Here's an archive of the classic-movie related news items for 2004. All have been verified by reliable news sources, but if you have any updated information about any of these stories, feel free to pass it along.

December 2004:

• 30- Russ Tamblyn, acrobatic juvenile actor of the 1950s whose 5-decade film career has included roles in FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950), SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) and WEST SIDE STORY (1961), celebrates his 70th birthday.
• 29- Artie Shaw, former Swing-era band leader most famous for his rendition of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine" who also appeared as himself in DANCING CO-ED (1939) and SECOND CHORUS (1940) and whose eight wives included Lana Turner, Ava Gardner and Evelyn Keyes, dies at age 94.
• 29- Organizers of the Berlin International Film Festival announce plans to screen a newly restored version of the Sergei Eisenstein's Russian epic BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925) at the German festival on February 12, 2005.
• 28- The National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress announces 25 films slated to be preserved in 2005 by the National Film Registry, including such classics as BEN-HUR (1959), THE COURT JESTER (1956), GOING MY WAY (1944), JAILHOUSE ROCK (1957), SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), SWING TIME (1936) and THE BLUE BIRD (1918).
• 28- Maggie Smith, two-time Oscar-winning stage and screen actress whose film work has included OTHELLO (1965), THE HONEY POT (1967) and THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1969), celebrates her 70th birthday.
• 26- Richard Widmark, Oscar-nominated character actor who played frequently diabolical characters in such films as KISS OF DEATH (1947), NO WAY OUT (1950), PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950) and JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG (1961), celebrates his 90th birthday.
• 25- Tony Martin, husband of actress Cyd Charisse and pop music vocalist of the 1940s and '50s whose film appearances have included roles in CABASH (1948), HERE COME THE GIRLS (1953) and HIT THE DECK (1955), celebrates his 91st birthday.
• 18- In an interview with Britain's Daily Mail, Kathe Green, daughter of the musical director of the Oscar-winning film OLIVER! (1969), admits she provided the singing voice for the title character's rendition of "Where Is Love?", a song lip-synced on film by the movie's 9-year-old star Mark Lester.
• 17- Officials of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announce that Sidney Lumet, five-time Oscar-nominated director of such classics as 12 ANGRY MEN (1957), NETWORK (1976) and THE VERDICT (1982), will receive an Honorary Oscar during the Academy Awards telecast on February 27.
• 17- Officials of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announce that Roger Mayer, president of Turner Entertainment Co. who has been active with the Motion Picture and Television Fund (a charitable retirement community for people from the entertainment industry) and the National Film Preservation Foundation for years, will receive the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award during the Oscar telecast on February 27.
• 17- FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (2004), a remake of Jimmy Stewart's 1965 film about plane-crash survivors forced to build a new aircraft from the wreckage, opens in theatres across the United States.
• 17- BEYOND THE SEA (2004), a musical biopic of 1960s pop singer Bobby Darin whose film credits included STATE FAIR (1962) and HELL IS FOR HEROS (1962), opens in theatres across the United States.
• 16- Paul Mason, a production executive for Viacom and Showtime, purchase the right to remake Frank Capra's 1941 classic populist film MEET JOHN DOE, which originally starred Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck.
• 15- A stage musical version of MARY POPPINS (1964) produced by the theatrical division of The Walt Disney Company and featuring several new songs supplementing the original Sherman Brothers score opens in London.
• 14- A bamboo cane that Charlie Chaplin used in his classic industrial comedy MODERN TIMES (1932) ($91,800) as well as two prop mustaches Chaplin wore in THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940) ($23,000 and $34,300) are among several items of movie memorabilia auctioned by Christie's in New York.
• 13- Christopher Plummer, Canadian-born actor whose five-decade film career has included roles in THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964), THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) (as Captain Von Trapp) and INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (1965), celebrates his 75th birthday.
• 13- Richard Zanuck, son of long-time 20th Century-Fox executive Darryl F. Zanuck and producer of such films as COMPULSION (1959), THE CHAPMAN REPORT (1965) and JAWS (1975), celebrates his 70th birthday.
• 10- A new theatrical adaptation of Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954), the classic holiday musical that starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, debuts at the Curran Theater in San Francisco.
• 10- John Monks Jr., playwright and screenwriter whose film writing credits have included BROTHER RAT (1938), 13 RUE MADELEINE (1947), KNOCK ON ANY DOOR (1949) and WEST POINT STORY (1950), dies at the age of 94.
• 10- Columbia Pictures announces plans for a new romantic comedy loosely based on Harold Lloyd's classic silent comedy SAFETY LAST! (1923).  
• 5- John Williams, 72-year-old composer and five-time Academy Award winner for his film scores, and husband-and-wife stage and screen acting team Ossie Davis (age 86) and Ruby Dee (age 80) whose film performances have included NO WAY OUT (1950), are celebrated for their career achievements at the The Kennedy Center Honors in Washington D.C., a telecast of which will be broadcast December 21 on CBS.
• 4- Carl Esmond, Vienna-born actor whose German and American film work over a 50-year career included THE DAWN PATROL (1938), SUNDOWN (1941) and MINISTRY OF FEAR (1944), dies at age 97.
• 2- Larry Buchanan, filmmaker who created such 1960s exploitation films as COMMON LAW WIFE (1963), NAUGHTY DALLAS (1964) and UNDER AGE (1964), dies at 81.
• 1-William Sackheim, screenwriter and later television producer whose film work included authorship credits on FORBIDDEN (1953), THE HUMAN JUNGLE (1954) and THE ART OF LOVE (1965), dies of a brain disease at 84.

November 2004:

• 30- Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Glynis Johns and Karen Dotrice, all original cast members of Disney's classic 1964 musical MARY POPPINS, reunite for a 40th anniversary screening of the film at Hollywood's El Capitan Theatre.
• 29- According to a poll by the British Film Institute, GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) is the most-watched movie in British history, with some 35 million people having seen the American Civil War epic since its release in Britain in 1940. THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) is in the #2 spot with an estimated 30 million tickets sold since its release in 1965, followed by (No. 3) SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1938), (#4) STAR WARS (1978), (#5) SPRING IN PARK LANE (1948). Read BFI's 'Ultimate Film' List for more.
• 29- John Drew Barrymore, son of early screen legend John Barrymore and his third wife, actress Dolores Costello, who himself embarked upon an acting career (early on as "John Barrymore, Jr.") and appeared in such films as THE SUNDOWNERS (1950), THUNDERBIRDS (1952) and WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS (1956) before running into problems with alcohol and drugs, dies at 72.
• 29- Elizabeth Taylor, 72-year-old two-time Oscar-winner whose fifty-year film career has encompassed NATIONAL VELVET (1944), GIANT (1954) and CLEOPATRA (1962), tells W Magazine she is in good spirits despite suffering from congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart fails to pump enough blood through the body, resulting in fatigue and other symptoms.
• 29- Godzilla, the fire-breathing movie monster made famous by the 1954 Japanese film and its sequels, celebrates its 50th birthday with festivities including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 24- Franco Zeffirelli, 81-year-old Italian director whose films have included such Shakespearean adaptations as THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1967) and ROMEO AND JULIET (1968), receives an honorary knighthood (specifically, Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in recognition of his contributions to British performing arts.
• 20- Evelyn Keyes, petite blonde actress best known for her role as Suellen O'Hara, Scarlett's sister, in GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), celebrates her 85th birthday.
• 19- Alan Young, radio, film and television actor whose movie work has included roles in MARGIE (1946), CHICKEN EVERY SUNDAY (1949) and ANDROCLES AND THE LION (1952), but is best known for his role as the side-kick of 1960s TV's talking horse "Mr. Ed", celebrates his 85th birthday.
• 19- Terry Melcher, record producer, songwriter and only son of actress Doris Day, dies of cancer at the age of 62.
• 18- Peter Ustinov, late British character actor, writer and director best known for his roles in QUO VADIS? (1951), SPARTACUS (1960) and TOPKAPI (1964), is remembered by more than 600 friends at a service at the church of St. Martin in the Fields in London.  He died in March at age 82.
• 17- The American Film Institute announces plans for the eighth installment of its "AFI's 100" series of film lists, dubbed "AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movie Quotes" which will rank the top 100 quotes from U.S. movies since the beginning of sound.  The results will be announced on a 3-hour program on CBS in June.
• 15- Joanna Barnes, Boston-born actress of the 1950s and '60s whose film work has included roles in AUNTIE MAME (1958), SPARTACUS (1960), and THE PARENT TRAP (1964), celebrates her 70th birthday.
• 13- Popeye the Sailor Man, the spinach-eating cartoon hero who was launched in a comic strip by E.C. Segar in 1929 and appeared in 109 short films beginning in 1933 before making the move to television in the 1950s, celebrates his 75th birthday.
• 12- The image of Marilyn Monroe is celebrated in a new exhibit of over 200 pictures from 39 photographers at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. "I Want to Be Loved by You: Photographs of Marilyn Monroe" runs though March 2005.
• 11- Karl Malden, 92-year-old Academy Award-winning character actor best known for his film roles in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) and ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), receives the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's Monte Cristo Award for exemplifying "the excellence and pioneering spirit" of playwright Eugene O'Neill.
• 10- The American Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, New York launches an exhibit celebrating the centennial of Loews, one of the world's oldest movie theater chains and the original parent company of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio.
• 10- Russell Johnson, movie character actor of credits including IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953), THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955) and BADMAN'S COUNTRY (1958) before taking on his most famous role, that of The Professor on TV's "Gilligan's Island," celebrates his 80th birthday.
• 9- Patty Duke, 57-year-old Oscar winner for her work in THE MIRACLE WORKER (1963) and star of the 1960s TV series "The Patty Duke Show", is released from the hospital after undergoing heart bypass surgery.
• 8- Norman Lloyd, stage and screen actor whose film work has included roles in A WALK IN THE SUN (1945), THE FLAME AND THE ARROW (1950) and LIMELIGHT (1952), celebrates his 90th birthday.
• 8- Joy Page, raven-haired actress best-known for playing the young Bulgarian bride who is rescued from the clutches of Claude Rains by "sentimentalist" Humphrey Bogart in CASABLANCA (1943), the classic film for which she is the last surviving cast member, celebrates her 80th birthday.
• 7- Howard Keel, barrel-chested baritone star of such memorable MGM musicals as ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950), SHOW BOAT (1951), KISS ME KATE (1953) and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), dies of colon cancer at age 85.
• 6- Marion Shilling, leading lady of the 1930s best known for her appearances opposite B-western stars Buck Jones, Hoot Gibson and Tim McCoy before retiring from filmmaking in 1936 at the age of 25, dies at the age of 93.
• 5- Artie Shaw, former Swing-era band leader who appeared as himself in DANCING CO-ED (1939) and SECOND CHORUS (1940), is among seven artists named Jazz Masters by the National Endowment for the Arts.  Shaw will officially receive his awards at a ceremony on January 7.
• 3- Patty Duke, 57-year-old Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for her portrayal of Helen Keller in THE MIRACLE WORKER (1963), undergoes single heart bypass surgery at a hospital in Idaho and is expected to make a full recovery.

October 2004:

• 30- Peggy Ryan, movie musical star of the 1940s who teamed with dance partner Donald O'Connor in a dozen films for Universal during the 1940s, including WHEN JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME (1942) and THIS IS THE LIFE (1944), dies at age 80 of complications from two strokes.
• 29- The Walt Disney Company announces plans for a live-action remake of its animated classic SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937), entitled SNOW AND THE SEVEN, expected to be an East-meets-West retelling of the story set in 1880s British colonial China and with seven Shaolin monks.
• 29- Paramount Pictures announces plans for more remakes in 2005 including THE BLOB (1958) originally starring Steve McQueen, the 1950 British film THE LAST HOLIDAY originally starring Alec Guinness, Walter Matthau's A NEW LEAF (1971), and THE NAKED JUNGLE (1954) originally starring Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker.
• 28- Charles F. Wheeler, camera operator on INHERIT THE WIND (1960) and IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963) who later earned an Academy Award nomination for his cinematography on TORA! TORA! TORA! (1970), dies of complications from Alzheimer's disease at 88.
• 28- Joan Plowright, British stage and screen actress whose film work has included performances in THE ENTERTAINER (1960) with husband Laurence Olivier, EQUUS (1977) and ENCHANTED APRIL (1992), turns 75.
• 27- Ruby Dee, Harlem-born stage and screen actress whose best-known film work includes roles in THE JACKIE ROBINSON STORY (1950), EDGE OF THE CITY (1957) and A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961), celebrates her 80th birthday.
• 26- David O. Selznick, former studio executive for both RKO and MGM in the 1930s who later became the independent producer behind such classics as GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), REBECCA (1940) and DUEL IN THE SUN (1946) is posthumously honor with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at a ceremony attended by GWTW stars Ann Rutherford and Cammie King.
• 22- 20th Century-Fox announces plans to remake MY FRIEND FLICKA (1943), based on Mary O'Hara's classic novel about a teenager (played by Roddy McDowell in the original) and a horse.  Production is scheduled to begin in New Zealand in the spring of 2005.
• 21- Sony Pictures and the Harold Lloyd Trust announce a deal by which the studio has acquired domestic theatrical rights to the films of Harold Lloyd, bespectacled film comedian and star of such silent comedies as SAFETY LAST! (1923) and THE FRESHMAN (1925). The trust also concluded a deal with New Line Home Entertainment covering the home video/DVD rights to more than 75 of Lloyd's films.
• 20- Fayard Nicholas, older member of the tap-dancing Nicholas Brothers who, with his brother Harold, appeared in more than 50 films between 1932 and 1989 including THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936 (1935), DOWN ARGENTINE WAY (1940), SUN VALLEY SERENADE (1941) and STORMY WEATHER (1943), celebrates his 90th birthday.
• 20- Officials of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announce plans to honor Godzilla, the fire-breathing movie monster made famous by the 1954 Japanese film and its sequels, with a star on the Walk of Fame.
• 18- Officials of the The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center announce that Karl Malden, 92-year-old Academy Award-winning character actor best known for his film roles in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) and ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), will receive the organization's Monte Cristo Award for exemplifying "the excellence and pioneering spirit" of playwright Eugene O'Neill.  The award will be conferred at a luncheon on November 11.
• 16- The Los Angeles Film Critics Association votes to bestow its lifetime achievement award on Jerry Lewis, 78-year-old comic and humanitarian best known for his 17 film comedies with Dean Martin in the 1950s.  Lewis will receive the award at the annual LAFCA awards dinner on January 13, 2005.
• 13- Peter O'Toole, seven-time Oscar nominated actor best known for his starring roles in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1961), BECKET (1964) and THE LION IN WINTER (1968), announces plans to attend the Savannah Film Festival, October 23-30, where he will screen the 1999 movie version of the stage play "Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell," for which he both starred and co-directed.
• 11- Mary Loos von Saltza, screenwriter whose credits include work on FATHER WAS A FULLBACK (1949), WHEN WILLIE COMES MARCHING HOME (1950) and A TICKET TO TOMAHAWK (1950), dies of complications from a stroke at age 94.
• 11- An urn of cremated ashes ostensibly belonging to Veronica Lake, trend-setting blonde actress of the 1940s whose peek-a-boo hairdo became a national craze during World War II, surface in an antique store in Phoenicia, New York.  According to her wishes, the ashes were supposed to have been scattered off the Florida coast after the actress' death in 1973.
• 9- The United States Postal Service unveils a new stamp featuring John Wayne, late Hollywood icon best know for his westerns and war films including STAGECOACH (1939), THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1949), THE SEARCHERS (1956), TRUE GRIT (1969) and THE GREEN BERETS (1968).
• 6- Truckloads of personal mementos and other materials belonging to the late Katharine Hepburn begin arriving at the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles where they will be reviewed and cataloged by curators before being made available to qualified researchers.
• 3- Janet Leigh, blonde MGM starlet of the late 1940s and 1950s best known for her more gritty roles in TOUCH OF EVIL (1958), THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) and Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO (1960), dies of vasculitis (an inflammation of the blood vessels) at age 77.

