Who was born on this date:

Director Victor Fleming was born on February 23, 1889 in Pasadena, California. He began his career in Hollywood as a stuntman but soon found that his true calling was behind the camera as a director. Fleming’s motion picture directorial career spanned nearly thirty years from 1919 to 1948, and included forty-eight films. He won the 1940 best director Oscar for Gone with the Wind and is also famous for directing The Wizard of Oz (1939). Other notable film credits include: The Way of All Flesh (1927), The Virginian (1929), Renegades (1930), Treasure Island (1934), Captains Courageous (1937), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941), and Joan of Arc (1948). On January 6, 1949, while vacationing with his family near Cottonwood, Arizona, the award winning director died of a heart attack. His funeral was held at the Alban’s Episcopal Church in West Los Angeles. In attendance were numerous celebrities including Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Louis B. Mayer, Samuel Goldwyn, and Van Johnson. Fleming is interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California.

Who died on this date:

On February 23, 1965, actor Stan Laurel died. He was born on June 16, 1890 in Lancashire, England. He is best known as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film The Music Box (1932). In 1910, with the stage name of “Stan Jefferson”, he joined Fred Karno’s troupe of actors, which also included a young Charlie Chaplin. For some time, he acted as Chaplin’s understudy. The Karno troupe toured America, and brought both Chaplin and Jefferson to the United States for the first time. From 1916 to 1918, he teamed up with Alice Cooke and Baldwin Cooke, who became lifelong friends. Amongst other performers, Jefferson worked briefly alongside Oliver Hardy in a silent film short The Lucky Dog. Around the same time he adopted the stage surname of Laurel.

Laurel went on to join the Hal Roach studio, and began directing films, including a 1926 production called Yes, Yes, Nanette. He intended to work primarily as a writer and director, but fate stepped in. In 1927, Oliver Hardy, another member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star players, was injured in a kitchen mishap and Laurel was asked to return to acting. Laurel and Hardy began sharing the screen in Slipping Wives, Duck Soup and With Love and Hisses. The two became friends and their comic chemistry soon became obvious. Roach Studios’ supervising director Leo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of the Laurel and Hardy series later that year.

Together, the two men began producing a huge body of short films, including The Battle of the Century, Should Married Men Go Home?, Two Tars, Be Big!, Big Business, and many others. Laurel and Hardy successfully made the transition to talking films with the short, Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929. They also appeared in their first feature in one of the revue sequences of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the following year they appeared as the comic relief in a lavish all-color (in Technicolor) musical feature, The Rogue Song. In 1931, their own first starring feature, Pardon Us was released, although they continued to make both features and shorts until 1935, including their 1932 film, The Music Box which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.

During the 1930’s, Laurel was involved in a dispute with Hal Roach, which resulted in the termination of his contract. Since Roach maintained separate contracts for Laurel and Hardy that expired at different times, Hardy remained at the studio and was “teamed” with Harry Langdon for the 1939 film Zenobia. There was also talk about a series of films co-starring Hardy with Patsy Kelly called “The Hardy Family.” But Laurel sued Roach over the contract dispute. Eventually, the case was dropped and Laurel returned to Roach. After returning to Roach studios, the first film Laurel and Hardy made was A Chump at Oxford. Subsequently, they made Saps at Sea, which was their last film for Roach.

On August 7, 1957, Oliver Hardy died. Laurel did not attend his funeral, stating “Babe would understand.” People who knew Laurel said he was absolutely devastated by Hardy’s death and never fully recovered for the rest of his life. In 1961, Stan Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 films. He lived his final years in a small apartment in the Oceana Hotel in Santa Monica, California. Laurel was a heavy smoker until suddenly giving up when he was about seventy years of age. He died on February 23, 1965, aged 74, several days after suffering a heart attack and is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

On February 23, 1930, actress Mabel Normand died. She was born on November 9, 1892 in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. She was a silent film actress and popular star of Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios. Throughout the 1920s her name was linked with scandal including the 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor, after which, her film career declined, possibly due to the scandal and a recurrence of tuberculosis in 1923. Director William Desmond Taylor shared her interest in books and the two formed a close relationship. Taylor was deeply in love with Normand, who had originally approached him for help in curing her cocaine dependency. Based upon Normand’s subsequent statements to investigators, her repeated relapses were devastating for Taylor. According sources Taylor met with Federal prosecutors shortly before his death and offered to assist them in filing charges against Normand’s cocaine suppliers. It is believed that Normand’s suppliers learned of this meeting and hired a contract killer to murder the director. According to these same sources, Normand suspected the reasons for her lover’s murder, but did not know the identity of the triggerman.

