Ann Patchett, on writing:

Writing is a job, a talent, but it's also the place to go in your head.
It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.
- Ann Patchett.

Born on this day – Kansas Joe McCoy:

Kansas Joe McCoy

Blues singer

Musician

Songwriter

May 11, 1905 – January 28, 1950

Credits:

Songs:

Botherin' That Thing; Delta Bound; Evil devil woman blues; Hey Hey Loretta; Hoodoo Women; If You Take Me Back; If You're a Viper; I'm Going Back Home; Joliet Bound; Lake Providence Blues; Let's Get Drunk and Truck; Let'sTry It Again; Look Who's Coming Down The Road; Meat Cutter Blues; Motherless and Fatherless Blues; My Babe, My Babe; My Garbage Man; Oh! Red; Pile Driver Blues; Pile Drivin' Blues; Root Hog or Die; That will be alright; That'll Be Alright; The Candy Man; The World Is a Hard Place to Live In; Time A-Wastin'; Twenty Minutes To Hell; Well, Well; Wet It; When the Levee Breaks; Why Don’t You Do Right; You Done Tore Your Pants With me.

Born on this day – Betty Boyd:

Betty Boyd

Actress

May 11, 1908 – September 16, 1971

Credits:

A Modern Hero (1934); A Royal Romance (1930); Along Came Youth (1930); An Old Gypsy Custom (1934); Battling Sisters (1929); Companionate Service (1928); Ex-Sweeties (1931); Fallen Angel (1945); French Kisses (1930); Gun Law (1933); Hard Work (1928); Honeymooniacs (1929); Hot Sports (1929); In a Persian Market (1929); Indiscreet Pete (1928); Light of India (1929); Lilies of the Field (1929); Maid to Order (1931); Off Again (1927); Papa's Boy (1927); Paradise Island (1930); Privates Beware (1928); Purely Circumstantial (1929); Samson and Delilah (1949); Social Prestige (1928); The Godless Girl (1928); The Green Goddess (1930); The Quiet Worker (1928); The Right Bed (1929); The Show (1927); Under a Texas Moon (1930); Vacation Loves (1930); Wedded Blisters (1928); Who's Lyin? (1928).

Born on this day – Phil Silvers:

Phil Silvers

Actor

Comedian

May 11, 1911 – November 1, 1985

Born on this day – Yvonne Furneaux:

 

Yvonne Furneaux

Actress

May 11, 1926 – July 5, 2024

Credits:

A noi piace freddo...! (1960); Adventure Theater (1956); Affair in Monte Carlo (1952); Caccia all'uomo (1961); Carta al cielo (1959); Charge of the Black Lancers (1962); Cross Channel (1955); Crossed Swords (1954); Enough Rope (1963); Fellini (1960); Film Fanfare (1956); Film Time (1955); Frankenstein's Great Aunt Tillie (1984); Grand écran (1964); Hereward the Wake (1965); I 4 tassisti / Segment: Caccia al Tesoro (1963); Il carro armato dell'8 settembre (1960); Il principe dalla maschera rossa (1955); In the Name of the Italian People (1971); ITV Play of the Week (1957); La Dolce Vita (1960); Lisbon (1956); Lui, lei e il nonno (1959); Night Train to Milan (1962); Noi che abbiamo fatto la dolce vita (2009); Nom-de-Plume (1956); Repulsion (1965); Rheingold Theatre (1953); Rommel and the Plot to Kill Hitler (2006); Secret Agent (1965); Slave Queen of Babylon (1963); The Baron (1966); The Beggar's Opera (1953); The Champagne Murders (1967); The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse (1964); The Genie / Segment: The Genie (1953); The Girlfriends (1955); The House of the Arrow (1953); The Javanese Dagger (1954); The Last of the Powerseekers (1969); The Lion of Thebes (1964); The Man in a Looking Glass (1965); The Man Who Never Was (1966); The Master of Ballantrae (1953); The Mummy (1959); The Scarlet Pimpernel (1955); The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo (1961); The Three Princes (1954); The Warriors (1955); The World of Hammer (1994); Tonight at 8:30 / Segment: Ways and Means (1952); Versuchung im Sommerwind (1972); Via Margutta (1960); Zehn Minuten für den Kinogänger (1964).

