Born on this day – Victor Rietti:

Victor Rietti

Director

Writer

Actor

February 29, 1888 – December 3, 1963

Credits:

Shipmates o' Mine (2022); Harry's Girls (1963); Come Fly with Me (1963); The Saint (1962); Village of Daughters (1962); Joseph and His Brethren (1961); Danger Man (1961); Uncle Martino (1960); Man from Interpol (1960); ITV Television Playhouse (1960); BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1952–1959); Armchair Theatre (1958); Dick and the Duchess (1958); Your Past Is Showing (1957); The Story of Esther Costello (1957); The Jack Benny Program (1957); Encounter (1957); As I Was Saying (1955); The Bob Hope Show (1954); Kraft Theatre (1953); The Prodigal Son (1953); The Plate on the Wall (1952); The Little World of Don Camillo (1952); To Live in Peace (1951); Mr. H.C. Andersen (1950); The Glass Mountain (1949); A Man About the House (1947); Sinfonia fatale (1947); Give Us the Moon (1944); Hotel Reserve (1944); Yellow Canary (1943); The Peterville Diamond (1943); Thunder Rock (1942); Room for Two (1940); 21 Days Together (1940); The Viper (1938); The Divorce of Lady X (1938); Take It from Me (1937); Who's Your Lady Friend? (1937); Girl in the Street (1937); Show Flat (1936); Hideout in the Alps (1936); Juggernaut (1936); Where There's a Will (1936); Jack of All Trades (1936); Two Hearts in Harmony (1935); The Ghost Goes West (1935); Man of the Moment (1935); Jimmy Boy (1935); Escape Me Never (1935); Oh, Daddy! (1935); Power (1934); The Song You Gave Me (1934); The Charming Deceiver (1933); Bitter Sweet (1933).

Born on this day – Alice Davenport:

Alice Davenport

Actress

February 29, 1864 – June 24, 1936

Credits:

The Dude Wrangler (1930); Legend of Hollywood (1924); Unmarried Wives (1924); Monkeying Around (1923); The Show (1922); Oh, Mabel Behave (1922); Fool Days (1921); The Hayseed (1921); Skirts (1921); The Sleep of Cyma Roget (1920); His Private Wife (1920); Her Private Husband (1920); How Dry I Am (1919); Her First Kiss (1919); Spotlight Sadie (1919); Rip & Stitch: Tailors (1919); Tony America (1918); Her Blighted Love (1918); His Nimble Twist (1918); A Coward's Courage (1918); Little Red Decides (1918); His Double Life (1918); His Hidden Shame (1918); An Ice Man's Bride (1917); His Social Rise (1917); A Maiden's Trust (1917); Secrets of a Beauty Parlor (1917); Pinched in the Finish (1917); Luke Wins Ye Ladye Faire (1917); His Last Scent (1916); Pills of Peril (1916); Counting Out the Count (1916); The Snow Cure (1916); Ramona (1916); A Love Riot (1916); The Egyptian Mummy (1916); Fido's Fate (1916); Perils of the Park (1916); Because He Loved Her (1916); The Worst of Friends (1916); Fatty and the Broadway Stars (1915); Stolen Magic (1915); His Father's Footsteps (1915); My Valet (1915); Dirty Work in a Laundry (1915); Mabel Lost and Won (1915); Mabel's Wilful Way (1915); Wished on Mabel (1915); Ambrose's Fury (1915); That Little Band of Gold (1915); From Patches to Plenty (1915); Mabel and Fatty's Married Life (1915); A Bird's a Bird (1915); The Home Breakers (1915); Mabel, Fatty and the Law (1915); Fatty and Mabel at the San Diego Exposition (1915); Mabel and Fatty's Wash Day (1915); Rum and Wall Paper (1915); Hushing the Scandal (1915); His Second Childhood (1914); Wild West Love (1914); Fatty's Magic Pants (1914); The Plumber (1914); Among the Mourners (1914); The Sea Nymphs (1914); Fatty's Wine Party (1914); Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914); His Talented Wife (1914); Cursed by His Beauty (1914); Gentlemen of Nerve (1914); The Love Thief (1914); Hello, Mabel (1914); He Loved the Ladies (1914); Those Country Kids (1914); The Property Man (1914); Mabel's New Job (1914); Love and Bullets (1914); Mabel's Married Life (1914); The Water Dog (1914); Caught in the Rain (1914); Caught in a Cabaret (1914); Mabel at the Wheel (1914); The Passing of Izzy (1914); Fatal High C (1914); The Star Boarder (1914); Against Heavy Odds (1914); Tango Tangle (1914); A False Beauty (1914); Love and Gasoline (1914); Mabel's Strange Predicament (1914); Making a Living (1914); Won in a Closet (1914); The Under-Sheriff (1914); A Hornet's Nest (1913); Schnitz the Tailor (1913); Mother's Boy (1913); When Dreams Come True (1913); Mabel's Dramatic Career (1913); The Firebugs (1913); The Riot (1913); Cohen's Outing (1913); Just Kids (1913); A Noise from the Deep (1913); Love and Rubbish (1913); The Telltale Light (1913); The Tale of a Black Eye (1913); The Hansom Driver (1913); Passions, He Had Three (1913); Toplitsky and Company (1913); The Water Nymph (1912); Just Brown's Luck (1913); The Mistaken Masher (1913); For Lizzie's Sake (1913); A Double Wedding (1913); Mabel's Stratagem (1912); Hoffmeyer's Legacy (1912); The Drummer's Vacation (1912); Pat's Day Off (1912); Brown's Seance (1912); Mabel's Lovers (1912); At It Again (1912); Ambitious Butler (1912); Stolen Glory (1912); The Leading Man (1912); The Love Trail (1912); The Baron (1911); Got a Match? (1912); A Near-Tragedy (1912); Lily's Lovers (1912); Pants and Pansies (1912); The Engagement Ring (1912); The Best Man Wins (1911).

