Born on this day – Jessie Jones:

Jessie Jones

Actress

Writer

August 21, 1950 – March 20, 2026

Credits:

Books / plays:

A Doublewide, Texas Christmas (2018); Always a Bridesmaid (2013); Buddy Bro Bubba Dude: Men in Twisted Shorts (2022); Christmas Belles (2007); Dearly Beloved (2005); Dearly Departed: A Comedy (1992); Deliver Us from Mama! (2020); Doublewide, Texas (2016); Farce of Habit (2017); Farce of Nature (2014); Funny Little Thing Called Love (2014); Honey Sugar Lady Doll: Women in Bodacious Shorts (2022); Honky Tonk Hissy Fit (2021); Last Round-up of the Guacamole Queens (2015); Lickety Split: Women and Men in Outrageous Shorts (2022); Mama Won't Fly (2012); Rex's Exes (2012); Sitting Ducks (2025); Southern Hospitality (2008); The Dixie Swim Club (2008); The Hallelujah Girls (2010); The Red Velvet Cake War (2010); The Savannah Sipping Society (2016); The Second-To-Last Chance Ladies League (2025); The Sweet Delilah Swim Club (2020); The Wild Women of Winedale (2019); 'Til Beth Do Us Part: (a Marital Confection) (2010).

Movies and television:

Backfield in Motion (1991); Border Line (1999); Caroline in the City (1996); Caught in the Act (1993); Cold Case (2005); Designing Women (1990); Ed and His Dead Mother (1993); Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure (1989); For Their Own Good (1993); For Your Love (2002); Fudge (1995); Grace Under Fire (1995); Hooperman (1989); Judging Amy (2004); Jury Duty: The Comedy (1990); Kingdom Come (2001); Melrose Place (1997); Murphy Brown (1990); My Brother's Keeper (1995); Newhart (1989); Night Court (1990); Perfect Strangers (1990); Switch (1991); Teacher's Pet (2001–2002); The Crew (1995); The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom (1993); Unhappily Ever After (1997); Voices Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase (1990); Weird Science (1996); Who's the Boss? (1991); Wife, Mother, Murderer (1991); You're the One (1998).

Born on this day – Maria O'Brien:

Maria O'Brien

Actress

August 14, 1950 – February 24, 2026

Credits:

1st & Ten (1990); ...And Then She Was Gone (1991); Ave 43 (2011–2017); Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction / Segment: The Chess Game (1998); Chico and the Man (1976); CHiPs (1982); Dead on Arrival (2017); Desperate Rescue: The Cathy Mahone Story (1993); False Arrest (1991); Father O Father (1976); For the People (2002); Good Luck (1996); Good Morning, Miss Bliss (1987); Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2 (1999); How the West Was Won (1979); In Sickness and in Health (1992); In the Best Interest of the Child (1990); Ironside (1974); Jack & Jill (1999); Jake and the Fatman (1989–1990); L.A. Law (1987); Magnum, P.I. (1987); Matlock (1988); Murder, She Wrote (1996); Nash Bridges (1996); Number 96 (1980); Police Woman (1974); Prime Time (1977); Promised a Miracle (1988); Protocol (1984); PSI Factor (1980); Quincy, M.E. (1980–1982); Sam Benedict (1963); Shell Game (1975); Sister Margaret and the Saturday Night Ladies (1987); Smile (1975); Spyder Games (2001); Suddenly Susan (1998); Tabitha (1976); Table for Five (1983); The Choirboys (1977); The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981); The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts (1980); The Love Boat (1978); The Sexy Mysterious Murders (2000); The World According to Straw (1990); Viva Valdez (1976); Your Mother Wears Combat Boots (1989).

On this day in movie history - Sunset Boulevard (1950 movie & books):

Sunset Boulevard

aka SUNSET BLVD.,

directed by Billy Wilder,

written by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D. M. Marshman Jr.,

was released in the United States on August 10, 1950.
Music by Franz Waxman.