 

Born on this day – Eva Schloss:

Eva Schloss

Writer

Holocaust survivor

May 11, 1929 – January 3, 2026

Credits:

Books:

After Auschwitz: My Memories of Otto and Anne Frank (2013); Eva's Story: A Survivor's Tale, by the Stepsister of Anne Frank (1988); The Promise (2006).

Movies and television:

A Tale of Two Sisters (2015); And Then They Came for Me (2007); Anne Frank House VR (2018); Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary (2015); BBC World News (2008); Britain's Holocaust Survivors (2013); Call Me Papa: The Letters of Otto Frank (2026); Du sollst leben! - Holocaust-Überlebende im Gespräch mit Markus Lanz (2015); Hate Among Us (2019); History vs. Hollywood (2001); History vs. Hollywood (2001); Horrors of the Holocaust (2023); III nach neun (2016); Jinek (2017); Kaaskoppen & waterlanders (2008); Markus Lanz (2017); My Daughter, Anne Frank (2015); När livet vänder (2020); Nazis on the Run: The Series (2021); No Asylum: The Untold Chapter of Anne Frank's Story (2015); Otto Frank, Father of Anne (2010); Pauw & Witteman (2010); Rendez-vous de l'histoire (2025); Sunday Life (2008); Surviving Hitler's Mad Doctors (2022); The Diary of Anne Frank: A Tale of Two Sisters (2015); The Final Days of the Nazis (2023); This Morning (2013); Times Series Video News: And Then They Came for Me - Remembering the World of Anne Frank (2008); WGN Morning News (2018).

Born on this day – Doug McClure:

 

Doug McClure

Actor

May 11, 1935 – February 5, 1995

Born on this day – Natasha Richardson:

 

Natasha Richardson

Actress

May 11, 1963 – March 18, 2009

Credits:

