Born on this day – Richard Norton:

Richard Norton

Actor

Stuntman

Producer

January 6, 1950 – March 30, 2025

Credits:

ABBA: Bang a Boomerang (2013); ABBA: The Movie (1977); Amazons and Gladiators (2001); Ambush (2023); American Ninja (1985); An Eye for an Eye (1981); Anti Bullying United Documentary (2021); Black Creek (2024); Black Thunder (1998); Blacklight (2022); Blood Makes Noise (2005); Blood Street (1988); Broken Superman (2012); China O'Brien (1990); China O'Brien II (1990); Cinema of Vengeance (1994); City Hunter (1993); Cyber Tracker (1994); Dancer (2016); Dead in Love (2009); Defensive Improvised Weapons: The Magnificent Seven (2002); Defensive Tactics: The Magnificent Seven (2002); Devil's Pond (2003); Digital Pictures: Behind the Scenes 1994 (1994); Direct Hit (1994); Dream Warrior (2003); Durch die Nacht mit... (2010); Earthrise (2022); Equalizer 2000 (1987); Fight to Win (1987); Fight Zone (1995); Final Objective (2025); For Life or Death (1996); Force: Five (1981); Forced Vengeance (1982); Fugitive X: Innocent Target (1996); Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024); Future Hunters (1988); Game of Death - The six Doors to Hell (2024); Gamesmaster (1992); Ghost in the Shell (2017); Ghost in the Shell: Hard-Wired Humanity - Making Ghost in the Shell (2017); Guardian Angel (1994); Gymkata (1985); Honor and Glory (1992); Hyper Space (1989); Impulse (2023); Inside the Britannic (2002); Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks (2019); Ironheart (1992); Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater (1994–1995); John Wayne Parr: Blessed with Venom (2011); Jungle Heat (1988); Kapow! (2025); Kingdom of War: Part 1 (2007); Kingdom of War: Part 2 (2007); KNEKT®tv on the Carpet (2024); Kung Fu: A Legend Reborn (1992); Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1994); Lady Dragon (1992); Lionheart (1990); Mad Max: Fury Road (2015); Magic Crystal (1986); Man of Blood (2008); Maximum Fury: Filming Fury Road (2015); Midnight Hustle (2025); Millionaires' Express (1986); Mind Games (2003); Modern Warriors (2002); Movie Nights (2010–2011); Mr. Nice Guy (1997); Nautilus (2000); Nomad: The Warrior (2005); Not Another Mistake (1989); Our Last Prayer (2025); Psychology of Conflict: The Magnificent Seven (2002); Rage (1993 / 2021); Rage and Honor (1992); Rage and Honor II (1993); Raging Jake (2025); Raiders of the Sun (1992); Redemption (2002); Return of the Kickfighter (1987); Rise of Heroes: The Legend of the Guardian (2025); Road House 2: Last Call (2006); Sacrifice (2025); Scar Tissue (2025); Secrets of the Shell (2001); Spartacus (2013); Stealth (2005); Stowaway to Nowhere (2024); Strategic Command (1997); Suicide Squad (2016); Suicide Squad Strength and Speed (2016); Supreme Warrior (1994); Tesla Effect (2014); Tex Murphy: Overseer (1998); The Amazing Spider-Man (2012); The Art of Action (2020); The Best of the Martial Arts Films (1990); The Blood of Heroes (1989); The Condemned (2007); The Fighter (1989); The Good, the Bad, and the Sequel (2019); The Green Hornet (2011); The Indie Escape Network (2021); The New Adventures of Robin Hood (1997–1998); The Octagon (1980); The Path of the Dragon (2012); The Rage Within (2001); The Search for Weng Weng (2007); The Suicide Squad (2021); The Sword of Bushido (1990); The Tools of the Wasteland (2015); The Virgin of Juarez (2006); The Whack Job (2025); This Is Gonna Get Loud: The Epic Battles of 'Suicide Squad' (2016); Tiger Cops (2017); Tough and Deadly (1995); Triple Frontier (2019); Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985); Two Dollar Late Fee (2019); Under a Red Moon (2008); Under the Gun (1995); Underdog Kids (2015); Vinh Nguyen - At Empower Tactical (2024); Walker, Texas Ranger (1993–2001); X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019).