On the night of Taylor’s murder, February 1, 1922, Normand left Taylor’s bungalow at 7:45 p.m. in a happy mood, carrying a book he had given her as a loan. They blew kisses to each other as her limousine drove away. Normand was the last person known to have seen Taylor alive. The LAPD subjected Normand to a grueling interrogation, but ruled her out as a suspect. However, Normand’s career had already slowed and her reputation was tarnished by revelations of her addiction, which was seen as a moral failing. In 1926 she married actor Lew Cody, however, her film career never recovered and health issues developed. After an extended stay in a sanitarium she died from tuberculosis on February 23, 1930 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Sheriff Harry Morse (1815-1912)

It was October 1865, six months after the end of the Civil War. California was further west than what most thought of as the Wild West, but it was just as wild if not wilder than the Great Plains. The rush for gold in 1849 brought a flood of people, some good, but some bad. What attracted prospectors also attracted thieves. Vigilantes cleaned out many of the outlaw gangs but there continued to be others to replace them. Sheriff Harry Nicholson Morse was born on February 22, 1835 in New York City. He too found his way west in search of gold but soon found his true calling as Sheriff of Alameda County.

In 1865, Narrato Ponce was one of the worst of these outlaws. It was midnight on one October day when Sheriff Morse and his deputy caught up with Ponce. The outlaw was on his horse near a hideout. Morse called out for him to surrender. Ponce drew his gun and fired a fusillade of bullets. All Morse could make out in the darkness was the flashing light of the outlaw’s gun as he fired toward them. But that was enough. Morse and his deputy fired at the light. They wounded Ponce and shot his horse. But the outlaw still escaped.

Six weeks later Morse had another chance. He and two assistants cornered Ponce in Contra Costa County, California. Ponce was holed up in an adobe house with a friend. Morse and his helpers were just about to break inside when someone ran out hightailing it for the hills. The lawmen weren’t fooled into following this man, who was a decoy. A moment later Ponce leaped from the house running the opposite direction. Gunfire filled the air like it was the 4th of July in Fall. Morse followed Ponce. The moment of truth came when Morse and Ponce faced each other head to head, weapons drawn. Morse pulled the trigger on his rifle a moment before Ponce could fire. The bullet killed the outlaw instantly.

California towns in 1865 weren’t like Abilene or Dodge City, Kansas in the 70’s and 80’s. This exchange between Morse and Ponce didn’t give the lawman the reputation of a Wild Bill Hickok or Wyatt Earp. But fame was not Morse’s concern. The New York City native simply took pride in doing his job as a California sheriff. Among lawmen he was becoming increasingly respected. By the 1870’s his method of hunting down the lawless made him stand out. He rode alone into the hills and studied the areas where outlaws hid out. He made friends with ranchers and sheepherders in that area and corresponded with other lawmen to learn all he could about the outlaws’ habits.
In 1871 Morse and several others with him found themselves in Sausalito Valley, California on the trail of Juan Soto, another exceptionally dangerous killer with the nickname of the “Human Wildcat.” Back on January 10th, Soto, had robbed a store in Sunol, California. In the process, he and two partners shot and killed a clerk. In the months that followed Morse used all he had learned about the area to track down this “Human Wildcat.” Now Morse had caught up with him. They were in the mountains in the Sausalito Valley. He and a deputy named Winchell entered an adobe building where they pretty well knew they would find Soto. They were right. But Soto was not alone. Inside were a dozen of his friends. Morse drew his gun and told Deputy Winchell to handcuff Soto. Suddenly several in the room drew their guns. Winchell ran for cover. Two of Soto’s friends tried to hold Morse’s hands as Soto drew his gun to finish off the lawman. Morse broke free and fired at Soto, sending a bullet through the outlaw’s hat. Soto ran outside with Morse close behind. Soto turned and fired four bullets at Morse. The bullets missed. Then Soto rushed toward Morse. Morse rushed towards his horse for his Henry rifle. On the way he turned and fired his pistol at Soto. The bullet jammed Soto’s gun. Soto ran inside the house, picked up three pistols and ran back outside for his horse and escape. The horse shied. Soto ran for the hills. Morse made it to the Henry rifle and followed Soto in his sights. Soto was about 150 feet away when Morse leveled the rifle and fired. The bullet pierced Soto’s shoulder. Infuriated at Morse’s persistence and efficiency, Soto madly ran toward him screaming at the top of his lungs. Morse took careful aim and shot the on rushing Soto, killing him instantly.

Several months later, in October 1871, Wild Bill Hickok shot and killed Phil Coe in Abilene, Kansas. That event continues to live in Wild West history. The Morse-Soto fight received little notice. A year later (summer 1872) Harry Morse again risked his life. This time his nemesis was Tiburcio Vasquez. Again, this was one of the most dangerous and wanted men of that time.

Morse was visiting the sheriff of San Benito County in Monterey when they were interrupted with news. Vasquez along with several other outlaws had just escaped from a double holdup. The two lawmen along with a constable scrambled to their horses and rushed toward the Arroyo Cantua. The lawmen knew the outlaws would be headed toward their hideout there. Soon the two groups confronted each other. Guns blasted away and Vasquez was wounded. Though Vasquez was shot through the chest he escaped and recovered from his wound. Some-time later, Morse’s help tracked Vasquez down. The outlaw was eventually executed. Morse retired as sheriff in 1876. But his work did not end. He started a detective agency in San Francisco. He continued to do outstanding work hunting down outlaws. His most well-known case was stage robber Black Bart (Charles E. Boles). In 1883 Morse’s detective work led to Black Bart’s arrest. Through all his adventures Harry Morse escaped serious injury. Though he was often only a moment away from death when tracking the most dangerous outlaws, he never received as much attention as contemporaries Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, or Wild Bill Hickok. Yet he was perhaps more effective than any of them. Harry Morse died on January 11, 1912 and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.

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Who was born on this date:

Actor Robert Young was born on February 22, 1907 in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known for his leading roles on TV shows, Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby, MD. He made his film debut for MGM in the 1931 Charlie Chan movie, Black Camel. Young appeared in over 100 films between 1931 and 1952. As an MGM contract player, Young was resigned to the fate of most of his colleagues, to accept any film assigned to him or risk being placed on suspension and many actors on suspension were prohibited from earning a salary from any endeavor at all. Not surprisingly and in spite of a propitious beginning as a freelance actor without the nurturing of a major studio, Young’s career began an incremental and imperceptible decline. Still starring as a leading man in the late 1940s and early 1950s but in mediocre films, he subsequently disappeared from the silver screen, only to reappear several years later on a much smaller one. Despite his trademark portrayal of happy, well-adjusted characters, Young’s bitterness towards Hollywood casting practices never diminished, and he suffered from depression and alcoholism, culminating in a suicide attempt in the early 1990s. Later he spoke candidly about his personal problems in an effort to encourage others to seek help. Young died at his home in Westlake Village on July 21, 1998 from respiratory failure and is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Actor John Mills was born on February 22, 1908 in North Elmham, England. He took an early interest in acting, making his professional debut on the London stage in 1929. He made his film debut in The Midshipmaid (1932), and appeared in the 1939 film version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips, opposite Robert Donat. From 1959 through the mid-1960s, Mills starred in several films alongside his daughter Hayley. Their first film together was the 1959 crime drama Tiger Bay, in which John plays a police detective investigating a murder that Hayley’s character witnessed. Following Hayley’s rise to fame in Pollyanna (1960) and the 1961 family comedy The Parent Trap, John and Hayley again starred together, in the 1965 teen sailing adventure The Truth About Spring. For his role in Ryan’s Daughter (1970), Mills won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Altogether he appeared in over 120 films. Mills died on April 23, 2005 following a chest infection and is buried at the St. Mary the Vurgin Churchyard in Denham, England.