16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2010); 2006 Asian Excellence Awards (2006); 3rd Irish Film and Television Awards (2005); 54th Golden Globe Awards (1997); A Month in the Country (1987); A Taste of My Life (2006); Absolument cinema (2000); American Experience (2006); Aspel & Company (1991); Asylum (2005); BBC World News (2009); Biography (1997); Blow Dry (2001); Bravo Profiles (2002); Britain's Finest (2005); Caiga quien caiga (2005); Cannes Film Festival (1990); Cartelera (1998); CBS Evening News with Bob Schieffer (2009); Channel 4 News (2009); Charlie Rose (1998–2005); Charlie Rose (2009); Chelsea Walls (2001); Cinema 3 (2009); Constantine's Sword (2007); Días de cine (2009); Ellis Island (1984); Entertainment Tonight (2009–2020); Evening (2007); Every Picture Tells a Story (1984); Fat Man and Little Boy (aka Shadow Makers) (1989); Film 2005 (2005); Good Morning America (1993–2009); Gothic (1986); Great Performances (1993); Haven (2001); Helicopter Heroes (2008); High Crime (1973); Hostages (1992); Inside Edition (2009); Intimate Portrait (1999); ITV Lunchtime News (2009); ITV News (2009); ITV Premiere Special: The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian (2008); J-lo: Behind the Behind (2003); John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship (2006); Jornal da Noite (2009); Larry King Live (2006–2009); Late Night with David Letterman (1990); Late Show with David Letterman (2002); Lights, Camera, Action!: A Century of the Cinema (1996); Live & Kicking (1998); Live with Kelly and Mark (2005); Loser (2000); Maid in Manhattan (2002); Martha (2007); Moving Image Salutes Steven Spielberg (1994); Nell (1994); Oxbridge Blues (1984); Past Midnight (1991); Patty Hearst (1988); PIX 11 Morning News (2007); Saturday Night Live (2004); Screen Two (1985); Sean Connery Close Up (1997); Tales from the Crypt (1996); The 47th Annual Tony Awards (1993); The 51st Annual Golden Globe Awards (1994); The 52nd Annual Tony Awards (1998); The 55th Annual Tony Awards (2001); The 56th Annual Tony Awards (2002); The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009); The 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards 2005 (2005); The 66th Annual Academy Awards (1994); The 68th Annual Academy Awards (1996); The 71st Annual Academy Awards (1999); The 82nd Annual Academy Awards (2010); The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1985); The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968); The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian T4 Movie Special (2008); The Comfort of Strangers (1990); The Comfort of Strangers: Interview with Actor Natasha Richardson (2001); The Dennis Miller Show (1992); The Directors (2002); The Early Show (2009); The Favour, the Watch and the Very Big Fish (1991); The Fever (2004); The Good, the Bad & the Beautiful (1996); The Great War: 1914-1918 (1996); The Handmaid's Tale (1990); The Man Who Came to Dinner (2000); The Mastersons of Manhattan (2007); The Oprah Winfrey Show (2009); The Orange British Academy Film Awards (2010); The Parent Trap (1998); The Reichen Show (2006); The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1998–1999); The Syndrome (2014); The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1998); The View (2006); The White Countess (2005); The Wildest Dream (2010); The Word (1992); Theatre Night (1987); Today (2005 / 2009); Top Chef (2008); Waking Up in Reno (2002); Widows' Peak (1994); Wild Child (2008); Wogan (1985–1992); Working in the Theatre (1993–2005); Worlds Beyond (1987); Zelda (1993).

Born on this day – Nicky Katt:

Nicky Katt

Actor

Producer

May 11, 1970 – April 12, 2025

Credits:

21 Years: Richard Linklater (2014); A Time to Kill (1996); American Yakuza (1993); Astoria (1998); Batman & Robin (1997); Behind the Candelabra (2013); Boiler Room (2000); Boston Public (2000–2002); Casual (2018); CBS Schoolbreak Special (1984); CHiPs (1981); Code Red (1982); Dazed and Confused (1993); Dear John (1989–1990); Death Proof (2007); Delivered (1998); Double Rush (1995); Fan des années 80 (2012); Fantasy Island (1980); Father Murphy (1981); Found Footage Festival Volume 4: Live in Tucson (2009); Friends (1996); Friends: The One Before the Last One - Ten Years of Friends (2004); Full Frontal (2002); Goldie and Kids: Listen to Us (1982); Great Directors (2009); Gremlins (1984); Grindhouse / Segments: Planet Terror; Death Proof (2007); Harold (2008); Herbie, the Love Bug (1982); I Love Your Work (2003); Insomnia (2002); Johns (1996); Kindred: The Embraced (1996); King of the Hill (2003–2004); Knight Rider 2010 (1994); Law & Order (2007); Lifestories (1990); Love & War (1992); Love Monkey (2006); Martians Go Home (1989); Monk (2006); Mutiny (1999); Once Upon a River (2019); One True Thing (1998); Phantoms (1998); Planet Terror (2007); Quincy, M.E. (1983); Richard Linklater: Dream Is Destiny (2016); Riding the Bullet (2004); Rules of Engagement (2000); Say You'll Be Mine (1999); School of Rock (2003); Scotch and Milk (1998); Secondhand Lions (2003); Secondhand Lions: Deleted/Alternate Scenes (2004); Sin City (2005); Sister Act (1992); Skins (1994); Snow Angels (2007); Speakeasy (2002); Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords (2004); Strange Days (1995); SubUrbia (1996); The Babysitter (1995); The Brave One (2007); The 'Burbs (1989); The Cure (1995); The Dark Knight (2008); The Doom Generation (1995); The Facts of Life (1988); The Get Along Gang (1984); The Guardian (2003); The Limey (1999); The Sitter (2011); The Way of the Gun (2000); Trapper John, M.D. (1982); Uncle Buck (1990); Underground Aces (1981); V (1984); Voyagers! (1982); Waking Life (2001); World Trade Center (2006).

