Born on this day – Barbra Fuller:

Barbra Fuller

Actress

July 31, 1921 – May 15, 2024

Credits:

Adventures of Superman (1953); Alias the Champ (1949); Boston Blackie / Front Page Detective (1951); City of Bad Men (1953); Colgate Theatre (1958); Daniel Boone (1970); Flame of Youth (1949); Four Star Playhouse (1955–1956); Harbor of Missing Men (1950); Lassie (1965); Lonely Heart Bandits (1950); Medic (1955); My Three Sons (1960); Perry Mason (1960–1964); Rock Island Trail (1950); Singing Guns (1950); State Trooper (1958); Tarnished (1950); The Ford Television Theatre (1957); The Jack Benny Program (1958); The Lineup (1955); The Millionaire (1956); The Red Menace (1949); The Roommates (1973); The Savage Horde (1950); Trackdown (1958); Trial Without Jury (1950); U.S. Marshal (1960); Unmasked (1950); Visiting... with Huell Howser (1994); Women from Headquarters (1950); World of Giants (1959).

Born on this day – Mario Bava:

Mario Bava

Director

Cinematographer

Special Effects

July 31, 1914 – April 27, 1980

Credits:

A Bay of Blood (1971); At Dog's Life (1950); I don't have love! But, however... (1951); Flavian Amphitheater (1947); Anthony of Padua (1949); Asesinato desde la Roja Oscuridad (2019); Attack of the Normans (1962); Toys and perfumes (1953); Barber of Seville (1947); Baron Blood (1972); Beautiful But Dangerous (1955); Ben-Hur (1959); Black Sabbath (1963); Black Sunday (1960); Blood and Black Lace (1964); Good night... lawyer! (1955); Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959); Spring Song (1951); Captain Storm (1942); Capriccio musicale (1950); City at night (1957); Cops and Robbers (1951); Crazy Things (1954); Danger: Diabolik (1968); Deducoria (2018); Doctor Stein (2019); Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966); Dream House (2009); The knight has arrived! (1950); Here is happiness (1940); Elixir of Love (1947); Erik the Conqueror (1961); Esther and the King (1960); Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970); Four Times That Night (1971); Gladiators 7 (1962); The Sunday Heroes (1952); Goya (1950); Grass Hook Massacre (2019); Graziella (1955); Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970); Hercules (1958); Hercules and the Captive Women (1961); Hercules in the Haunted World (1961); Hercules Unchained (1959); High School (1954); The Kiss of Dawn (1953); The lion of Damascus (1942); The Overbearing Turkey (1939); The Avenue of Hope (1953); Nightmare For a White Fly (2015); Inferno (1980); It Happened in the Park (1953); Kill Baby... Kill! (1966); King Ripple (2015); Knives of the Avenger (1966); The Compagnia della Teppa (1941); The Passaguai family (1951); The family Passaguai makes a fortune (1952); The Venus of Ille (1979); The Vispa Teresa (1939); The adventure of Annabella (1943); Legenda Sinfonica (1947); Life Is Tough, Eh Providence? (1972); Lisa and the Devil (1973); The Ear (1946); The Hospital of the Crime (1950); Love of a Clown (1948); Lust of the Vampire (1957); Mad About Opera (1948); Mario Bava speaks (2006); Mario Bava: Maestro of the Macabre (2000); Mario Bava: Operation Fear (2004); Masks (2011); Minnesota Clay (1964); Miss Italy (1950); Morgan the Pirate (1960); Moses the Lawgiver (1974); Moxina (2012); Mysteria (2016); Naked You Die (1968); Christmas at Camp 119 (1947); Nero's Mistress (1956); No Greater Love (1955); Odyssey (1968); Orlando and the Paladins of France (1956); Dad Becomes a Mom (1952); Forgive me! (1953); Planet of the Vampires (1965); Rabid Dogs (1974 / 2015); Roja Oscuridad (2018); Roy Colt & Winchester Jack (1970); S.O.S. Submarine (1941); Holy Night (1947); Saint Helena, Small Island (1943); Savage Gringo (1966); Scream Creek (2024); Shock (1977); Silver Slime (1981); Sins of Casanova (1955); Son of Samson (1960); Spartacus (1953); Suspiria (1977); The Day the Sky Exploded (1958); The Evil Eye (1963); The Giant of Marathon (1959); The House of Exorcism (1975); The Last Days of Pompeii (1959); The Last of the Vikings (1961); The Old Man in the Rocking Chair (2022); The Road to Fort Alamo (1964); The Taming of Dorothy (1950); The Whip and the Body (1963); The White Ship (1941); The White Warrior (1959); The Wonders of Aladdin (1961); Two Guns and a Coward (1968); Ulysses (1954); Men and Skies (1947); Variations symphonic (1949); War of the Zombies (1964); Waterloo (1970); We Stole a Tram (1954); Winchester Jack (1970); Yellow (2006).

Born on this day – Gerald Butler:

Gerald Butler

Writer

July 31, 1907 – February 1, 1988

Credits:

Books:

Choice of Two Women (1951); Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1940); Mad with Much Heart (1945); Slippery Hitch (1948); Their Rainbow Had Black Edges (1943); There Is a Death, Elizabeth (1972); They Cracked Her Glass Slipper (1941).

Movies and television:

Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948); On Dangerous Ground (1951); The Fatal Night (1948); Third Time Lucky (1949).

Born on this day – Yvonne Howell:

Yvonne Howell

Actress

July 31, 1905 – May 27, 2010

Credits:

George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984); Working Girls (1931); Take Me Home (1928); The Junior Year (1928); Hop Off (1928); The Great Mail Robbery (1927); Somewhere in Sonora (1927); Fashions for Women (1927); The Knight Before Christmas (1927); The Lady of Lyons, N.Y. (1926); A Fraternity Mixup (1926); Flaming Flappers (1925); Transients in Arcadia (1925); Harem Follies (1924).

Recommended reading - The Ivory Grin, by Ross MacDonald (1952):

The Ivory Grin

aka Marked for Murder

By Ross MacDonald.

Published 1952,

ISBN-10: 0307278999

ISBN-13: 9780307278999

Back cover description:

“Archer-Macdonald are working together at their peak, piecing together a most modern American Tragedy, making literature out of the thriller form, gazing more clearly than ever into the future as it rolls through the smog.” – Newsweek.

A hard-faced woman clad in a blue mink stole and dripping with diamonds hires Lew Archer to track down her former maid, who she claims has stolen her jewelry. Archer can tell he's being fed a line, but curiosity gets the better of him and he accepts the case. He tracks the wayward maid to a ramshackle motel in a seedy, run-down small town, but finds her dead in her tiny room, with her throat slit from ear to ear. Archer digs deeper into the case and discovers a web of deceit and intrigue, with crazed number-runners from Detroit, gorgeous triple-crossing molls, and a golden-boy shipping heir who's mysteriously gone missing.

Traveling from sleazy motels to stately seaside manors, The Ivory Grin is one of Lew Archer's most violent and macabre cases ever.

“Ross Macdonald must be ranked high amongst American thriller writers.” – The Times Literary Supplement.

Lemmy Kilmister, on books and reading:

There are a lot of good books around.

People don't read anymore.

It's a sad state of affairs.

Reading's the only thing that allows you to use your imagination.

When you watch films it's someone else's vision, isn't it?

- Lemmy Kilmister.

On this day in movie history - Get Low (2010):

Get Low

directed by Aaron Schneider,

written by Chris Provenzano, C. Gaby Mitchell and Scott Seeke,

was released in the United States on July 30, 2010.
Music by Jan A. P. Kaczmarek.
Inspired by the true story of Felix Bushaloo Breazeale.

Cast:

Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Bill Murray, Lucas Black, Gerald McRaney, Bill Cobbs, Scott Cooper, Lori Beth Sikes, Linds Edwards, Andrea Powell, Chandler Riggs, Danny Vinson, Blerim Destani, Tomasz Karolak, Andy Stahl, Marc Gowan, Arin Logan.