Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Jennifer Connelly

festreviews Happy Birthday

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Born
December 12, 1970 · Cairo, New York, USA

Birth name
Jennifer Lynn Connelly

Spouse
Paul Bettany(January 1, 2003 – present) (2 children)

QUOTES:

[Talking about her character in A Beautiful Mind (2001)]: Alicia is the person who’s trying to ground John Nash in reality and bring him home, literally, and back to what he was. In “A Beautiful Mind”, there are scenes that were painful and scary and sad. I didn’t have to go through degradation as I did in Requiem for a Dream (2000), but there is a lot of emotional terrain in this movie. There’s a tragedy in the family and it takes a toll on each of them as they try to live with each other.

[talking about her son Kai Dugan]: We’ve already done plays together. Very short plays. He dictates them to me. Sometimes he casts me, sometimes he doesn’t. And when I’m in the play, he’ll sometimes say to me, “No Mom, you didn’t say that right!”

[on “The Ball Room Dance” scene, her favorite from Labyrinth (1986)]: I wore a beautiful silver ball gown, which was a refreshing change from the blue jeans I wore in almost every other scene. It was really a gorgeous set, with masses of huge chandeliers and thousands of flickering candles, hundreds of silken cushions and curtains, and masses of people in strange masks and ornate dresses. There was the thrill of dancing with David Bowie to one of the songs he composed especially for the film. There wasn’t enough room, for technical reasons, to really dance around properly, but we just drifted slowly and gracefully (I hope!) to David’s music, and he looked fabulous! It’s all a sort of magical fantasy sequence inside a huge bubble.

[about her son] I don’t think I would be doing this quality of work if it hadn’t been for my son. He’s changed me. He’s helped me to understand myself and find my place in the world.

[on growing up with a Catholic father and a Jewish mother] Ultimately I’m an Irish Catholic Jew. I’m riddled with guilt!

Happy Birthday Teri Garr (1944-2024)

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Born
December 11, 1944 · Los Angeles, California, USA

Died
October 29, 2024 · Los Angeles, California, USA (degenerative disease of the nervous system)

Spouse
John O’Neil(November 11, 1993 – 1996) (divorced, 1 child)

QUOTES:

I’ve always had this American-pie face that would get work in commercials . . . I’d say things like, “Hi, Marge, how’s your laundry?” and “Hi, I’m a real nice Georgia peach”. Sometimes this work is one step above being a cocktail waitress.

Any movie I’ve ever made, the minute you walk on the set they tell you who’s the person to buy it [cocaine] from. Cher said they’re going to make two monuments to us–the two girls who lived through Hollywood and never had cocaine.

It’s different things at different times, you know? It’s like when you read a true crime story and think it’s really good, then the next book you pick up is a biography and you really like that. I don’t consider that I have to judge any of the movies I make all the time, but people are always asking me: “What’s your favorite movie?” And I never know what to say. They’re just jobs to me, really. I take the part I’m lucky enough to get and do the best I can and then — I don’t know, they’re just jobs.

Happy Birthday Hailee Steinfeld

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Born
December 11, 1996 · Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth name
Hailee Puring Steinfeld

Engaged to Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen

QUOTES:

Well I was eight years old, and I have an older cousin who is three years older than me and she was doing acting, commercials, and modeling at the time and… to see my cousin doing that was really inspiring and I wanted to do it. So I went to my mom and I asked her if I could do it, and for the acting part of it, she made me study for a year.
My first modeling job was Gap, and my first time in front of the camera was for a Soda Pop Girls commercial – it’s one of those Bratz dolls, Barbie dolls…one of those.

I don’t know if it has set in or not. Honestly, it’s crazy. It’s such an amazing honor. I remember thinking back to being in my room waiting for the call to see if I got the part. It’s like winning the lottery. I’m proud to be a member of such an amazing cast – that’s the best award of all.

Child actors come off as work being their life and doing it 24/7, but I still have those days where it’s totally, like, whatever: shopping, movies, adventures.

[on True Grit, 2010] The shooting of the guns, that was kind of funny, because rolling a cigarette and shooting a gun aren’t like normal things for a 13-year old girl!

[in 2016] My grandfather, my mom’s dad, was half African-American, half Filipino. And Filipinos, I’ve learned, have many wonderful traits – the main ones being passion and pride. I went to the Philippines for the first time this spring, and it was amazing.