On this day in movie history - Fantastic Planet (1973 movie & novel):

Fantastic Planet

directed by René Laloux,

written by Roland Topor, René Laloux,

based on the novel Oms en série a.k.a. Oms Linked Together and Fantastic Planet by Stefan Wul,

released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 11, 1973.

Music by Alain Goraguer.

Cast: Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin, Jean Topart, Jean Valmont, Sylvie Lenoir, Michèle Chahan, Yves Barsacq, Hubert de Lapparent, Gérard Hernandez, Claude Joseph, Philippe Ogouz, Jacques Ruisseau, Max Amyl, Denis Boileau, Madeleine Clervanne, William Coryn, Christian Echelard, Jeanine Forney, Pascal Kominakis, André Lambert, Mark Lesser, Serge Netter, Yvette Robin, André Rouyer, Irina Tarassov, Julien Thomast, Gilbert Vilhon, Paul Villé, Poupy de Monneron, Christian de Tillière, Cynthia Adler, Barry Bostwick, Mark Gruner, Nora Heflin, Marvin Miller, Monika Ramirez, Hal Smith, Olan Soule, Janet Waldo.

Recommended reading:

Fantastic Planet

by Stephan Wul.

Published by Creation Oneiros.
First published 1957.

ISBN-10: 1902197313
ISBN-13: 9781902197319

Description:

Now published for the very first time in English, Stephan Wul's Fantastic Planet (Oms En Serie) is a classic of Science Fiction and the inspiration for the award-winning 1973 animated film La Planete Sauvage (Fantastic Planet).

The last surviving humans are taken from Earth to the wild planet Ygam by the traags, a race of blue-skinned, red-eyed giants. Here they become known as oms, used as lowly servants and regarded as savages.

But little by little, led by a young man of superior intelligence named Terr, the oms regain their thirst for liberty and rise up against the draags to affirm their humanity in the face of oppression.

This deceptively simple story-line is vividly depicted by author Wul with fantastic detail and a stirring mythopoeic resonance.

The film Fantastic Planet won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and remains a mind-bendingly entertaining touchstone of counterculture art; at last, English-language readers can enjoy the classic Sci-Fi novel that it was based on.

On this day in movie and book history - The Natural (1984 and 1952):

The Natural

directed by Barry Levinson,

written by Roger Towne and Phil Dusenberry,

based on the novel by Bernard Malamud,

was released in the United States on May 11, 1984.

Music by Randy Newman.

Cast:

Robert Redford, Paul Sullivan Jr., Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Rachel Hall, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, Barbara Hershey, Robert Prosky, Richard Farnsworth, Joe Don Baker, Darren McGavin, Michael Madsen, John Finnegan, Alan Fudge, Ken Grassano, Mike Starr, Mickey Treanor, Jon Van Ness, Anthony J. Ferrara, George Wilkosz, Robert Rich III, Sibby Sisti.

Recommended reading:

The Natural

by Bernard Malamud.

Filmed as The Natural (1984), directed by Barry Levinson.

Paperback.

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

First published 1952.

ISBN: 9780374502003

ISBN 10: 0374502005

ASIN: 0374502005

Description:

The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first – and some would say still the best – novel ever written about baseball. In it, Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material – the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era – and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work. Four decades later, Alfred Kazin's comment still holds true: "Malamud has done something which – now that he has done it! – looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology." 

On this day in movie history - The Quiet Earth (1985 movie & novel):

The Quiet Earth

directed by Geoff Murphy,

written by Bill Baer, Bruno Lawrence, Sam Pillsbury,

based on the novel by Craig Harrison,

released at the Cannes Film Market in France on May 11, 1985.