Actor John Mills was born on February 22, 1908 in North Elmham, England. He took an early interest in acting, making his professional debut on the London stage in 1929. He made his film debut in The Midshipmaid (1932), and appeared in the 1939 film version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips, opposite Robert Donat. From 1959 through the mid-1960s, Mills starred in several films alongside his daughter Hayley. Their first film together was the 1959 crime drama Tiger Bay, in which John plays a police detective investigating a murder that Hayley’s character witnessed. Following Hayley’s rise to fame in Pollyanna (1960) and the 1961 family comedy The Parent Trap, John and Hayley again starred together, in the 1965 teen sailing adventure The Truth About Spring. For his role in Ryan’s Daughter (1970), Mills won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Altogether he appeared in over 120 films. Mills died on April 23, 2005 following a chest infection and is buried at the St. Mary the Vurgin Churchyard in Denham, England.

Malcolm X was assassinated on this date (February 21, 1965). He was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans. Detractors accused him of preaching racism, black supremacy, anti-semitism, and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

In prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam and after his parole in 1952 he quickly rose to become one of its leaders. For a dozen years Malcolm X was the public face of the controversial group, but disillusionment with Nation of Islam head Elijah Muhammad led him to leave the Nation in March 1964. After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, he returned to the United States, where he founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

On February 21, 1965, as Malcolm X prepared to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom, a disturbance broke out in the 400-person audience. As Malcolm X and his bodyguards moved to quiet the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot him in the chest. Two other men charged the stage and fired semi-automatic handguns, hitting Malcolm X several times. He was pronounced dead at 3:30 pm, shortly after he arrived at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. According to the autopsy report, Malcolm X’s body had 21 gunshot wounds, ten of them from the initial shotgun blast.

One gunman, Nation of Islam member Talmadge Hayer (also known as Thomas Hagan) was seized and beaten by the crowd before the police arrived minutes later; witnesses identified the others as Norman Butler and Thomas Johnson, also Nation members. Hayer confessed at trial to have been one of the handgun shooters, but refused to identify the other assailants except to assert that they were not Butler and Johnson. All three were convicted. Butler, now known as Muhammad Abdul Aziz, was paroled in 1985 and became the head of the Nation’s Harlem mosque in 1998. He continues to maintain his innocence. Johnson, who changed his name to Khalil Islam, rejected the Nation’s teachings while in prison and converted to Sunni Islam. Released in 1987, he maintained his innocence until his death in August 2009. Hayer, now known as Mujahid Halim, was paroled in 2010.

Malcolm X is buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Who was born on this date:

Actress Ann Sheridan was born on February 21, 1915 in Denton, Texas. She made her film debut in 1934 in Search for Beauty, and played un-credited bit parts in Paramount films for the next two years. Paramount made little effort to develop Sheridan’s talent, so she left, signing a contract with Warner Bros. in 1936. Her career prospects began to improve. She gained the nicknamed “The Oomph Girl,” and was a popular pin-up girl during the 1940s. Her notable film credits include Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Dodge City (1939), Torrid Zone (1940), They Drive by Night (1940), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), Kings Row (1942), Nora Prentiss (1947), and The Unfaithful (1947). In 1966, during filming of the TV series Pistols ‘n’ Petticoats, Sheridan became ill and died from esophageal and liver cancer. She was cremated and her ashes were stored at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles until they were permanently interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 2005.

Who was born on this date:

Actress Norma Varden was born on January 20, 1898 in London. She trained as a concert pianist in Paris before deciding to take up acting. Visiting California with her ailing mother in the 1940s, she decided to settle permanently there and began her film career. She appeared in Casablanca (1942), The Major and the Minor (1942), The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), National Velvet (1944), Strangers on a Train (1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and The Sound of Music (1965). She also had a recurring role in the 1960s TV sitcom, Hazel. Varden died of natural causes on January 19, 1989 in Santa Barbara, California. She is buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Who died on this date:

