celebrity birthdays

Alfred Hitchcock: One weird fellaIf Alfred Hitchcock were alive today, he'd be celebrating his 109th birthday. Ordinarily I would write a mini-tribute to Hitch, but it seems almost like a futile exercise.

"The Master of Suspense" was one of the most influential forces in cinema and countless others have analyzed his films and his career in microscopic detail.

I don't know how much more I can add, other than this rather odd piece of trivia. Hitchcock once confessed that he was frightened by eggs.

Robert Englund is beside himself.
Get it? Oh, never mind.Robert Englund turns 61 today. You might know him as Freddy Krueger from the "Nightmare on Elm Street" film series. But, if not for a quirk of fate, you could've been calling him Luke Skywalker.

That's right. According to his biography at IMDB.com, Englund tried out for the part of Luke but didn't get the part. He told his friend he should try out for the part ... and his friend happened to be Mark Hamill. The rest is history from a galaxy far, far away.

Gary Oldman is hitting the big Five-Oh today, and I'm raising my mug of Folgers in a toast to the greatest male actor of our time.

In a vast field of worthy candidates (Johnny Depp, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and a few others come to mind), why is Oldman the top dog? The answer is simple. When it comes to completely melting into a character, literally becoming a character onscreen, none of those guys can do it better than Oldman.

In honor of Bill Murray's 57th birthday today, I present you with one my favorite clips from "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou."