Birthday's to share this week : 14th - 20th May 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Tim Roth does on 14th May - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 56, 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 14th May

• Francesca Annis - Born 1945, turns 72 - Actress
• Cate Blanchett - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Sofia Coppola - Born 1971, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actress
• George Lucas - Born 1944, turns 73 - Producer | Writer | Director | Editor 
• Robert Zemeckis - Born 1952, turns 65 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Tim Roth - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director  
• Danny Huston - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Director

Monday 15th May

• Chaz Palminteri - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Grant Heslov - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director  

Tuesday 16th May

• Danny Trejo - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor | Producer
• Pierce Brosnan - Born 1953, turns 64 - Actor | Producer 
• Jim Sturgess - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actor | Singer
• Debra Winger - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actress | Producer  
• Tori Spelling - Born 1973, turns 44 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer

Wednesday 17th May

• Trent Reznor - Born 1965, turns 52 - Composer | Songwriter | Actor | Writer  

Thursday 18th May

• Hugh Keays-Byrne - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actor | Director
• Yun-Fat Chow - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Writer
• Miriam Margolyes - Born 1941, turns 76 - Actress 
• Tina Fey - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Singer  

Friday 19th May

• Grace Jones - Born 1948, turns 69 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress
• Claudia Karvan - Born 1972, turns 45 - Actress | Writer | Producer 
• James Fox - Born 1939, turns 78 - Actor
• Peter Mayhew - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor 
• Morten Tyldum - Born 1967, turns 50 - Director | Producer  

Saturday 20th May

• Anton Corbijn - Born 1955, turns 62 - Director | Photographer
• Timothy Olyphant - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Louis Theroux - Born 1970, turns 47 - Writer | Producer | Television Personality
• Cher (aka Cheryl Sarkisian) - Born 1946, turns 71 - Singer | Actress | Producer 

Timothy Simon Roth was born in the south London suburb of Dulwich to mother Ann, a painter and teacher and father Ernie, a Fleet Street journalist, painter and a member of the British Communist Party until sometime in the '70's. His father was born with the surname of 'Smith' in Brooklyn, New York and he later changed his surname to 'Roth' as used most commonly by those of German and Jewish decent in the 1940's out of support for the Holocaust victims, and because the English were less welcomed in the countries to which he travelled with his work.  The young Tim attended the boys grammar Strand School in south London's Tulse Hill area before studying sculpture at London's Camberwell College of Art from which he dropped out to pursue an acting career instead.

At the age of 21 Roth scored his screen debut in the made for television film 'Made in Britain' playing white supremacy skinhead Trevor in 1982. Next up was another made for television film 'Meantime' in 1984 as Directed by Mike Leigh and also starring Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina. More of the same followed in 1985 with the Agatha Christie whodunit 'Murder with Mirrors' starring also Bette Davis, John Mills and Leo McKern, an then 'Coppers' in 1988. In between time there were feature films including Stephen Frears 'The Hit' with Jim Broadbent and Terrence Stamp, 'A World Apart', 'To Kill a Priest' with Ed Harris, Christopher Lambert, Timothy Spall and Pete Postlethwaite, and then closing out the decade was Peter Greenaway's 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover' with Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon and Ciaran Hinds. In 1986 he also starred in 'King of the Ghetto' - a four part BBC2 television series about racial tensions in London's East End in the '80's.

The new decade launched with Robert Altman's 'Vincent & Theo' in which Roth starred as Vincent Van Gogh and later that same year Tom Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead' with Gary Oldman playing Rosencrantz and Roth playing Guildenstern alongside Richard Dreyfus and Iain Glen. 'Jumping at the Boneyard' followed in 1991 with Samuel L. Jackson. In 1992 maverick Writer and Director Quentin Tarantino cast Roth in his debut film 'Reservoir Dogs' as Mr. Orange, which kicked off a collaboration that has spanned up until QT's latest offering, taking in 1994's 'Pulp Fiction' and 1995's 'Four Rooms'. It was 'Reservoir Dogs' that really exposed Roth to an American audience, from which he has never looked back.

The rest of the '90's saw the likes of 'Bodies, Rest & Motion'; period piece 'The Perfect Husband'; Brooklyn Soviet Jewish crime drama 'Little Odessa'; then 'Captives';  Scottish historical biographical adventure film 'Rob Roy' with Liam Neeson, John Hurt, Brian Cox, Eric Stoltz and Jessica Lange; Woody Allen's 'Everyone Says I Love You' with Goldie Hawn, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts and Edward Norton; 'Gridlock'd' with Tupac Shakur and Thandie Newton; 1930's Harlem set gangster film 'Hoodlum' with Laurence Fishburn, Andy Garcia and Vanessa Williams; murder mystery 'Deceiver'; fantasy romance offering 'Animals with the Tollkeeper' with Rod Steiger, John Turturro and Mickey Rooney; and then in 1998 'The Legend of 1900'. 

In 1999 Roth Directed his first feature film - 'The War Zone' a grim and gritty look inside an English family plagued by incest and sexual violence. The firm starred Ray Winstone, Tilda Swinton and Freddie Cunliffe and received much critical acclaim for its portrayal of the subject matter and picked up nine award wins and ten more nominations.

The 2000's clicked over with Roland Joffe's historical biographical drama 'Vatel'; Nora Ephron's 'Lucky Numbers' with John Travolta; Tim Burtons' reimagining of 'Planet of the Apes' as General Thade; Werner Herzog's 'Invincible'; a new spin on 'The Three Musketeers' with 'The Musketeer'; English Civil War drama 'To Kill a King' with Roth portraying Oliver Cromwell; John Sayles American political satire 'Silver City'; Wim Wenders road movie drama 'Don't Come Knocking'; gambling crime drama 'Easy Money' featuring an ensemble cast; Francis Ford Coppola's 'Youth Without Youth'; Michael Haneke's English language remake of his own earlier 1997 Austrian version of 'Funny Games' with Naomi Watts; and Louis Leterrier's Directed second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe 'The Incredible Hulk'.

'Pete Smalls Is Dead' opened up 2010 with Peter Dinklage and Steve Buscemi, followed up by 'Arbitrage' in 2012 with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon; 'Broken' with Cillian Murphy and comedy crime thriller 'The Liability' both that same year. In 2013 espionage thriller 'Mobius' was released and this was followed by 'Grace of Monaco' with Nicole Kidman as Grace and Roth as Prince Rainier. In time for the 2014 World Cup 'United Passions' was released about FIFA - footballs governing body, with Roth playing FIFA President Sepp Blatter who was the eighth President of the Association from 1998 through until 2015. 'October Gale' came later that year as did highly acclaimed historical biographical drama 'Selma' with David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey, and Tom Wilkinson. Mexican drug cartel drama '600 Miles', then 'Chronic' and then first person actioner 'Hardcore Henry' with Roth playing Henry's father. Action comedy 'Mr. Right' with Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick and then Quentin Tarantino's post American Civil War Western 'The Hateful Eight' featuring an ensemble cast that included Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Walton Goggins, Bruce Dern, Damian Bichir, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Zoe Bell.

Bringing us up to date is just released in the USA '1 Mile To You'. In between time there have been notable television series appearances on 48 episodes of 'Lie to Me' with Roth playing the lead character of Dr. Cal Lightman in this mystery crime drama series in which Roth is a world leading expert in facial expressions and involuntary body language. The series ran for three season from 2009. There was also the two part television mini-series 'Sea Wolf' in 2009, the six part historical mini-series 'Klondike' in 2014, and the three part mini-series 'Rillington Place' with Roth playing the role of John Christie the infamous 1940's and early '50's London serial killer.

Next up for Roth is an appearance on the next season of acclaimed television series 'Twin Peaks' which picks up 25 years after the events of the first two series, and due to go to air later this year. Currently in post-production is 'The Jesuit' - an action crime drama offering with Ron Perlman, Brian Cox, Neal McDonough and Paz Vega; gambling debt crime comedy 'The Brits Are Coming' also in post-production with Uma Thurman, Stephen Fry, Maggie Q and Sofia Vergara and 'The Padre' currently filming and due in 2018 with Nick Nolte and Luis Guzman.

All up Roth has one hundred Acting credits to his name, three as Producer and one as Director. In his time he has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award and a Golden Globe for 'Rob Roy' but he did win the BAFTA for his performance. All up Roth has accumulated a total eighteen award wins and a further 22 nominations. Roth has been married to Niki Butler since 1993 with whom he has two sons - Timothy born in 1995 and Michael born in 1996. He has an older son Jack who is also an Actor, born in 1984 to Lori Baker. Roth survived years of child sexual abuse at the hands of his paternal grandfather which he didn't reveal until the time of his Directorial debut with the release of 'The War Zone' which dealt with similar issues within a family.

