Birthday's to share this week : 15th - 21st October 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Viggo Mortensen does on 20th October - check out my tribute to this Actor, Author, Musician, Photographer, Painter and Poet Birthday Boy turning 59, 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 15th October

• Tanya Roberts - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actress
• Michael Caton-Jones - Born 1957, turns 60 - Director | Producer
• Todd Solondz - Born 1959, turns 58 - Director | Writer
• Dominic West - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Director

Monday 16th October

• Tim Robbins - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Gary Kemp - Born 1959, turns 58 - Songwriter | Actor 
• Flea (aka Michael Peter Balzary) - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Songwriter
• Kenneth Lonergan - Born 1962, turns 55 - Writer | Director | Actor
• Angela Lansbury - Born 1925, turns 92 - Actress | Producer | Singer  

Tuesday 17th October

• Felicity Jones - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actress
• Lawrence Bender - Born 1957, turns 60 - Producer | Actor
• Rob Marshall - Born 1960, turns 57 - Director | Producer | Choreographer
• Eminem (aka Marshall Bruce Mathers III) - Born 1972, turns 45 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Producer | Writer
• Matthew Macfadyen - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actor 

Wednesday 18th October

• Howard Shore - Born 1946, turns 71 - Composer | Songwriter | Orchestrator | Conductor
• Jean-Claude Van Damme - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director 
• Zac Efron - Born 1987, turns 30 - Actor | Singer  
• Freida Pinto - Born 1984, turns 33 - Actress

Thursday 19th October

• John le Carre - Born 1931, turns 86 - Writer | Producer | Actor
• Michael Gambon - Born 1940, turns 77 - Actor
• John Lithgow - Born 1945, turns 72 - Actor | Producer | Singer 
• Jon Favreau - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Trey Parker - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Singer | Songwriter 
• Jason Reitman - Born 1977, turns 40 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor 

Friday 20th October

• Timothy West - Born 1934, turns 83 - Actor 
• Thomas Newman - Born 1955, turns 62 - Composer | Singer | Songwriter | Orchestrator | Conductor
• Danny Boyle - Born 1956, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Viggo Mortensen - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter  
• Snoop Dog (aka Calvin Cordozar Broadus) - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Composer | Writer | Director 
• John Krasinski - Born 1979, turns 38 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer

Saturday 21st October 

• Ken Watanabe - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actor | Producer
• Catherine Hardwicke - Born 1955, turns 62 - Director | Producer | Production Designer | Writer

Viggo Peter Mortensen Jnr. was born in New York City to mother Grace Atkinson, and father Viggo Peter Mortensen Snr. She is American, and he Danish. The couple met in Norway. The family moved to Venezuela , then onto Denmark and then Argentina, where the young Viggo attended primary school and where he became fluent in Spanish. At age eleven, his parents separated and so Viggo Jnr. returned to New York with his mother  where he spent his remaining childhood years attending Watertown High School, in New York and from where he graduated in 1976. He then went on to study at St. Lawrence University in New York graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish Studies and Politics. That was 1980, and thereafter he spent time living in Spain, Denmark and England where he took menial jobs to pay his way before returning to the US to take up an acting career.  He has two younger brothers, Walter and Charles, both of whom work as geologists. 

In 1984 Mortensen appeared in the television mini-series 'George Washington' with the likes of Beau Bridges, Robert Stack, Hal Holbrook, James Mason and Trevor Howard, and the following year appeared in a single episodes of the long running day time television serial 'Search for Tomorrow'. It was also in 1985 that the aspiring Actor gained this first feature film role in Peter Weir's 'Witness' alongside Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas and Danny Glover. This gave way to a single episode on 'Miami Vice' then a few movies seeing out the '80's including Renny Harlin's horror crime drama 'Prison', then 'Fresh Horses' with Molly Ringwood, Ben Stiller, and Andrew McCarthy and then 'Tripwire'. 

From 1990 Mortensen scored regular feature film work year on year kicking off with 'Leatherface : Texas Chainsaw Massacre III' and then action Western 'Young Guns II' with Keifer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, Lou Diamond Phillips and James Coburn. Horror thriller 'The Reflecting Skin' and then the Sean Penn Directed drama 'The Indian Runner' with David Morse, Charles Bronson, and Dennis Hopper. 'Ruby Cairo' with Liam Neeson, 'Boiling Point' with Wesley Snipes, 'The Young Americans' with Harvey Keitel, led to the Brian de Palma Directed 'Carlito's Way' with Al Pacino in 1993.

The years that followed upto the end of the decade saw Mortensen star in a host of 'B' grade movies whilst others shared more notable mainstream success. Included in the latter were Tony Scott's 'Crimson Tide' with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington; Jane Campion's 'The Portrait of a Lady' with Nicole Kidman and John Malkovich; the Kevin Spacey Directed 'Albino Alligator' with Matt Dillon and Faye Dunaway; the Rob Cohen Directed 'Daylight' with Sylvester Stallone; Ridley Scott's 'G.I. Jane' with Demi Moore and Anne Bancroft; the remake of Hitchcock's 'Dial M for Murder' with 'A Perfect Murder' starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow; and Gus Van Sant's frame by frame remake of the classic Hitchcock thriller 'Psycho' with Vince Vaughn and Julianne Moore seeing out the '90's.

