Aug 15 2026
Born on this day, August 15, 1912, Julia Child would become one of the most unlikely—and most beloved—revolutionaries in American food. She did not grow up dreaming of becoming a chef. She did not attend culinary school as a teenager or inherit a family restaurant. In fact, Julia was well into her thirties before food …
Aug 13 2026
Born on August 13, 1899, Alfred Hitchcock became one of the most recognizable and influential directors in film history. His name became so closely associated with suspense that simply describing a movie as “Hitchcockian” can conjure an entire atmosphere: an innocent person under suspicion, a seemingly ordinary place concealing something sinister, a dangerous secret, a …
Jul 31 2026
Born on July 31, 1927, Peter Nichols became one of the most distinctive British playwrights to emerge during the theatrical revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. His plays could be hilarious one moment and devastating the next, combining music hall, farce, direct address, songs, jokes, domestic arguments, painful memories, and uncomfortable subjects that conventional theater …
Jul 26 2026
Born on July 26, 1928, Stanley Kubrick became one of the most influential filmmakers of the twentieth century without ever settling comfortably into a single genre. He made crime films, war dramas, historical epics, black comedy, science fiction, dystopian satire, horror, and psychological drama. The subjects changed dramatically, but the unmistakable intelligence behind them did …
Jul 14 2026
Born on July 14, 1918, Ingmar Bergman became one of the most influential filmmakers of the twentieth century by turning some of humanity’s most private fears and questions into cinema. His films explored faith and doubt, marriage and loneliness, childhood and memory, aging and death, the masks people wear for one another, and the often …
Jul 05 2026
Jean Cocteau seemed incapable of remaining inside a single artistic form. He wrote poetry, novels, plays, criticism, memoirs, ballet scenarios, screenplays, and journals. He drew constantly, painted murals, designed objects, collaborated with composers and choreographers, and created some of the most dreamlike films in twentieth-century cinema. Rather than seeing these pursuits as separate careers, Cocteau …
Apr 23 2026
There was a star danced, and under that was I born.-William Shakespeare Few writers have become so completely woven into world culture as William Shakespeare. More than four centuries after his death, his plays continue to fill theaters, classrooms, films, television adaptations, operas, ballets, novels, and countless reinterpretations around the world. Characters including Hamlet, Macbeth, …
Apr 01 2026
Few actors have possessed the kind of physical presence Toshiro Mifune brought to a movie screen. He could explode across a frame with restless movement, swagger through a village as though he owned every street, or communicate controlled anger without moving much at all. Although he became internationally identified with samurai roles, Mifune was capable …
Mar 20 2026
For more than thirty years, Fred Rogers entered a television house, changed from a jacket into a cardigan, traded his dress shoes for sneakers, and spoke directly to children as though each one were the only person in the room. There were no frantic edits, shouted instructions, elaborate special effects, or attempts to compete with …
Feb 11 2026
Valentine’s Day and movies belong together. There’s something wonderfully easy about settling in with someone you love—or enjoying a cozy night by yourself—with a good movie, favorite snacks, and nowhere else you need to be. But not everyone wants the same kind of romance. Maybe you want sweeping old-Hollywood drama. Maybe you’d rather laugh through …
