Birthday's to share this week : 28th December 2014 - 3rd January 2015.

It's New Year week - do you celebrate your Birthday this week? Anthony Hopkins does, on 31st December - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy 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 28th December

• Denzel Washington - Born 1954, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Stan Lee - Born 1922, turns 92 - Writer | Producer | Actor
• Alex Dimitriades - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actor
• Sienna Miller - Born 1981, turns 33 - Actress
• Noomi Rapace - Born 1979, turns 35 - Actress
• Maggie Smith - Born 1934, turns 80 - Actress

Monday 29th December

• Patricia Clarkson - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actress | Producer
• Mary Tyler Moore - Born 1936, turns 78 - Actress | Producer | Singer | Television Personality
• Jude Law - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor | Producer
• Jon Voight - Born 1938, turns 76 - Actor | Producer
• Ted Danson - Born 1947, turns 67 - Actor | Producer
• Andy Wachowski - Born 1967, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer

Tuesday 30th December

• Tracey Ullman - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director

Wednesday 31st December 

• Barbara Carrera - Born 1945, turns 69 - Actress
• Val Kilmer - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• Ben Kingsley - Born 1943, turns 71 - Actor
• Anthony Hopkins - Born 1937, turns 77 - Actor | Producer | Director | Composer

Thursday 1st January

• Frank Langella - Born 1938, turns 77 - Actor
• Verne Troyer - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor

Friday 2nd January

• Cuba Gooding Jnr. - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actor | Producer
• Todd Haynes - Born 1961, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Taye Diggs - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer
• Paz Vega - Born 1976, turns 38 - Actress
• Kate Bosworth - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actress | Producer
• Tia Carrere - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress | Producer

Saturday 3rd January

• Victoria Principal - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actress | Producer
• Dabney Coleman - Born 1932, turns 83 - Actor
• Robert Loggia - Born 1930, turns 85 - Actor
• Mel Gibson - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Director

Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in Margam, Port Talbot in South Wales on New Years Eve to mother Annie Muriel Yeates and father Richard Arthur Hopkins. He was not an academic child but did immerse himself in painting, drawing and learning the piano at school. He was enrolled at Jones' West Monmouth Boys School and then Cowbridge Grammar School. At age 15 he briefly met Richard Burton who greatly influenced the young Hopkins and coincidentally was also from Port Talbot. As a result he attended the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff where he graduated from in 1957. After completing his obligatory national service he relocated himself to London where he further studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

His first stage appearance came in 1960 at the Palace Theatre, Swansea in 'Have a Cigarette'. In 1965  he was seen by Lord Laurence Olivier who invited him to join the Royal National Theatre where he went on to become Olivier's understudy. His small screen career started off in 1967 in a BBC televised play 'A Flea in Her Ear' and that same year he appeared in the short film 'The White Bus' (aka 'Red, White and Zero'). However, 1968 saw his first big screen role playing King Richard I in 'The Lion in Winter' with Peter O'Toole, Katherine Hepburn and Timothy Dalton which went on to take out three Academy Awards that year. He continued to tread the boards, but progressively moved toward more television and film roles starring in this earlier years in the likes of 'The Looking Glass War', 'Hamlet', 'When Eight Bells Toll', 'Young Winston' for Director Richard Attenborough, 'The Girl from Petrovka', 'Juggernaut' and then 1977's 'A Bridge Too Far' again Directed by Richard Attenborough and with an all star cast. In the meantime there had been numerous television series and made for television movies, the most notable of which was the TV Mini-Series 'War & Peace' in which he starred in all seventeen episodes running over 1972 and '73.

The 1980's opened up opposite John Hurt in 'The Elephant Man' followed by 'A Change of Seasons' and then as William Bligh in 'The Bounty' with Mel Gibson, Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson and Edward Fox. 'The Good Father', '84, Charring Cross Road' and again various television series and made for TV films also featured - 'A Married Man', 'Strangers and Brothers' and 'Hollywood Wives' amongst others.

