Born on this day – Shelley Winters:

Shelley Winters

Actress

August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006

Born on this day – Laura Wood:

Laura Wood

Actress

August 18, 1901 – May 9, 1982

Credits:

77 Sunset Strip (1959); General Electric Theater (1958); Gomer Pyle: USMC (1966); Highway Patrol (1956); How I Became a Nudist (1968); Medic (1955); My Three Sons (1968); Official Detective (1957); Six She's and a He (1963); Star Trek (1966–1967); Sweet Bird of Aquarius (1970); The Rebel (1960); This Sporting House (1969).

Recommended reading - The Barbarous Coast (1956):

The Barbarous Coast

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

Published 1956.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0307279030

ISBN-13: 978-0307279033

Description:

“Ross Macdonald writes like a son of a bitch.” – Anthony Boucher.

“Not since the novels of Nathanael West has the theme of American innocence grinding to a stop at the polluted waters of the Pacific so consistently reverberated through a body of writing.” – Detroit News.

The beautiful, high-diving blonde had Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared without a trace. Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy “uncle,” Lew Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and murder on every pricey silk shirt. Beset by dirty cops, a bumptious boxer turned silver screen pretty boy, and a Hollywood mogul with a dark past, Archer discovers the secret of a grisly murder that just won't stay hidden.

Lew Archer navigates through the watery, violent world of wealth and privilege, in this electrifying story of obsession gone mad.

“Macdonald makes a routine story of ocean-side murder among the rich take on a hard-edged, glistening solidity.” – AudioFile.

Wally Lamb, on writing:

I like to be surprised.

The best writing is when it defies me, when it starts going a different way than I had planned.

- Wally Lamb.

On this day in movie history - Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground (1997):

Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground

aka SUBWAYstories,

was released in the United States on August 17, 1997.
Directed by Bob Balaban, Patricia Benoit, Julie Dash, Jonathan Demme, Ted Demme, Abel Ferrara, Alison Maclean, Craig McKay, Lucas Platt, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld.
Written by Adam Brooks, John Guare, Lynn Grossman, Angela Todd, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Albert Innaurato, Danny Hoch, Julie Dash, Marla Hanson, Joe Viola, Rosie Perez.
Music by Mecca Bodega.

Story segment titles:

Fern's Heart of Darkness
The 5: 24
Honey-Getter
The Listeners
Love on the A Train
Manhattan Miracle
The Red Shoes
Sax Cantor Riff
Subway Car from Hell
Underground

Cast:

Bill Irwin, KRS-One, Tina North, Paul Lazar, Andre B. Blake, Anthony S. Calypso, Robert W. Castle, Marlon Cherry, Carl J. Ferrazza, Daniel Freedman, Marc Mueller, Paul Mueller, Simon Seven, Joe Toutebon, Daniel Wolff, Mari Danzi, Lara McFarlane, Angie Utt, Audrey Meyers, Denis Leary, Christine Lahti, N'Bushe Wright, Kevin Corrigan, Marie Barrientos, O.L. Duke, Ellen Gould, John C. Vennema, Sixto Ramos, Erika Greene, Steve Zahn, Jerry Stiller, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Spore, Mekhi Phifer, José Ramón Rosario, Nancy Ticotin, John Ford Noonan, Lili Taylor, Michael Rapaport, Israel Horovitz, Mercedes Ruehl, Zachary Taylor, Peter Sarsgaard, Jeremy Jordan, Bruce Smolanoff, Rob Clasen, Jay Bailey, Sarita Choudhury, Nicole Ari Parker, Ajay Naidu, Danny Hoch, Steven Randazzo, Gi Shen, Kenny Garrett, Sam Rockwell, Sol Frieder, Tammi Cubilette, Kavi Ramachandran Ladnier, Bruklin Harris, Taral Hicks, Daniel Rous, Will Hare, Rosie Perez, Michael McGlone, Gretchen Mol, Gregory Hines, Anne Heche, George T. Odom, John D. Bair, John Bryant, Christopher Del Gaudio, Mark Robert Gordon, Stacie Johnsen, Adrian Lee, Bonnie Monaghan, Steve Nuke, Frank Turek, Chris White.

On this day in movie history - 12 Angry Men (1997 movie & play):

12 Angry Men

directed by William Friedkin,

written by Reginald Rose,

based on the 1954 teleplay Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose,

was released in the United States on August 17, 1997.

Cast: Courtney B. Vance, Ossie Davis, George C. Scott, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Dorian Harewood, James Gandolfini, Tony Danza, Jack Lemmon, Hume Cronyn, Mykelti Williamson, Edward James Olmos, William Petersen, Mary McDonnell, Tyrees Allen, Douglas Spain.

Recommended reading:

Twelve Angry Men

Teleplay by Reginald Rose.

Introduction by David Mamet.

Filmed as:

12 Angry Men (1957), directed by Sidney Lumet.

12 Angry Men (1997), directed by William Friedkin.

Paperback.

Published by Penguin Classics.

First published 1954.

ISBN 13: 9780143104407

ISBN 10: 0143104403

ASIN: 0143104403

Description:

A blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal prejudices or biases. Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst.

After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, and award-winning, run on Broadway.

On this day in movie history - The Exorcist III (1990 movie & novel):

The Exorcist III

directed and written by William Peter Blatty,

based on novel Legion by William Peter Blatty,

was released in the United States on August 17, 1990.
Music by Barry De Vorzon.

Cast:

George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Jason Miller, Scott Wilson, Brad Dourif, Grand L. Bush, Nicol Williamson, Nancy Fish, Tracy Thorne, Barbara Baxley, Harry Carey Jr., George DiCenzo, Tyra Ferrell, Lois Foraker, Don Gordon, Mary Jackson, Zohra Lampert, Ken Lerner, Viveca Lindfors, Lee Richardson, Kevin Corrigan, Demetrios Pappageorge, Jodi Long, Samuel L. Jackson, Amelia Campbell, C. Everett Koop, Larry King, Patrick Ewing, Teresa Wright, Fabio, Colleen Dewhurst, The Lennon Sisters.

Recommended reading:

Legion

By William Peter Blatty.

Published by Tor Books.

First published in 1983.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0765327139

ISBN-13: 978-0765327130

Description:

“Jesus asked the man his name, and he answered, ‘Legion, for we are many.’” – Mark 5:9.

A young boy is found horribly murdered in a mock crucifixion. Is the murderer the elderly woman who witnessed the crime? A neurologist who can no longer bear the pain life inflicts on its victims? A psychiatrist with a macabre sense of humor and a guilty secret? A mysterious mental patient, locked in silent isolation?

Lieutenant Kinderman follows a bewildering trail that links all these people, confronting new enigmas at every turn, even as more murders occur. Why does each victim suffer the same dreadful mutilations? Why are two priests among the dead? Is there a connection between these crimes and another series of murders that took place twelve years ago – one that supposedly ended with the death of the killer?

Legion is a novel of breathtaking energy and suspense. But more than this, it is an extraordinary journey into the uncharted depths of the human mind and the most agonizing questions of the human condition.

The answers are revealed in a climax so stunning that it could only have been written by the author of The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty.