Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire in the title
role, the eagerly awaited comic book adaptation Spider-Man
was released on Friday, May 3, 2002, and quickly became
the fastest movie ever to earn more than $100 million at the
box office, raking in a staggering $114.8 million by Sunday,
May 5.
Tobey Maguire will be 51 on June 27.
Charles Bronson (November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003)
On August 30, 2003, the actor Charles Bronson, best known
for his tough-guy roles in such films as The Dirty Dozen and
the Death Wish franchise, died at the age of 81 in Cedar-
Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Pneumonia and Alzheimer’s disease have been cited as his
cause of death.
Bronson was born Charles Buchinsky on November 3, 1921,
in Ehrenfeld, Pennsylvania, to Lithuanian immigrants. The
11th of 15 children, he worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines
as a teenager and later served in the U.S. Army Air Forces
during World War II.
After the war, he worked a series of odd jobs and took acting
lessons. He had an uncredited part in the 1951 film You’re in
Navy Now, starring Gary Cooper, and a small part (credited
as Charles Buchinsky) in 1952’s Pat and Mike, with Spencer
Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
In the mid-1950s, he changed his name to Bronson because
he believed it wasn’t smart for an actor to have a Russian-
sounding last name at a time when there was a strong anti-
Communist sentiment in America.
1974
Wesley Snipes is a actor and martial artist. In a film career
spanning more than thirty years, Snipes has appeared in a
variety of genres, such as numerous thrillers, dramatic
feature films, and comedies, though he is best known for
his action films.
On July 20, 1988, Die Hard, an action film starring Bruce
Willis as wisecracking New York City cop John McClane,
opened in theaters across the United States.
A huge box-office hit, the film established Willis as a movie
star and spawned three sequels. Die Hard also became
Hollywood shorthand for describing the plot of other
actions films, as in “Speed is Die Hard on a bus.”
Bruce Willis (70) was spotted in public for the second time
since announcing his battle with frontotemporal dementia
and aphasia, on January 22.
High School ~ 1965
Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone is a actor and filmmaker with
a movie career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has
received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award
and a Critics’ Choice Award, as well as nominations for three
Academy Awards and two BAFTA Awards.
Stallone is one of only two actors in history (alongside Harrison
Ford) to have starred in a box-office No. 1 film across six
consecutive decades. Films in which he has appeared in have
grossed over $7.5 billion worldwide.