It was the 1990's however, that really saw Hopkins movie career take off with the hugely successful and highly acclaimed Jonathan Demme Directed 'Silence of the Lambs' in 1991 which won the 'Big-5' Academy Awards including the Best Actor Award for Hopkins. He was nominated a further three times in the 90's for the golden statue - for 'Remains of the Day', 'Nixon' and 'Amistad'. There were other notable films too during the decade that included 'Howard's End', 'Dracula', 'Chaplin', 'Shadowlands' with Richard Attenborough Directing once more, 'Legends of the Fall', 'The Edge', 'The Mask of Zorro', 'Meet Joe Black', 'Instinct' and 'Titus'.

As the new century rolled over Hopkins reprised his role as Dr. Hannibal Lecter twice again - in 2001's 'Hannibal' Directed by Ridley Scott, and then Brett Ratner's 2002 'Red Dragon'. What followed included 'The Human Stain', 'Alexander' for Oliver Stone who also Directed Hopkins in 'Nixon', 'Proof', 'Fracture', 'The World's Fastest Indian', the CGI animated 'Beowulf' and his own Written, Directed and Starring 'Slipstream' in 2007.

More recently there has been 'The Wolfman'. 'The Rite', Marvel's 'Thor' and it's sequel 'Thor : The Dark World', '360', 'Hitchcock' as the great Director himself opposite Helen Mirren, 'RED 2' and 'Noah' most recently. 

Coming up there is 'Autobahn' and 'Kidnapping Freddy Heineken' due in 2015, 'Solace' in post-production currently and 'Go with Me' presently filming. The 'Westworld' Television series is filming too for 2015 and 'The Dresser' television movie is in pre-production now.

All up Hopkins has 127 acting credits to his name, three Directer credits for which he also composed his own music scores and a total 51 worldwide award wins and 44 other nominations. The Academy Awards were mentioned before, and in addition there are six Golden Globe nominations and the 2006 Cecil B. DeMille Award win; two Primetime Emmy Award wins for 'The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case' and 'The Bunker' and two other nominations; and four BAFTA Award wins for 'War & Peace', 'Silence of the Lambs', 'Shadowlands' and The Academy Fellowship win in 2008, plus four other nominations.

During his career he has played British Prime Minister David Lloyd George; English King - Richard the Lionheart; two US Presidents - John Quincy Adams and Richard Nixon; German Dictator Adolf Hitler; renowned artist Pablo Picasso; renowned film Director Alfred Hitchcock; and renowned literary scribe Charles Dickens, amongst other real life characters.

He was married to Petronella Barker from 1967 to 1972; to Jennifer Lynton from 1973 to 2002; and to Stella Arroyave from 2003 until the present day. He has a daughter - composer and actress Abigail Hopkins, born in 1968. He has both British and American citizenship and his charitable and philanthropic efforts extend to his Presidency of the National Trust's 'Snowdonia Appeal' to which he personally donated one million pounds sterling. He is  patron of his hometown YMCA and is a volunteer teacher at Santa Monica's Ruskin School of Acting. Additionally he is a prominent member of 'Greanpeace' and a patron of the 'Rehabilitaion for Addicted Prisoners Trust'. He is a reformed alcoholic having given up on Christmas day 1975, he has quit smoking and has been vegetarian now for some years, and he is a piano virtuoso. In the Queen's Birthday Honour's List in 1987 he was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire); in 1992 she bestowed upon him in the New Year's Honour's List the KBE (Knight Bachelor of the Order of the British Empire); and in 2008 he was made a Fellow of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Anthony Hopkins - owner of deep blue piercing eyes and a deep smooth voice, often playing restrained archetypal English roles, character actor and known for roles of historical personalities, trademarked as bringing to life one of cinemas most chilling characters, and still much in demand and still turning it on for us at 77 - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH - dies aged 90 - R.I.P.

Richard Samuel Attenborough was born in Cambridge on August 29th 1923 and died at lunchtime on Sunday 24th August 2014 following a prolonged period of illness, just five days from his 91st birthday.

