Do you share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer or Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!
Check out too the spotlight on this weeks Birthday Boy who celebrates on 10th September, Guy Ritchie, at the end of this feature.
Sunday 7th September
- Dario Argento - Born 1940, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
- Angie Everhart - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actress | Producer
- Michael Emerson - Born 1954, turns 60 - Actor
- Toby Jones - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actor
- Julie Kavnar - Born 1950, turns 64 - Actress
Monday 8th September
- Martin Freeman - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actor
- David Arquette - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actor | Director | Producer
- Pink - Born 1979, turns 35 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress
Tuesday 9th September
- Adam Sandler - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actor | Writer | Producer
- Michelle Williams - Born 1980, turns 34 - Actress
- Hugh Grant - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor
- Goran Visnjic - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor
Wednesday 10th September
- Colin Firth - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor | Producer
- Ryan Phillippe - Born 1974, turns 40 - Actor | Director | Producer
- Guy Ritchie - Born 1968, turns 46 - Director | Writer | Producer
- Chris Columbus - Born 1958, turns 56 - Director | Writer | Producer
Thursday 11th September
- Harry Connick Jnr. - Born 1967, turns 47 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor
- Brian De Palma - Born 1940, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Tony Gilroy - Born 1956, turns 58 - Director | Producer | Writer
Friday 12th September
- Ian Holm - Born 1931, turns 83 - Actor
- Hans Zimmer - Born 1957, turns 57 - Composer | Songwriter
- Rachel Ward - Born 1957, turns 57 - Actress | Director
- Linda Gray - Born 1940, turns 74 - Actress
Saturday 13th September
- Jacqueline Bisset - Born 1944, turns 70 - Actress
- Richard Kiel - Born 1939, turns 75 - Actor
- Frank Marshall - Born 1946, turns 68 - Producer | Director
Guy Stuart Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. He decided that he wanted to make films after seeing 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' as a child, and it seems that nothing would deter him from that career goal. He was expelled from Stanbridge Earls School at age 15 for alleged drug use and by 1995 had secured himself a job as a 'runner' on various film & TV sets - so effectively kick-starting his film career. He never attended film school but instead immersed himself in the world of film and television, and by the end of 1995 was already making music video's and television commercials.
From the money he made he wrote and Directed a 20 minute short film called 'The Hard Case' which was the pre-cursor to his debut feature in 1998 - 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' which was funded in part by Sting's wife, Trudy Styler. The film featured Sting in the cast and launched the careers of Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Jason Flemyng and Nick Moran to a worldwide audience.
The highly acclaimed and inventive 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' was followed up by 'Snatch' in 2000 - this time though with major studio backing and featuring Hollywood heavyweights Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio del Toro and a plot involving a rather large stolen diamond. Again, this film was hailed a critical success, and was quickly establishing Ritchie as a new Director with talent and to watch out for.
That same year, in 2000, Ritchie married Madonna whom he had been introduced to by Sting, and for the next few years he turned his attention to Directing her in various music video's and the 2002 remake of the 1974 film of the same name 'Swept Away'. This more recent film was critically panned and a commercial flop! Suddenly Ritchie's shining rising star was beginning to become tarnished, and so he returned to what he knew best with Las Vegas style heist caper 'Revolver' in 2005 which ultimately also did him no favours critically despite its cast comprising of Ray Liotta, Jason Statham and Mark Strong.
His next turn in the Director's chair fared better - 2008's 'RocknRolla' starring Gerald Butler, Tom Hardy, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong and Idris Elba in another London based underworld crime caper involving vast sums of ill gotten cash and various unsavoury types wanting to get their hands on it one way or another! Intended to be the first in a trilogy, the follow up is still awaited and not likely to appear any time soon given Ritchie's forward diary of films slated.
Next, came two in a row for 2009 and 2011 with a reboot of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle much loved erstwhile character to the big screen with 'Sherlock Holmes' and 'Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows' with Robert Downey Jnr. and Jude Law playing the Holmes and Watson characters respectively. With production budgets of US$90M and US$125M for each of the two films and very solid box office returns giving Ritchie his biggest commercial successes to date, it seems as though this Director's fortunes were once again on the up!
Ritchie's marriage to Madonna ended in 2008 with him being awarded a divorce settlement from her of somewhere between US$60-70M. They had two sons together - Rocco, and an adopted boy from Malawi, David. Subsequently he has been with Model, Jacqui Ainsley since 2010 and they now have three children together.
Currently Ritchie is in post-production with a reboot of the classic 1960's television series 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' due to hit our big screens for release in January 2015 and starring Henry Cavil as Napoleon Solo, Armie Hammer as Ilya Kuryakin and Hugh Grant as Waverly. Following on from this in 2016 will be 'Knights of the Roundtable : King Arthur'.
He has eight award wins to his name and eight other nominations including a BAFTA nomination for Best Film for 'Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels'. He continues to be active in writing his own screenplays, Producing and Directing and therefore retaining much of the control over his art.
Guy Ritchie - known for your sharp dialogue; carefully interwoven plot threads; tough, gritty, sometimes dark underworld characters; and high speed camera work to add a sense of urgency or to ramp up the action, we can easily forgive 'Swept Away' if you stay focused on what you're best at and give us another ''Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels' (which incidentally remains one of my favourite films!), 'Snatch', 'RocknRolla' or even 'Sherlock Holmes'! Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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