Actor John Saxon born 1936

 

John Saxon, born August 5, 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, had a long, prolific career, appearing in some of the most popular and iconic movies.  He first appeared in two uncredited roles in 1954.  In 1958, he appeared with Angela Lansbury in The Reluctant Debutante. The same year, he won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer for his work in This Happy Feeling. He appeared in Enter the Dragon in 1973 and the next year, he starred in the cult classic Black Christmas, which help start the slasher genre.

Saxon worked on numerous movie and television projects until 1984, when he appeared in another slasher classic, Nightmare on Elm Street, which has become a lasting franchise. He appeared in the second sequel Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.  He continued acting until 2017.

 Saxon passed away in July 2020 from pneumonia. 

 John Saxon in Enter the Dragon

Yoshifumi Tajima, Godzilla actor, born 1918

Yoshifumi Tajima, born August 4, 1918 in Kobe, Japan, appeared in many Godzilla and Toho Company films.  His first kaiju film was Rodan in 1956. He went on to star in Mothra (1961), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), Ghidora, the Three-headed Monster (1964), Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965), Destroy All Monsters (1968), and The Return of Godzilla (1984).

He passed away in 2009.

 Yoshifumi Tajima

Happy birthday, Laurence Fishburne!

Actor-extraordinaire and one of my favorites, Laurence Fishburne, born July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia, is an Emmy awarded actor, and has been nominated for an Oscar. When he was twelved, he was cast in a recurring role on One Life to Live, which lasted three seasons.  He made his film debut in Cornbread, Earl and Me in 1975.  He was cast in Apocalypse Now in 1979.

He appeared as Cowboy Curtis on Pee-wee's Playhouse, and appeared in guest roles on M*A*S*H, Trapper John, and Miami Vice. His breakout role came in Boyz n the Hood, and gained an Oscar nomination for his performance in What's Love Got to Do With It? in 1993 with Angela Bassett.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in The Tuskegee Airmen in 1995. He won a Saturn Award in 2015 for Best Supporting Actor on Television for his work in Hannibal, and won a second in 2025 for the Lance Reddick Legacy Award.

Fishburne's Primetime Emmy Awards are for Outstanding guest Actor in a Drama Series in 1993 for Tribeca, Outstanding Made for Television Movie for Miss Evers' Boys in 1997, and Outstanding Actor in a Short Form Comedy or Drama Series for #Freerayshawn. 

Laurence Fishburne in "The Matrix" 

Happy birthday, actor extraordinaire John Leguizamo!

 

John Leguizamo, born July 22, 1960 in Bogota, Columbia, began his career as an extra in Madonna's Borderline video in 1984.  His breakout performance was his role as Chi-Chi in To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, which garnered him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  Since then, he has shown his immense talent for a variety of genres.  He has voiced Sid the Sloth in the animated Ice Age franchise, appeared as Scrooge in comedy-horror Violent Night, and most recently, The Odyssey.

He has been nominated for four Primetime Emmys and won the Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program in 1999 for his performance in John Leguizamo: Freak. He was nominated for two Tony Awards in 1998 for Freak.

He frequently appears as a host for The Daily Show.

John Leguizamo Speaks

Happy birthday, Michael Fassbender!

Michael Fassbender, born April 2, 1977 in Heidelberg, Germany, has portrayed X-Men super-villain Magneto in four movies: X-Men: First Class; X-Men: Days of Future Past; X-Men: Apocalypse; and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. He has also appeared in the Alien franchise for which he received a Saturn nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Fassbender has been nominated for two Academy Awards for his performances in Steve Jobs and 12 Years a Slave. He has won 79 awards with a total of 161 nominations.

Michael Fassbender as Magneto

Happy birthday, Captain James T. Kirk!

 

William Shatner, born March 22, 1931 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, will always be best known as his role as Captain James T. Kirk on the cult classic television show Star Trek. He appeared in the first original series from 1966 to 1969. He appeared in the six movie adaptions of the TV series and the final Star Trek: Generations.  He starred in the TV movies TekWar, based on the novel he co-wrote. 

In October 2021, he became the oldest person, at that time, to fly in space.  At the age of 90, he flew on Blue Origin's NS-18 suborbital flight on October 13, 2021.

