April 24, 1934- Shirley MacLaine has 6 Oscar nominations, with a well-deserved win for Terms Of Endearment, 20 Golden Globe nominations with 7 wins including Best Newcomer in 1955, & the Cecil B DeMille Look Alike Award in 1998, plus she is the author 15 books, all best sellers, plus she sings & she dances. MacLaine was discovered on Broadway dancing in The Pajama Game (1954) when she famously went on as the understudy for Carol Haney who had broken her ankle. Her first film was Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Trouble With Harry (1955) & she continues to work into the second decade of the 21st century. Attempting to count her filmography, I lost track at 75 films. MacLaine has received the highest film industry honor, the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 2012 & the Kennedy Center Honor in 2013.
MacLaine’s brother is Warren Beatty. They have never worked together, but that is something I would pay to see, especially if they could play senior citizen lovers. She talks to her rat terrier Terry & her dog talks back. In 2011, she gave a frightfully furious & funny performance, one of her best, in the terrific film Bernie, & (spoiler alert!) a messy, unfocused portrayal of Cora Crawley, the Countess of Grantham’s American mother on Downton Abbey. But mostly, she is simply fabulous. I love her life & her work.
MacLaine was sparkling in her second Oscar nominated performance in Billy Wilder’s cynical, yet tender The Apartment (1960), opposite Jack Lemmon. Favored to win that year, she lost to Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8. MacLaine stated:
“I thought I would win for The Apartment, but then Elizabeth Taylor had a tracheotomy…”
My favorite MacLaine role would have to be Doris (a thinly disguised Debbie Reynolds) in Postcards From The Edge. It is my understanding that The Gays adore her.
April 24, 1942- She sings, she dances, she acts, she directs, she does the screenplays, she writes the scores! Barbra Streisand has had 5 Academy Award nominations with 2 wins, including one as a composer, 16 Golden Globe nominations with 8 wins including the Cecil B DeMille Look Alike Award in 2000, & 9 Grammy Awards. She one of only a handful of performers to have an Oscar, Emmy, Tony & Grammy on their mantle, & Streisand is the only artist to have a #1 album in 6 different decades. In 2011, Streisand was presented with the Film Society Of Lincoln Center’s Charlie Chaplin Award, presented by her pal Bill Clinton. Like MacLaine, Streisand has been given the American Film Institute Award & Kennedy Center Honor.
Her stepson is hunky Josh Brolin. In 2011, she wrote a frightening coffee table book about her questionable interior designing taste. I passed. She gave her very cute, talented son Jason Gould a role in her underrated film Prince Of Tides (1991). She talks to her dog Sammy & he talks back. In 2012, Streisand starred with Seth Rogen in the film The Guilt Trip (2012). I passed. My sources tell me that she is still on track to star in a new film version of Gypsy. At this rate Streisand will be the first Mama Rose to use a walker.
“I’m not weird, just different from people who aren’t different.”
My favorite Streisand role would have to be Doris in The Owl & The Pussycat (1970). I hear that The Gays love her. I know I do.
The 2 Gay Icons share a birthday today, April 24th. They are both liberal stalwarts & outspoken old broads. MacLaine turns 81 years old & Streisand celebrates her 73rd year. In a long standing tradition, they spend their birthdays together. I would like to be a fly on the wall at that tea party.
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