The divine Christine Baranski is celebrating her 70th birthday today. Born in Buffalo, New York, Baranski graduated from the prestigious Julliard School and began her career in the theater. She made her Broadway debut in 1980’s Hide & Seek; two years later, she won her first of two Tony Awards for her performance in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing (her co-stars Glenn Close and Jeremy Irons won as well). Baranski’s Hollywood breakthrough came in 1995 when she was cast in the CBS sitcom Cybill, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Since then, Baranski has found her greatest success on the small screen, with memorable roles in The Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, and The Gilded Age. Among Baranski’s film credits are Addams Family Values, The Birdcage, Chicago, and Mamma Mia!
With Jim Parsons in The Big Bang Theory
The trailer for Don’t Worry Darling has arrived. The Olivia Wilde/Jason Sudeikis custody battle and Wilde’s relationship with her leading man Harry Styles are threatening to overshadow the film, which is a shame because it looks AMAZING.
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The Curse of Frankenstein, the first color Hammer Horror film, was released on this day in 1957. Starring Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein and Christopher Lee as The Monster, The Curse of Frankenstein was the “first really gory horror film, showing blood and guts in color”, according to professor of philosophy Patricia MacCormack, who has written extensively on the horror genre.
Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George opened on Broadway on May 2, 1984. Starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters, the musical was inspired by Georges Seurat’s pointillist masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte has been housed at the Art Institute of Chicago since 1924One of the zillion other pop-culture references to A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte is this promo for The Office
Iron Man, the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), opened on this day in 2008. Robert Downey Jr. earned a paltry $500,000 to play the title character, also known as Tony Stark. At the time, Downey was in the midst of a career resurgence but was not considered a bankable star. That all changed with Iron Man, which grossed more than $585 million worldwide; presumably, Downey got a raise for Iron Man 2.
Fun fact: Robert Downey Jr. ad-libbed the iconic “I am Iron Man” line
The voting for this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Fan’s Ballot is closed. The top five artists will be up for induction into the Class of 2022. Duran Duran won the fan’s vote by more than 250,000 votes.
After four years in development, Almost Famous is finally headed to Broadway this fall. The musical will be directed by Jeremy Herrin, with music and lyrics by Next to Normal‘s Tom Kitt and book and lyrics by Cameron Crowe, writer/director of the film.
This clip of Jurassic Park co-stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum is just delightful. Can we please take a moment to appreciate how beautifully these three are aging?
Hubby and I have watched the first two episodes of FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven and I absolutely love it. Dustin Lance Black is treating the source material with the utmost reverence (Black himself was raised in the LDS church) and the performances are terrific, particularly Andrew Garfield as the devout detective suffering a crisis of faith as he investigates the murder of a young mother and her baby, and Daisy Edgar-Jones as the murder victim, seen in flashbacks.
Gil Birmingham and Andrew GarfieldDaisy Edgar-Jones
I remember when you saw that painting on a trip to Chicago with your high school art class, and how impressed you were. I didn’t realize it had been used so many times in entertainment formats.
Peanut Butter and Julie 
I remember when you saw that painting on a trip to Chicago with your high school art class, and how impressed you were. I didn’t realize it had been used so many times in entertainment formats.
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Actually, I didn’t get to see it then – it was on loan to another museum at the time. I got to see it on another visit to Chicago, though.
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