Happy Birthday Michael Clarke Duncan (1957-2012)

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Born
December 10, 1957 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

Died
September 3, 2012 · Los Angeles, California, USA (respiratory failure)

QUOTES:

My sister [Judith] used to say I had a frail chest and she’d beat me up all the time.

[on The Green Mile (1999)] I think the toughest scene for me to film was the two dead girls, simply because I had a lot of crying to do, a lot of howling to do, and it really drained me.

Happy Birthday Emmanuelle Chriqui

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Born
December 10, 1975 · Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Birth name
Emmanuelle Sophie Anne Chriqui

QUOTES:

(On Judaism) You know I grew up with the same holidays and such, in an Orthodox manner, in a Kosher home, and all of that. And those are strict rules to live by that I think really shape your personality and discipline. I think they definitely, whether I knew it at the time or not, subconsciously it definitely seeped in to just create a good balance.
I have a theory that most people in Hollywood are from Texas.

My career has been successful, but it’s been a grind of hard work.

We have this idea of perfection that is so unrealistic. We are our own worst enemy. No one is noticing that little scar.

Never reveal your insecurities to a man, because nine times out of 10 they have no idea they even exist.

I always describe my career as something where nothing ever popped overnight.

Happy Birthday John Malkovich

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Born
December 9, 1953 · Christopher, Illinois, USA

Birth name
John Gavin Malkovich

Spouses
Nicoletta Peyran (September 20, 1989 – present) (2 children)
Glenne Headly (August 2, 1982 – January 1, 1988) (divorced)

QUOTES:

[on Being John Malkovich (1999)] When I first looked at the script, the title seemed like a one-line joke, but it turned out to be a 100-page joke.

[Spike Jonze wanted to borrow photographs from his childhood for Being John Malkovich (1999)] “I gave them my mother’s phone number and told them to tell her that I’m an actor and it was for a film. I don’t think my parents know what I do.”

“I want to be successful. I would like it to be a success with something that doesn’t make me want to vomit all over the screening room after I’ve seen it.” (1980s quote)

I’m not terribly articulate in many ways and particularly when it comes to what I do. And, at the risk of sounding like Holden Caulfield, I don’t know if I would talk about it even if I could.

[on Dangerous Liaisons (1988)] The movie should appeal to everyone. It’s sleazy, elegant, vicious and mean, and it’s about people doing hideous things to each other. If that weren’t enough, it has a tragic end. What more could people ask for?

Happy Birthday Kirk Douglas (1916-2020)

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Born
December 9, 1916 · Amsterdam, New York, USA

Died
February 5, 2020 · Beverly Hills, California, USA (natural causes)

Birth name
Issur Herschelevitch Danielovitch

Spouses
Anne Douglas (May 29, 1954 – February 5, 2020) (his death, 2 children)
Diana Douglas (November 2, 1943 – February 23, 1951) (divorced, 2 children)

QUOTES:

I’ve finally gotten away from Burt Lancaster. My luck has changed for the better. I’ve got nice-looking girls in my films now.

Virtue is not photogenic. What is it to be a nice guy? To be nothing, that’s what. A big fat zero with a smile for everybody.

I’ve made a career of playing sons of bitches.

In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.

I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up.

Making movies is a form of narcissism.

Happy Birthday John Cassavetes (1929-1989)

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Born
December 9, 1929 · New York City, New York, USA

Died
February 3, 1989 · Los Angeles, California, USA (cirrhosis of the liver)

Birth name
John Nicholas Cassavetes

Spouse
Gena Rowlands(March 19, 1954 – February 3, 1989) (his death, 3 children)

QUOTES:

As an artist, I feel that we must try many things – but above all we must dare to fail.

People have forgotten how to relate or respond; what I’m trying to do with my movies is build something audiences can respond to.

When I started making films, I wanted to make Frank Capra pictures. But I’ve never been able to make anything but these crazy, tough pictures. You are what you are.

Say what you are. Not what you would like to be. Not what you have to be. Just say what you are. And what you are is good enough.

Everyone has made a love, religion, god. Time magazine had the audacity to kill God and those people are floundering and walking around the world with nothing in their lives, simply because they are not led by anybody with responsibility.