Tim Roth - part of 'The Brit Pack' back in the '80's with Gary Oldman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth and Paul McGann; has an ever increasing number of tattoos marking significant events in his life; often plays in historical dramas; often plays in Quentin Tarantino films (four and counting) but missed out in 'Inglourious Basterds' due to scheduling conflicts; often plays slightly twisted unhinged characters; is often convinced that he'll never score an acting gig again in between roles; and despite his London accent can do various accents very well which has helped him secure many a film with European and American auteur Directors. Never dull, never predictable, never repetitive, Happy Birthday to you Tim from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 22nd - 28th March 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Quentin Tarantino does on 27th March - check out the 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 22nd March

• Reece Witherspoon - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• William Shatner - Born 1931, turns 84 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Matthew Modine - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• M. Emmet Walsh - Born 1935, turns 80 - Actor
• Bruno Ganz - Born 1941, turns 74 - Actor
• Stephen Sondheim - Born 1930, turns 85 - Composer | Songwriter | Writer
• Andrew Lloyd Webber - Born 1948, turns 67 - Composer | Songwriter | Writer | Producer

Monday 23rd March

• Michele Monaghan - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress
• Catherine Keener - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actress | Producer

Tuesday 24th March

• Jessica Chastain - Born 197, turns 38 - Actress | Producer
• Lara Flynn Boyle - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actress
• Kelly LeBrock - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actress
• Keisha Castle-Hughes - Born 1990, turns 25 - Actress
• Curtis Hansen - Born 1945, turns 70 - Director | Producer | Writer

Wednesday 25th March

• Paul Michael Glaser - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Elton John - Born 1947, turns 68 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Producer
• Aretha Franklin - Born 1942, turns 73 - Singer | Actress | Producer
• Sarah Jessica Parker - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actress | Producer

Thursday 26th March

• Keira Knightley - Born 1985, turns 30 - Actress | Singer
• Martin Short - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• James Caan - Born 1940, turns 75 - Actor
• Alan Arkin - Born 1934, turns 81 - Actor | Writer | Producer

Friday 27th March

• Quentin Tarantino - Born 1963, turns 52 - Writer | Director | Producer | Actor
• Michael York - Born 1942, turns 73 - Actor

Saturday 28th March

• Vince Vaughn - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Nick Frost - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor
• Brett Ratner - Born 1969, turns 46 - Director | Producer
• Richard Kelly - Born 1975, turns 40 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Michael Newell - Born 1942, turns 73 - Director | Producer
• Lady Gaga - Born 1986, turns 29 - Singer | Songwriter | Writer | Producer | Actress
• Dianne Weist - Born 1948, turns 52 - Actress

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee to mother Connie McHugh a nurse - aged 16 at the time of Quentin’s birth, and father Tony Tarantino - an American/Italian Actor and Musician. Quentin’s parents separated before he was born. At age four the young Quentin relocated to Torrance, California with his mother . , . and later to Harbor City - a Los Angeles neighbourhood. Here he attended Flemming Junior High School and then Narbonne High School in Harbor City for the first year but ultimately dropped out of school at age fifteen to attend full time acting classes at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake. After two years, however, he became bored with the acting school and so left, landing a job at ‘Video Archives ’in Manhattan Beach where he met fellow colleague, movie geek and future collaborator Roger Avery.

Later on while attending a Hollywood party he met Lawrence Bender who encouraged Tarantino to write a screenplay which led to his Directing debut in 1987 with ‘My Best Friend’s Birthday’. The final reel of film stock was mostly destroyed during editing in a fire that ripped through the lab, but the screenplay was later further adapted to create the foundation for ‘True Romance’.






Fast forward to 1992, and Tarantino’s first Hollywood film ‘Reservoir Dogs’ was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. It was an overnight sensation and the stuff of movie legend which instantly propelled QT into the limelight. Having written the dialogue heavy screenplay in less than four weeks, his friend Bender dispatched it to Director Monte Hellman who assisted in the funding process to bring the story to the big screen with Harvey Keitel jumping on board as Co-Producer and taking an Actor credit too.

