Cyndi Lauper celebrates her 65th birthday today. Lauper grew up in Queens, and in the early 1970s she became a vocalist with a variety of East Coast cover bands. In about 1978, she became the lead vocalist for a rockabilly band called Blue Angel, who released a studio album and a few singles, none of which were very successful. After the band was dropped by their label, Lauper waited tables for a while, before signing a contract with Epic Records.
Lauper’s first solo album, She’s So Unusual, came out in 1983. It was a worldwide bestseller; although it reached “only” #4 on the Billboard 200, it remained in the top 40 for well over a year. She also had four Top 5 singles off of the album; several of them also became favorites of MTV in its early days. At the 1985 Grammys, Lauper was nominated for five awards, winning Best New Artist. Two of her nominations, including one for Record of the Year, were for the album’s lead single.
In the mid-1980s, Lauper was sometimes considered a pop star on the same level as Madonna. While she didn’t remain at that level of commercial success, she has been an active recording and touring artist for over 35 years. She has taken periodic acting roles, and won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress for an appearance on Mad About You. Lauper has also made some ventures into the world of musical theater. She costarred as Jenny in a 2006 Broadway revival of The Threepenny Opera, and then wrote the music and lyrics for the musical adaptation of the film Kinky Boots, winning a Tony for Best Original Score as well as a Grammy for the original cast album.
Billy Wilder (1906-2002) was born to an Austrian Jewish family in southern Poland, and moved to Vienna as a child. He worked as a journalist, before becoming a screenwriter, writing screenplays for several German films in the late twenties and early thirties. When the Nazis came to power, Wilder moved to Hollywood, and by the late 1930s was a very in-demand writer; he received Oscar nominations for screenwriting for Ninotchka and Hold Back the Dawn, and a third for Best Original Story (a discontinued category) for Balls of Fire.
By 1942, Wilder’s success as a writer earned him a shot at directing. His first two features, the romantic comedy The Major and the Minor, and the war thriller Five Graves to Cairo, were reasonably successful. It was his third feature, however, a classic of film noir, that really put him on the directing map; it was a Best Picture nominee and brought Wilder nominations as both a director and screenwriter.
Wilder followed Double Indemnity with The Lost Weekend, winning his first Oscars, for Best Director and Best Screenplay. His filmography for the 1950s is packed with classics. He won a third Oscar for the screenplay for Sunset Boulevard, and in the next several years directed Stalag 17, Sabrina, Witness for the Prosecution, and Some Like it Hot. Wilder capped the decade by winning three Oscars, as a director, producer and writer, for The Apartment. His subsequent films are less distinguished, although some of them have their fans.
Graham Greene is turning 66. The First Nations actor was in several films last year, including Wind River and Molly’s Game. Lindsay Wagner, who is 69 today, made her first feature film appearance in several years earlier this year in the biblical drama Samson. Amy Brenneman, who celebrates her 54th, will be a regular on the upcoming TNT series Tell Me Your Secrets. Bruce Campbell, who recently finished the third and final season of Ash vs. Evil Dead, is 60 today. Donald Faison, who is 44, was a regular on the recently-concluded first season of the anthology series Unsolved. Portia Doubleday, who continues to star as Angela Moss on Mr. Robot, is celebrating her 30th. Joe Dempsie, who turns 31, is a regular on the British espionage series Deep State.
Mary Lynn Rajskub, who turns 47 today, played Chloe O’Brian on 24. A regular for four seasons, she appeared in more episodes of the series than anyone other than Kiefer Sutherland. Douglas Smith, who is 33, was a regular on HBO’s Big Love, starred in the horror film The Bye Bye Man, and earlier this year costarred on TNT’s The Alienist. Catherine Disher, who is turning 58, has worked in Canadian television for over 30 years, with regular roles on series like Forever Knight, The Border, and Good Witch, and the miniseries Snakes and Ladders. Lecy Goranson, the first of two actresses to play Becky Conner on Roseanne, is celebrating her 44th.
Meryl Streep and Kris Kristofferson were our headliners on June 22 of last year. Meryl Streep celebrates her 69th. She received her 21st (!) Oscar nomination as Kay Graham in The Post. She will return to the role of Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, will play Topsy Turvy Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns, and will join the second season cast of Big Little Lies. Kris Kristofferson turns 83 today. He appeared in last summer’s Hickcock, and will costar in the upcoming biopic Blaze.
If today is your birthday, congratulations on sharing your big day with these notable names. Birthday wishes to everyone celebrating a big day today. Come back tomorrow for more celebrity birthdays.
The post June 22: Happy Birthday Cyndi Lauper and Billy Wilder appeared first on Lebeau's Le Blog.