Famous People Born In
The Month Of August
And Notable Events
Born today?
Well known people born on August 8th - your in good company
Well known people born on August 8th - your in good company
Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress.
Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Olympics because of the outbreak of World War II, she joined Billy Rose's Aquacade, where she took on the role vacated by Eleanor Holm after the show's move from New York City to San Francisco. While in the city, she spent five months swimming alongside Olympic gold medal winner and Tarzan star, Johnny Weissmuller.[1] Williams caught the attention of MGM scouts at the Aquacade. After appearing in several small roles, alongside Mickey Rooney in an Andy Hardy film, and future five-time co-star Van Johnson in A Guy Named Joe, Williams made a series of films in the 1940s and early 1950s known as "aquamusicals", which featured elaborate performances with synchronized swimming and diving. From 1945 to 1949, Williams had at least one film listed among the 20 highest grossing films of the year.[2][3][4][5][6] In 1952, Williams appeared in her only biographical role, as Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman in Million Dollar Mermaid, which went on to become her nickname while at MGM.[7] Williams left MGM in 1956 and appeared in a handful of unsuccessful feature films, followed by several extremely popular water-themed television specials, including one from Cypress Gardens, Florida. more...... |
Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow; August 8, 1910 – July 1, 1999) was an American actress of stage, screen and film, who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.
Sidney, born Sophia Kosow[1] in The Bronx, was the daughter of Rebecca (née Saperstein), a Romanian Jew, and Victor Kosow, a Russian Jewish immigrant who worked as a clothing salesman.[2][3] Her parents divorced by 1915, and she was adopted by her stepfather, Sigmund Sidney, a dentist. Her mother became a dressmaker and renamed herself Beatrice Sidney.[4] Now using the surname Sidney, she became an actress at the age of fifteen as a way of overcoming shyness. As a student of the Theater Guild's School for Acting, Sidney appeared in several of their productions during the 1920s and earned praise from theater critics. In 1926, she was seen by a Hollywood talent scout and made her first film appearance later that year.[citation needed] more....... |
Connie Stevens (born August 8, 1938) is an American actress, directer, screenwriter and singer, best known for her role in the television seriesHawaiian Eye and other TV and film workShe was born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingoglia in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Peter Ingoglia (known as musician Teddy Stevens) and singer Eleanor McGinley.[1]She adopted her father's stage name of Stevens as her own. Her parents were divorced and she lived with her grandparents and attendedCatholic boarding schools.[1] Actor John Megna (1952-1995) was her half-brother. At the age of twelve, she witnessed a murder in Brooklyn and was sent to live in Boonville, Missouri, with family friends.[2]
Coming from a musical family, she joined the singing group called The Fourmost,[3] with Tony Butala, who went on to fame as founder of The Lettermen. In 1953, Stevens moved to Los Angeles with her father. When she was 16, she replaced the alto in a singing group, The Three Debs.[3] She enrolled at a professional school (The Georgia Massey Professional School in the San Fernando Valley), sang professionally and appeared in local repertory theater.. more....... |
Dustin Lee Hoffman[2] (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and director with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters.[3] He won the Academy Award for Kramer vs. Kramer in 1979 and Rain Man in 1988 for best actor.
He first drew critical praise for starring in the play Eh?, for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakthrough 1967 film role as Benjamin Braddock, the title character, in The Graduate. Since then, Hoffman's career has largely been focused on cinema, with sporadic returns to television and the stage. His subsequent notable films include Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Straw Dogs, Papillon, Lenny, Marathon Man, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Hook and Wag the Dog. Aside from his two Academy award wins, Hoffman has been nominated for seven Academy Awards, plus thirteen Golden Globes, winning six (including an honorary one) and has won four BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award, and an Emmy Award. Hoffman received theAFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. Hoffman made his directorial debut in 2012, with Quartet. more....... |
FAIR USE NOTICE: These page's may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law.