Born on this day – Edward Herrmann:

Edward Herrmann

Actor

Director

Writer

July 21, 1943 – December 31, 2014

Credits:

30 Rock (2008); A Christmas Wish (2011); A Civil Action (1998); A Little Sex (1982); A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story (1978); A Season in Purgatory (1996); Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1987); American Dad! (2012–2016); American Playhouse (1984–1987); Andrew Jackson (2007); Annie (1982); Ape to Man (2005); Are You Here (2013); Atomic Train (1999); Beacon Hill (1975); Bereft (2004); Better Living (1998); Better with You (2011); Bible Battles (2005); Big Business (1988); Biography (1997); Black Box (2014); Born Yesterday (1993); Brass Target (1978); Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star (2011); Christmas Oranges (2012); Coach of the Year (2015); Compromising Positions (1985); Critical Care (1997); Crossing Jordan (2003); CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2013); Dear Liar (1981); Death Valley (1982); Decoding the Past: Mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle (2005); Desperate Crossing - The True Story of the Mayflower (2006); Don't Drink the Water (1994); Double Take (2001); Drop Dead Diva (2011); Eighty Acres of Hell (2006); Eleanor and Franklin (1976); Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977); Enduring Legacy (2012); Factory Girl (2006); Fire in the Dark (1991); First Invasion: The War of 1812 (2004); Foreign Student (1994); Freedom Road (1979); Freedom to Speak (1983); Gilmore Girls (2000–2007); Gilmore Girls (2001–2007); Grey's Anatomy (2007); Harry's Law (2012); Harry's War (1981); Hatching Pete (2009); Heaven's Door (2012); Here Come the Munsters (1995); Hero (1992); Homicide: Life on the Street (1996); Hothouse (1988); How I Met Your Mother (2013); How the Earth Was Made (2007); I Think I Love My Wife (2007); Intolerable Cruelty (2003); Isaac's Storm (2004); James Dean (2001); Lady Liberty (1971); Laughter in the Dark (1986); Law & Order (1995–2009); Liberty! The American Revolution (1997); M*A*S*H (1980); Memorial Day (1983); Men of Valor (2004); Monsterquest (2008); Mrs. Soffel (1984); Murrow (1986); My Boyfriend's Back (1993); Nixon (1995); Nostradamus: 500 Years Later (2003); Nova (1998–1999); Overboard (1987); Oz (2000–2003); Pandora's Clock (1996); Perception (2015); Portrait of a Stripper (1979); Price Check (2012); Redemption: For Robbing the Dead (2011); Reds (1981); Relative Strangers (2006); Richie Rich (1994); Saint Maybe (1998); Screen One (1993); So Proudly We Hail (1990); Son of Morning (2011); Soul of the Game (1996); St. Elsewhere (1984–1986); Sweet Poison (1991); Take Down (1979); The 5:48 (1979); The Aviator (2004); The Betsy (1978); The Cat's Meow (2001); The Christmas Pageant (2011); The Day of the Dolphin (1973); The Electric Grandmother (1982); The Emperor's Club (2002); The Face on the Milk Carton (1995); The French Revolution (2005); The General Motors Playwrights Theater (1991); The Gift of Life (1982); The Good Wife (2010–2013); The Great Gatsby (1974); The Great Waldo Pepper (1975); The Lawrenceville Stories (1986–1987); The Lost Boys (1987); The Lost Boys: The Lost Scenes (2004); The Man with One Red Shoe (1985); The North Avenue Irregulars (1979); The Paper Chase (1973); The Practice (1997–2001); The Private History of a Campaign That Failed (1981); The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985); The Shaft (2001); The Six Wives of Henry Lefay (2009); The Skeptic (2009); The Surge: The Untold Story (2010); The Ten Commandments (2005); The Town That Dreaded Sundown (2014); The Wolf of Wall Street (2013); Tom Goes to the Mayor (2005); Treasure Buddies (2012); UFO Files (2005); Valley Forge (1975); Vendetta (1999); Violent Earth: New England's Killer Hurricane (2006); Walking Across Egypt (1999); Wedding Daze (2006); Welcome to Mooseport (2004); What Love Sees (1996); Wings (1995); Wonder Woman (2011).

