On July 6, 1994, the movie Forrest Gump opened in U.S.
theaters. A huge box-office success, the film starred Tom
Hanks in the title role of Forrest, a good-hearted man with
a low I.Q. who winds up at the center of key cultural and
historical events of the second half of the 20th century.

Forrest Gump was based on a 1986 novel of the same
name by Winston Groom, who (like his main character)
grew up in Alabama and served in the Army during
Vietnam.

Forrest and Jenny

The landmark film "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" was released on
this day in history, June 11, 1982.

With Steven Spielberg (below) as its director, the enduring
science-fiction film stars Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore,
Robert McNaughton and Dee Wallace.            

Michael C. Lerner (June 22, 1941 – April 8, 2023)

Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Lerner
died Saturday.

His nephew, Sam Lerner, who starred on "The
Goldbergs," announced his death in an Instagram
post shared Sunday afternoon.

In addition to his acting career, Lerner was a collector
of rare books, an aficionado of Cuban cigars, and—
by his own account—a very good poker player.

Michael Lerner is best known for his Academy Award
Nominated performance as Jack Lipnick in “Barton Fink"
(1991).

John Wayne (Marion Robert Morrison)
(May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979)

On April 7, 1970, the legendary actor John Wayne won his first
—and only—acting Academy Award, for his star turn in the
director Henry Hathaway’s Western True Grit.

Wayne appeared in some 150 movies over the course of his long
and storied career. He established his tough, rugged, uniquely
American screen persona most vividly in the many acclaimed
films he made for the directors John Ford and Howard Hawks
from the late 1940s into the early 1960s. He earned his first
Oscar nomination, in the Best Actor category, for Sands of Iwo
Jima (1949). The Alamo (1960), which Wayne produced, directed
and  starred in, earned a Best Picture nomination.

1969

ED DANAHUE