Birthday's to share this week : 25th-31st October 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Gale Anne Hurd does on 25th October - check out the tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 60 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 25th October

• Gale Anne Hurd - Born 1955, turns 60 - Producer | Writer 

Monday 26th October

• Emilia Clarke - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actress
• Rosemarie DeWitt - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actress
• Jaclyn Smith - Born 1945, turns 70 - Actress
• Cary Elwes - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Dylan McDermott - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor
• Seth MacFarlane - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter

Tuesday 27th October

• John Cleese - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Roberto Benigni - Born 1952, turns 63 - Director | Producer | Actor
• Ivan Reitman - Born 1946, turns 69 - Director | Producer | Writer  

Wednesday 28th October

• Joaquin Phoenix - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actor | Producer 
• Dennis Franz - Born 1944, turns 71 -   Actor | Writer
• Kevin Macdonald - Born 1967, turns 48 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Julia Roberts - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress | Producer 

Thursday 29th October

• Winona Ryder - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actress | Producer
• Kate Jackson - Born  1948, turns 67 - Actress | Producer 
• Robert Hardy - Born 1925, turns 90 - Actor 
• Ben Foster - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actor | Producer
• Rufus Sewell - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor
• Richard Dreyfus - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor | Producer

Friday 30th October

• Kevin Pollak - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer  
• Henry Winkler - Born 1945, turns 70 -  Actor | Producer | Director | Writer

Saturday 31st October 

• Peter Jackson - Born 1961, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Stephen Rea - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor  
• Rob Schneider - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Dermot Mulroney - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Director
• Piper Perabo - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress | Producer

Gale Anne Hurd was born in Los Angeles, California to mother Lolita Espiau and father Frank Hurd, an investor. Growing up in Palm Springs, she graduated from Stanford University with a BA Degree in economics and communications in 1977. She joined New World Pictures which later came to be owned by 20th Century Fox and although now effectively defunct it exists in the dim & distant recesses of 21st Century Fox. That said, back in the day she joined as an Executive Assistant to Producer. Director and Actor Roger Corman who was also President of the Company. Progressing through various administrative roles, eventually she became involved in Production.

Resulting from this she created Pacific Western Productions from which she Produced a number of Box Office classics including 'The Terminator' in 1984 which she also co-wrote with James Cameron, then 'Aliens' in 1986 and 'The Abyss' in 1989. The common denominator here was James Cameron who Directed all three films, and who she was married to from 1985 to 1989.

From there she went on to Produce the likes of 'Tremors' in 1990, 'Terminator 2 : Judgement Day' in 1991, 'The Ghost and the Darkness' in 1996, 'The Relic' and 'Dante's Peak' in 1997 and 'Armageddon' in 1998 to largely see out the decade.

The new decade brought more Sci-Fi and action fare including 'Clockstoppers' in 2002, 'Hulk' and 'Terminator 3 : Rise of the Machines' in 2003, 'Punisher' in 2004, 'Aeon Flux' in 2005, 'Welcome to the Jungle' in 2007, 'The Incredible Hulk' in 2008 before the first season of the positively excellent landmark series commencement of 'The Walking Dead' in 2010.








With first husband James Cameron she is responsible for bringing us one of the most recognised film characters in popular culture and cinema history, as well as launching the career of one Arnold Schwarzenegger into the stratosphere  - and for this alone Hurd deserves recognition. 'The Terminator' franchise which she wrote the original screenplay for with Cameron has endured for over 30 years and lives on after five successful films already and a television series, with two further 'Terminator' films announced for release in 2017 and 2018 to follow up this years 'Terminator : Genisys'. The first five films have raked in a global Box Office haul of a combined US$1.84B with 'T2' being the most successful to date, followed by this years 'Genisys'.