2000 saw comedy drama offering '28 Days' with Sandra Bullock and Dominic West, before what is best described as his breakout roll in 2001 as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's epic trilogy 'Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring' which was followed up with 2002's 'Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers' and in 2003 by 'Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King'. The three films went on to huge commercial and critical success winning a combined sixteen Academy Awards plus another 425 award wins and 384 further nominations. In terms of worldwide Box Office the three films cost a total US$281M to bring J.R.R. Tolkien's books to the big screen, and raked in a combined US$2,92B.

Following the four year 'LOTR' trilogy hiatus, Mortensen remained in the saddle (literally) with the Joe Johnston Directed historical biographical action adventure offering 'Hidalgo' with Omar Sharif. His first collaboration with Director David Cronenberg came in 2005 with 'A History of Violence' also starring Ed Harris and Maria Bello. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards and walked away with another 37 award wins and 78 nods. Spanish historical adventure drama 'Alatriste' came next in 2006, followed by his second outing for Cronenberg with crime drama 'Eastern Promises' with Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel for which Mortensen was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award from its total award haul of 28 wins and another 71 nominations.

Next up for Mortensen in 2008 was the Ed Harris, Co-Written, Directed and starring crime drama Western 'Appaloosa' with Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons and Timothy Spall, followed by WWII drama 'Good' with Jason Isaacs and Mark Strong. This in turn led to the Cormac McCarthy adaptation of his post-apocalyptic adventure drama 'The Road' as Directed to Critical acclaim by John Hillcoat and also starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce.

2011 saw Mortensen's third collaboration with David Cronenberg in the historical biographical drama 'A Dangerous Method' in which Mortensen plays Sigmund Freud opposite Michael Fassbender's Carl Jung. The film also starred Keira Knightley, and Vincent Cassel and collected 18 award wins and a further 28 nominations from around the traps. 'On the Road' followed a year later with an ensemble cast in the adventure drama film also starring Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Elisabeth Moss, Kirsten Dunst, Terrence Howard and Steve Buscemi. The Argentinian crime thriller 'Everybody Has a Plan' followed also in 2012, and then the romantic thriller 'The Two Faces of January' with Oscar Isaac and Kirsten Dunst in 2014.

2014 also saw the historical drama offering 'Juaja', and then the French drama film 'Far from Men'. This took us up to 2016 and Mortensen's turn in the highly regarded 'Captain Fantastic' as Written and Directed by Matt Ross and also starring Frank Langella, Steve Zahn and a cast of six child Actors all portraying Mortensen's somewhat dysfunctional children raised in remote woodlands totally isolated from the world for ten years, only to have to reintegrate into mainstream society as a result of the tragic and unexpected death of their mother. The film received generally positive Reviews and Mortensen was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG for his performance out of its total fourteen wins and 43 other nominations.

Next up for Mortensen is 'Unabomb' currently in pre-production and telling the story of an FBI Agent who leads an unconventional team on the hunt for notorious Theodore (Ted) John Kaczynski (aka 'The Unabomber') who between 1978 and 1995 killed three people and injured 23 others in a nationwide bombing campaign, and who is now serving eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.  In between time Mortensen established his own publishing company - 'The Perceval Press' to help other artists by publishing their works that may not ordinarily find a home in more mainstream traditional publishing houses. He also uses his own company to publish many of his own personal artistic projects in the areas of photography, poetry, music and literature. His credits as an author on numerous books of poetry, photography and painting extend from his initial collection of poems - 'Ten Last Night' released in 1993 that take in a further seventeen publications right up to 2015. He also combines his love of poetry with music and he also boasts an extensive discography taking in seventeen released CD's between 1994 and 2013.

All up Mortensen has 57 Acting credits to his name, three as Producer, three Soundtrack credits and one as Composer. He has 32 Award wins under his belt and a further 93 nominations including two Academy Awards and two BAFTA nominations for 'Captain Fantastic' and 'Eastern Promises', three Golden Globe nominations for 'Captain Fantastic', 'Eastern Promises' and 'A Dangerous Method', and four SAG nods for Captain Fantastic', 'Eastern Promises', 'LOTR : The Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Two Towers' and a win for 'LOTR : The Return of the King'. 

Mortensen was married to Actress and Singer Exene Cervenka from mid 1987 through until 1992, becoming officially divorced in 1997. They have a son together, Henry Blake Mortensen born in January 1988. Since 2009, Mortensen has been romantically linked to Spanish Actress Ariadna Gil.

Viggo Mortensen - fluent in English, Spanish, Danish and French, understands Norwegian and Swedish and can converse in Italian; is a fan of soccer, baseball (the New York Mets), ice hockey (the Montreal Canadiens), American football (the New York Giants); is an accomplished horse rider; has appeared on numerous 'Top' lists over the years including 100 Sexiest Movie Stars, 15 Sexiest Men, 25 Most Intriguing People, the Hottest Hotties and 50 Most Beautiful People; and turned down the role of Aragorn until his son convince him to take it on . . . . thankfully he made the right decision! Known for his cleft chin, soft mellow voice and for portraying rugged anti-heroes with absolute conviction, you are acclaimed in a multitude of artistic endeavours, and you never disappoint. Happy Birthday to you Viggo, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 17th-23rd April 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Andy Serkis does on 20th April - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 52, 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 17th April

• Rooney Mara - Born 1985, turns 31 - Actress | Producer  
• Olivia Hussey - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actress
• Jennifer Garner - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actress | Producer
• Nick Hornby - Born 1957, turns 59 - Writer | Producer
• Sean Bean - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer 

Monday 18th April

• Eli Roth - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director  
• Eric Roberts - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor
• David Tennant - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor
• Edgar Wright - Born 1974, turns 42 - Producer | Director | Writer | Actor
• Rick Moranis - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• James Woods - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actor | Producer  

Tuesday 19th April

• James Franco - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Tim Curry - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actor | Singer
• Hayden Christensen - Born 1981, turns 35 - Actor | Producer
• Kate Hudson - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actress
• Ashley Judd - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actress | Producer   

Wednesday 20th April

• Jessica Lange - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actress  
• Andy Serkis - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Michael Brandon - Born 1945, turns 71 - Actor
• Ryan O'Neal - Born 1941, turns 75 - Actor | Producer
• George Takei - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actor
• Leslie Phillips - Born 1924, turns 92 - Actor | Producer  

Thursday 21st April

• James McAvoy - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor | Producer  
• Tony Danza - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor | Producer
• Charles Grodin - Born 1935, turns 81 - Actor | Writer
• Andie MacDowell - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actress | Producer
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actress  

Friday 22nd April

• Amber Heard - Born 1986, turns 30 - Actress  
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor
• John Waters - Born 1946, turns 70 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor
• Lee Tamahori - Born 1950, turns 66 - Director
• Jack Nicholson - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer

Saturday 23rd April

• Michael Moore - Born 1954, turns 62 - Writer | Producer | Director  
• Dev Patel - Born 1990, turns 26 - Actor
• John Cena - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actor | WWF Wrestler | Television Personality
• John Hannah - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actor | Producer
• Lee Majors - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Producer
• Judy Davis - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actress

Andrew Clement Serkis was born and raised in Ruislip Manor, Middlesex, England to mother Lylie Weech - a teacher of disabled children and father Clement Serkis - an Iraqi gynaecologist of Armenian descent. His father often returned to the Middle East to work while he was growing up, and the young Serkis would often holiday in those Middle Eastern lands with his siblings during their younger years. He attended St. Benedict's School - a co-educational independent Catholic School in the London suburb of Ealing. Open leaving school, Serkis attended Lancaster University and studied visual arts with the aim of designing posters. As a member of the University's County College and student radio station, he joined a studio to get involved in play design and production. Toward the end of his first year, he agreed to act in several productions and was so taken by acting that he changed his major subject to acting. In his third year he joined the local playhouse to gain his Equity Card and upon graduation joined as an Actor, working in a diverse range of stage productions from the classics including Shakespeare right through to the modern day contemporary playwrights.

His small screen debut came in 1989 in a couple of episodes of 'The New Statesman' with Rik Mayall, with the next eight years or so taken up with appearances in a string of television series including 'Streetwise', 'The Darling Buds of May', 'The Bill', 'Grushko', 'Finney' and 'Kavagnah QC'.

In 1994 he took a small role in 'Royal Deceit' - a retelling of 'Hamlet' with Gabriel Byrne, Christian Bale, Brian Cox, Tom Wilkinson and Helen Mirren. The mid-90's continued with smaller fare including 'The Near Room', 'Stella Does Tricks', 'Career Girls' for Director Mike Leigh, 'Loop' and 'Among Giants' with Rachel Griffiths and Pete Postlethwaite. 'Sweety Barret' with Brandan Gleeson and Mike Leigh's 'Topsy Turvey' saw out the decade with Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall and Dexter Fletcher. In the meantime , there were further television series appearances with the likes of 'Jump', 'Touching Evil' and 'Oliver Twist' in which Serkis plays Bill Sikes.

2000 kicked off with 'The Jolly Boys Last Stand', Julien Temple's 'Pandaemonium' with John Hannah, Linus Roache and Dexter Fletcher, 'Shiner' with Michael Caine and Martin Landau, and 'Five Seconds to Spare' with Ray Winstone.