September 2004:

• 30- Columbia Pictures announces plans to remake its 1949 Oscar winner ALL THE KING'S MEN, adapted from the Robert Penn Warren novel, which originally starred Broderick Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge and John Ireland. The new version will star Meryl Streep, Sean Penn and Jude Law.
• 29- Steve Forrest, actor-brother of late screen star Dana Andrews whose film work includes performances in ROGUE COP (1954), HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS (1960) and THE LONGEST DAY (1962), celebrates his 90th birthday.
• 28- Brigitte Bardot, French blonde bombshell of the 1950s and 1960s best known for her roles in AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1957) and LE MEPRISE (1962), celebrates her 70th birthday.
• 27- Claude Jarman Jr., juvenile actor of the 1940s and '50s best known for his Oscar-winning role as Jody Baxter in THE YEARLING (1946), celebrates his 70th birthday.
• 23- Françoise Sagan, French author of the 1950s and '60s whose novels "Bonjour Tristesse," "A Certain Smile" and "Goodbye Again" were all made into Hollywood films, dies at age 69.
• 23- Sony Pictures Corporation, currently the parent company of Columbia Pictures, announces it has finalized its acquisition of classic movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. for about $2.85 billion plus debt, giving it MGM's film library to exploit on DVD and potentially use in the creation of some new cable movie channels with its corporate partner in the acquisition, Comcast.
• 22- The Screen Actors Guild announces that James Garner, veteran film and TV actor whose career has included THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY (1964) and SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF! (1969) as well as TV's "Maverick'' and "The Rockford Files,'' will receive the guild's lifetime achievement award at the organization's annual gala awards show in February 2005.
• 21- Playwright Arthur Miller's new play, ''Finishing the Picture,'' about the filming of the 1961 western THE MISFITS which Miller wrote for his then-wife Marilyn Monroe and also starred Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift, begins previews at Chicago's Goodman Theatre.
• 20- Sophia Loren, Italian bombshell and Oscar-winner best known for her performances in HOUSEBOAT (1958), EL CID (1961), TWO WOMEN (1961) and MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972), celebrates her 70th birthday.
• 18- Russ Meyer, "skin flick" director of the 1960s whose more mainstream movies, including FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! (1965) and BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (1970), have earned the status of cult classics, dies of pneumonia at 82.
• 16- Lauren Bacall, deep-voiced actress for more than six decades best known for her films with husband Humphrey Bogart including THE BIG SLEEP (1946) and KEY LARGO (1948), celebrates her 80th birthday.
• 13- Columbia Pictures begins filming a remake of the Katharine Hepburn/ Spencer Tracy classic GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER (1967), tentatively retitled THE DINNER PARTY, whose storyline has been revised to become the tale of the daughter of a black couple who brings her white boyfriend home to dinner. The film is slated for release in 2005.
• 10- Robert Wise, veteran filmmaker best known for his editing work on CITIZEN KANE (1941) and for directing WEST SIDE STORY (1961) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965), celebrates his 90th birthday.
• 10- Paramount Pictures and Batjac Productions, the production company founded by silver screen legend John Wayne, announce an agreement by which several of Wayne's rarely seen films from the 1950s and '60s, including THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (1954) and ISLAND IN THE SKY (1953), will be made available to DVD and television beginning in the spring of 2005.
• 8- Frank Thomas, one of The Walt Disney Company's famous "Nine Old Men" (the studio's top character animation artists) who worked on such classics as SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (1937), BAMBI (1942), PETER PAN (1953), LADY AND THE TRAMP (1955) and MARY POPPINS (1964), dies at 92.
• 7- Lawrence P. Bachmann, veteran film writer and studio executive at RKO, MGM and Paramount from the 1920s through the 1970s, dies at age 92.
• 6- Elly Annie Schneider, 39-inch-tall actress and circus performer who played one of the Munchkins in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) and also appeared in SAILORS, BEWARE! (1927) and FREAKS (1932), dies at 90.
• 6- Harvey Wheeler, political scientist and author whose 1962 best-selling novel FAIL-SAFE was made into a popular suspense film in 1964 starring Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau, dies of cancer at age 85.
• 5- The widow of comedian Red Skelton, film and television comedian whose some three dozen films included WHISTLING IN THE DARK (1941), BATHING BEAUTY (1944) and THREE LITTLE WORDS (1950), donates more than 200 boxes of memorabilia from her husband's life and career to Vincennes University in Indiana.

August 2004:

• 28- Robert Lewin, screenwriter who earned an Academy Award nomination for the 1956 war movie THE BOLD AND THE BRAVE and also wrote extensively for television, dies of lung cancer at age 84.
• 28- Officials in Palm Springs, California announce plans to honor Kirk Douglas, Oscar-nominated star of such films as CHAMPION (1949), LUST FOR LIFE (1956) and SPARTACUS (1960), by renaming the city's Airport Road near Palm Springs International Airport as Kirk Douglas Way on October 17.
• 27- William Pierson, raspy-voiced stage and screen actor best remembered for his role as Marko the Mailman in Billy Wilder's STALAG 17 (1953), dies at 78.
• 23- 20th Century-Fox concludes a deal with the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald to produce a second film adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel Tender Is the Night which was first adapted in 1962 starring Jennifer Jones and Jason Robards.
• 22- Daniel Petrie Sr., prolific Emmy Award-winning television director for over half a century whose film work included A RAISIN IN THE SUN (1961) and THE MAIN ATTRACTION (1962), dies at age 83.
• 20- Walter Bernstein, screenwriter best known for his work on SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE (1962) and FAIL-SAFE (1964), celebrates his 85th birthday.
• 18- Elmer Bernstein, Academy Award-winning composer whose more than 200 film scores included THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962) and THE GREAT ESCAPE (1965), dies at age 82.
• 18- Warner Bros. announces plans to remake THE BAD SEED (1956), the camp horror classic which originally starred Nancy Kelly and Patty McCormack.   No timetable has yet been set for the production.
• 17- Patty Duke, 57-year-old former child star who won a best supporting actress Oscar at 16 for portraying Helen Keller in THE MIRACLE WORKER (1962) and later starred in TV's "The Patty Duke Show," is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 16- Fess Parker, lanky Texas-born actor whose film appearances for the Walt Disney Company in the 1950s included DAVY CROCKETT, KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER (1954) and OLD YELLER (1957), celebrates his 80th birthday.
• 12- Michael Kidd, stage and screen choreographer who has contributed his talents to such films as SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954) and HELLO, DOLLY! (1969) and who danced onscreen with Gene Kelly and Dan Dailey in IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER (1955), celebrates his 85th birthday.
• 12- George Hamilton, tall, dark and handsome leading man of the 1960s best known for his film roles in WHERE THE BOYS ARE (1960) and LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (1962), celebrates his 65th birthday.
• 10- Mickey Rooney, 83-year-old former child star best known for his backyard musicals with Judy Garland in the 1940s, begins a musical stage show retrospective of his life and career, "Let's Put On a Show!," at New York's Irish Repertory Theatre.  The act co-stars his wife Jan and is scheduled to run through September 12.
• 11- Jean Parker, supporting actress of the 1930s and '40s best known for her role as Beth March in George Cukor's 1933 film adaptation of LITTLE WOMEN, celebrates her 92nd birthday.
• 10- The Empire State Building, the famous New York skyscraper that King Kong scaled while holding tight to Fay Wray in the 1933 film, dims its lights for 15 minutes in honor of the late actress.
• 10- Columbia TriStar Home Video releases two new Three Stooges DVDs featuring a both the original black-and-white and digitally colorized versions of several of the Stooges classic short comedies.
• 9- Charlie Lustman, owner of the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles, cancels a scheduled screening of D.W. Griffith's silent Civil War epic THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915) after protests from the NAACP and anonymous threats of harm to his theatre at its 92-year-old organist Bob Mitchell.
• 9- David Raksin, prolific film and television composer best known for composing the theme to LAURA (1944) but whose other film work included Academy Award nominations for FOREVER AMBER (1947) and SEPARATE TABLES (1958), dies at 92.
• 9- Universal Pictures announces plans for a new action film reviving comic book and movie serial superhero of the 1930s Flash Gordon who made his film debut in 1936.  Director Stephen Sommers will write and direct.
• 9- Donald Duck, Walt Disney's 70-year-old cantankerous canard who has appeared in hundreds of cartoon shorts since his debut in 1934, is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 9- German film historians at the Munich Film Museum announce the discovery of a long-lost Laurel and Hardy comedy, SPUK UM MITTERNACHT (GHOST AT MIDNIGHT) (1931), performed in German and located in a Moscow archive.  The museum will host screenings in October and plans a DVD release.
• 8- Fay Wray, Canadian-born film actress of the 1920s and '30s best known for her role as the love interest of the giant gorilla in KING KONG (1933), dies at the age of 96.
• 5- The Walt Disney Company announces plans to remake THE LOVE BUG (1968) which originally featured Dean Jones and Buddy Hackett alongside the mysteriously strong-willed Volkswagen Beetle, Herbie.  HERBIE: FULLY LOADED will feature the bug in the world of NASCAR and is set to begin shooting this month.
• 5- Cammie King, former child actress best known for her role as Bonnie Blue Butler in GONE WITH THE WIND (1939), celebrates her 70th birthday.
• 3- The Estate of the late Katharine Hepburn, four-time Oscar-winner and Hollywood legend, announces the sale of the late actress' waterfront home in Old Saybrook, Connecticut to a New York City-based architect.