Brother of David Attenborough, the acclaimed and equally renowned naturalist and broadcaster, he was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School in Leicester and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He served in the Royal Air Force during the second World War, and after pilot training was seconded to the new RAF Film Unit at Pinewood Studios where he volunteered to fly with the film unit flying several sorties over Europe filming the bombing raids. This gave him a taste for film making which later on would fuel his hunger for Directing.

His acting career began in the Noel Coward/David Lean production of 'In Which We Serve' in 1942, although he was uncredited by mistake. It was however, the 1947 adaptation of the classic Graham Greene novel, 'Brighton Rock', in which Attenborough starred as small time local crim, Pinkie Brown, that was to prove his breakthrough. Two years later in 1949, he was voted the sixth most popular actor in British cinema.

For the next thirty years he worked prolifically, with his starring role alongside many Hollywood heavyweights in 1963's 'The Great Escape' that was to prove another milestone - his big screen epic Hollywood breakthrough. This was followed up by the likes of 'The Flight of the Phoenix', 'Sand Pebbles' and 'Doctor Dolittle' starring with James Stewart, Steve McQueen and Rex Harrison respectively - the latter two roles winning him back-to-back Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actor.

His Directing debut came in 1969 with 'Oh, What a Lovely War' and then the period epics 'Young Winston' and 'A Bridge Too Far'. 1982's 'Gandhi' won him two Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, as he also acted as Producer on that film.

He married actress Sheila Sim in 1945, and they remained married up to his death this past weekend. His eldest daughter, Jane Holland, and his granddaughter Lucy, were both tragically killed in the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami that struck Thailand while they were holidaying. In 2008 Attenborough had a pacemaker fitted and suffered a stroke later that year that left him wheelchair bound until his death. In late 2012 his wife was diagnosed with senile dementia and in early 2013 he moved into the actors nursing home, Denville Hall, to be with his wife.

In 1967, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), and in 1993 was made a life peer as Baron Attenborough of Richmond-on-Thames. in 1983 he was awarded the 'Padma Bhusan' - India's third highest civilian honour and that same year the 'Martin Luther King Jnr. Nonviolence Peace Prize'. In 2006 with his brother David, he was awarded as a 'Distinguished Honourary Fellow of the University of Leicester', and in 2008 an 'Honourary Doctorate of Drama from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama'. He also has a 30,000 sq.ft. sound stage named after him at Pinewood Studios which was unveiled in 2012 - his career then almost coming full circle!

His film performances run to 78 credits and began in 1942 with 'In Which We Serve', and took in over more than half a century with the likes of 'Brighton Rock', 'The Great Escape', 'The Flight of the Phoenix', 'Doctor Dolittle', 'The Last Grenade', '10, Rillington Place', 'Ten Little Indians', 'Brannigan', 'Jurassic Park', 'Miracle on 34th Street', 'Hamlet', 'The Lost World : Jurassic Park', and 'Elizabeth'. In addition he has thirteen Producer and twelve Director credits to his name including 'Oh, What a Lovely War', 'Young Winston', 'A Bridge Too Far', 'Gandhi', 'A Chorus Line', 'Cry Freedom', 'Chaplin', 'Shadowlands' and his last offering - 2007's 'Closing the Ring'.

He was the recipient of 31 career award wins and 16 other nominations including two Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for 'Gandhi'; three Golden Globes for Best Director for 'Gandhi' and Best Supporting Actor for 'Sand Pebbles' and 'Doctor Dolittle' with two other nominations; and six BAFTA wins for Best Actor for 'Guns at Batsai' and 'Seance on a Wet Afternoon', Best Film for 'Gandhi' and 'Shadowlands', Best Director for 'Gandhi' as well as winning the 'Academy Fellowship Award' in 1983, plus eight other nominations.

Richard Attenborough - an icon of British film history, a star of numerous Hollywood classics, active in the industry for seven decades, a respected influence to many, and the provider of a film legacy both in front and behind the camera that will live on in motion picture history, may you forever Rest In Peace in the knowledge that you have left an indelible mark on the world of cinema.

Richard Attenborough - Rest In Peace
1923-2014.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-