As well as acting as Executive Producer on so far 70+ episodes of 'The Walking Dead' and this years spin off series 'Fear The Walking Dead', there has been 'The Wronged Man', 'Last Man Standing', 'Very Good Girls' and 'Horizon' before her latest television offering 'Hunters' currently filming for its 2016 release. Hurd has 45 Producer credits to her name and nine Writer credits with twelve award wins and two other nominations. She has had an esteemed career which includes accolades for the 'Women in Film Crystal Award' for helping to advance the role of women in the entertainment industry 'The Telluride Tech Festival Award for Technology', she is a governor of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She is described as the 'First Lady of Sci-Fi' and her company Valhalla Entertainment is very active in both big and small screen production with 'The Walking Dead' topping many ratings worldwide and has received critical acclaim. After divorcing James Cameron in 1989, she was married to Brian De Palma from 1991 to 1993 with whom she has a daughter Lolita born in 1991, and she is presently married to Director and Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh and has been since 1995.

Gale Anne Hurd - successful, influential and respected movie and television business woman; responsible for creating a huge film, and, television franchise; entrenched in the Sci-Fi and horror action world and shows no sign of letting up, and, we love you for it - Happy 60th Birthday to you - from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 15th - 21st March 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Bruce Willis does on 19th March - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 60, 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 March

• Jai Courtney - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actor
• David Cronenberg - Born 1943, turns 72 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Greg Nicotero - Born 1963, turns 52 - Make-Up & Special Effects Artist | Producer | Director | Actor 
• Renny Harlin - Born 1959, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Eva Longoria - Born 1975, turns 46 - Actress | Producer | Director

Monday 16th March

• Gore Verbinski - Born 1964, turns 51 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Bernardo Bertolucci - Born 1941, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer

Tuesday 17th March

• Rob Lowe - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor | Producer
• Kurt Russell - Born 1951, turns 64 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Gary Sinise - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Patrick Duffy - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actor | Director
• Lesley-Anne Down - Born 1954, turns 61 - Actress

Wednesday 18th March

• Queen Latifah - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actress | Writer | Singer
• Vanessa Williams - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actress | Writer | Singer
• Luc Besson - Born 1959, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Adam Levine - Born 1979, turns 36 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor

Thursday 19th March

• Bruce Willis - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Harvey Weinstein - Born 1952, turns 63 - Producer
• Ursula Andress - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actress
• Glenn Close - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actress | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer

Friday 20th March

• Holly Hunter - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actress | Writer
• David Thewlis - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor
• Spike Lee - Born 1957, turns 58 - Producer | Director | Writer | Actor
• William Hurt - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor

Saturday 21st March

• Gary Oldman - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Matthew Broderick - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor
• Timothy Dalton - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actor
• Rosie O'Donnell - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actress | Writer

Walter Bruce Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany to mother Merlene and father David - a US soldier. Living on a US Military Base for his very early life, he was later raised in Penns Grove, New Jersey. He is the oldest of four children with sister Florence and two brothers David and Robert - the latter of which died of pancreatic cancer in 2001. Willis attended Penns Grove High School in his hometown where he developed a stutter but learned to deal with it through stage acting. 

Finishing High School he worked as as a security guard at the Salem Nuclear Power Plant and  as a transport driver at the DuPont Chambers Works Factory. Having spent time also as a private investigator he joined Montclair State University in the Drama Programme, but left in his junior year and moved to New York City where he supported himself as a bar tender whilst treading the boards in various Off-Broadway stage plays.

He then left New York for California and auditioned for numerous television shows. He appeared in the mid-80's in the likes of 'Miami Vice' and 'The Twilight Zone', and then secured the role as David Addison Jnr. out of 3,000 other hopeful Actors in the successful five series long 'Moonlighting' alongside Cybill Shepherd from 1985-1989. Having starred in a number of small uncredited film roles in the early 80's, his first big screen break came with Blake Edwards in 'Blind Date' with Kim Bassinger in 1987, and then with Edwards again in 'Sunset' in 1988. That same year he took his first outing in a film that would catapult him into the movie stratosphere with an action hero franchise that is now synonymous with his name - 'Die Hard'. The Actor performed all of his own stunts in the first film, and subsequently the series that has so far seen five films for John McClane has generated a total worldwide Box Office haul of US$1.44B off a combined production budget of US$390M.