William Shatner SNL skit: Get a Life!

Happy birthday, actor Kurt Russell!

 

Kurt Russell, born March 17, 1951 in Springfield, Massachusetts, has had a stellar acting career and is still going strong.  He first appeared in an episode of Dennis the Menace in 1961. He starred in a number of television series such as Gilligan's Island and Daniel Boone.  In 1969, he landed one of his first starring roles in Disney's The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and went on to star in more Disney movies, such as The Barefoot Executive, Now You See Him, Now You Don't, and The Strongest Man in the World. 

He broke out of his squeaky-clean image by appearing as Snake Plissken in Escape from New York and edgier works such as The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, and Tequila Sunrise. He appeared in Sky High and Guardian of the Galaxy 2.

He is currently working as Lee Shaw in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

in 2003, he was awarded the Life Career Award at the Oscars,  He passed away

Trailer for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2

Happy birthday, Quicksilver!

Evan Peters, born January 20, 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri, got his big break when he was cast in American Horror Story in 2011.  His favorite role of mine is X-Man Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) in the X-Men series.  He won accolades as his performance as Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster, for which he won a Golden Globe award.

Happy birthday, Qui-Gon Jinn!

Liam Neeson, born June 7, 1952 in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, is an Oscar nominated actor and played Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (my favorite role of his). He has continued to voice Qui-Gon Jinn in other Star Wars productions.

He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in Schindler's List. He's been nominated for 3 Saturn Awards and 3 Golden Globe Awards. He received a Grammy nomination in 2001 for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for The Polar Express. He has also been nominated for two Tony Awards.

He appeared in Excalibur where he met Helen Mirren and began a relationship with her.  He later appeared in Krull in 1983 with Robbie Coltrane. He starred in Suspect with Cher in 1987.  Neeson appeared in Wrath of the Titans with Ralph Feinnes 

Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawai'ian, Pacific Islander Heritage Month: John Cho, Star Trek actor

John Cho, born June 16, 1972 in Seoul, South Korea, immigrated to Los Angeles, California when he was six years old. Cho starred as Hikaru Sulu in the reboot of the Star Trek series.  He also appeared in the American Pie series and Harold & Kumar series.  

He starred in Searching, the first mainstream Hollywood thriller with an Asian American lead actor. 

Happy birthday, Spider-man actor Nicholas Hammond!

Nicholas Hammond, born May 15, 1950 in Washington DC, is probably best known for his role as Friedrich von Trapp in The Sound of Music, but he also starred as The Amazing Spider-Man for 14 episodes in the late 1970s. He was the first actor to portray Spider-Man in a live-action series.

He appeared in episodes of Farscape, Murder She Wrote, Dallas, and The Martian Chronicles. 

Les Tremayne, "Shazam!" actor, born 1913

Les Tremayne, born April 16, 1913 in London, England, started his lengthy career in radio back in the 1930s.  He started in films in the 1950s and starred in movies such as War of the Worlds, The Angry Red Planet, and The Monolith Monsters.  He also appeared in King Kong vs. Godzilla.

For those of us born in the 1960s, we remember him best as Mentor in the Saturday morning show Shazam! from 1974-1976.  He appeared as the mentor to Billy Batson, Captain Marvel's secret identity.  

Tremayne passed away in December 2003 from heart failure. 

Happy birthday, Billy Dee Williams!

Billy Dee Williams, born April 6, 1937 in New York City, is best known for his role as Lando Calrissian in Star Wars Episodes V: The Empire Strikes Back, VI: Return of the Jedi, and IX: The Rise of Skywalker.  He's also voice Calrissian in many of the spin-offs and Lego versions.  He received two Saturn nominations for his role as Calrissian.  

He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his performance in Brian's Song.

Happy birthday, Star Trek actor Connor Trinneer!

Connor Trinneer, born March 19, 1969 in Walla Walla, Washington, is best known for his role as Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III in Star Trek: Enterprise. He was nominated twice for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series.

He's made appearances in 9-1-1, NCIS: Los Angeles, and 24.

Celebrating Black History Month: Jim Brown, NFL running back extraordinaire, first black action star

James "Jim" Brown, born February 17, 1936 in St. Simons, Georgia, was a record-setting football player, an action movie star, and a civil rights activist.