Born on this day – John Gardner:

John Gardner

Writer

July 21, 1933 – September 14, 1982

Credits:

Books:

Come on Back (1981); Dragon, Dragon (1975); Dragon, Dragon and Other Tales (1975); Freddy's Book (1980); Grendel (1971); Gudgekin the Thistle Girl (1976); Gudgekin the Thistle Girl and Other Tales (1976); He Clinc'd the Colossal Door (1971); In the Suicide Mountains (1977); Jason and Medeia (1973); John Napper Sailing Through the Universe (1974); Julius Caesar and the Werewolf (1984); King Gregor and the Fool (1974); Mickelsson's Ghosts (1982); Muriel (1974); Nimram (1981); Pastoral Care (1974); Queen Louisa (1972); Redemption (1981); So they announced (1972); So We Decided (1972); Stillness (1981); The Art of Living (1981); The Art of Living and Other Stories (1981); The Gnome and the Dragons (1977); The Griffin and the Wise Old Philosopher (1976); The Joy of the Just (1981); The King of the Hummingbirds (1977); The King of the Hummingbirds and Other Tales (1977); The King's Indian (1974); The King's Indian: A Tale (1974); The Last Piece of Light (1975); The Library Horror (1981); The Miller's Mule (1975); The Music Lover (1981); The Pear Tree (1977); The Ravages of Spring (1973); The Sea Gulls (1976); The Shape-Shifters of Shorm (1976); The Tailor and the Giant (1975); The Temptation of St. Ivo (1974); The Warden (1974); The Witch's Wish (1977); Trumpeter (1981); Vlemk the Box-Painter (1979); Vlemk the Box-Painter (1981).

Movies and television:

Biography (2006); The Liquidator (1965); The Stone Killer (1973); Wogan (1988).

Born on this day – Joan Benedict Steiger:

Joan Benedict Steiger

Actress

July 21, 1927 – June 24, 2024

Credits:

A Month of Sundays (2001); Actors Entertainment (2010); Apple's Way (1974); Berrenger's (1985); Bravo Profiles (2001); Crazy Like a Fox (1985); Days of Our Lives (1986); Dead Border (2013); Dollhouse (2009); Fantasy Island (1981–1982); Hotel (1986); Hunter (1985); Let's Call It Quits (1974); Opus of an Angel (2017); Perfect Victims (1988); Saturday Night in Apple Valley (1965); Sweet Underground (2004); T.J. Hooker (1984); The Flying Dutchman (2001); The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977); The Incredible Hulk (1980); The New Gidget (1986); The Prize Fighter (1979); The Smith Family (1971); The Theory of Everything (2006); The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1992).

Born on this day – Norman Jewison:

Norman Jewison

Director

Producer

Writer

Founder of the Canadian Film Centre

July 21, 1926 – January 20, 2023

James Caan (left) and Norman Jewison (right), on the set of Rollerball (1975).

Olympia Dukakis (left) and Norman Jewison (right), on the set of Moonstruck (1987).

Denzel Washington (left) and Norman Jewison (right), on the set of The Hurricane (1999).

Credits:

The Statement (2003); Two Nudes Bathing (2001); Dinner with Friends (2001); Walter and Henry (2001); The 20th Century: Funny Is Money (1999); The Hurricane (1999); An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997); The Rez (1996); Bogus (1996); Picture Windows (1994–1995); Dance Me Outside (1994); Only You (1994); Geronimo (1993); Other People's Money (1991); In Country (1989); The January Man (1989); Moonstruck (1987); Agnes of God (1985); Iceman (1984); A Soldier's Story (1984); Best Friends (1982); The 53rd Annual Academy Awards (1981); The Dogs of War (1980); And Justice for All (1979); F.I.S.T. (1978); Rollerball (1975); Billy Two Hats (1974); Jesus Christ Superstar (1973); Fiddler on the Roof (1971); The Landlord (1970); Gaily, Gaily (1969); The Thomas Crown Affair (1968); In the Heat of the Night (1967); The Stupids (1996); The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966); The Cincinnati Kid (1965); The Art of Love (1965); Send Me No Flowers (1964); The Thrill of It All (1963); The Judy Garland Show (1962–1964); 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962); The Broadway of Lerner and Loewe (1962); The Million Dollar Incident (1961); Bulova Watch Time with Pat Boone (1961); Belafonte, New York 19 (1960); An Hour with Danny Kaye (1960); The Secret World of Eddie Hodges (1960); The Fabulous Fifties (1960); The Revlon Revue (1959); The Big Party (1959); The Chevy Showroom Starring Andy Williams (1959); Your Hit Parade (1950–1958); The Adventures of Chich (1958); The Barris Beat (1956); The Wayne & Shuster Show (1955); The Denny Vaughan Show (1954); On Stage (1954); The Big Revue (1952); Let's See (1952); Canadian Pacific (1949).

