Warren Beatty does on 30th March - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 80, at the end of this feature.
Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, 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!
Sunday 26th March
- Keira Knightley - Born 1985, turns 32 - Actress | Singer
- Alan Arkin - Born 1934, turns 83 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer
- James Caan - Born 1940, turns 77 - Actor
- Martin Short - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Alan Silvestri - Born 1950, turns 67 - Composer | Songwriter | Conductor
- Martin McDonagh - Born 1970, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Francis Lawrence - Born 1971, turns 46 - Director | Producer
Monday 27th March
- Julian Glover - Born 1935, turns 82 - Actor
- Michael York - Born 1942, turns 75 - Actor
- Stephen Dillane - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor
- Quentin Tarantino - Born 1963, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
- Holiday Grainger - Born 1988, turns 29 - Actress
Tuesday 28th March
- Dianne Weist - Born 1948, turns 69 - Actress
- Julia Stiles - Born 1981, turns 36 - Actress | Director | Writer
- Mike Newell - Born 1942, turns 75 - Director | Producer
- Brett Ratner - Born 1969, turns 48 - Director | Producer | Actor
- Vince Vaughn - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Nick Frost - Born 1972, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Richard Kelly - Born 1975, turns 42 - Director | Producer | Writer
Wednesday 29th March
- Eric Idle - Born 1943, turns 74 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter
- Brendan Gleeson - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor
- Christopher Lambert - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Michael Winterbottom - Born1961, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
- Ed Skrein - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actor
- Lucy Lawless - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actress | Singer
Thursday 30th March
- Warren Beatty - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
- Paul Reiser - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Robbie Coltrane - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actor | Singer
Friday 31st March
- Richard Chamberlain - Born 1934, turns 83 - Actor
- Christopher Walken - Born 1943, turns 74 - Actor | Singer
- Ewan McGregor - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer | Singer
Saturday 1st April
- Barry Sonnenfeld - Born 1953, turns 64 - Director | Producer | Actor | Cinematographer
- Tomas Alfredson - Born 1965, turns 52 - Director | Actor | Writer | Editor
- David Owelowo - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actor | Producer
- Asa Butterfield - Born 1997, turns 20 - Actor
- Ali McGraw - Born 1939, turns 78 - Actress
Henry Warren Beaty was born in Richmond, Virginia, USA to mother Kathlyn MacLean, a drama teacher, and father Ira Owens Beaty, a public school administrator and part time Real Estate Agent. At age eight the family moved to Arlington, Virginia. Beaty became interested in film even before his teenage years, often joining his older sister - actress, singer, dancer, author and activist Shirley MacLaine, to the theatre. Having seen his sister rise to early prominence in Hollywood, he was himself encouraged to find work somewhere doing something in the industry, initially as a stagehand at the National Theatre in Washington D.C. before commencing his senior year at high school. At Washington-Lee High School in Arlington he was a star football player having been allegedly offered football scholarships to ten different colleges. He rejected them all to study liberal arts at the acclaimed Northwestern University. Having completed just a year, he moved to New York City where he enrolled at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, under Stella Adler. In early 1960, Beaty enlisted in the California Air National Guard, and was discharged a year later due to a physical disability.
At the start of his acting career Beaty changed the spelling of his surname to Beatty. In the lead up to his first big screen role, Beatty saw out the late '50's with a string of television series appearances. These included the popular anthology series of the time 'Studio One', 'Kraft Television Theatre' and 'Playhouse 90'. He became a regular on the sitcom 'The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis' during its first season. In 1961 Beatty gained his breakout big screen role in Ella Kazan's romantic drama film 'Splendor in the Grass' opposite Natalie Wood. The film was a critical and commercial success gaining Beatty a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor, and a Golden Globe win for New Star of the Year - Actor.
The remaining '60's saw 'The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone' opposite Vivien Leigh; 'All Fall Down' for Director John Frankenheimer with Eva Marie Saint, Karl Malden and Angela Lansbury; 'Lilith' with Jean Seberg, Peter Fonda and Gene Hackman, 'Mickey One' for Director Arthur Penn; 'Promise Her Anything' with Leslie Caron and an uncredited Donald Sutherland; 'Kaleidoscope' with Susannah York; and then 1967 classic biographical crime drama 'Bonnie and Clyde' for Director Arthur Penn again and with Beatty playing Clyde Barrow and Faye Dunaway his partner in crime Bonnie Parker. That film returned US$70M (back in 1967) off its US$2.5M budget outlay and was hailed a critical success too. It is said that 'Bonnie and Clyde' opened the floodgates for violence in cinema and was seen as groundbreaking for its time having influenced many films since. The film won two Academy Awards and a further eight nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor in a Lead Role nominations for Beatty, who also Produced the film. It also picked up seven Golden Globe nominations and three BAFTA nominations in its total awards haul of 22 wins and 27 nominations. 
The latter half of the decade saw 'Shampoo' that was Produced, Co-Written, and starred Beatty together with Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, and an early appearance by Carrie Fisher. The film took US$60M at the worldwide Box Office from its US$4M budget, and picked up numerous accolades including a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Lee Grant, plus three other nominations, together with five Golden Globe nods and a BAFTA nod too. That same year saw 'The Fortune' for Director Mike Nichols with Jack Nicholson and Stockard Channing. 'Heaven Can Wait' which Beatty Co-Directed, Produced, wrote the Screenplay for and also starred in was a critical and commercial success again, taking US$82M at the global Box Office off the back of its US$15M budget investment. The film won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction, and another eight nominations - four of which were for Beatty for Best Picture (as Producer), Best Actor, Best Director and Best Screenplay. The film also won three Golden Globes, and all up garnered nine award wins and a further thirteen nominations. Co-starring with Beatty were Julie Christie once again, James Mason, Charles Grodin, Jack Warden, and Dyan Canon.