The turning point came for Serkis in 2001 with the release of Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring' in which he appears as Smeagol/Gollum through cutting edge Motion Capture technology as it was back then, and as the voice of the character. Serkis received much critical acclaim for his role although his performance did begin a debate over the legitimacy of CGI supported acting and whether this was therefore award worthy. And in some quarters it was, and in others not so! He reprised the character in all its Mo-Cap CGI glory in both successive films 'Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers' and 'Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King'.

In the meantime there was '24 Hour Party People', 'The Escapist', 'Deathwatch', '13 Going On 30' and 'Blessed' before his Mo-Cap skills were summonsed once again by Peter Jackson on 2005's 'King Kong' remake with Serkis playing the giant ape of the film's title. As the latter half of the decade wore on Christopher Nolan's 'The Prestige', 'Longford', 'Extraordinary Rendition', 'Sugarhouse', 'The Cottage', 'Einstein and Eddington', 'Inkheart' before his turn as the polio affected rock musician Ian Dury in the 'Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll' biopic of 2010.

That same year a remake of the classic Graham Greene novel and film of 1947, 'Brighton Rock'  co-starring with Helen Mirren and John Hurt was released, with 'Burke & Hare' and Serkis and Simon Pegg playing the title historical characters.

Returning to Mo-Cap again Serkis portrayed super intelligent chimpanzee 'Caesar' in the reboot of the classic 60's and 70's film franchise - 'Planet of the Apes' with the first instalment 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', a role he would again reprise in 2014 in 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' and again currently filming 'War for the Planet of the Apes' due in 2017.

Meanwhile 'Death of a Superhero', 'Wild Bill' for Dexter Fletcher, and more Mo-Cap with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson in the CGI animated 'The Adventures of Tintin' with Serkis lending his voice to Captain Haddock, which he is set to do another two times with 'The Adventures of Tintin : Prisoners of the Sun' announced, and a third instalment as yet untitled.







He returned to the Gollum character once more for Peter Jackson in 2012 with 'The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey' before 'The Avengers : Age of Ultron' as Ulysses Klaue - a role he'll reprise too in late 2017's 'The Black Panther'. Last up we saw Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke in 'Star Wars : Episode VII - The Force Awakens'  - a role he also reprise in 'Episode VIII' which is currently filming.

Also in the works is his Directorial debut with the Warner Bros. adaptation of 'Jungle Book' due for release originally in October 2016, then shifted back to October 2017, and now slated for release in October 2018. With an all star cast that includes Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch and Cate Blanchett, Serkis will also star as Baloo, as well as Produce through his own Production Company 'The Imaginarium Studios' based in Ealing, London which he established to further progress performance capture technology in film making.

All up, Serkis has 92 acting credits to his name, three Producer credits and one as Director. He has also lent his voice talents to to the likes of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit', 'Tintin', 'The Simpsons', 'Flushed Away', 'Arthur Christmas' and several video game characters. He has thirty award wins and another 42 nominations. He married Actress Lorraine Ashbourne in July 2002 with whom he has three children - Ruby (born in 1998), Sonny (born in 2000) and Louis (born in 2004). He is an accomplished painter and a keen mountaineer, and a supporter of The Hope Foundation.



Andy Serkis - the Motion Capture go to guy . . . anywhere and for everything; better known for your CGI characters that the real life humans you portray - 'Tintin', 'Gollum', 'Caesar', 'Snoke' and 'Kong'; is certainly multi-talented and increasingly sought after and in demand; and you would probably not recognise him unless you are in the know - but Andy - keep blazing a trail, we love you for it and the characters you bring so convincingly to life - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

CHRISTOPHER LEE - dies aged 93 - R.I.P.

The great screen horror icon of the 20th Century, Christopher Lee, passed away last Sunday 7th June at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure. He was 93 years of age. His wife of more than fifty years, and former model, Birgit Kroencke, withheld his passing for four days until his family and the closest friends had been notified.


Born Christopher Frank Carandini Lee in Belgravia, Westminster, London on 27th May 1922. At age six, his parents divorced. Some years later his mother remarried a banker and uncle to Ian Flemming (therefore Lee's step-cousin) - the author of the James Bond books, in which he would play the villain Scaramanga in the 1974 big screen adaptation of 'The Man with the Golden Gun' alongside Roger Moore. At nine, Lee moved to Summer Fields School in Oxford - a feeder school for Eton, but the young Lee missed out in the scholarship exam for Eton by just one point and so went to Wellington College instead. Up until Wellington he had acted in school plays regularly but hardly did so during these school years, and he didn't fare too well in sports either just getting by in racquet sports, fencing, but cricket was better. Nor did he like the school parades and weapons training, and by the summer term of 1939 with a year of study left to go his father was declared bankrupt and so his time at Wellington was cut short by a year.

Forced to seek employment and with little opportunities during the summer of 1939 he decided to go to the French Riviera, and passing through Paris en route, witnessed the last public execution by guillotine  on June 17th 1939. After a brief time in the South of France and with Europe on the verge of war, Lee returned to London where he secured a job as an office clerk for the transatlantic shipping company - United States Lines.