Born on this day – Gioachino Rossini:

Gioachino Rossini

Composer

February 29, 1792 – November 13, 1868

J. K. Rowling, on writing:

I'm a writer, and I will write what I want to write.

- J. K. Rowling.

Born on this day – Piper Laurie:

Piper Laurie

Actress

January 22, 1932 – October 14, 2023

Credits:

Around the Sun (2022–2023); Carcerem (2020); White Boy Rick (2018); MacGyver (2018); Snapshots (2018); Bad Blood (2012); Another Harvest Moon (2010); Hesher (2010); Saving Grace B. Jones (2009); Hounddog (2007); Property (2006); The Dead Girl (2006); Cold Case (2005); Dead Like Me (2004); Eulogy (2004); State of Grace (2002); Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2001); The Last Brickmaker in America (2001); Midwives (2001); Possessed (2000); Will & Grace (2000); Partners (1999); The Mao Game (1999); Inherit the Wind (1999); Frasier (1994–1999); Brother's Keeper (1999); Palmer's Pick-Up (1999); The Faculty (1998); St. Patrick's Day (1997); A Christmas Memory (1997); Touched by an Angel (1997); Intensity (1997); Alone (1997); Wolf Pack (1996); Diagnosis Murder (1996); ER (1995–1996); In the Blink of an Eye (1996); The Road to Galveston (1996); The Grass Harp (1995); The Crossing Guard (1995); Fighting for My Daughter (1995); Shadows of Desire (1994); Traps (1994); Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993); Love, Lies & Lullabies (1993); Trauma (1993); Rich in Love (1992); Storyville (1992); Other People's Money (1991); Twin Peaks (1989–1991); Rising Son (1990); Twin Peaks (1989); Dream a Little Dream (1989); Beauty and the Beast (1989); Mother, Mother (1989); Go Toward the Light (1988); Tiger Warsaw (1988); Distortions (1988); Appointment with Death (1988); Promise (1986); Matlock (1986); Children of a Lesser God (1986); The Twilight Zone (1985–1986); Toughlove (1985); Love, Mary (1985); Tender Is the Night (1985); Return to Oz (1985); Murder, She Wrote (1985); Hotel (1985); St. Elsewhere (1983); The Thorn Birds (1983); Mae West (1982); Macbeth (1981); The Bunker (1981); Skag (1980); Tim (1979); Rainbow (1978); The Boss' Son (1978); In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan (1977); Ruby (1977); The Woman Rebel (1976); ; Carrie (1976); The Long Hunt of April Savage (1966); Breaking Point (1964); The Eleventh Hour (1964); Ben Casey (1963); Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963); Kraft Theatre (1960–1963); Naked City (1963); Westinghouse Presents: Come Again to Carthage (1961); General Electric Theater (1956–1961); The Hustler (1961); Play of the Week (1960); Goodyear Theatre (1960); Winterset (1959); Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1959); The Eighty Yard Run (1957–1958); The Seven Lively Arts (1957); Studio One (1957); Until They Sail (1957); The Ninth Day (1956); Kelly and Me (1956); Front Row Center (1956); Robert Montgomery Presents (1955); Ain't Misbehavin' (1955); The Best of Broadway (1955); Smoke Signal (1955); Dawn at Socorro (1954); Johnny Dark (1954); Dangerous Mission (1954); The Golden Blade (1953); The Mississippi Gambler (1953); Son of Ali Baba (1952); Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952); No Room for the Groom (1952); The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951); Francis Goes to the Races (1951); The Milkman (1950); Louisa (1950).