July 2004:

• 31- Virginia Grey, prolific film and television actress who began her career in silent films as a child, playing Little Eva in UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (1927), before taking second-lead and supporting adult roles in such films as SWEET ROSIE O'GRADY (1943) and ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS (1955), dies at 87.
• 31- Don Murray, stage and screen actor whose six-decade career has included an Oscar nomination for his performance as a cowboy romancing Marilyn Monroe in BUS STOP (1956), celebrates his 75th birthday.
• 31- Geraldine Chaplin, daughter of film comedian Charlie Chaplin whose own film career has included leading roles in DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965) and THE HAWAIIANS (1970), celebrates her 60th birthday.
• 28- Sam Edwards, character actor of film, radio and television who supplied the voice of "Thumper" in the Disney animated classic BAMBI (1942) and also appeared in films such as TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH (1950), dies at age 89.
• 25- Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, stars of the upcoming film SKY CAPTAIN (2004) announce that Laurence Olivier, the late legendary British stage and screen actor who died more than 15 years ago, is being digitally resurrected to play a featured role in their upcoming movie thanks to the aid of computer wizardry and new dialogue recorded by an actor imitating Olivier's voice. SKY CAPTAIN opens in September.
• 22- Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures reveal they are negotiating with the estate of author John Steinbeck to bring EAST OF EDEN back to the big screen. The book, published in 1952, was first filmed in 1955 by Elia Kazan and starring James Dean.
• 21- Jerry Goldsmith, Academy Award-winning composer who received 18 Oscar nominations for his scores to films such as A PATCH OF BLUE (1962), THE SAND PEBBLES (1966), PLANET OF THE APES (1968) and PATTON (1970), dies of cancer at age 75.
• 21- Don Knotts, thin, rubber-faced comedian best known for playing Barney Fife on TV's "The Andy Griffith Show" but whose film career included NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS (1958), IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963) and THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN (1966), celebrates his 80th birthday.
• 19- Irvin Yeaworth Jr., Christian filmmaker who produced over 400 missionary and motivational films but is best known for directing 1950s sci-fi classics such as THE BLOB (1958), 4D MAN (1959) and DINOSAURUS! (1960), dies in a car accident at age 78.
• 19- Pat Hingle, stage and screen actor whose movie work has included roles in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961), ALL THE WAY HOME (1963) and HANG 'EM HIGH (1968), celebrates his 80th birthday.
• 18- Richard Ney, former actor turned investment advisor best known for his role as Vincent Miniver in MRS. MINIVER (1942) and his four-year marriage to the film's leading lady, Greer Garson, dies of heart problems, at age 87.
• 18- Georgine Darcy, former ballerina best-known for playing Jimmy Stewart's across-the-courtyard dancing neighbor "Miss Torso" in Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW (1954), dies at age 68.
• 16- Vincent Sherman, film and television director whose work for Warner Bros. in the 1940s and '50s included such films as MR. SKEFFINGTON (1944), GOODBYE, MY FANCY (1951), and THE YOUNG PHILADELPHIANS (1959), celebrates his 98th birthday.
• 15- Patrick Wayne, actor son of Hollywood legend John Wayne whose appearances in his father's films included THE ALAMO (1960), MCLINTOCK! (1963) and BIG JAKE (1971), celebrates his 65th birthday.
• 14- Gloria Stuart, blonde film actress of the 1930s who made three films for director James Whale -- THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932), THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) and THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR (1933) -- but became best known as Old Rose in the blockbuster TITANIC (1997), celebrates her 94th birthday.
• 13- Paramount Pictures announces tentative plans for a third film incarnation of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, two previous movie versions of which were filmed by Cecil B. DeMille in 1923 starring Theodore Roberts and Charles de Rochefort and 1956 starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner.
• 11- Dorothy Hart, supporting actress in such films of the 1940s and '50s as THE GUNFIGHTERS (1947), THE NAKED CITY (1948) and I WAS A COMMUNIST FOR THE FBI (1951), dies at age 82.
• 8- Producer Gabriel Grunfeld announces plans to remake Rosalind Russell's classic film AUNTIE MAME (1958) based on a preceding play and 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis.  The project is still in the early stages of production.
• 8- Eva Marie Saint, 80-year-old Oscar-winning star of ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), signs on to co-star in DON'T COME KNOCKING, an independent feature film scheduled for production later this summer.
• 7- Denzel Washington, announces plans to direct a biopic of Sammy Davis, Jr., black song-and-dance entertainer best known for his roles in PORGY AND BESS (1959) and OCEAN'S ELEVEN (1960).  The film will be based on Wil Haygood's biography, In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.
• 6- Eric Douglas, 46-year-old aspiring actor and youngest son of Oscar-winning actor Kirk Douglas, dies of an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription pills in New York.
• 4- Eva Marie Saint, Oscar-winning blonde star of ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), A HATFUL OF RAIN (1957) and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), celebrates her 80th birthday.
• 2- Officials with the Venice Film Festival announce that Stanley Donen, 80-year-old veteran Hollywood director best known for his work on such classic movie musicals as SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), and FUNNY FACE (1957), will received the festival's lifetime achievement award this September.
• 1- Marlon Brando, film icon of the 1950s and two-time Oscar-winner best known for his roles in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951), ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) and THE GODFATHER (1972), dies at the age of 80.
• 1- A memorabilia auction celebrating Stan Laurel, British-born comedian of "Laurel & Hardy" fame, takes in $36,800 from purchasers including fans, Universal Studios and the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Ulverston, England -- Laurel's hometown.  Laurel died in 1965.
• 1- Time Warner Inc., parent company of veteran Hollywood studio Warner Bros., joins the bidding war to purchase Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. which is already in take-over talks with the Sony Corporation, parent company of Columbia Pictures.  Time Warner has offered about $5 billion for MGM, which is being courted primarily for its film library of more than 4,000 titles.