On February 20, 2005, actress Sandra Dee died. She was born Alexandra Zuck on April 23, 1942 in Bayonne, New Jersey. She became a professional model by the age of four and subsequently progressed to TV commercials. Dee moved from New York to Hollywood in 1957. There, she made her first film, Until They Sail (1957), and the following year; she won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. She was known for her wholesome ingénue roles in such films as The Reluctant Debutante, Gidget, Imitation of Life, and A Summer Place. She later played “Tammy” in two Universal sequels to Tammy and the Bachelor. During the 1970s, Dee took very few acting jobs but made occasional television appearances. She was married to singer/actor Bobby Darin from 1960-1967. Dee’s adult years were marked by ill health and she admitted that for most of her life she battled depression and alcoholism. In 2000 it was reported that she had been diagnosed with several ailments, including throat cancer and kidney disease. Complications from kidney disease led to her death on February 20, 2005, at the Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California. Sandra Dee is interred at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

On February 20, 1996, actress/ model Audrey Munson died. She was born on June 8, 1891 in Rochester, New York. She was known variously as “Miss Manhattan,” “the Exposition Girl,” and “American Venus.” She was the model or inspiration for more than 15 statues in New York City and appeared in four silent era films that include Inspiration (1915), the story of a sculptor’s model, was the first time that a woman appeared fully nude in film. The censors were reluctant to ban the film, fearing they would also have to ban Renaissance art. Munson’s films were a box office success, while reviews were very polarized.

In 1919 Munson was back in New York, living with her mother in a boarding house owned by Dr. Walter Wilkins. Wilkins fell in love with her, murdered his wife, Julia, so he could be available for marriage. Although Munson and her mother had left New York prior to the murder, the police still wished to question them, resulting in a nationwide hunt for them. They were found in Toronto, Canada, where they testified that they had moved out because Mrs. Wilkins had requested it. This satisfied the police, but the negative publicity generated by the case effectively ended Munson’s career as a model and actress. Wilkins was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to the death. He hanged himself in his prison cell before the sentence could be carried out.

By 1920 Munson, unable to find work anywhere, returned with her mother to the town of Mexico, New York and worked for a while selling kitchen utensils door to door. On May 27, 1922, she tried to commit suicide and in 1931 a judge ordered Munson into a psychiatric facility for treatment. She was to remain there for the next 65 years, until her death on February 20, 1996 at the age of 104. Munson is buried in an unmarked grave at New Haven Cemetery in Oswego County, New York.

Nominated for 2 Academy Awards – Best Actress (Michelle Williams) and Best Supporting Actor Kenneth Branagh

My Week With Marilyn is a high-quality enchanting film, a hugely enjoyable trifle, and may prove an eye-opener to generations too young to remember the allure of Marilyn Monroe. It is based on Colin Clark’s memoir of a week as third assistant director on the film set of The Prince and The Showgirl (1957).

The actress playing the showgirl was Marilyn Monroe (Michelle Williams), newly married to intellectual playwright Arthur Miller (Dougray Scott) and already having doubts about the relationship. Williams gives an exquisite performance, and brilliantly captures Marilyn’s voice, physical mannerisms, and vulnerabilty. Kenneth Branagh, brings a delightfully accurate portrayal of Sir Laurence Olivier: whose is endlessly exasperated by Marilyn’s lack of professionalism and uneasily aware that she looks better on screen than he does. Eddie Redmayne also excels in the challenging task of playing Clark, an intelligent but inexperienced 23-year-old who is tossed in the middle of a relationship with a pretty wardrobe mistress (Emma Watson) and a chance of love with the most famous woman on Earth. The film is worth seeing for its marvelous array of British acting talent. I especially enjoyed Judi Dench as the kindly Dame Sybil Thorndike, Jim Carter as a star-struck barman and Philip Jackson as Marilyn’s down-to-earth bodyguard. This is a bittersweet story of first love. This is a delightfully, classy movie and Michelle Williams gives an Oscar worthy performance in the role she was born to play.