Born on this day – Ernest Hemingway:

Ernest Hemingway

Writer

July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961

Credits:

Books:

100 Years Of Fishing: The Ultimate Tribute To Our Fishing Tradition (2002); 3 Short Stories and 10 Poems (1923); 40 Short Stories: A Portable Anthology (2000); 50 Great American Short Stories (1963); 50 Great Short Stories (1952); A Clean Well Lighted Place (1926); A Farewell To Arms (1929); A Moveable Feast (1964); Across the River and into the Trees (1950); Alaska Stories (1995); An Alpine Idyll (1927); Articles for The Kansas City Star (1970); Autumn Light: Illuminations of Age (1978); bell hooks: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2023); Big Two-Hearted River (1925); Bullfighting, Sport & Industry (1974); Camping Out (1920); Cape Cod Stories (2002); Chicago Stories (1993); Christopher Hitchens (2017); Conversations with Ernest Hemingway (1986); Cross Country Snow (1924); Dateline Toronto (1985); David Bowie (2016); Death in the Afternoon (1932); Ernest Hemingway (2015); Ernest Hemingway on Writing (1984); First Fiction: An Anthology of the First Published Stories by Famous Writers (1994); Florida Stories (1993); Florida Stories (1993); For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940); Fred Rogers: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2021); Frida Kahlo: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2020); Gabriel García Márquez (2015); Graham Greene: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2019); Great First World War Stories (1930); Green Hills of Africa (1935); Hannah Arendt: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2013); Hemingway at Oak Park High (1993); Hemingway on Fishing (2000); Hemingway on War (2003); Hunter S. Thompson (2018); In Our Time (1925); Islands in the Stream (1970); J. D. Salinger (2016); James Baldwin: The Last Interview: and other Conversations (2014); Jane Jacobs (2016); Janet Malcolm: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations (2022); John Lewis: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2021); Johnny Cash: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2021); Jorge Luis Borges (2012); Julia Child: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2018); Kathy Acker: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2018); Kurt Cobain: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2022); Kurt Vonnegut (2011); Learning to Live Finally (2005); Life Stories: Profiles from The New Yorker (2000); Los Angeles Stories (1991); Lou Reed (2015); Lust: Lascivious Love Stories and Passionate Poems (1994); Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2017); Men Without Women (1927); New Orleans Stories (1992); Nora Ephron: The Last Interview (2015); Octavia E. Butler: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2023); Oliver Sacks (2016); On Paris (2008); On Writing (1986); Philip K. Dick (2015); Ray Bradbury: The Last Interview (2014); Roberto Bolaño: The Last Interview: And Other Conversations (2009); San Francisco Stories (1990); San Francisco Thrillers (1995); Selected Letters 1917-1961 (1981); Shirley Chisholm: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2021); Short Story Masterpieces: 35 Classic American and British Stories from the First Half of the 20th Century (1954); Southwest Stories (1993); Texas Stories (1995); The Best American Short Stories of the Century (2000); The Complete Short Stories (1925); The Dangerous Summer (1985); The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War (1938); The First Forty-Nine Stories (1938); The Garden of Eden (1985); The Killers and Other Short Stories (1982); The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 1, 1907–1922 (2011); The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 2, 1923-1925 (2013); The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 3, 1926-1929 (2015); The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 4, 1929–1931 (2017); The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 5, 1932–1934 (2020); The Lost Generation Reader: Expatriate American Writers in Europe, 1900 – 1950 (2004); The Nick Adams Stories (1966); The Old Man and the Sea (1952); The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber & Other Stories (1936); The Short Story: 30 Masterpieces (1992); The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories (1936); The Sun Also Rises (1926); The Torrents of Spring (1926); The Ultimate Short Story Bundle (2020); The Undefeated (1965); To Have and Have Not (1937); Toni Morrison: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (2020); True At First Light (1999); Under Kilimanjaro (2005); Ursula K. Le Guin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (2019); War: An Anthology (1969); Winner Take Nothing (1933); Writers At Work: The Paris Review Interviews (1957); Writers: Their Lives and Works (2018).