June 2004:

• 30- Columbia Pictures announces plans to remake IT SHOULD HAPPEN TO YOU (1954), a romantic comedy which originally starred Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford and Jack Lemmon, as a starring vehicle for Kate Hudson.
• 28- Julie Andrews, British-born stage and screen star best know for her roles in MARY POPPINS (1964) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965), appears at the London premiere of the animated film SHREK 2 (2004) for which she voiced the character of Queen Lillian.
• 25- Sidney Lumet, film and television director whose work has included 12 ANGRY MEN (1957), THE PAWNBROKER (1964), MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974) and NETWORK (1976), celebrates his 80th birthday.
• 23- Doris Day, 80-year-old Oscar-nominated singing star of such films as TEA FOR TWO (1950), CALAMITY JANE (1953) and PILLOW TALK (1959), is honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, honoring her distinguished service in the arts.  However, Day's fear of flying prevented her from traveling to Washington to accept the award in person from President George W. Bush.
• 22- The American Film Institute names "Over the Rainbow," sung by Judy Garland in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) as the best movie song of all-time, followed by "As Time Goes By" from CASABLANCA (1942) at No. 2 and the title tune from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) at No. 3.
• 18- Doris Dowling, sister of actress Constance Dowling and a husky-voiced character actress in her own right who was best-known for her roles as a barfly in THE LOST WEEKEND (1945) and as the murdered wife in THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946), dies at age 81.
• 13- Robert Lees, screenwriter of the 1930s and '40s whose credits included HOLD THAT GHOST (1941) and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) before he was blacklisted in the 1950s and turned his attention to television, is murdered at age 91.
• 10- Brigitte Bardot, French-born sex-kitten of the 1950s and 1960s best known for her role in … AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1956), is convicted by a French court of inciting racial hatred her portrayal of Muslims in her book "Un cri dans le silence" (A Cry in the Silence) published last year.
• 9- Donald Duck, Walt Disney's fuming, cantankerous canard who made his acting debut in the cartoon short THE WISE LITTLE HEN (1934) and has since appeared in hundreds of others, celebrates his 70th birthday.
• 9- Barbara Whiting Smith, actress who began her Hollywood career at age 13 and was best known for her supporting roles in CARNIVAL IN COSTA RICA (1947), BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952) and DANGEROUS WHEN WET (1953), dies of cancer at the age of 73.
• 7- Donald Edmund Trumbull, 95, designer of special effects cinematography devices who work on films ranging from THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) to STAR WARS (1977) and received a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1985, dies at age 95.
• 5- Ronald Reagan, long-time Warner Bros. contract player whose best-known films included KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL AMERICAN (1940), KINGS ROW (1942) and THE WINNING TEAM (1952), and who later served as the 40th President of the United States, dies after a long bout with Alzheimer's Disease at age 93.
• 5- Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimming champion who played Tarzan in a series of movies during the 1930s and '40s, is remembered on the 100th anniversary of his birth with a plaque placed on the house where he was born in Timisoara, Transylvania.
• 4- Criterion releases Luchino Visconti's IL GATTOPARDO (THE LEOPARD) (1963), a 3-hour Italian epic set during the Sicilian revolution of the 1860s and starring Burt Lancaster and Claudia Cardinale, on a special 3-disc DVD.
• 3- Sotheby's Auction House in New York opens its Katharine Hepburn exhibition, a display of the property from her estate, including many of the actresses paintings, furniture pieces and articles of clothing, set to be auctioned June 10 and 11.

May 2004:

• 31- Elaine Stewart, brunette beauty whose film appearances for MGM in the 1950s included supporting roles in THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952), YOUNG BESS (1953) and BRIGADOON (1954), celebrates her 75th birthday.
• 29- Bob Hope, late veteran Hollywood entertainer best known for his stand-up comedy and series of "Road to" films with Bing Crosby in the 1940s, is honored with the dedication of a post office in Burbank, California.
• 29- Kirk Douglas, Oscar-nominated actor and star of such films as CHAMPION (1949), LUST FOR LIFE (1956) and SPARTACUS (1960), celebrates his 50th wedding anniversary with second wife Anne whom he married while filming 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954).
• 28- Irene Manning, a classically trained singer who appeared in some of Warner Bros. biggest musicals of the 1940s, including YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942) (playing real-life Broadway star Fay Templeton), THE DESERT SONG (1943) and SHINE ON HARVEST MOON (1944), dies at the age of 91.
• 27- Dreamworks announces plans for a film about Marlene Dietrich, the German-born Hollywood icon and star of such films as THE BLUE ANGEL (1930), THE SCARLET EMPRESS (1934) and DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939), based on a memoir by her daughter, Maria Riva.  Actress Gwenneth Paltrow will produce and possibly star in the film, but no timetable has yet been set.
• 27- Kitty Carlisle Hart, 94-year-old actress and wife of the late playwright Moss Hart, who appeared in such films as MURDER AT THE VANITIES (1934) and A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935), reminisces about her life and career during a Voices of Broadway luncheon at New York's Players Club.
• 25- Elizabeth Taylor, two-time Oscar-winning star of NATIONAL VELVET (1944), A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) and WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966), files suit in federal court asking a judge to declare her the lawful owner of "View of the Asylum and Chapel at Saint-Remy," a Van Gogh painting she bought at auction in 1963 that heirs of a former owner claim was stolen by the Nazis and should be returned to them.
• 23- Trudy Marshall, a former photographers' model who appeared in several films during the 1940s including SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY (1946), THE FULLER BRUSH MAN (1948) with Red Skelton, and DANCING MASTERS (1943) with Laurel and Hardy, dies of lung cancer at 84.
• 23- Betty Garrett, large and small screen actress whose film work has included roles in such musicals as TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME (1949), ON THE TOWN (1949) and MY SISTER EILEEN (1949), turns 85.
• 23- Paul Newman, star of such films as THE HUSTLER (1963) and COOL HAND LUKE (1967), unveils the sixth of his "Hole in the Wall Gang" camps for chronically ill children in California.
• 23- MGM announces plans for a new movie musical entitled DE-LOVELY, featuring the music of legendary Tin Pan Alley composer Cole Porter whose life was the subject of the 1946 Warner Bros. musical NIGHT AND DAY starring Cary Grant and Alexis Smith.
• 21- Peter O'Toole, 73-year-old actor best known for his roles in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), BECKET (1964) and THE LION IN WINTER (1968), announces plans to join the cast of ROMEO AND ME, a World War II-era romance set to begin filming in the summer.
• 21- Total Film magazine's poll of film critics ranks Janet Leigh's shower murder in PSYCHO (1960) the cinema's "Best Movie Death," followed by Slim Pickens riding an atomic bomb in Stanley Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964) and the fatal plunge of the ape in KING KONG (1933).
• 20- Marlon Brando, Oscar-winning star of such films as A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) and ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), announces plans to appear in a low-budget Tunisian film entitled BRANDO AND BRANDO set to be filmed this summer.
• 20- Cary Grant, iconic Hollywood star of such films as THE AWFUL TRUTH (1937), THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), is memorialized in a new documentary entitled "Cary Grant: A Class Apart" featuring interviews with co-stars and ex-wives and debuting at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
• 17- Tony Randall, straight-laced veteran stage and screen comedian whose film work included memorable roles in WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? (1957) and PILLOW TALK (1959), but who is best remembered for his role as Felix Unger in the TV series "The Odd Couple," dies at the age of 84.
• 17- The James Dean Memorial Gallery, a museum celebrating actor James Dean, best known for his roles in EAST OF EDEN (1955), REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955), and GIANT (1956),  re-opens in Gas City, Indiana where it moved from Dean's hometown of Fairmont to be more accessible to tourists.
• 15- Constance Cummings, stage and screen actress whose film work in the U.S. and England has included roles in THE CRIMINAL CODE (1931), MOVIE CRAZY (1932) and BLITHE SPIRIT (1945), celebrates her 94th birthday.
• 15- Jack Bradbury, animator and comic book artist whose five-decade career included work on such Disney features as FANTASIA (1940), PINOCCHIO (1940) and BAMBI (1942) as well as Warner Bros. characters Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Sylvester the Cat, dies at the age of 89.
• 14- Anna Lee, veteran screen actress best known for her film roles in KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1937) and John Ford's HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941) and for her long run as Lila Quartermaine in the TV soap opera "General Hospital," dies after an extended bout with pneumonia at age 91.
• 10- Portland Mason Schuyler, former child actress and daughter of late actors Pamela and James Mason who was best known for her role as Gregory Peck's daughter in THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT (1956) before turning her attentions to writing in adulthood, dies at the age of 55.
• 10- Dorothy Van Engle, 1930's star of several films for pioneer black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux including HARLEM AFTER MIDNIGHT (1934), MURDER IN HARLEM (1935) and SWING (1938), dies at the age of 87.
• 10- "Wicked," a Broadway musical inspired by THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) that tells the story from the witches' point of view before the arrival of Dorothy, receives 10 Tony Award nominations.
• 10- Phil Gersh, old-school Hollywood agent who represented the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Robert Wise, David Niven, Fredric March, Mary Astor, Lee J. Cobb, Dorothy McGuire, James Mason, Eddie Albert, William Holden and Karl Malden over the course of his 60-year career, dies at the age of 92.
• 9- Tommy Farrell, actor and comedian best known for his "sidekick" roles in film and television westerns, including GUNFIGHTERS OF THE NORTHWEST (1954) and KISSIN' COUSINS (1964), dies at age 82.
• 6- Christopher Plummer, best known for his roles in such classic films as THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965), joins the cast of THE NEW WORLD, a new film about the relationship between settler John Smith and Pocahontas, set for release in 2005.
• 4- Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases The Marx Brothers Collection,  seven of the brothers' classic comedies on five DVDs, including A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935), A DAY AT THE RACES (1937), ROOM SERVICE (1938) and AT THE CIRCUS (1939), along with a commentary, audio outtakes, vintage shorts, and a rare Groucho interview.
• 3- Betty Comden, song and screenwriter who, with her partner Adolph Green, collaborated to create such classic musicals as SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952) and THE BAND WAGON (1953), celebrates her 85th birthday.
• 2- Nelson Gidding, Oscar-nominated screenwriter and frequent collaborator of director Robert Wise whose credits included I WANT TO LIVE! (1958), ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW (1959) and THE HAUNTING (1963), dies at age 84.
• 2- Theodore Bikel, Oscar-nominated character actor whose film work has included supporting roles in such films as THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951), THE DEFIANT ONES (1958) and MY FAIR LADY (1964), turns 80.
• 1- Dan O'Herlihy, film and television actor whose film appearances include roles in THE VIRGIN QUEEN (1955), IMITATION OF LIFE (1959) and FAIL-SAFE (1964) and an Oscar-nominated performance in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE (1954), celebrates his 85th birthday.