On February 18, 1915, outlaw, Frank James died. He was born Alexander Frank James on January 10, 1843 in Kearney, Missouri. He was the older brother of fellow outlaw Jesse James. In 1861, when James was eighteen years old, the Civil War began. Missouri remained in the Union although a minority favored secession (nearly three times more Missourians fought for the Union). The secessionists including Governor Jackson attempted to push the Union army out of the state but were eventually defeated. The James family was from the heavily Confederate western portion of the state. On September 13, 1861, the Missouri State Guard, including private Frank James, besieged Lexington, Missouri. James fell ill and was left behind when the Confederate forces later retreated. He surrendered to the Union troops, was paroled, and was allowed to return home. On his arrival, however, he was arrested by the local pro-Union militia and was forced to sign an oath of allegiance to the Union.
After the withdrawal of regular Confederate troops in the fall of 1864, a bitter guerrilla conflict soon began between bands of pro-Confederate irregulars and the Union home-guards. By early 1863, Frank, ignoring his parole and oath of allegiance, had joined the guerrilla band of Fernando Scott, a former saddler. He soon switched to the more active command led by William Clarke Quantrill.

During his years as a bandit, James was involved in at least four murders between 1868 and 1876, resulting in the deaths of bank employees or citizens. The most famous incident was the disastrous Northfield, Minnestoa raid on September 7, 1876, that ended with the death or capture of most of the gang. Five months after the killing of his brother Jesse in 1882, Frank James boarded a train to Jefferson City, Missouri, where he had an appointment with the governor in the state capitol. Placing his holster in Governor Crittenden’s ‘s hands, he explained,

“I have been hunted for twenty-one years, have literally lived in the saddle, have never known a day of perfect peace. It was one long, anxious, inexorable, eternal vigil.” He then ended his statement by saying, “Governor, I haven’t let another man touch my gun since 1861.”

Accounts say that James surrendered with the understanding that he would not be extradited to Northfield, Minnesota. He was tried for only two of the robberies/murders, one in Gallatin, Missouri for the July 15, 1881 robbery of the Rock Island Line train at Winston, Missouri, in which the train engineer and a passenger were killed, and the other in Huntsville, Alabama for the March 11, 1881 robbery of a US Army Corps of Engineers payroll at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.. Among others, former Confederate General Joseph Shelby testified on James’ behalf in the Missouri trial. He was acquitted in both Missouri and Alabama. Missouri accepted legal jurisdiction over him for other charges, but they never came to trial. He was never extradited to Minnesota for his connection with the Northfield Raid.

In the last thirty years of his life, James worked a variety of jobs, including as a shoe salesman and then as a burlesque theater ticket taker in St. Louis. One of the theater’s spins to attract patrons was their use of the phrase “Come get your ticket punched by the legendary Frank James.” In his final years, James returned to the James Farm, giving tours for the sum of 25 cents. He died there on February 18, 1915, aged 72 years and is buried at Hill Park Cemetery in Independence, Missouri.

The Vow –

Just in time for Valentines Day, The Vow may be a by-the-numbers Hollywood romance, but the filmmakers aren’t afraid to take chances. It is a sweet-natured strumming of the heartstrings with an interesting premise: an amnesiac who cannot remember her husband. It’s a romantic melodrama that tries to make us fall in love with a couple in which the husband has to try to make his wife fall in love with him all over again. Rachel McAdams stars as Paige, a sculptor married to Leo, a recording studio owner played by Channing Tatum. When they’re involved in a tragic car accident as a result of a skidding truck slamming into their parked car on a snowy night and Paige being hurtled through the windshield, Leo suffers a few cuts and bruises but Paige ends up in a coma. And as a result of her brain trauma, when she wakes up she experiences severe memory loss, so extreme that she can’t remember anything from the last five years, including her husband, whom she doesn’t recognize.

Paige’s selective amnesia prevents her from being able to recollect her life with her husband, but she recalls pretty much everything else that preceded their relationship. What she cannot determine is when and how she became the person that her husband now claims she has been in recent years. In reverting to her previous personality, she remembers her ex-fiancé, Jeremy, whom she broke it off with (played by Scott Speedman), and her wealthy parents (played by Jessica Lange and Sam Neill), whom she does not recall being estranged from. The three of them are intent on wrenching Paige from Leo’s grasp. Wanting desperately to regain the love of the woman he married in sickness and in health, Leo does manage to convince her to stay with him anyway, hoping that once back in their home, she will regain her recent memories. But he’ll have to re-woo her.
In his feature debut, the director, Michael Sucsy , working from an intelligent inspired-by-true-events screenplay, keeps his twice-in-a-lifetime love story relatively low-keyed and quietly moving, veering just slightly off course just when we think things are about to get overly clichéd. The memory loss as a story device turns out to be much less generic and familiar than it sounds on the surface. So, is this simply a knee-jerk, three-hankie weepy for incurable romantics? Not as long as the endearing McAdams can make you like her despite her standoffishness. And Tatum, not the most expressive of actors, is nonetheless convincing as a sincere suitor. McAdams and Tatum trail their Nicholas Sparks-sparked credentials behind them, she for The Notebook, he for Dear John, although The Vow employs more of a light, humorous touch to the proceedings than either of those serious heart-tuggers. But it’s the individual and collective appeal of the sympathetic, engaging leads that mitigates against the film’s more predictable tendencies. The Vow may not be all that memorable, but it’s charming and pleasant. The exterior back drops of Chicago are also worth a look.