As war broke out he volunteered to join the Finnish Forces in the 1939 Winter War. After this and opon returning to London he joined the Home Guard and then the Royal Air Force where he was subsequently posted to South Africa and then Southern Rhodesia and then onto its capital city, then, Salisbury. Unable to fly because of headaches and blurred vision he joined the RAF Intelligence. This took him to Durban, onto Suez where he was actively involved in the North African Campaign before moving on to Malta and after its capture by the Eighth Army to Sicily. By the winter of 1943 he had moved into Italy, and joining up with Gurkhas saw active duty in the Battle of Monte Cassino - the gateway to Rome. Having been promoted to Flight Lieutenant and being able to speak fluent French and German he was seconded to the Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects being tasked with helping to track down Nazi war criminals. He retired from military service in 1946 having also served time with the Special Operations Executive and the Long Range Desert Patrol, the precursor of the SAS but always kept those detailed a secret, as he was sworn to do.

Through some family connections it was suggested that he should consider acting as a career following the war and his military service. He was fortunate enough to be signed up initially by Rank Film Studio's on a seven picture deal making his big screen debut in 1947 in the Gothic Romance 'Corridor of Mirrors'. The 40's closed out with smaller roles and at times uncredited roles in a number of films, including 'Hamlet' with Laurence Olivier and 'Scott of the Antarctic'.

Throughout the 50's Lee starred in 42 films and 16 television series, some for extended episodes, and it was during this decade that saw his first outing with Hammer Studio's in the 1957 'The Curse of Frankenstein' in which he played Frankenstein's monster, with Peter Cushing as Baron Victor Frankenstein. Lee would go on to star with Peter Cushing in 24 films, and whilst they ofter were rivals and enemies in their film roles they became the closest of friends in life. Lee made the role of Count Dracula his own, starring as the Count in ten films throughout his career mostly for Hammer - 'Dracula : Prince of Darkness', 'Dracula has risen from the Grave', 'Taste the Blood of Dracula', 'Scars of Dracula', 'Dracula A.D. 1972' and 'The Satanic Rites of Dracula' in 1973 which was to be his last appearance. Lee worked with Hammer on other projects too that included 'The Mummy', ' The Hound of the Baskervilles', 'Rasputin, the Mad Monk', 'The Devil Rides Out' and 'To the Devil a Daughter'. Whilst many of the roles were questionable, there is no doubt that Hammer and Lee were in each others debt for the fame and fortune that each bought to the partnership.

The 60's closed out with 43 films and three television series including 'The Avengers' and 'The Alfred Hitchcock Hour'. The 70's brought horror fare still but a change in direction also with the likes of 'The Three Musketeers', 'The Four Musketeers', 'The Man with the Golden Gun', 'Airport '77' and '1941' whilst still giving us a fright in 'I, Monster' 'The Creeping Flesh', 'The Wicker Man', 'Horror Express', 'Castle of the Living Dead'. During this decade Lee made the decision to move to the US to shake off his Dracula mantle. With 27 films appearance s during the decade and appearances in several TV series including 'Charlie's Angels', 'The Far Pavilions', and 'Around the World in 80 Days' it was largely a forgettable decade!

The 90's saw a greater concentration on television than filmic fare that included longer schedules on series including 'The Tomorrow People', 'Street Gear', 'Ivanhoe', 'The New Adventures of Robin Hood', and 'Gormenghast', with movie offerings including 'Gremlins 2 : The New Batch' and 'Sleepy Hollow' his first collaboration with Tim Burton.

As 2000 clicked over so Lee seemed to take on a new lease of movie life, with roles in major franchises films - 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy playing Saruman in 'The Fellowship of the Ring', 'The Two Towers' and the extended version of 'Return of the King'. He would reprise the role in Peter Jackson's 'Hobbit' films follow-up 'An Unexpected Journey' and 'The Battle of the Five Armies'. The other significant role was in the Star Wars reboot playing Count Dooku in 'Episode II : Attack of the Clones' and 'Episode III : Revenge of the Sith'. During the decade too in between 'Rings' and 'Star Wars' there was further work with Tim Burton on 'The Corpse Bride' and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' as well as 'The Golden Compass', 'Triage' and 'Glorious 39'.

The last five years saw no let up in Lee's output with roles in Martin Scorsese's 'Hugo', 'The Resident' - the first Hammer film in 35 years, 'Dark Shadows' and 'Alice in Wonderland' with Tim Burton once more and 'Burke and Hare' amongst others, with 'Angels in Notting Hill' completed last year and awaiting a release.

A staggering 278 film and television acting credits throughout eight decades of film making with 22 award wins and eight other nominations including the BAFTA Academy Fellowship win in 2011, and the British Film Institute Fellowship Award win in 2013. Additionally, over the years Lee has lent his voice talents to many video game characters that he has played on screen, to animated characters and in narrating television specials and documentaries. Also an accomplished musician with singer/songwriter credits on a number of films and album recordings including a very active interest in heavy metal music resulting in numerous accolades too.