April 2004:

• 29- Celeste Holm, Oscar-winning actress best known for her supporting roles in GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT (1947), ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), THE TENDER TRAP (1955) and HIGH SOCIETY (1956), celebrates her 85th birthday.
• 24- Shirley MacLaine, dancer-turned-Oscar-winning-actress whose film work includes leading roles in THE APARTMENT (1960), SWEET CHARITY (1969), TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (1983) and STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1989), turns 70.
• 23- Patrick 'Pat' Moore, former child star who appeared in three dozen silent pictures, including THE SQUAW MAN (1918), THE YOUNG RAJAH (1922), THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923) and THE PRIMROSE PATH (1925), dies at 91.
• 22- Sony Corporation begins talks to acquire film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. for approximately $5 billion.  If the deal goes through, it will reunite MGM with the studio's original backlot where many of its classic films were shot and which it sold to Sony several years ago. Sony's Sony Pictures Entertainment division also owns Columbia Pictures.
• 22- The University of South Carolina announces it has acquired some 2,000 pages of F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts from his years in Hollywood -- including story treatments, sketches, drafts, polishes and rewrites -- which will be featured in a new archive as USC called the Warner Brothers Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald Screenplays.
• 22- Eddie Albert, red-headed character actor whose film career has included roles in BROTHER RAT (1938), ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953), OKLAHOMA! (1955) and ATTACK! (1956), celebrates his 96th birthday.
• 21- Film critic Roger Ebert's sixth annual Overlooked Film Festival opens in Champaign, Illinois, featuring such classic films as the recent restoration of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) and Buster Keaton's silent comedy masterpiece THE GENERAL (1927).
• 20- Nina Foch, cool, blonde, sophisticated actress best known for her supporting roles in such films as AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (1951), EXECUTIVE SUITE (1954) and SPARTACUS (1960), celebrates her 80th birthday.
• 18- Frances Rafferty, 1940s film actress who appeared in such movies as GIRL CRAZY (1943), DRAGON SEED (1944) and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD (1945) before taking on her most famous role, that of Spring Byington's daughter in the 1950s TV sitcom "December Bride," dies at 81.
• 18- David Clarke, dimple-chinned stage and screen tough-guy whose film work included uncredited roles in RAW DEAL (1948), ADAM'S RIB (1949) and THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (1950), dies at the age of 95.
• 17- The Dutch national film archive announces the discovery of a complete copy of the long-lost 1922 silent classic BEYOND THE ROCKS, starring Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson, among 2,000 canisters of film bequeathed to the archive by a private collector.  The archive plans to restore the film and show it at its Amsterdam film festival in 2005.
• 16- Edie Adams, film and television actress best known for her supporting roles in such comedies as THE APARTMENT (1960), LOVER COME BACK (1961), IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963) and LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER (1963), celebrates her 75th birthday.
• 13- Howard Keel, earthy, baritone star of such MGM musicals as ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (1950), SHOW BOAT (1951), KISS ME KATE (1953) and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), celebrates his 85th birthday.
• 13- Stanley Donen, choreographer-director whose classic film credits include ON THE TOWN (1949), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), FUNNY FACE (1957) and CHARADE (1963), celebrates his 80th birthday.
• 11- Oleg Cassini, famed fashion designer whose movie costumes included gowns for his wife, actress Gene Tierney, in THE RAZOR'S EDGE (1946) and THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR (1947), celebrates his 91st birthday.
• 10- Max von Sydow, Swedish-born actor whose American film work has included roles as Jesus of Nazareth in THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD (1963) and Abner Hale in HAWAII (1966), celebrates his 75th birthday.
• 8- Angela Lansbury, Oscar-nominated stage and screen actress whose film work has included GASLIGHT (1944), THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946) and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962), announces plans to appear in the upcoming feature film NANNY MCPHEE set to begin filming later in April.
• 6- André Previn, Oscar-winning film composer of scores for such classic musical and non-musical films as KISS ME KATE (1953), GIGI (1958), ELMER GANTRY (1960) and MY FAIR LADY (1964), celebrates his 75th birthday.
• 5- Frank Gorshin, mimic and character actor whose film work has included roles in INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN (1957), BELLS ARE RINGING (1960) and BATMAN (1966) (as "The Riddler"), celebrates his 70th birthday.
• 4- Mickey Rooney, 83-year-old former child star of such films as BOYS TOWN (1938), BABES IN ARMS (1939), NATIONAL VELVET (1944) and the ANDY HARDY movies of the 1930s and '40s, receives a special award from the National D-Day Memorial recognizing his nearly two years of service in Europe during World War II during which time he earned a Bronze Star.
• 4- Frances Langford, singer-actress who transitioned from a successful radio career into appearances in such films of the 1930s and '40s as BORN TO DANCE (1936), YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942) and THE GLENN MILLER STORY (1953), celebrates her 90th birthday.
• 3- Marlon Brando, brooding t-shirt-clad film icon of the 1950s best known for his performances in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951), THE WILD ONE (1953), ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) and THE GODFATHER (1972), turns 80.
• 3- Doris Day, cheery blonde singer-actress whose three decade Hollywood career included leading roles in TEA FOR TWO (1950), CALAMITY JANE (1953), LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (1955), THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956) and PILLOW TALK (1959), celebrates her 80th birthday.
• 1- Jane Powell, blonde, cherubic soprano star of such MGM musicals as A DATE WITH JUDY (1948), ROYAL WEDDING (1951) and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), celebrates her 75th birthday.