Who was born on this date:

Actor Jack Palance was born on February 18, 1919 in Volodymyr, Palahniuk, Ukrain. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers. In the late 1930s, Palance started a professional boxing career. Fighting under the name Jack Brazzo, Palance reportedly compiled a record of 15 consecutive victories with 12 knockouts. Palance’s acting break came as Marlon Brando’s understudy in A Street Car Named Desire (1951) and that same year starred in Halls of Montezuma. Palance was quickly recognized for his skill as a character actor, receiving an Oscar nomination for only his third film role, as Lester Blaine in Sudden Fear (1952). He earned his second Oscar nomination playing cold-blooded gunfighter Jack Wilson in the 1953 cinema classic Shane.

Palance was married to his first wife, Virginia Baker, from 1949 to 1968 and they had three children: Holly, Brooke and Cody. Daughter Brooke married Michael Wilding, son of Michael Wilding and Elizabeth Taylor. Cody appeared alongside his father in the film, Young Guns, and died from malignant melanoma at age 42 on July 16, 1998.

Four decades after his film debut, Palance won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as cowboy Curly Washburn in the 1991 comedy City Slickers. Stepping onstage to accept the award, the intimidating fit actor looked down at Oscar host Billy Crystal (who was also his co-star in the movie), and joked, mimicking one of his lines from the film, “Billy Crystal… I crap bigger than him.” He then dropped to the floor and demonstrated his ability, at age 73, to perform one-handed push-ups. Crystal turned this into a running gag throughout the show. On November 10, 2006, Palance died of natural causes at his daughter’s home in Montecito, California. His remains were cremated and the ashes were retained by family.

Who died on this date:

On February 18, 1977, actor Andy Devine died. He was born on October 7, 1905 in Flagstaff, Arizona. He was a character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive raspy voice. He appeared in more than 400 films and his notable roles included ten films as sidekick “Cookie” to Roy Rogers, a role in Romeo and Juliet (1936), A Star is Born (1937), Stage coach (1939), Island in the Sky (1953), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). He also worked in radio and television. Devine died from leukemia on February 18, 1977 in Orange, California. His ashes were given to family and final disposition is unknown.

On February 18, 1978, actress Kathleen Lockhart died. She was born on August 9, 1894 in Southsea, Hampshire, England. She got her start on the stage in England and then immigrated to the United States in 1924, upon her marriage to Canadian-born actor Gene Lockhart. She continued to appear on stage and in films for almost forty years. Kathleen and her husband, Gene, occasionally starred opposite each other, most notably as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (1938). After her husband died in 1957, she retired from acting and made no more film appearances, except for a small role in The Purple Gang (1960). She was the mother of actress June Lockhart and grandmother of actress Anne Lockhart. Kathleen died on February 18, 1978 in Los Angeles, California following a long (undisclosed) illness. She is buried next to her husband at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

On February 18, 1931, actor Louis Wolheim died. He was born on March 28, 1880 in New York City. Before entering films, he was a mathematics teacher. On the advice of Lionel Barrymore, Wolheim entered films and appeared in at least three films with Lionel’s brother, John, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920), Sherlock Holmes (1922) and Tempest (1928). Wolheim’s was typecast in roles as gangsters, executioners, or prisoners. Towards the end of the 1920s he occasionally broke out of these stereotypes. Wolheim acted primarily in silent films, but did appear in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Danger Lights (1930). He died on February 18, 1931 from stomach cancer in Los Angeles and his ashes are interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.