Cast:

William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough, Jack Webb, Franklyn Farnum, Larry J. Blake, Charles Dayton, Cecil B. DeMille, Hedda Hopper, Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson, H.B. Warner, Ray Evans, Jay Livingston, Fred Aldrich, Joel Allen, Gertrude Astor, Anne Bauchens, Edward Biby, Danny Borzage, Ken Christy, Ruth Clifford, John Cortay, Archie R. Dalzell, Eddie Dew, Peter Drynan, Julia Faye, Al Ferguson, Gerry Ganzer, Rudy Germane, Kenneth Gibson, Joe Gray, Sanford E. Greenwald, Creighton Hale, Chuck Hamilton, James Hawley, Len Hendry, E. Mason Hopper, Stan Johnson, Tiny Jones, Howard Joslin, Arthur Lane, Perc Launders, Alan Marston, William Meader, Gertrude Messinger, Harold Miller, John ‘Skins’ Miller, Lee Miller, Ralph Montgomery, Bert Moorhouse, Jay Morley, Bernice Mosk, Howard Negley, Ottola Nesmith, Eva Novak, Frank O’Connor, Robert Emmett O’Connor, Jack Perrin, Virginia L. Randolph, Bill Sheehan, Sidney Skolsky, Emmett Smith, Roy Thompson, Archie Twitchell, Yvette Vickers, Edward Wahrman, Jack Warden, Henry Wilcoxon.

Recommended reading:

Sunset Boulevard

By Billy Wilder.

Published by University of California Press.

Published 1999.

ISBN-10: 0520218558

ISBN-13: 978-0520218550

Description:

Sunset Boulevard (1950) is one of the most famous films in the history of Hollywood, and perhaps no film better represents Hollywood's vision of itself. Billy Wilder collaborated on the screenplay with the very able Charles Brackett, and with D. M. Marshman Jr., who later joined the team. Together they created a film both allusive and literate, with Hollywood's worst excesses and neuroses laid out for all to see. After viewing Sunset Boulevard Louis B. Mayer exclaimed: "We should throw this Wilder out of town!" The New York Times, however, gave the movie a rave review, praising "that rare blend of pungent writing, expert acting, masterly direction, and unobtrusively artistic photography." The film was nominated for Best Picture, and Wilder won an Academy Award for Best Story and Best Screenplay.

This facsimile edition of Sunset Boulevard makes it possible to get as much pleasure from reading the highly intelligent screenplay as from seeing the film. Jeffrey Meyers's introduction provides an intriguing array of background details about Wilder, the film's casting and production, and the lives of those connected to what has become a classic.

Sunset Boulevard

By Steven Cohan.

BFI Film Classics.

Published by British Film Institute.

Published 2022.

ISBN-10: 1839024089

ISBN-13: 978-1839024085

Description:

Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard was a critical and commercial success on its release in 1950 and remains a classic of film noir and one of the best-known Hollywood films about Hollywood. Both its opening, with William Holden as the screenwriter Joe Gillis floating face down in ageing star Norma Desmond's (Gloria Swanson) pool, and lines such as 'I am big, it's the pictures that got small' are some of the most memorable in Classical Hollywood cinema.

Steven Cohan's study of the film draws on original archival research to shed new light on the film's production history, and the contribution to the film's success and meanings of director Wilder, stars Holden and Swanson but also supporting actors Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson (who plays Betty Schaefer), Cecil B. DeMille, and Hedda Hopper, as well as costumier Edith Head, and composer Franz Waxman. Cohan considers the film both as a 'back studio' picture (a movie about Hollywood) and as a film noir, and in the context of McCarthyism, blacklisting and the Hollywood Ten.

Cohan explores how the film was marketed, its reception and afterlife, tracing how the film is at once a product of its own particular historical moment as the movie industry was transitioning out of the studio era, yet one that still speaks powerfully to contemporary audiences, and speculates on the reasons for its enduring appeal.

Born on this day – John Masius:

John Masius

Writer

Producer

July 30, 1950 – September 13, 2025

Credits:

Back from the Dead: Resurrecting 'Dead Like Me' (2009); Biography (2010); Bittersweet Love (1976); Brooklyn Bridge (1991–1992); Chestnut Hill (2001); Dead Like Me (2003–2004); Dead Like Me: Life After Death (2009); Dolphin Cove (1989); Ferris Bueller (1990–1991); Hawthorne (2009–2011); L.A. Law (1992–1993); Las Vegas Lady (1975); Nick & Hillary (1988–1989); Providence (1999–2002); St. Elsewhere (1982–1988); The 36th Primetime Emmy Awards (1984); The 38th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1986); The Single Guy (1995–1997); The Visitor (1997–1998); The White Shadow (1979–1981); Touched by an Angel (1994–2003); Tracks (1976).

On this day in movie history - The Underworld Story (1950):

The Underworld Story

directed by Cy Endfield,

written by Henry Blankfort and Cy Endfield,

based on a story by Craig Rice,

was released in the United States on July 26, 1950.
Music by David Rose.

Cast:

Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm, Howard Da Silva, Michael O’Shea, Mary Anderson, Gar Moore, Melville Cooper, Frieda Inescort, Art Baker, Harry Shannon, Alan Hale Jr., Stephen Dunne, Roland Winters, Sue England, Lewis L. Russell, Frances Chaney, Stanley Blystone, Jack Mower, Edward Van Sloan.

On this day in television history - Detective’s Wife (1950):

Detective’s Wife

Directed by Franklin Schaffner.
Written by Milton “Mort” Lewis.
Released July 7, 1950.
Cast: Lynn Bari, Donald Curtis.

On this day in movie history - The Second Woman (1950):

The Second Woman

directed by James V. Kern,

written by Mort Briskin and Robert Smith,

was released in the United States on July 7, 1950.
Music by Joseph Nussbaum.

Cast:

Robert Young, Betsy Drake, John Sutton, Florence Bates, Morris Carnovsky, Henry O'Neill, Jean Rogers, Raymond Largay, Shirley Ballard, Vici Raaf, Jason Robards, Sr., Steven Geray, Jimmie Dodd, Smokey Whitfield, Cliff Clark.

On this day in movie history - Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950):

Where the Sidewalk Ends

directed by Otto Preminger,

written by Ben Hecht,

based on a story by Victor Trivas, Frank P. Rosenberg and Robert E. Kent,

and the novel Night Cry by William L. Stuart,

was released in the United States on July 7, 1950.
Music by Cyril Mockridge.

Cast:

Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, Tom Tully, Karl Malden, Ruth Donnelly, Craig Stevens, Fred Aldrich, Don Appell, Tony Barr, David Bauer, Eddie Borden, Neville Brand.

Born on this day – Dale Baer:

Dale Baer

Animator

June 15, 1950 – January 15, 2021

Credits:

49th Annie Awards (2022); A Charlie Brown Celebration (1982); Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (1982); Animaniacs (1993); Beauty and the Beast (1991); Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971); Behind the Ears: The True Story of Roger Rabbit (2003); Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) (1980); Chicken Little (2005); Countdown to Christmas (2002); Dear Satan (2018); Disneyland - Sun (Ad) (1992); Frozen (2013); Get a Horse! (2013); GT Academy USA (2013); Hercules (1997); Home on the Range (2004); Homesick (2017); How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007); In an Empty Wood (2018); Independent Lens (2006); Inner Workings (2016); It's Magic, Charlie Brown (1981); Jordan/Looney Tunes - The Dunk to End All Dunks (Ad) (2015); Journey Back to Oz (1972); Last Action Hero (1993); Laverne & Shirley in the Army (1981); Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown (1980); Meet the Robinsons (2007); Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983); Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (2001); Moana (2016); Mother Goose and Grimm (1992); No Man's Valley (1981); Peanuts (1979–1982); Pete's Dragon (1977); Pocahontas (1995); Pups of Liberty: The Dog-claration of Independence (2015); Quest for Camelot (1998); Rice Krispies - Date (Ad) (1992); Richie Rich (1994); Robin Hood (2010); Roses - World of Nintendo (Ad) (1989); Rover Dangerfield (1991); Saving Mr. Banks (2013); She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown (1980); Shrek (2001); Shrek: I Feel Good (1996); Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown (1981); Species (1995); Taku & Mama (2019); Tarzan (1999); The 64th Annual Academy Awards (1992); The Animated Atlas of the World (1986); The Ballad of Nessie (2011); The Black Cauldron (1985); The Emperor's New Groove (2000); The Emperor's New Groove: Behind the Voices (2001); The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (1981); The Fox and the Hound (1981); The Great Mouse Detective (1986); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996); The King and I (1999); The Lion King (1994); The Little Mermaid (1989); The Lord of the Rings (1978); The Magical World of Disney (1982–1987); The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977); The Prince and the Pauper (1990); The Princess and the Frog (2009); The Rescuers (1977); The Simpsons (2016); The Smurfs (1987); The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010); The Sweatbox (2002); The Tiara Talk Show (2016); The Zit (2005); Timeless Tales (2005); 'Tis the Season to Be Smurfy (1987); Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992); Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (2017); Treasure Planet (2002); Tummy Trouble (1989) Two (2020); Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection (2015); Walter (2019); When the Raven Comes (2018); Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988); Winnie the Pooh (2011); Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974); Wreck-It Ralph (2012); You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown (1979); Zootopia (2016).