The success of 'Die Hard' gave rise to two sequels in the 90's with 'Die Hard : Die Harder' in 1990 and 'Die Hard with a Vengeance' in 1995 which cemented Willis' star status as a bona fide action hero. But with these successes came less well received fare with the likes of 'The Bonfire of the Vanities' , 'Striking Distance', 'Hudson Hawk' and 'Color of Night'. Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' in 1994 gave his career a lift as did Terry Gilliam's '12 Monkey's' in 1995 and Luc Besson's 'The Fifth Element' in 1997. Others that flew largely under the radar included 'Last Man Standing', 'Mercury Rising', 'Breakfast of Champions', 'The Story of Us', interspersed with more quirky popular fare 'North' and 'Death Becomes Her'. 'Armageddon' for Director Michael Bay received very average critical ratings but with a Box Office stash of US$554M was the biggest commercial success of 1998 worldwide. 'The Sixth Sense' brought Willis back into the limelight and helped him close out the 90's on a high note with upcoming Director M. Night Shyamalan.

Continuing his busyness into the 2000's he kicked off with 'The Whole Nine Yards' for which he reprised his role as Jimmy 'The Tulip' Tudeski in 2004's 'The Whole Ten Yards', and 'Unbreakable' with M. Night Shyamalan once more. Playing either the hardened war hero in the likes of 'Hart's War' and 'Tears of the Sun', or the grizzled police officer type in 'Hostage', '16 Blocks', 'Live Free or Die Hard', 'Surrogates' and 'Sin City', his career continues to entertain and draw an audience for the on-screen spectacle he provides.

As 2010 clicked over his action status continued unabated with 'The Expendables' in 2010 headed up by stable mate Sylvester Stallone and all all star 80's ensemble action hero cast, and then again with 'The Expendables 2' in 2012 - he pulled out of 2014's 'Expendables 3' because allegedly he demanded a bigger pay cheque which Stallone and his Producers were not prepared to pay. 'RED' in 2010 and 'RED 2' in 2013 also helped keep the action star mantle in place, with other notable offerings including  'Looper' and 'Moonrise Kingdom' in 2012, 'A Good Day to Die Hard' in 2013 and 'Sin City : A Dame to Kill For' in 2014. 'Catch .44', 'Lay the Favourite', 'The Cold Light of Day', 'G.I.Joe : Retaliation' and 'The Prince' bring us up to date. Next up is 'Vice' likely to go straight to DVD & BluRay in early 2015, with 'Rock the Kasbah' later in 2015 and 'Captive' and 'Extraction' due in 2016.

Outside of the movie business, Willis is an astute property owner and investor, and businessman. For a few years he co-owned Production Company 'Cheyenne Enterprises', several small businesses, was co-founder of 'Planet Hollywood' and owns a small percentage of 'Sobieski Vodka'.

He has 104 acting credits to his name and would be regarded as one of Hollywood's busiest jobbing Actors. He also has seven Producer credits to his name and wrote the story too for 'Hudson Hawk'. He won the Golden Globe in 1987 for 'Moonlighting' and has two Primetime Emmy Awards for 'Moonlighting' and 'Friends' and all up has garnered twenty award wins and a further 33 nominations throughout his career to date. He also has enjoyed success as a singer and recording artist with three solo albums and four compilation albums.