Music by John Charles.

Cast: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith, Anzac Wallace, Norman Fletcher, Tom Hyde.

Recommended reading:

The Quiet Earth

by Craig Harrison.

Introduction by Bernard Beckett.

Filmed as The Quiet Earth (1985), directed by Geoff Murphy.

Published by Text Classics.
Published 1981.

ISBN-10: 1922147052
ISBN-13: 9781922147059

Description:

John Hobson, a geneticist, wakes one morning to find his watch stopped at 6:12. The streets are deserted, there are no signs of life or death anywhere, and every clock he finds has stopped: at 6:12. The Quiet Earth is a gripping, utterly absorbing New Zealand cult classic.

On this day in the Star Trek universe - The Next Generation:

Star Trek: The Next Generation 1991)
 

Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 4. Episode 23.

Episode entitled: The Host.

Released May 11, 1991.

Directed by Marvin V. Rush.

Written by Michel Horvat, Ronald D. Moore, Joe Menosky, David Carren, J. Larry Carroll, Brannon Braga.

Created by Gene Roddenberry.

Music by Jay Chattaway.

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Barbara Tarbuck, Nicole Orth-Pallavicini, William Newman, Patti Yasutake, Franc Luz, Rachen Assapiomonwait, Majel Barrett, Joe Baumann, Thomas J. Booth, Michael Braveheart, Tracee Cocco, Gerard David Jr., Wendy L. Davies, Denise Deuschle, Jeremy Doyle, Elliot Durant III, Buddy Daniels Friedman, Keith Gearhart, Vanessa Grayson, Robert Harper, Grace Harrell, Melanie Hathorn, Dean Hirner, Randy James, Mark-Takeo Kosakura, Mark Lentry, Ivonne Perez Montijo, Denise Lynne Roberts, Joyce Robinson, Richard Sarstedt, K. Uchizono, Natalie Wood.

On this day in television history - Justified (2010)

 

Justified
Season 1. Episode 9.

Episode entitled: Hatless.

Released May 11, 2010.

Directed by Peter Werner.

Written by Graham Yost, Dave Andron, Wendy Calhoun and Chris Provenzano.

Based on the short story Fire in the Hole by Elmore Leonard.

Music by Steve Porcaro.

Cast:

Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel, Natalie Zea, Malik Yoba, Jere Burns, David Eigenberg, Steven Flynn, Tom Kiesche, William Ragsdale, Travis Wester, Kimberly Arland, Joe Unger, Michael Maize, Sarah Baldwin, Lizabeth Allen, Joshua Bitton, Ezra Buzzington, David Hill.

On this day in music history - Stevie Nicks, We Are the Fallen, Laura Sullivan:

The Other Side of the Mirror by Stevie Nicks (1989)

Tear the World Down by We Are the Fallen (2010)

Reverie by Laura Sullivan (2020)

 

The Other Side of the Mirror

Album by Stevie Nicks,

released May 11, 1989.

Track list: Rooms on Fire; Long Way to Go; Two Kinds of Love; Ooh My Love; Ghosts; Whole Lotta Trouble; Fire Burning; Cry Wolf; Alice; Juliet; Doing the Best I Can; I Still Miss Someone.

Tear the World Down

Album by We Are the Fallen,

Released May 11, 2010.

Band members: Carly Smithson, Rocky Gray, John LeCompt, Ben Moody, Marty O’Brien.

Track list: Bury Me Alive; Burn; Paradigm; Don’t Leave Me Behind; Sleep Well, My Angel; Through Hell; I Will Stay; Without You; St. John; I Am Only One; Tear The World Down.

 

Reverie

Album by Laura Sullivan,

released May 11, 2020.

Track list: Reverie; Silueta; Canon in D (Remastered); The Serpent Mound (Remix); After Rain; Pictograph Cave (Remaster).