In 1997 he was appointed a Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John; in 2001 Commander of the Order of the British Empire 'for services to Drama' by HRH The Queen; in 2009 was made a Knight Bachelor 'for services to Drama and to Charity' by Prince Charles; and in 2011 was awarded the Bram Stoker Gold Medal (on the 164th anniversary of his birth) by the Trinity College Philosophical Society, of which Stoker was President.

Lee leaves a legacy of film making that is unsurpassed from the golden age of cinema with extraordinary output across many genres, but it will be for his indelible mark left on the horror genre that he will be most fondly remembered, and frequently referenced.

Christopher Lee - R.I.P.
1922 - 2015.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 11th - 17th January 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week? Orlando Bloom  does, on 13th January - 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 11th January

• Amanda Peet - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actress
• Mary J. Blige - Born 1971, turns 44 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress
• Jason Connery - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director

Monday 12th January

• Rob Zombie - Born 1965, turns 50 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Singer | Songwriter | Composer
• Oliver Platt - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• Anthony Andrews - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actor
• John Lasseter - Born 1957, turns 58 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Aaron Seltzer - Born 1974, turns 41 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Kirstie Alley - Born 1951, turns 64 - Actress | Producer

Tuesday 13th January

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actress | Producer
• Orlando Bloom - Born 1977, turns 38 - Actor | Producer
• Liam Hemsworth - Born 1990, turns 25 - Actor
• Patrick Dempsey - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Bill Bailey - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor | Comedian | Producer | Singer | Songwriter | Composer
• Michael Pena - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actor

Wednesday 14th January

• Jason Bateman - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Carl Weathers - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actor | Director
• Steven Soderbergh - Born 1963, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor | Cinematographer
• Lawrence Kasdan - Born 1949, turns 66 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Faye Dunaway - Born 1941, turns 74 - Actress | Producer
• Emily Watson - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress

Thursday 15th January

• James Nesbitt - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor
• Mario Van Peebles - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Ryan Corr - Born 1989, turns 26 - Actor

Friday 16th January

• John Carpenter - Born 1948, turns 67 - Director | Producer | Writer | Composer
• Debbie Allen - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actress | Director | Producer | Singer | Songwriter

Saturday 17th January 

• Zooey Deschanel - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Jim Carey - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• James Earl Jones - Born 1931, turns 84 - Actor
• Brian Helgeland - Born 1954, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Leigh Wannell - Born 1977, turns 38 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor

Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom was born in Canterbury, Kent, England to Sonia Constance Josephine Copeland and Harry Saul Bloom. His mother was born in Kolkata, India and the man he knew in his early life as his father was a South African Political Activist - he died when Orlando was just four years old. He was raised by his mother, older sister Samantha and Colin Stone whom his mother announced when Orlando was thirteen years of age was his actual biological father.

The young Bloom attended St. Peter's Methodist Primary School, The King's School, and St. Edmund's School all in Canterbury. He struggled academically because he suffered with mild dyslexia and so immersed himself in pottery, sculpture and photography. He in turn studied poetry and prose  and with his sister gave many recitals of classic works and from the Bible. He was encouraged by his mother to take art and drama classes and in 1993 he relocated to London to complete drama, photography and sculpture classes at the Fine Arts College in Hampstead. He joined the National Youth Theatre and gained a scholarship to the British American Drama Academy.

He then began acting professionally securing roles in three episodes of BBC's hospital drama 'Casualty' and one episode of 'Midsomer Murders' before appearing with Stephen Fry in his 1997 big screen debut 'Wilde'. He then attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London to study acting. While there he fell three stories from a roof top terrace and broke his back. Beyond all expectations he made a quick and full recovery and returned to the stage. During one performance, Peter Jackson was sat in the audience, and following a post-show discussion he was cast in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy which began filming two days after he graduated. The rest as they say, is history!

His role as Legolas in the 'LOTR' series propelled Bloom into the international spotlight and mainstream - a role he would reprise a further four times in 'The Two Towers' and 'Return of the King' and then again more recently in two of the three 'The Hobbit' films 'The Desolation of Smaug' and 'The Battle of the Five Armies'. Whilst shooting the first 'Rings' film he also secured a small role in Ridley Scott's 'Black Hawk Down' in 2001 and 'Ned Kelly' in 2003 with Heath Ledger and Geoffrey Rush.

Immediately following the success of 'LOTR' came another huge franchise beckoning with the first in the epic blockbuster 'Pirates of the Carribbean' series with 2003's 'Curse of the Black Pearl' opposite Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley. His role as Will Turner was subsequently reprised in 2006's 'Dead Man's Chest' and 2007's 'At World's End', and he is rumoured to be back again for 2017's 'Dead Men tell no Tales' having skipped 'On Stranger Tides' in the meantime.

Following on came 'Troy' in 2004 Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and starring as 'Paris' alongside Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Peter O'Toole, with 'Kingdom of Heaven' a year later for Director Ridley Scott with Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson and Edward Norton. Coming after the epic blockbuster fare largely seen up to now came 'Elizabethtown' in 2005 with Kirsten Dunst, 'New York, I Love You' in 2009 in one of the twelve short films that comprise the complete film package, and then several other roles flying largely under the radar - 'Sympathy for Delicious', 'Main Street', 'The Good Doctor', 'Zulu' and the more widely known 'The Three Musketeers' in 2011. Next up is 'Digging for Fire' with Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell and Sam Elliott due later this year, and then 'Unlocked' thereafter with Director Michael Apted and also starring Noomi Rapace, Toni Collette, Michael Douglas and John Malkovich.

Bloom has 38 acting credits to his name and three Producer credits thus far. He has twenty award wins and a further 21 award nominations. He was associated with Actress Kate Bosworth from 2003-2006 and married to Miranda Kerr from 2010-2013 with whom they have a son - Flynn Christopher Blanchard Copeland Bloom born in 2011. He is a practising Buddhist, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador,  and is involved in environmental organisation 'Global Green'. As wells breaking his back, he has also broken his left arm (playing rugby), his right leg (skiing), his left leg (motorcycle accident), right wrist (snowboarding), several ribs (filming 'LOTR'), nose (playing rugby) and cracked his skull several times. His home in the Hollywood Hills was robbed by the 'Bling Ring' in 2009 during which US$500K in personal possessions were stolen - although mostly subsequently retrieved.

Orlando Bloom - very handy with a sword and a bow, rides a horse well, adept at close quarter combat, athletic and known for sword and sandal, epic fantasy, costume drama roles and possessing cheeky boyish good looks - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 26th October - 1st November 2014.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week? Peter Jackson does, on 31st October - 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 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!

Sunday 26th October

• Dylan McDermott - Born 1961, turns 53 - Actor
• Seth MacFarlane - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actor | Writer | Director | Producer
• Cary Elwes - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor
• Jaclyn Smith - Born 1945, turns 69 - Actress

Monday 27th October

• John Cleese - Born 1939, turns 75 - Writer | Actor | Producer
• Ivan Reitman - Born 1946, turns 68 - Director | Producer
• Roberto Benigni - Born 1952, turns 62 - Actor | Director | Writer
• Simon Le Bon - Born 1958, turns 56 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor

Tuesday 28th October

• Julia Roberts - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actress | Producer
• Joaquin Phoenix - Born 1974, turns 40 - Actor | Producer
• Dennis Franz - Born 1944, turns 70 - Actor
• Joan Plowright - Born 1929, turns 85 - Actress

Wednesday 29th October

• Winona Ryder - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actress
• Ben Foster - Born 1980, turns 34 - Actor
• Rufus Sewell - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actor
• Richard Dreyfuss - Born 1947, turns 67 - Actor | Producer
• Kate Jackson - Born 1948, turns 66 - Actress
• Robert Hardy - Born 1925, turns 89 - Actor

Thursday 30th October

• Henry Winkler - Born 1945, turns 69 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Kevin Pollak - Born 1957, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Writer

Friday 31st October

• Peter Jackson - Born 1961, turns 53 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Dermot Mulroney - Born 1963, turns 51 - Actor
• Rob Schneider - Born 1963, turns 51 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Stephen Rea - Born 1946, turns 68 - Actor
• Larry Mullen Jnr. - Born 1961, turns 53 - Songwriter | Composer | Actor

Saturday 1st November

• Toni Collette - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actress | Producer
• Robert Luketic - Born 1973, turns 41 - Director
• Larry Flynt - Born 1942, turns 72 - Producer | Media Personality
• Lyle Lovett - Born 1957, turns 57 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor

Peter Robert Jackson was born near Wellington, New Zealand in the small coastal town Pukerua Bay. His parents - Joan and Bill were English immigrants and a factory worker/wages clerk respectively. As a child he had a very keen interest in photography and films, and when the family were given a Super 8 camera as a gift, he knew almost immediately that films were to be his calling, and he began making short films with his friends.

Often citing the original 1933 'King Kong' film as his favourite, at age nine he attempted to make a remake of it using his own stop-motion models finding inspiration from Ray Harryhausen and cult TV series 'The Thunderbirds'. In his childhood years he also made a WWII movie - 'The Dwarf Patrol', a spy spoof 'Coldfinger' and a short, titled 'The Valley'. At 16, he quit school to join the local newspaper as a full-time photo-engraver - he remained there for seven years, still living at home whilst saving his hard earned money to buy film-making equipment. Within two years he graduated to a 16mm camera, and began work on a film that would eventually lead to the release of his debut feature film in 1987 - 'Bad Taste'.