He was married to Actress Demi Moore from 1987 to 2000 with whom he has three children - Rummer (born 1988), Scout (born 1991), and Talulah (born 1994). In 2009 Willis married model Emma Harding with whom he has two children - Mabel (born 2012) and Evelyn (born 2014). A supporter of the constitutional right to bear arms, he has some Republican political leanings but describes himself a 'apolitical', and he has actively supported military intervention in Iraq as a means to restore democracy and freedom ultimately. He took a pay cheque of US$5M for the first 'Die Hard' instalment in 1998 and US$25M twenty years later for 'Live Free or Die Hard' . . . not a bad pay day!

Bruce Willis - head shaven, wisecracking, smirking gun toting action hero; Box Office draw card; predictably familiar; always entertaining and as colourful off-screen as on it - keep doing what you do and we'll keep putting our bums on seats you watch you do it! Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthdays to share this week : 10th - 16th August.

Is it your Birthday this week?

Do you share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer or Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Check out too the spotlight on this weeks Birthday Boy on 15th August, Ben Affleck, at the end of this feature.

Sunday 10th August

• Antonio Banderas - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Rosanna Arquette - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actress

Monday 11th August

• Chris Hemsworth - Born 1983, turns 31 - Actor
• Viola Davis - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actress | Producer
• Ian McDiarmid - Born 1944, turns 70 - Actor
• Hulk Hogan - Born 1953, turns 61 - WWF Wrestler | Actor | Producer

Tuesday 12th August

• Casey Affleck - Born 1975, turns 39 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Bruce Greenwood - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actor
• George Hamilton - born 1939, turns 75 - Actor | Producer
• William Goldman - Born 1931, turns 83 - Writer

Wednesday 13th August

• Paul Greengrass - Born 1955, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer
• John Slattery - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor | Director

Thursday 14th August

• Mila Kunis - Born 1983, turns 31 - Actress
• Halle Berry - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actress | Producer
• Steve Martin - Born 1945, turns 69 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Wim Wenders - Born 1945, turns 69 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Antonio Fargas - Born 1946, turns 68 - Actor
• James Horner - Born 1953, turns 61 - Composer

Friday 15th August

• Jennifer Lawrence - Born 1990, turns 24 - Actress
• Ben Affleck - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Natasha Hentsridge - Born 1974, turns 40 - Actress
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Born 1963, turns 51 - Director | Writer | Producer
• Nicolas Roeg - Born 1928, turns 86 - Director | Cinematographer

Saturday 16th August

• Steve Carell - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• James Cameron - Born 1954, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor | Explorer
• Madonna - Born 1958, turns 56 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress | Producer
• Angela Bassett - Born 1958, turns 56 - Actress
• Bruce Beresford - Born 1940, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Rumer Willis - Born 1988, turns 26 - Actress

It's going to be a busy time this week ahead in the Affleck household as young Casey turns 39 on Tuesday and older brother Ben turns 42 on Friday. Born Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts the young Ben had aspirations to be an actor from his earliest years on. He scored his first job on a Burger King commercial in 1984 aged 12. It was just a few short years before, that he met his lifelong friend and collaborator Matt Damon who lived just a few blocks away. In their early teen years they took acting classes together, and also secured small roles in TV movies and series including 'Hands of a Stranger' in 1987 and 'The Second Voyage of the Mimi' in 1988 having played also in 'The Voyage of the Mimi' four years earlier.

His introduction to feature length films cakes in 1993 with the acclaimed 'Dazed and Confused' and other small independent offerings such as 'Mallrats' in 1995 and 'Chasing Amy' in 1997 for which he was garnering some critical acclaim.

However, already Affleck was getting restless with not securing more significant roles in bigger films. Sharing an apartment with brother Casey, and friend Damon who was experiencing similar challenges in his quest for movie stardom, the two decided to take their destiny into their own hands and take control of the process by writing their own script . . . and so 'Good Will Hunting' was released in 1997 through Miramax Studios who paid US$600K for the piece, whilst agreeing to give Affleck and Damon the control they wanted over the movie's production. The rest, as they say, is history and the stuff of legend as the film went on to gain nine Academy Award nominations and winning two including Best Screenplay for Affleck and Damon - with Affleck, at 25 years of age, being the youngest person ever to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

With this big breakthrough, Affleck and Damon had the film making world at their feet. For Affleck this led to big budget epic fare including 'Armageddon' and 'Shakespeare in Love' in 1998 and 'Pearl Harbour' in 2001.