Movies and television:

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (2002 / 2005 / 2007 / 2008 / 2010); A Curious World (2016); A Farewell to Arms (1932 / 1957 / 1966); A Teen-ager Takes a Look at Europe (1955); Abandoned Engineering (2020); Abrupt Ending (2014); Across the River and Into the Trees (2022); Adeus às Armas (1961); After the Storm (2001); Baby Shoes (2012); Best of Friends (1981); Bokser ide u raj (2007); Buick-Electra Playhouse (1959–1960); Calvin Klein: Obsession (1990); Captain Khorshid (1987); Carry Me Away (2013); Cat in the Rain (2011); CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley (2016); Cheyenne (1956); Circle of Honor (2003); Climax! (1955); Democracy Now! (2013); Dieu a choisi Paris (1969); Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (2016); Duels (2016); Elefants blancs (2016); Ernest Hemingway, quatre mariages et un enterrement (2021); Ernest Hemingway's Out of Season (2014); Explained (2018); Fiesta (1971); For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943 / 1965); For Whom the Bell Tolls: Recording of an Opera in Progress (2016); From D-Day to Germany (1944); Gary Cooper: American Life, American Legend (1989); Gifts Like White Elephants (2008); God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (2005); Hedda Hopper's Hollywood No. 3 (1942); Hemingway (2021); Hemingway Unknown (2012); Hemingway: Winner Take Nothing (1998); Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962); Hills (2009); Hills Like White Elephants (2002 / 2017 / 2018); History of Swear Words (2021); Hollywood contra Franco (2008); Hormigas blancas (2020); I riassuntini (2018); Islands in the Stream (1977); Killarna - en far og seks syv brødre (2006); Kraft Theatre (1958); La France en face / Histoire immediate (2013); La ironía del dinero / Segment: Toros (1957); La Tragédie des Brigades Internationales (2016); Lauren Bacall, ombre et lumière (2017); Life and Times (2000); Little Sleep, Little Slumber (2024); Los asesinos (2006 / 2009); Lux Video Theatre (1957); Mia hara (1995); My Old Man (1969 / 1979); Njeriu kurrë nuk vdes (1961); Nochnoy ekspress (2006); Norman Mailer: The American (2010); Omnibus (1953–1954); Peta kolona (1973); Playhouse 90 (1959); Playwrights '56 (1955); Project Twenty (1963); Randy Writes a Novel (2018); Renaud: Les mots (2016); Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (2021); Robert Montgomery Presents (1955); Salinger (2013); Schlitz Playhouse (1952); Secrets of War (1999); Soldier's Home (1977); Teledrama (1956); Television Theater (1955–1958); The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Documentaries (2008); The Breaking Point (1950); The Color of War (2002); The Devil's Den: A Nick Adams Story (2023); The Fifth Column (1960); The Gambler, the Nun and the Radio (1960); The Garden of Eden (2008); The Gun Runners (1958); The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002); The Killers (1946 / 1956 / 1964 / 2009 / 2013 / 2018); The Killers II (2013); The Leisure Seeker (2017); The Macomber Affair (1947); The Old Man and the Sea (1958 / 1990 / 1999 / 2021); The Reader (2008); The Sea (1958); The Sea Change (2006 / 2014); The Seven Lively Arts (1957); The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952); The Spanish Earth (1937); The Sun Also Rises (1957 / 1984); The Twentieth Century (1960); The Unknown War (1978); Therapy or Torture: The Truth about Electroshock (2019); To Have and Have Not (1944); Today Is Friday (2010); Ubice (2008); Un lugar limpio y bien iluminado (1991); Under My Skin (1950); Vrasësit (2014); Wave-189 (2016); Wemedge (2021); White Elephants (2012 / 2014); White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch (2022); Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990); Zabijáci (1990).