On this day in movie history - Dillinger (1991)

Dillinger

directed by Rupert Wainwright,

written by Paul F. Edwards,

was released in the United States on January 6, 1991.

Music by David McHugh.

Cast:

Mark Harmon, Sherilyn Fenn, Will Patton, Bruce Abbott, Tom Bower, Patricia Arquette, Xander Berkeley, Yvonne Suhor, John Philbin, Amy Yasbeck, David Neidorf, Vince Edwards, Lawrence Tierney, Joe Guzaldo, Michael Krawic, Ramsay Midwood, Ralph Wood, Tom White, Malcolm Rothman, Kurt Naebig, Rod Sell, Peggy Roeder, Lucy Childs, Joe Greco, Will Zahrn, Larry Brandenburg, Tim Grimm, Laurel Cronin, Mike McKune, Bob O'Donnell, Greg Kinnear, Larry Gittelson, Rebecca Borter, Jim Ortlieb, Gary Houston, Lance Alberti, Bill Belongia, Ernest Capponi, Laurence S. Chess, Bart Heimburger, Michelle Radish, Tom Simons, Mark Smith, Steven Marcus Smith, Neil Willenson, Sam Younghans.

On this day in television history:

Space 1999
Season 1. Episode 19.

Episode entitled: Ring Around the Moon.

Released January 6, 1976.

Directed by Ray Austin.

Written by Edward Di Lorenzo.

Series created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson.

Music by Barry Gray.

Cast:

Martin Landau, Barbara Bain, Barry Morse, Prentis Hancock, Clifton Jones, Zienia Merton, Anton Phillips, Nick Tate, Max Faulkner, Tony Allyn, Andy Dempsey, Joe Dunne, Alan Harris, Robert Phillips, Quentin Pierre, Suzanne Roquette, Michael Stevens, Chris Williams.

On this day in music history - The album Distant Light, by Renée Fleming (2017)

Distant Light

by Renée Fleming

was released on January 6, 2017.

Aldous Huxley, on writing:

To write fiction, one needs a whole series of inspirations about people in an actual environment, and then a whole lot of work on the basis of those inspirations.

- Aldous Huxley.

Recommended reading - Into the Dark

 

Into the Dark
The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950

by Mark A. Vieira.
 
Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
 
Published by Running Press Adult.
Illustrated edition.
Published 2016.
Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0762455233
ISBN-13: 978-0762455232
 
Description:
 

Bursting with glossy stills and archival material, film historian and photographer Mark A. Vieira's Into The Dark: The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950 offers an unprecedented portal into Hollywood's golden era of cynicism. A systematic study of noir, this gorgeous coffee table tome fills a significant gap in scholarship on the genre.” – MovieMaker.

 

You know film noir when you see it: the shadowed setting; the cynical detective; the femme fatale; and the twist of fate. Into the Dark captures this alluring genre with a cavalcade of compelling photographs and a guide to 82 of its best films.

 

Into the Dark is the first book to tell the story of film noir in its own voice. Author Mark A. Vieira quotes the artists who made these movies and the journalists and critics who wrote about them, taking readers on a year-by-year tour of the exciting nights when movies like Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Sunset Boulevard were sprung on an unsuspecting public. For the first time, we hear the voices of film noir artists speak from the sets and offices of the studios, explaining the dark genre, even before it had a name. Those voices tell how the genre was born and how it thrived in an industry devoted to sweetness and light.

 

Into the Dark is a ticket to a smoky, glamorous world. You enter a story conference with Raymond Chandler, visit the set of Laura, and watch Detour with a Midwest audience. This volume recreates the environment that spawned film noir. It also displays the wit and warmth of the genre's artists. Hedda Hopper reports on Citizen Kane, calling Orson Welles "Little Orson Annie." Lauren Bacall says she enjoys playing a bad girl in To Have and Have Not. Bosley Crowther calls Joan Crawford in Possessed a "ghost wailing for a demon lover beneath a waning moon." An Indiana exhibitor rates the classic Murder, My Sweet a "passable program picture." Illustrated by hundreds of rare still photographs, Into the Dark conveys the mystery, glamour, and irony that make film noir surpassingly popular.

 

About TCM:
 

Turner Classic Movies is the definitive resource for the greatest movies of all time. We entertain and enlighten to show how the entire spectrum of classic movies, movie history, and movie-making touches us all and influences how we think and live today.