On this day in movie history - Destination Murder (1950):

Destination Murder

directed by Edward L. Cahn,

written by Don Martin,

was released in the United States on June 9, 1950.
Music by Irving Gertz.

Cast:

Joyce Mackenzie, Stanley Clements, Hurd Hatfield, Albert Dekker, Myrna Dell, James Flavin, John Dehner, Richard Emory, Norma Vance, Suzette Harbin, Buddy Swan, Bert Wenland, Franklyn Farnum, Steve Gibson’s Redcaps, Leon Alton, Kenneth Gibson, Steve Gibson, James Gonzalez, Robert Locke Lorraine, Harold Miller, Suzanne Ridgway, Steven Ritch, John Roche, Jeffrey Sayre.

On this day in movie history - Night and the City (1950 movie & novel):

Night and the City

directed by Jules Dassin,

written by Austin Dempster, William E. Watts and Jo Eisinger,

based on the novel by Gerald Kersh,

was released in the United States on June 9, 1950.
Music by Benjamin Frankel and Franz Waxman.

Cast:

Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh Marlowe, Francis L. Sullivan, Herbert Lom, Aubrey Dexter, Maureen Delany, Stanislaus Zbyszko, Mike Mazurki, Ada Reeve, Charles Farrell, Ken Richmond, Edward Chapman, James Hayter, Gibb McLaughlin, Dirk Bogarde.

Recommended reading:

Night And The City

By Gerald Kersh.

Published by London Books.

First published 1938.

ISBN-10: 0995721734

ISBN-13: 9780995721739

Description:

Harry Fabian is a cockney wide boy trying to make it big in the Soho underworld of the 1930s. He is a Flash Harry in an expensive suit, a chancer operating in a cosmopolitan corner of the city where villains, spivs, prostitutes and strong-arm men thrive. But his ambition and reckless nature are pushing him towards more and more extreme acts - and a day of reckoning. Night And The City is a classic work of social-realist fiction that captures the vibrant yet seedy underbelly of London between the world wars. Its author Gerald Kersh was high-profile, prolific and hugely popular at his peak, but would later drift into hardship and obscurity. His writing is now being rediscovered. A maverick character in his own right, Kersh's life was as colourful as those of his most flamboyant creations. As well as a highly respected novel, Night And The City was twice filmed - in 1950 and 1992 - and it is the first of these adaptations that is today regarded as one of the best of the British film-noir genre. Directed by Jules Dassin and starring Richard Widmark and Googie Withers, it was shot in a post-war landscape heavy with menace and charm - just like the book on which it was based.

On this day in movie history - Armored Car Robbery (1950):

Armored Car Robbery

directed by Richard Fleischer,

written by Gerald Drayson Adams and Earl Felton,

based on a story by Robert Leeds and Robert Angus,

was released in the United States on June 7, 1950.

Music by Roy Webb and Paul Sawtell.

Cast:

Charles McGraw, Adele Jergens, William Talman, Douglas Fowley, Steve Brodie, Don McGuire, Don Haggerty, James Flavin, Gene Evans.