Tuesday, September 25, 2012

On This Date: September 25


1951 Mark Hamill was born in Oakland, California, and later blasted off for international fame as Luke Skywalker in George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy. His other roles include Max Reed in The Guyver (1991) and the Trickster in two episodes of the televsion series The Flash. In addition, Hamill has become a prolific voice actor in cartoons and video games and is most closely associated with Batman’s arch enemy the Joker.

1952 Christopher Reeve was born in New York City. His acting career reached new heights when he starred as the Man of Steel in director Richard Donner’s 1978 box office hit Superman. Reeve donned the red caped again for three sequels and would later guest star as Dr. Virgil Swann on the series Smallville. Reeve, who became a quadriplegic after he was thrown off a horse, became an activist and spokesperson for those suffering from spinal cord injuries and lobbied for continued research. He died in 2004 at age 52.

1957 Michael Madsen was born in Chicago, Illinois. He brought his rough, gritty persona to the 2005 neo-noir thriller Sin City as Bob, the double-crossing partner of Bruce Willis’ Detective John Hartigan.

1961 Heather Locklear was born in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. Though best known for her appearing in a number of Aaron Spelling-produced television shows including Dynasty, T.J. Hooker, and Melrose Place, Locklear also starred as Abby Arcane in director Jim Wynorski’s 1989 outing The Return of the Swamp Thing.

1966 Jason Flemying was born in Putney, London. He has appeared in a number of live-action comic book adaptations such as From Hell (2001), The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), Kick-Ass (2010), and X-Men: First Class (2011).

1968 Will Smith was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The rapper-turned-actor played as James Darrell Edwards (a.k.a. Agent J) opposite Tommy Lee Jones in three Men in Black films.

1969 Catherine Zeta Jones was born in Swansea, Wales. She took on the role of Sala in the 1996 superhero flick The Phantom based on Lee Falk’s eponymous comic strip.

1977 Joel David Moore was born in Portland, Oregon. He played Bardo in the 2006 Dan Clowes-inspired Art School Confidential and Zak in the 2007 adaptation of Javier Hernandez’s supernatural comic El Muerto: The Aztec Zombie.

1986 Nicole Fugere was born. She portrayed Wednesday Addams in the 1998 television movie Addams Family Reunion and in the follow-up Fox Family series The New Addams Family (1998–1999).

1998 The syndicated television series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, based on the character created by James O’Barr, debuted. The show, which lasted for a total of 22 episodes, featured Mark Dacascos, Marc Gomes, Sabine Karsenti, and Katie Stuart.

2005 Comedic actor Don Adams died at the age of 82 in Los Angles, California. In addition to his starring role as slapstick spy Maxwell Smart in the 1960s television sitcom Get Smart, he also provided the voice for the animated detective Inspector Gadget.

2009 Touchstone Pictures released the science fiction crime drama Surrogates, based on the comic book series by Robert Venditti and Brett Weldale. The cast includes Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames, Boris Kodjoe, Trevor Donovan, and Rosamund Pike.

(Image: Jason Flemyng as Dr. Henry Jekyll in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, 20th Century Fox)

No comments:

Post a Comment