March 2004:

• 31- Shirley Jones, Oscar-winning star of such classic musicals as OKLAHOMA! (1955), CAROUSEL (1956) and THE MUSIC MAN (1962) also known for her leading role in TV's "The Partridge Family," celebrates her 70th birthday.
• 30- Frankie Laine, western singer who contributed title songs to such films as BLOWING WILD (1953) and GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (1957) and as well as TV's "Rawhide," celebrates his 91st birthday.
• 28- Peter Ustinov, corpulent Oscar-winning British character actor best known for his roles in period films such as QUO VADIS? (1951), SPARTACUS (1960) and TOPKAPI (1964) but who also wrote and directed over the course of his 60-year career, dies of complications from diabetes at 82.
• 28- Sylvia Froos, former vaudeville child star who appeared as herself in such films as THE LITTLE PRINCESS OF SONG (1927) and STAND UP AND CHEER! (1934) with Shirley Temple, dies of complications from a stroke at 89.
• 26- Jan Sterling, cool, blonde film-noir actress of the 1940s and '50s whose best-known films included CAGED (1950), ACE IN THE HOLE (1951) and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (1954), dies of complications from a stroke at 82.
• 24- Joseph Barbera, legendary Hanna-Barbera animator and co-creator of such classic cartoons as "Tom and Jerry," "The Jetsons" and "Yogi Bear," celebrates his 93rd birthday.
• 23- Shirley Jones, Oscar-winning star of such classic musicals as OKLAHOMA! (1955) and THE MUSIC MAN (1962), announces plans to join the cast of the Tony-winning revival of "42nd Street" on May 7 in New York.
• 23- A stage musical version of Nicholas Ray's cult western JOHNNY GUITAR (1954), which originally starred Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden and Mercedes McCambridge, opens off Broadway at the Century Center in New York.
• 22- Karl Malden, bulbous-nosed, Oscar-winning character actor whose film work has included A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951), ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) and POLLYANNA (1960), celebrates his 92nd birthday.
• 21- Ludmila Tcherina, French ballerina who later became an actress, appearing in such British films as THE RED SHOES (1948), THE TALES OF HOFFMAN (1951) and OH... ROSALINDA! (1955), dies at the age of 79.
• 21- Robert Snyder, documentary filmmaker who won an Academy Award in 1950 for the feature documentary THE TITAN: THE STORY OF MICHELANGELO, dies at age 88.
• 18- Sotheby's auction house announces plans for a Katharine Hepburn sale, featuring items once owned by the Oscar-winning actress, including clothes, furniture, love notes from Howard Hughes and memorabilia from her films.  The auction is scheduled for June 9-10, 2004 in New York.
• 15- Maureen O'Hara, red-headed leading lady of such classic John Ford films as HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941) and THE QUIET MAN (1952), releases her autobiography, 'Tis Herself, published by Simon & Schuster.
• 11- Dreamworks announces that Sarah Jessica Parker, Emmy-winning star of TV's "Sex in the City", is in talks to star in the studio's planned remake of THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (1942) which originally starred Bette Davis, Monte Woolley, Ann Sheridan, Jimmy Durante and Mary Wickes.
• 8- Beatrice Welles, daughter of classic movie actor-director Orson Welles, wins the right to sell her father's 1941 Oscar for the screenplay to CITIZEN KANE after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences sued her to prevent the sale of the statuette.  The AMPAS plans an appeal.
• 6- Frances Dee, dark-haired film beauty of the 1930s and '40s whose work included roles in AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (1931), LITTLE WOMEN (1933), SOULS AT SEA (1937) and FOUR FACES WEST (1948) with her husband Joel McCrea, dies of complications from a stroke at the age of 94.
• 4- Paula Prentiss, 1960s film comedienne known for her roles in WHERE THE BOYS ARE (1960), BACHELOR IN PARADISE (1961) and WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT? (1965), celebrates her 65th birthday.
• 3- Debbie Reynolds, comedy and musical star of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), TAMMY AND THE BACHELOR (1957) and THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN (1964), announces plans to open her Hollywood Motion Picture Museum in the Great Smoky Mountains resort community of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee near singer Dolly Parton's Dollywood amusement park.
• 2- Mercedes McCambridge, forceful Oscar-winning character actress best known for her roles in ALL THE KING'S MEN (1949), JOHNNY GUITAR (1954), GIANT (1956) and her voice-only part in THE EXORCIST (1973), dies at 85.
• 2- Jennifer Jones, Oscar-winning star of THE SONG OF BERNADETTE (1943), SINCE YOU WENT AWAY (1944) and DUEL IN THE SUN (1946), many produced by her husband David O. Selznick, celebrates her 85th birthday.
• 1- ABC airs "The Mystery of Natalie Wood," a three-hour made-for-TV movie dramatizing the life and tragic death of classic movie star Natalie Wood, best known for her roles in MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1947) and REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) and SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS (1961).
• 1- Ron Howard, red-headed actor-director who began his career playing child roles in such films as THE MUSIC MAN (1962) and THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER (1963) and on TV's "The Andy Griffith Show" before becoming an Oscar-winning director, celebrates his 50th birthday.

February 2004:

• 29- Blake Edwards, director of such films as BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961), THE GREAT RACE (1965) and VICTOR/VICTORIA (1982) starring his wife Julie Andrews, receives an Honorary Award at the 2004 Academy Awards ceremony "in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen."
• 26- Ralph E. Winters, two-time Academy Award-winning film editor whose nearly 70-year career included work on KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1950), SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (1954), BEN-HUR (1959) and THE GREAT RACE (1965), dies at age 94.
• 25- PBS airs "Judy Garland: By Myself", an American Masters' documentary  about Judy Garland, legendary vocalist and star of such movie musicals as THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939), MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944) and A STAR IS BORN (1954), based on recordings she made while preparing to write her autobiography before her death in 1969.
• 25- Warner Bros. announces plans to remake THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972), a 1972 disaster drama which featured an ensemble cast including Gene Hackman, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, Roddy McDowall and Leslie Nielsen and earned eight Oscar nominations.
• 22- Karl Malden, 91-year-old Oscar-winning character actor whose film work has included A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) and ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), is honored by the Screen Actors Guild with a Life Achievement Award and a compilation video featuring tributes from former co-stars including Angela Lansbury, Eva Marie Saint and Patty Duke.
• 22- John Mills, mild-mannered English actor and father of actresses Hayley and Juliet Mills whose eight-decade career has included roles in such films as IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942), GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946), THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER (1949), SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON (1960), RYAN'S DAUGHTER (1970) and GANDHI (1982), celebrates his 96th birthday.
• 21- Richard Beymer, boyish star of such films as THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (1959) and WEST SIDE STORY (1961) who turned to film and television directing in the 1970s, celebrates his 65th birthday.
• 17- Warner Bros. announces plans to remake the 3-D horror classic HOUSE OF WAX (1953) which originally starred Vincent Price.  The new film will not feature 3-D effects and is scheduled to be filmed in Australia.
• 15- Eva Marie Saint, Oscar-winning star of ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), teams up with her husband Jeffrey Hayden to perform "Love Letters" at a Los Angeles benefit for the Epilepsy Foundation.
• 15- Kevin McCarthy, Oscar-nominated actor known for his leading and supporting roles in DEATH OF A SALESMAN (1951), INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1956) and THE MISFITS (1961), celebrates his 90th birthday.
• 14- Elois Jenssen, costume designer who shared an Academy Award for her work on SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949) and earned a second nomination for TRON (1982), dies of complications from a stroke at 81.
• 12- Martin Jurow, longtime Hollywood studio executive and film producer whose film credits include THE HANGING TREE (1959), BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961), THE PINK PANTHER (1963) and THE GREAT RACE (1965), dies of complications from Parkinson's disease at the age of 92.
• 13- George Segal, Oscar-nominated actor whose film work has included roles in SHIP OF FOOLS (1965), WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966) and WHERE'S POPPA? (1970), celebrates his 70th birthday.
• 10- Jerry Goldsmith, Oscar-winning composer of musical scores to films like THE SAND PEBBLES (1966), PLANET OF THE APES (1968) and PATTON (1970), celebrates his 75th birthday.
• 6- Ronald Reagan, longtime Warner Bros. contract player whose best known film work included roles in BROTHER RAT (1938) and KINGS ROW (1942) and who later became President of the United States, celebrates his 93rd birthday.
• 6- Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment announce plans for a modernized remake of the James Whale's 1935 classic horror movie THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN which originally starred Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester.
• 5- Red Buttons, Oscar-winning actor and comedian whose film work has included roles in SAYONARA (1957), HATARI! (1962) and THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972), celebrates his 85th birthday.
• 4- Angela Lansbury, 78-year-old Oscar nominee for her performances in GASLIGHT (1944) and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962), returns to television in the role of a tough granny in "The Blackwater Lightship," a  Hallmark Hall of Fame production airing on CBS.
• 3- The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' board of governors authorizes a committee to study the prospect of installing a museum celebrating motion pictures in the heart of Los Angeles. If undertaken, the project could take $200 million and a decade or more to complete.

January 2004:

• 31- Jean Simmons, Oscar-nominated actress best known for her leading roles in such films as THE ROBE (1953), GUYS AND DOLLS (1955), ELMER GANTRY (1960) and SPARTACUS (1960), celebrates her 75th birthday.
• 29- Paul Newman, veteran Hollywood actor and star of THE HUSTLER (1962) and BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969), announces plans to lend his voice to CARS, an animated film to be created by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2005
• 29- Tony Randall, 83-year-old actor best know for his third-wheel roles in the Doris Day-Rock Hudson comedies of the 1960s and for playing Felix Unger in the 1970s sitcom "The Odd Couple", is hospitalized, struggling with pneumonia following bypass surgery in December.
• 28- Ann Miller, late classic movie musical star, is remembered at a memorial service whose attendees included Connie Stevens, Jayne Meadows, June Haver, Anne Jeffreys, Ann Rutherford, Margaret O'Brien, Jane Withers, Marsha Hunt, Kathryn Grayson, Joan Leslie and A.C. Lyles.
• 28- Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, famed professional football player of the early 1950s whose three feature film appearances included CRAZYLEGS (1953), UNCHAINED (1955) and ZERO HOUR! (1957), dies at the age of 80.
• 27- The Screen Actors Guild announces plans to honor Karl Malden, 91-year-old Oscar-winning character actor whose film work has included A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) and ON THE WATERFRONT (1954), with the organization's 40th Life Achievement Award on February 22.
• 27- Jerry Lewis, 78-year-old comedian and star of 17 films with Dean Martin in the 1950s, returns home from a rehabilitation center where he received treatment for a steroid dependence.
• 22- Ann Miller, tall, brunette tap dancer and musical comedienne whose best known film appearances included roles in STAGE DOOR (1938), EASTER PARADE (1948), ON THE TOWN (1949) and KISS ME KATE (1953), dies of lung cancer at the age of 80.
• 22- The Museum of Modern Art at the Gramercy Theater in New York launches a five-film retrospective honoring movie star Anna May Wong.
• 20- Bernard Punsly, last surviving member of the Dead End Kids, a band of teenage actors whose films of the 1930's and 40's included DEAD END (1937), ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1938) and HELL'S KITCHEN (1939), and who later became a physician, dies at age 80.
• 20- Roberta Garfield Cohn, widow of actor John Garfield and a leftist activist whose ties to the communist party were the subject of an investigation by the House Un-American Activities Committee, dies of complications from Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease at 89.
• 19- Jane Fonda, daughter of the late Hollywood legend Henry Fonda and a two-time Oscar-winning actress who won plaudits for KLUTE (1972) and COMING HOME (1979), announces her return to the screen after a 14-year absence, having signed on to star with Jennifer Lopez in the comedy MONSTER-IN-LAW currently scheduled for release in 2005.
• 17- Ray Stark, independent producer of such Hollywood films as THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA (1964) and FUNNY GIRL (1968) best known for his film adaptations of Neil Simon's plays including THE SUNSHINE BOYS (1975) and THE GOODBYE GIRL (1977), dies at 88.
• 16- The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles begins a three-day retrospective of films starring 1950s blonde actress Kim Novak, who plans to make a personal appearance at the Saturday screening of VERTIGO (1958).
• 13- Dean Miller, actor whose career in romantic comedies and musicals for MGM included roles in SKIRTS AHOY! (1952), EVERYTHING I HAVE IS YOURS (1952) and SMALL TOWN GIRL (1953) but was best known as Spring Byington's son-in-law on TV's "December Bride," dies of cancer at 75.
• 12- Luise Rainer, German-born actress and two-time Oscar winner for her performances in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936) and THE GOOD EARTH (1937), celebrates her 94th birthday.
• 10- Sidney Miller, juvenile actor of the 1930s and '40s who appeared in such films as BOYS TOWN (1938) and GIRL CRAZY (1943) before becoming a successful television director, dies of Parkinson's disease at age 87.
• 8- Ron Moody, British actor best known for his role as Fagin in the Oscar-winning musical OLIVER! (1968), celebrates his 80th birthday.
• 7- Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress whose English-language film work included roles in FOREIGN INTRIGUE (1956) and FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE (1962), dies at the age of 76.
• 4- Jane Wyman, film and TV actress and Oscar-winning star of such classic movies as THE YEARLING (1946), MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION (1954), JOHNNY BELINDA (1948) and POLLYANNA (1960), celebrates her 90th birthday.
• 2- Etta Moten Barnett, Broadway and film singer and actress sometimes called "the first Negro woman to play a dignified role in pictures" who sang the Oscar-nominated song "The Carioca" in Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers' first film together FLYING DOWN TO RIO (1933), dies of pancreatic cancer at 102.
• 2- Anna Lee, English-born actress whose Hollywood films have included HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY (1941), FLYING TIGERS (1942), FORT APACHE (1948) and THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965), celebrates her 91st birthday.
• 1- Carlton International Media announces a deal with screenwriter Robert Towne to develop a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic THE 39 STEPS (1935) which originally starred Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll and Lucie Mannheim. No production timetable has yet been announced.

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