Happy Birthday to…

It’s a mixed bag of birthday celebrations today, from Royalty to cowboys to acting royalty it’s all going on today so lets waste no more time and get this party underway.

First up is character actor J.K Simmons, he’s best known for playing J.Jonah Jameson from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy. Simmons has also appeared in Juno, the Coen’s Ladykillers and TV shows Oz and The Closer, happy birthday sir. It’s also a special day for the star of Kevin Smith’s cult classic Chasing Amy, Joey Lauren Adams is a whole year older.

Joely Richardson also celebrates today, being a part of the Regrave acting dynasty she has a host of famous relatives. Her grandfather was celebrated actor Sir Michael Redgrave, her auntie is Vanessa Redgrave and of course her sister Natasha Richardson who tragically died a couple of years ago, Joely can currently be seen in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with other performances in The Tudors, Event Horizon and Nip/Tuck she has certainly been busy. Let’s just forget about her 2007 film Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America, a films so bad it makes Shark attack 3 looks like a masterpiece, oh at the reworking of The Day of The Triffids she was in was dire but lets focus on the birthday presents and ample slices of fancy cake.

The captivating Susannah York would be celebrating today but she sadly passed away last year, to me she was always Superman’s Mum Lara. Her later work appearing in Casualty and Doctor’s were clear low points but A Christmas Carol and Tom Jones will stand the test of time with many of her other performances. She was a rare talent and she’s sorely missed.

Lee Van Cleef would of been 87 years old today had he not sadly passed away in 1989. Van Cleef was one of the best movie villains of his generation, oozing charisma and menace with little more than a look. Making his name in westerns over the years, he starred in For A Few Dollars More, The Good The Bad and The Ugly and High Noon and many more.

Actress Imelda Staunton blows out the candles and closes out little birthday gathering, the award winning Brit was nominated for an Oscar in 2005 for her outstanding performance in Vera Drake. Covering a diverse range of roles over the years, she’s perhaps more well known as Dolores Umbridge in a couple of the Harry Potter films. For me though the height of her long career was her performance as Grace Andrews, the wonderfully gadget obsessed leader of a secret government division in the now cancelled Psychoville.

And finally our future Queen, Dutchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton turns 30 today.

Happy birthday one and all!