'Bad Taste' has become a cult classic over the years following its release and is a low budget Sci-Fi horror comedy about aliens descending on the fictional town of Kaihoro to harvest humans for food. Naturally the marauding aliens don't count on a gung-ho four man gang  to bring them down with much carnage, death, destruction, splatter and viscera along the way. Completely over the top, but containing all the touchstones of Jackson's early influences, he managed to secure late funding from the New Zealand Film Commission, and the film aired at the Cannes Film Festival and was on-sold to 12 countries. Jackson was Writer, Director, Producer, Actor, Editor and Make-Up and SFX Supervisor on this film. Before releasing 'Braindead' in 1992, he made 'Meet the Feebles' in 1989 - a puppet based musical black comedy using 'Muppet' like characters but whose personality, profile and purpose are the polar opposite of the Jim Henson creations we all know & love. 'Braindead' is a splatter zombie gore fest that cost US$3M and has been described as one of the goriest films ever made - it flopped at the Box Office, but again, has since gained 'cult' status thanks to Jackson's rise to prominence.

1994 saw a change of direction with the highly acclaimed 'Heavenly Creatures' which he made reluctantly and under some pressure from his wife Fran Walsh who believed this true story would make a good film. It is about the 1950's Parker-Hulme murder case in New Zealand, and which saw the acting debut of Kate Winslett. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and made many Top 10 lists that year. The success of this film opened the doors in Hollywood which gave rise to the 1996 film 'The Frighteners' which was again Written, Produced and Directed by Jackson with the backing of Robert Zemeckis and Universal Studio's with a US$26M budget. It was shot in New Zealand and utilised the growing resources of Jackson's fledgling 'Weta Digital' production business. The film barely recovered its budget, but has since gained more critical acclaim with the passing of time - it starred too Michael J. Fox in his last live action feature length film.

In 1997 Jackson secured the rights to film the J.R.R.Tolkien classic books in the 'The Lord of the Rings' series. Initially working with Miramax Studios on a two film deal he was pressured into making a single instalment, which was overcome when Jackson jumped ship to New Line Studios for a three picture deal. The rest as the say, is history! Filmed and produced over an eight year period on a budget of about US$300M for all three films, these films garnered massive worldwide critical acclaim with a Box Office return of US$2.92B. With 30 Academy Award nominations and 17 Academy Award wins the final film in the franchise won all eleven categories in which it was nominated for the golden statue. All up, the series across the world received 455 award nominations and won 249 of those!

To follow-up this, Jackson could write his own ticket, and so made 'King Kong' in 2005 - the film that inspired him to get into the movie business in the first place. To do so he was paid an upfront fee of US$20M (never before seen!) and a 20% stake of the Box Office receipts. Costing US$207M to make it grossed over US$550M globally with a further US$100M from DVD sales upon release - it picked up three Academy Award wins too.

2009 saw the more low-brow 'The Lovely Bones' which provided a welcome break from his big budget epic fare of the last decade. Before turning attention to 'The Hobbit' series, Jackson had been Producing films for a number of years, including the praised 'District 9' and 'The Adventures of Tin Tin' for Neill Blomkamp and Steven Spielberg respectively. A follow-up to Tin Tin is in the works for a 2015/2016 release with Jackson Directing - 'The Adventures of Tin Tin : Red Rackham's Treasure'.

'The Hobbit' meanwhile has been on-again off-again for a number of years with New Line Cinema going back to 2006. After much argument, gnashing of teeth, fist clenching, chest beating and table banging agreements were reached in 2010 for a two picture deal with Jackson Directing after Guillermo del Toro dropped out. Subsequently, in mid-2012 Jackson announced that 'The Hobbit' would be released over three films in December 2012, 2013 and 2014 with a combined budget of US$775M (dwarfing the Ring's trilogy production cost).  So far the first two instalments have grossed close to US$2B in Box Office receipts and garnered six Academy Award nominations, but not yet a win, although it has  a worldwide award haul of 134 nominations and 31 wins. The final instalment - 'The Battle of Five Armies' is released in December this year.

Jackson has been married to Fran Walsh since 1987 with whom he collaborates on all films. They have two children together - Billy and Kate. He was Knighted in the 2010 New Years Honours List and is now officially Sir Peter Robert Jackson. He has donated NZ$500K to stem-cell research; purchased a Church for NZ$10M and the 'BATS Theatre' to save both for future generations; he contributes his time and many skills to '48 Hours' - a New Zealand film making competition; and has financially supported the 'West Memphis Three' - three teenagers convicted (some believe wrongfully, including Jackson) for the satanic ritual killing of three boys in 1993.

Jackson has accumulated so far in his career 123 awards wins and 87 further nominations. These include Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for 'Return of the King' at the Academy Awards plus six other nominations; the Golden Globes have given him Best Director for 'Return of the King' plus three other nominations; and the BAFTA's have awarded Best Adapted Screenplay for 'Return of the King', Best Film for 'Fellowship of the Ring' and the David Lean Award for Best Direction on 'The Fellowship of the Ring' plus seven other nominations.

Peter Jackson - multi-talented film-maker, hugely successful, influential, respected, fiercely loyal to his native New Zealand and a man who can turn his many skills to almost any aspect of the film making process - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-