With ‘True Romance’ optioned for the big screen too, this arrived in cinemas in 1993, and next up his base story for ‘Natural Born Killers’ was further developed by a team of screenwriters and then Directed by Oliver Stone, with credit given to QT for the storyline. Already QT was flavour of the month, if not the year, and offers began flooding in, including the chance to Direct ‘Speed’ and ‘Men in Black’ but instead he decamped to Holland and wrote the screenplay for ‘Pulp Fiction’.

‘Pulp Fiction’ wowed audiences and critics the world over, and for his efforts he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and got the nod for Best Director as well as five other nominations including Best Picture. He also won the prestigious Palme D’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival to top it all off. After this came his collaboration with three other Directors including friend Robert Rodriguez on ‘Four Rooms’ which was met with less glowing reviews.

‘From Dusk till Dawn’ came next which was Directed by Rodriguez but for which QT wrote the script and took an acting role whilst launching the big screen career of one up & coming George Clooney. The film spawned two sequels and most recently a television series. As the 90’s closed out he Directed his next feature film - a tribute to the Blaxpoitation Films of the 60’s and 70’s with ‘Jackie Brown’ with those stars of yesteryear - Pam Grier and Robert Forster

As the new decade came in QT hunkered down to write his tribute to the Japanese/Western inspired revenge flick ‘Kill Bill’ starring at its lead - Uma Thurman. With an initial running time of over four hours he decided to release this over two volumes, and so ‘Kill Bill : Volume 1’ was released in the latter half of 2003 and ‘Kill Bill : Volume 2’ in the first half of 2004. He collaborated with Rodriguez again on 2005’s ‘Sin City’ for which he took a ‘Guest Director’ credit.

His partnership with Rodriquez continued in their dual project in 2007 releasing their tribute to 70’s and early 80’s ‘Grindhouse Cinema’ with the release of ‘Grindhouse’ - two films released as a single package with specially filmed movie Previews separating the two movies. ‘Planet Terror’ was Directed by Rodriguez and ‘Deathproof’ by QT. Not huge commercial successes but garnered positive audience reviews for followers of the genre(s). As the decade closed out, QT released his next film - an alternative take on the outcomes of WWII following the exploits of a rogue group of Jewish American guerrilla soldiers, with 'Inglorious Basterds' which at the time became QT's greatest Box Office success at a global take of US$321M and hit #1 at the Box Office worldwide. He garnered two Academy Award nominations here for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.

2012 brought his tribute to spaghetti westerns and the slave trade of the American deep south with a resurrection of the 'Django' character from the 60's and 70's with his release of 'Django Unchained', Starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and acting stablemate Samuel L. Jackson, this film superseded 'Basterds' as QT's greatest commercial success with a haul of US$425M and won him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which he also won at the Golden Globes and BAFTA's.

Coming toward the end of 2015 is 'The Hateful Eight', another Western, but not linked to 'Django'. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, Channing Tatum, and Walton Goggins with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Zoe Bell, this all star ensemble cast combined with a harsh Wyoming Winter, raging blizzards, bounty hunters, and a confined space are sure to give us a QT experience not to be missed.

Tarantino has so far 23 Writer credits to his name, thirty Actor credits, twenty Producer credits and sixteen Director credits as well as his credited abilities as Cinematographer and his control over the Soundtrack of his film which in themselves have become a touchstone. He has two Academy Award wins for his Screenplays for 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Django Unchained' and three other nominations, he has two Golden Globe wins for his Screenplays of 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Django Unchained' and three other nominations, and the same haul for the BAFTA's as for the Golden Globes. All up this amounts to 122 award wins and 103 other nominations.

He has been romantically linked to Mira Sorvino, Sofia Coppola, Julie Dreyfus and there have been rumours and speculation also about Uma Thurman whom he refers to as his 'muse'. He is not a believer in guns, violence and drugs even though his films feature drug use and often stylised violence with extreme acts mostly occurring off-camera. He does not believe that violence portrayed on film spills over into society. So much has been written and recorded about QT's rise to fame in the last twenty years and the undeniable impact he has had on modern cinema, that I cannot possibly do it justice herein.

And so, Quentin Tarantino - multi-talented cinematic auteur, always pushing the boundaries, trademark film maker, keeping it real, outspoken, wildly energetic, deeply passionate and a walking encyclopedia of all things film and television - we love what you do, await eagerly for your next offering and will keep watching as long as you keep writing and making movies - and long after that too! Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-