During the '80's Beatty starred in just two films. 1981 saw the hugely successful epic historical drama film 'Reds' which he Directed, Produced, Co-write the Screenplay for and starred in as journalist John Reed alongside Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Paul Sorvino and Gene Hackman. The film was not a huge commercial success raking in just US$41M from its US$32M budget, but it was hailed a critical success picking up three Academy Award wins for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actress for Maureen Stapleton, plus another nine nominations of which three others went to Beatty for Best Picture, Best Lead Actor and Best Screenplay. He also won the Best Director Golden Globe plus six other nominations from a total awards haul of 22 wins and 34 nominations. 1987 saw a film that couldn't have been more polar opposite. The action adventure comedy 'Ishtar' was a huge Box Office failure and was dubbed as one of the worst films ever made. Co-starring Dustin Hoffman and Charles Grodin the film made just US$14M from its US$51M budget, and it was the last films that Writer/Director Elaine May made, and it was nine years before she took another Screenwriting credit.
'Bugsy' followed in 1991 - the story of Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel known as one of the most infamous and feared gangsters of his day, and the driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Beatty starred as Bugsy in this Barry Levinson Directed film that was Co-Produced by Beatty and saw him star alongside his love interest Virginia Hill (Annette Benning), with Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley, Elliott Gould and Joe Mantegna. The film took close to US$50M from a $30M budget and was very well received critically, picking up two Academy Award wins and another eight nominations including Best Lead Actor for Beatty, plus the Best Picture Golden Globe and a another seven nominations from its total haul of twelve wins and 34 nominations. He would Co-star with Annette Benning again in 1994 in the romantic drama film 'Love Affair' which was again Produced by Beatty and written for the screen by him too. Despite its strong cast that also included Katherine Hepburn (in her last screen role), Gary Shandling, Pierce Brosnan, Kate Capshaw, Harold Ramis and Ray Charles the film grossed just US$18M from its US$60M budget costs.
The 1998 political comedy film 'Bulworth' was Directed, Produced, Written and starred Beatty once again, and he came up with the story too. Starring as Senator Jay Billington Bulworth who seeks political re-election while dodging a hired assassin, the film also starred Oliver Platt, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino, Jack Warden, Sean Astin, William Baldwin, George Hamilton and Larry King. The film had a limited theatrical release, was controversial for its outspoken take on late 20th Century American politics but received generally positive critical acclaim and just about made back its US$30M budget costs. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, and Beatty picked up three Golden Globe nominations too for Best Picture, Best Performance by a Actor and Best Screenplay.
The new decade saw 'Town & Country' with an all star cast that took in Beatty in the lead role as super rich architect Porter Stoddart, with Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Garry Shandling, Andie McDowell, Nastassja Kinski, Charlton Heston and Josh Hartnett. The film was plagued by production issues, script rewrites and reshoots that saw the films final release three years after filming commenced. The film was a critical and commercial disaster taking just US$10M from its production costs of US$90M excluding marketing and distribution.
Following the disastrous outing that was 'Town & Country' it would be fifteen years before Beatty ventured either in front of the camera or behind it for a motion picture, despite various appearances in documentary films or short films. Released last year (and later this year in Australia), 'Rules Don't Apply' is a fictionalised real-life romantic comedy drama film set in the Hollywood of the late '50's with Beatty staring as movie mogul, businessman, investor, pilot and philanthropist Howard Hughes. Beatty also Directs, Produces, wrote the Screenplay and devised the story for the film which includes such names as Paul Sorvino, Matthew Broderick, Martin Sheen, Candice Bergen, Annette Benning, Lily Collins, Ed Harris, Oliver Platt, Alec Baldwin, Steve Coogan, Amy Madigan and Haley Bennett in the line up. The film has received mixed critical Reviews and a Box Office of just US$4M so far from its US$25M budget investment. The film picked up three award wins and another ten nominations.All up, for a career spanning seven decades Beatty has just 32 acting credits to his name. But in addition he has thirteen Producer credits, another eight as Writer and six as Director. He has two Academy Award wins - the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from 2000, and a Best Director Award for 'Reds', plus thirteen other Academy Award nominations. He has four Golden Globe wins including the Cecil B. DeMille Award from 2007 plus another eight nominations, and he has two BAFTA Award nominations and the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award win in 2002. All up for his efforts he has accumulated 38 award wins and a further 51 nominations. Beatty is the only person in Academy Award history that was twice nominated by the Academy as an Actor, Producer, Director and Writer of the same film for 'Heaven Can Wait' in 1978 and 'Reds' in 1981.
He has been married to Actress and frequent Co-star Anette Benning since 1992 with whom he has four children - Stephen (born Kathlyn, in 1992), Benjamin (born in 1994), Isabel (born in 1997) and Ella (born in 2000). He is a long time supporter and activist for the Democratic Party, and has been the recipient of more political, charitable and film industry awards, accolades and honours than I could possibly record here.Warren Beatty - truly an outstanding career both in front of the camera and behind it; a real Hollywood legend and movie making royalty; is neighbours with good friend and occasional Co-star Jack Nicholson; is well known for his high profile romantic relationships that have received much media attention over the years, up until settling down with Benning; and has turned down more high profile film roles with Directors of repute, than films he has starred in. A very Happy 80th Birthday to you Warren, from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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