1975, we learned that it was no longer “safe to go back into the water.”

Wikipedia Link

First Motion Picture Theater

The first motion picture theater was called a nickelodeon because admission was a nickel.

It opened in McKeesport, PA on June 19,1905.

20th Anniversary of Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park Poster

June 11, 1993

Wikipedia Link

30th Anniversary of WarGames

In 1983,

A Computerized Voice Asked You…

Would You Like To Play A Game?

Wikipedia Link

Happy Birthday, Ian Fleming!

 

Ian Fleming

Ian Lancaster Fleming (May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964)

Ian Lancaster Fleming  was an English author and journalist, best remembered for writing the James Bond series of novels as well as the children’s story, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Wikipedia Link

Anniversary of Star Wars

Star Wars

On this day in 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster Star Wars movies hits American theaters.

Wikipedia Link

RIP Jim Henson

James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was the most widely known American puppeteer in modern American television history.

He was the creator of The Muppets and the leading force behind their long creative run. Henson brought an engaging cast of characters, innovative ideas, and a sense of timing and humor to millions of people. He is also widely acknowledged for the ongoing vision of faith, friendship, magic, and love which was infused in nearly all of his work.

Jim Henson

Statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog, on display outside of Adele H. Stamp Student Union in College Park, Maryland.

Happy Birthday, George Lucas

George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (May 14, 1944 – )

George Lucas is an Academy Award-nominated American film producer, screenwriter, director and chairman of Lucasfilm Ltd. He is best known for being the creator of the epic Sci-Fi franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones.

Wikipedia Link

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish!

Douglas Adams

Douglas Noël Adams (March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001)

Douglas Adams was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. He is best known as author of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Hitchhiker’s began on radio, and developed into a “trilogy” of five books (which sold more than fifteen million copies during his lifetime) as well as a television series, a towel, a live theater show, a drink, a comic book series, a computer game and a feature film that was completed after Adams’ death. He was known to some fans as Bop Ad (after his illegible signature), or by his initials “DNA”.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish is the fourth book of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “trilogy”. Its title is the message left by the dolphins when they departed Planet Earth just before it was demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass, as described in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The phrase has since been adopted by some science fiction fans as a humorous way to say “goodbye.”

Wikipedia Link

May the 4th Be With You

May the 4th

Rip Dom DeLuise

Dom DeLuise

Dominick “Dom” DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009)

Dominick “Dom” DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author.

Anniversary of Miracle on 34th Street

Miracle on 34th Street (also titled The Big Heart in the UK) is a 1947 film which tells the story of a gentle old man, working as a Santa Claus at Macy’s department store in New York City, who contends that he is the real deal.

Miracle on 34th Street

Wikipedia Link

The film was released in theaters May 2, 1947.

 

Happy Birthday, Shirley Temple

Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928), later known as Shirley Temple Black, is an American diplomat and former film child actress. She starred in over 40 films during the 1930s.

Shirley Temple

Shirley Temple (April 23, 1928 – )

Wikipedia Link

Happy Birthday, Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis (March 16, 1926 – )

Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, producer, writer, director and singer. He is best-known for his slapstick humor on stage, screen and television, his singing ability in a string of music album recordings and his charity fund-raising telethons for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).

Thank you, Jerry, for many laughs throughout the years.