Born on this day – Alice Hechy:

Alice Hechy

Actress

Opera singer (soprano)

July 21, 1893 – May 26, 1973

Credits:

Nanon (1938); His Late Excellency (1935); 1914, the last days before the world conflagration (1931); The Cabinet of Dr. Larifari (1930); The Girl from U.S.A. (1930); Gustav Mond, Du geht so stille (1928); Zuflucht (1928); Batalla de damas (1928) The pink diamond (1926); Variety (1925); The Adventurous Wedding (1925); The Doll from the Lunapark (1925); This Ancient Law (1923); So sind die Männer (1923); Vienna du Stadt der Lieder (1923); The Struggle for the Self (1922); Tobias Buntschuh - The Drama eines Einsamen (1921); Zpev zlata (1921); Das Land der Sehnsucht (1918); Dorittchens Pleasure Trip (1916); The Man Whom Fate Sent (1916); Dorrits Eheglück (1916); The Bartered Bride (1916); The Tales of Hoffmann (1916); Imp (1915); Liebet die Männer (1915); Sugar and Spice (1915); Problematic Naturen (1915); chamber music (1915); Die Finsternis und ihr Eigentum (1915); Miss Piccolo (1915); Wenn Wunden heilen (1914); Pauline (1914); The Man in the Cellar (1914); Ilse und ihre drei Freier (1913); Red Powder (1913); In the shade der Schuld (1912).

Recommended reading - The Shootist, by Glendon Swarthout (1975):

The Shootist

By Glendon Swarthout.

Introduction by Miles Swarthout.

Filmed as The Shootist (1976), directed by Don Siegel.

Published by Bison Books.

First published 1975.

ISBN-10: 0803238231

ISBN-13: 9780803238237

Description:

"Such style...such a strong central idea...the showdown is an unremitting as the build-up." – Sunday Times of London.

"This is an extremely well-written Western and gives the reader vivid insight into the workings of the mind of a wanderer and gunman." – Baton Rouge, Louisiana Sunday Advocate.

"The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout is the taleof the Old West's version of the modern 'hit man'. It is a splendid story, well-told and with a really satisfying ending." – Charleston, South Carolina Evening Post.

The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a man of principle and the only surviving gunfighter in a vanishing American West. He rides into El Paso in the year 1901, on the day Queen Victoria died, there to be told by a doctor that he must soon confront the greatest shootist of all: Death. In such a showdown, against such an antagonist, he cannot win. Most men may end their days in bed or take their own lives, but a man-killer has a 3rd option, one which Books decides to exercise. He may choose his own executioner.

As word spreads that the famous assassin has reached the end of his rope, an assortment of vultures gathers to feast upon his corpse--among them a gambler, a rustler, an undertaker, an old love, a reporter, even a boy. Books outwits them, however, by selecting the where, when, who, and why of his death, and writing in fire from a pair of Remingtons the last courageous act of his own legend. The climatic gunfight itself is an incredible performance by an incredible man, and by his creator, Glendon Swarthout.

The Shootist will rank with such classics as Shane and The Ox-Bow Incident, but it is much more than a Western. When, in the final afternoon of his life, J. B. Books crosses a street and enters a saloon to make something of his death, we cross, we enter, with him. He is us.

From a corner of the south window Gillom Rogers spied on the new lodger. The man unpacked his valise and put things in a drawer of the chiffonier, then hung his Price Albert coat in the closet. When he turned from the closet he was in shirt and vest. The boy's eyes rounded. Sewn to each side of the vest was a holster, reversed, and in each holster was a pistol, butt forward. As he watched, sucking in his breath, the man took the weapons out, revolved the cylinders, filled a chamber in one he had evidently fired, and replaced them before hanging the vest, too, in the closet. The pistols were a pair of nickel-plated, short-barreled, unsighted, single-action .44 Remingtons, obviously manufactured to order. The handle of one was black gutta-percha, the other pearl.

Gillom slipped away to take the horse to the livery, letting the breath of revelation out of his lungs. He was seventeen, and spent much of his time in saloons. He was not yet served, but he enjoyed himself and picked up a great deal of miscellaneous information, some of it true, some of it of doubtful authenticity. But the man in corner room was no stranger to him now. He had heard enough scalp-itch, blood-freeze tales to know that only one man carried a similar pair of guns in a similar manner...