As the new decade broke Affleck made some 'interesting' choices including the critically panned 'Gigli'  'Jersey Girl' and 'Daredevil' which he has subsequently  has said that it's "the only movie I actually regret . . . it just kills me!" There were others too in that sickly schmaltzy RomCom genre that did him no favours. At the same time he had high profile relationships with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez having been engaged to the latter for a short while at a cost of US$3.5M for the engagement ring alone and maybe this is why he was admitted for alcohol rehab. too. But sometimes you just gotta hit the bottom before you can rise up, and rise up Ben certainly has!

In 2005 he married co-star actress Jennifer Garner and now has three children with her - Violet Anne, Seraphina Rose and Samuel Garner. He continues to write and has Directed three films to much critical acclaim. He has appeared in four films nominated for Best Picture Academy Awards - 'Field of Dreams', 'Good Will Hunting', 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'Argo'. He wrote the Screenplays for 'Good Will Hunting', 'The Town' and 'Gone Baby Gone', and Directed 'Argo', 'The Town' and 'Gone Baby Gone' and  has numerous Production credits to his name, and 58 acting credits so far.


His filmography other than those already mentioned include : 'Forces of Nature', 'Dogma', 'Boiler Room', 'Bounce', 'Reindeer Games',' Changing Lanes', 'The Sum of all Fears', 'Paycheck', 'Hollywoodland', 'Smokin' Aces', 'State of Play', 'The Company Men', 'Runner Runner' and the late 2014 release 'Gone Girl'. Currently filming for a 2016 release is 'Batman vs Superman : Dawn of Justice' and recently announced for release sometime thereafter is 'Justice League' when Affleck will again reprise his role as the Batman/Bruce Wayne caped crusader. For release in 2016 also will be the Affleck screen scripted and Directed 'Live By Night' - described as a 'big sweeping gangster-epic morality story'.

When Affleck was announced to play Batman/Bruce Wayne last year it caused much uproar and gnashing of teeth given his earlier outing in the panned 'Daredevil'. At 40+ years of age he will be the oldest actor to play the character - but that shouldn't deter us given that he will have played two Frank Miller created characters on the big screen - 'Daredevil' being the other. Bearing in mind that he has also played 'Superman' in the telling of the story surrounding the mysterious death of George Reeves - the first actor to play the original superhero in the TV series of the 50's - he is clearly drawn to the super hero types battling crime and injustice at every turn. He will though be the third Oscar winning actor to play the caped crusader after George Clooney and Christian Bale, so he is in esteemed company!

Ben Affleck is an avid Poker player but does so always within his limits. In 2004 he won the California State Poker Championship with a winning purse of US$356K. He has an active interest in Politics and is vocal and transparent about where his allegiances lie. He is charitable and support humanitarian projects, having founded in 2010 the 'Eastern Congo Initiative' to support relief efforts to the humanitarian crisis there.

He won the Best Picture Academy Award for 'Argo' and Best Screenplay Award for 'Good Will Hunting'. He won the Golden Globe for Best Director for 'Argo' and Best Screenplay for 'Good Will Hunting' and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'Hollywoodland', and he won the BAFTA for Best Film and Best Director for 'Argo' and nominated for Best Lead Actor for that same film. He has a total haul of 56 award wins and 75 other award nominations globally.

Ben Affleck - acclaimed Actor, Director, Writer; charitable humanitarian; a man who has made some questionable choices but like a Phoenix that has risen from the ashes; multi-talented and with your achievements going from strength to strength - Happy Birthday from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-