On this day in movie history - Dead Poets Society (1989):

Dead Poets Society,

directed by Peter Weir,

written by Tom Schulman,

was released in the United States on June 2, 1989.
Music by Maurice Jarre.

“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute.

We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race.

And the human race is filled with passion.

And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life.

But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.

To quote from Whitman:
‘O me! O life! of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer: That you are here - that life exists, and identity, that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.’
That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.
What will your verse be?”

– Robin Williams, as John Keating.

I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately …

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life!

To put to rout all that was not life …

And not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived …

– Hand-written quote in this still is modified from the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

Cast:
Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, Gale Hansen, Norman Lloyd, Kurtwood Smith, Dylan Kussman, Allelon Ruggiero, James Waterston, Alexandra Powers, Leon Pownall, George Martin, Carla Belver, Jane Moore, Kevin Cooney, Colin Irving, Matt Carey, John Cunningham, Joe Aufiery, Melora Walters, Welker White, Steve Mathios, Alan Pottinger, Pamela Burrell, Allison Hedges, Christine D'Ercole, Debra Mooney, John Martin Bradley, Charles Lord, Kurt Leitner, Richard Stites, James J. Christy, Catherine Soles, Hoover Sutton, James Donnell Quinn, Simon Mein, Ashton W. Richards, Robert Gleason, Bill Rowe, Robert J. Zigler III, Keith Snyder, Nicholas K. Gilhool, Jonas Stiklorius, Craig Johnson, Chris Hull, Jason Woody, Sam Stegeman, Andrew Hill, Serena Ebhardt, Joel Fogel, Newton Gilchrist, Barry Godin, Kate Kearney-Patch, Jamie Kennedy, Nancy Kirk, Stephen Podolak, Jeffrey Santoro, James R. Stoddard.

On this day in movie history - Tolkien (2019):

Tolkien

directed by Dome Karukoski,

written by David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford,

was released in the United Kingdom on April 29, 2019.
Music by Thomas Newman.

Cast:

Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Al Bollands, Kallum Tolkien, Craig Roberts, Harry Gilby, Colm Meaney, Laura Donnelly, Guillermo Bedward, Nia Gwynne, Pam Ferris, Adrian Schiller, Albie Marber, Ty Tennant, Adam Bregman, Tony Nash, Michael Bryceson, Andrew Bissell, Owen Teale, Mimi Keene, Sian Crisp, Patrick Gibson, Anthony Boyle, Tom Glynn-Carney, Antony Barlow, James MacCallum, David Puckridge, David Bromley, Lara Maguire, Holly Dempster, Jane Dixon-Rowland, Genevieve O'Reilly, David Birkbeck, Colin Burnie, Derek Jacobi, Andy Orchard, Frank Kerr, Rob Rhys Bond, Joel Phillimore, John Bradfield, Mia Woods, Sienna Woods, Paul Gurcel Escudero, Harry Webster, Jack Riley.