He played football while at Syracuse University from 1954-1956 and earned unanimous All-American honors, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995. 

In the 1957 NFL draft, he was the sixth pick of the first round, by the Cleveland Browns.  He played for the Browns from 1957 to 1965.  During his career, he carried the ball 2,359 times, for 12.312 rushing yards, and 106 touchdowns, which were all records when he retired. He is the only NFL player to average over 100 rushing yards per game for his career.  He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.

He became an actor shortly before he ended his career, and starred in leading roles throughout the 1970s. He has been described as Hollywood's first black action hero. In the 1969 film, 100 Rifles, he made history for featuring the first interracial love scenes with Raquel Welch.   He won an Image Awards (NAACP) for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for his work in El Condor.  I liked him in Ice Station Zebra, although the critics panned the movie.

During the civil rights movement, he was one of the few athletes to speak out on racial issues. He launched a foundation for diverting at-risk youth from violence, teaching them life skills.

He passed away from natural causes at 87 in May 2023.

Happy birthday, Star Trek actor Andrew Robinson!

Andrew Robinson, born February 14, 1942 in New York City, is best known for his role as Garak in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. A versatile and talented actor, he has been nominated for awards for his work on Ryan's Hope (daytime soap), Child's Play 3, and Deep Space Nine. He's provided the voice for Garak in other Star Trek series and video games.  He has also appeared in an episode of The X-Files, The Incredible Hulk, and two episodes of Murder, She Wrote.

Steve Reeves, Mr. America/actor, born 1926

Handsome, muscular Steve Reeves, born January 21, 1926 in Glasgow, Montana, weas a professional bodybuilder and actor, being the number one box office draw in 25 countries in 1960.

He moved with his mother to California when he was ten after his father died in a farming accident.  He discovered an interest in bodybuilding and began training in Oakland, California.  He served in the Philippines during WWII.

After the war, he began competing in bodybuilding and won the titles of Mr. America 1947, Mr. World 1948, and Mr. Universe 1950.  Then he was contacted by an agent about going into acting.  

Reeves mainly appeared in roles that showed off his physique, such as Hercules, gladiators, and a Tarzan-ish role in Kimbar of the Jungle. A shoulder injury during the filming of The Last Days of Pompeii in 1959 ultimately led to his retirement from filmmaking.

Reeves passed away in May 2000 from a blood clot while be treated for lymphoma.

He apparently had some comedic talent as well, as he appeared in the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show:

Happy birthday, Avengers actor Jeremy Renner!

Dreamy, heartthrob Jeremy Renner, born January 7, 1971 in Modesto, California, is probably best known for his portrayal of Hawkeye of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Avengers. He was nominated for a Saturn Award for his performance in Avengers: Endgame. He has been nominated for numerous awards for his work in The Hurt Locker and The Town.

Happy birthday, Chris Pratt!

Hunky, adorable Chris Pratt, born June 21, 1979 in Virginia, Minnesota, has appeared in many blockbuster action movies.  His first big acting job came in 2002 when he starred with Treat Williams in Everwood.  Then in 2014, he landed the role of Peter Quill in the Guardians of the Galaxy, which has spawned two sequels.  As Quill, he has appeared in other MCU movies with the Avengers in Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame and Thor: Love and Thunder.  He appeared in the second Jurassic Park trilogy.

He won a Saturn Award in 2015 for his performance in Guardians of the Galaxy. He is currently voicing the character of Garfield in The Garfield Movie.

And he's has more performances in progress.  

Go, sexy!

Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawai'ian, Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Brian Tochi, Star Trek actor

Brian Tochi, born in Los Angeles to Japanese parents who survived the WWII internment camps, has appeared on Star Trek (original series) as a child, and Star Trek: The Next Generation as an adult, the only actor to do so.

He played Ray in the episode And the Children Shall Lead in 1968.  He then appeared in the TNG episode Night Terrors as Ensign Kenny Lin. 

Tochi is best known for his appearances in three popular film franchises of all time: Revenge of the Nerds (as Takashi), Police Academy (as Nogata), and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, starring as Leonardo. He also appeared for the entire run of Space Academy, with fellow And the Children Shall Lead actress Pamelyn Ferdin.  Wow!