Showbiz History: A Child Star,A Funny Girl,a Winged Serpent,and Noni Ryder

5 random things that happened on this day (October 29th) in showbiz history...

Fanny Brice

1891Fanny Brice born in New York City.The comic actress,radio star,and Ziegfeld Girl who was immortalized by the Oscar-winning biopicFunny Girl.Brice is name-checked a few times in the new wonderful filmCan You Ever Forgive Me?

1918Happy 100th birthday today to Baby Peggy (aka Diana Serra Carey),the silent film child star who is still alive today!(See our list:200 Oldest Living Screen Stars of Note).According toa THR report from Januaryshe's doing well and recently published her first fiction novel (!!!) having previously written a memoir and a biography

1943Flesh and Fantasy,an anthology movie of occult-related stories opens in movie theaters starring Barbara Stanwyck among other stars.Y

ouhave toclick on this poster after the jump which asks "WHICH IS YOU?"So,dear reader,tell us...which is you?

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Funny Girl at 50

byTim

This past week bore witness to one of the most very important anniversaries imaginable:Funny Girlturned fifty.And if you don't know whatFunny Girlis and why it matters,I'm a little shocked you found this site,but I'm happy to explain that it's a Best Picture-nominated musical directed by Oscar favorite William Wyler,and the film debut of cabaret singer-turned-Broadway star-turned embodied deity Barbra Streisand.Who also got some Oscar love,winning Best Actress in a tie with Katharine Hepburn's turn inThe Lion in Winter.

Not least among the achievements ofFunny Girlis that,when thus compared head-to-head with one of the grandest dames of screen acting,Streisand looks like pretty worth recipient of that honor.Funny Girl,as scripted by Isobel Lennart (who also wrote the book for the 1963 stage version,also starring Streisand),is a gift to its lead,offering pretty much everything you could want to demand of a musical theater actor: broad comedy!tear-jerking heartbreak!steel-willed fortitude!songs where you have to be manic!songs where you have to be pensive!

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10 Days Until Oscar.Stage to Screen Roles

Paul Lukas and Bette Davis in "Watch on the Rhine"

It's ten days until Oscar and soon this post may be obsolete!To date,unless I've miscounted,ten actors have won the leading Oscar for reprising a role they won praise for first on the Broadway stage.Soon there could be 11 depending on how well Denzel Washington fares on Oscar night forFences.

ACTORS WHO WON LEAD OSCARS REPRISING THEIR BROADWAY ROLES亚博主页
They are...

• George Arliss forDisraeli(1929/30)
Arliss had played this role in the Broadway production in 1911

• Paul Lukas forWatch on the Rhine(1943)
He previously played this role from 1941 through early 1942 on Broadway -- the transfer to the screen was mighty quick!

• Jose Ferrer forCyrano de Bergerac(1950)
He won the Tony for this iconic role in 1947.Later in 1990 Gerard Depardieu would also be nominated for playing the same role -- and Steve Martin arguably should have been for Roxanne -- but Depardieu didn't win...

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"I'm the greatest..."

Omar Sharif (1932-2015)

Sharif Photographed by Andrew Walker in 2011Hollywood's first and still only Egyptian movie star passed away at 83 today of a heart attack.It had recently been announced that he was suffering from Alzheimers and after such a full life this may feel like a mercy to some,though his loved one are surely grieving and our hearts go out to them.

Though moviegoers roughly 35 and up surely remember him,here's the gist of it for younger budding cinephiles: Sharif began and ended his career in Arabic language cinema but in the vast middle (1960s-1990s) he achieved global stardom via Hollywood and British cinema.His English language debutLawrence of Arabia(1962) brought him a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination and he became a genuine superstar in short order,headlining one of the all time biggest box office smashes (Doctor Zhivago,1965).In his third enduring classic from that decade he helped Barbra Streisand ascend into the pantheon in her film debutFunny Girl(1968).

In fact,his performances in those three hits are rather fine illustrations of what was so special about his onscreen persona: his generosity and a certain intangible 'eye of the beholder' transference.He was one of the greatest romantic leading men precisely because he seemed so believably in thrall to the particular charismas of his co-stars.And he had great ones: Sophia Loren,Barbra Streisand,Julie Christie,Peter O'Toole,Julie Andrews and more.

And while he drank intheirinimitable beauty,he looked likethis:

Dr Zhivago (1965)a portrait from the 1950s when he starred regularly in Egyptian cinema
The Tamarind Seed (1974) and More Than a Miracle (1967)

Double the pleasure,then,for moviegoers who were ready to swoon.And swoon they did,all over the world.

What's your favorite Omar Sharif performance?

Podcast: Mother's Day Special

For this very special and ultimately quite spontaneous edition of the podcast,Nathaniel calls a few of his team members to grill them about their moms & the movies.Sadly the entire team was not available -- some of them were being good kids en route to visiting their mothers so they have a good excuse -- but you get to hear from a few of us and how our moms factor into our cinephila.Expect name-droppings of Margo Martindale,Susan Sarandon,I Remember Mama,The Lord of the Rings,A Separationand much more...

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post ordownload the conversation on iTunes.

00:01 Intro
01:00 Amir
09:00 Abstew
14:00 Anne Marie
20:30 Tim Brayton
27:00Funny GirlInterlude & Surprise Guest
32:00 The Guest of Honor,Nathaniel's Mom!
40:00 Exit Music "Baby Mine"with Bette Midler

Nathaniel's mom & dad in 1960I can't interview each and every one of you out there listening about how your moms shaped your moviegoing but if you have any key stories,please share them in the comments.I actually teared up making this one.Keep the love a-going.And call your mama or take her to a movie today!

Further Reading To Enhance This Podcast
Anne Marie's "A Year With Kate"
Tim's Home Schooling Essay on "Mean Girls"
Amir's "Hello Cinema"
How Many Barbra Streisand's Have You Seen?
Loretta Young,Nathaniel's Mom's Favorite

Mothers Day with TFE