Born on this day – Francesca Bertini:

Francesca Bertini

Actress

January 5, 1892 – October 13, 1985

Credits:

1900 (1976); Una ragazza di Praga (1969); A sud niente di nuovo (1957); Dora la espía (1950); Odette (1935); La donna di una notte (1931); La femme d'une nuit (1930); Tu m'appartiens! (1929); La Possession (1929); Mein Leben für das Deine (1928); La fin de Monte-Carlo (1927); Fior di levante (1925); Consuelita (1925); La giovinezza del diavolo (1925); Ultimo sogno (1924); Marion (1923); Fatale bellezza (1922); La donna nuda (1922); Amore vince sempre (1921); La fanciulla d'Amalfi (1921); La donna, il diavolo, il tempo (1921); Oltre la legge (1921); Marion, artista di caffè-concerto (1920); Anima selvaggia (1920); Amore di donna (1920); Maddalena Ferat (1920); La ferita (1920); La sfinge (1920); L'ombra (1920); Lisa Fleuron (1920); La principessa Giorgio (1920); La serpe (1920); Il conquistatore del mondo (1919); Beatrice (1919); La principessa (1919); La contessa Sara (1919); Anima allegra (1919); La piovra (1919); La lussuria (1919); Spiritismo (1919); L'invidia (1919); L'accidia (1919); I sette peccati capitali (1918); L'avarizia (1918); Eugenia Grandet (1918); L'ira (1918); La gola (1918); L'orgoglio (1918); Mariute (1918); Frou-Frou (1918); Tosca (1918); Anima redenta (1917); Malìa (1917); Il processo Clémenceau (1917); La piccola fonte (1917); Andreina (1917); Baby l'indiavolata (1916); Vittima dell'ideale (1916); Il patto (1916); Nel gorgo della vita (1916); Maligno riflesso (1916); Fedora (1916); L'educanda monella (1916); Lacrymae rerum (1916); Il destino (1916); Eroismo d'amore (1916); La perla del cinema (1916); La colpa altrui (1916); Odette (1916); Don Pietro Caruso (1915); Diana, l'affascinatrice (1915); Assunta Spina (1915); La signora delle camelie (1915); Ivonne, la bella danzatrice (1915); Il capestro degli Asburgo (1915); Nelly la gigolette (1915); Nella furnace (1915); Hypocrites (1915); Una donna (1914); The Song of the Soul (1914); Sangue blu (1914); On Temptation's Trail (1914); Rose e spine (1914); La principessa straniera (1914); L'onestà che uccide (1914); Cabiria (1914); The Woman Who Dared (1914); Pierrot the Prodigal (1914); The Forbidden Trail (1913); L'arrivista (1913); L'arma dei vigliacchi (1913); L'anima del demi-monde (1913); L'ultima carta (1913); La bufera (1913); La vigilia di Natale (1913); La suocera (1913); His Symphony (1913); Tramonto (1913); The Artist's Model (1913); La maestrina (1913); L'ultimo atout (1913); Venomous Tongues (1913); The Land of Promise (1913); Ninì Verbena (1913); The Price of Silence (1913); Per il blasone (1913); L'avvoltoio (1913); Per la sua gioia (1913); The Bondage of Evil (1913); Panne d'auto (1912); Lagrime e sorrisi (1912); Idillio tragico (1912); Tragico amore (1912); Ritratto dell'amata (1912); All on a Summer's Day (1912); Il pappagallo della zia Berta (1912); Il fascino della violenza (1912); Cesare Borgia (1912); Un amore di Pietro de' Medici (1912); Rameses, King of Egypt (1912); Lucretia Borgia (1912); Tragedy at the Court of Milan (1912); I carbonari (1912); Red Falcon (1912); The Wandering Minstrel (1912); Beatrix d'Este (1912); Ruy-Blas (1912); Romeo and Juliet (1912); Florentine Drama (1912); Francesca da Rimini (1911); Marco Visconti (1911); The Countess de Challant (1911); Tristano e Isolda (1911); Cola di Rienzo (1911); Il mercante di Venezia (1911); Re Lear (1910); La morte civile (1910); Pia de' Tolomei (1910); Folchetto di Narbona (1910); Salomé (1910); Il trovatore (1910); La dea del mare (1907).