Born on this day – Paul Morrissey:

Paul Morrissey

Director

Writer

Cinematographer

February 23, 1938 – October 28, 2024

Paul Morrissey (left), with Andy Warhol (right).

Credits:

A Letter to True (2004); A Look on the Wild Side (2002); A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory (2007); About Face (1964); Acid Head: The Buzzard Nuts County Slaughter (2011); All Aboard the Dreamland Choo-Choo (1964); American Masters (2006); Andy Makes a Movie (1968); Andy Warhol (1972 / 1987); Andy Warhol: The Complete Picture (2001); Andy Warhol's Factory People (2008); Arena (1993); Beautiful Darling (2010); Beethoven's Nephew (1985); Bike Boy (1967); Blood for Dracula (1974); Blue Movie (1969); Chambre 666 (1982); Chelsea Girls (1966); Danny Says (2015); Diane the Zebra Woman (1962); Divine Trash (1998); Excavating Taylor Mead (2005); Factory Days: Paul Morrissey Remembers the Sixties (2006); Fear, Panic & Censorship (2000); Flesh (1968); Flesh for Frankenstein (1973); Forty Deuce (1982); Heat (1972); Helmut Berger, My Mother and Me (2019); Hyper show (2002); I a Man (1967); I Miss Sonia Henie (1971); Imagine (2006); International Velvet Superstar (1994); Jonas in the Desert (1994); L'Amour (1972); Like Sleep (1965); Little Joe (2009); Lonesome Cowboys (1968); Madame Wang's (1981); Man Outside (1965); Midnight Cowboy (1969); Mixed Blood (1984); My Hustler (1965); New Old (1979); Nico Icon (1995); Notes on Marie Menken (2006); Paperback (1977); Paul Morrissey, in the Flesh (2008); Paul Morrissey: Autumn in Montauk (2002); Peaches and Cream (1964); Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story (2000); Psycho Cop (1989); Raw Paul Morrissey Q&A Footage from Chiller Theatre, October 27, 2012 / Video (2021); Resident Alien (1990); Rich and Famous (1981); San Diego Surf (1968); Screen Test #1 (1965); Screen Test #2 (1965); Screen Test #3 (1966); Screen Test #4 (1966); Sleep in a Nest of Flames (2001); Sonic Cinema (2000–2003); Spike of Bensonhurst (1988); Superartist (1967); Superstar in a Housedress (2004); Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol (1990); Tarnation (2003); That Summer (2017); The Andy Warhol Diaries (2022); The Andy Warhol Story (1967); The Armchair Hacker (1985); The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978); The Loves of Ondine (1968); The Making of Sonia Henie (2009); The New Cinema (1984); The South Bank Show (1978); The Velvet Underground (2021); The Velvet Underground and Nico (1966); Trash (1970); Trash / News from Nowhere (2010); Uptight #3 - David Susskind (1966); Veruschka - Die Inszenierung (m)eines Körpers (2005); Viaggio nel Cinema in 3D: Una Storia Vintage (2016); Warhol (1973); Women in Revolt (1971); X-Rated (2004).

Born on this day – Denis Arndt:

Denis Arndt

Actor

Writer

Producer

February 23, 1939 – March 25, 2025

Credits:

24 (2005); Ally McBeal (1999); Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight (1994); Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004); Annie McGuire (1988–1989); Asteroid (1997); Bandidas (2006); Basic Instinct (1992); Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (2006); Blackout Effect (1998); Blast (2000); Bodies of Evidence (1993); Boston Legal (2006); Boston Public (2003); Boy Meets Girl (1993); Chicago Hope (1999); Citizen Baines (2001); Columbo: Agenda for Murder (1990); Condition: Critical (1992); Crime Story (1986 / 1987); Cruel Doubt (1992); CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2002); Dawn Flight (1976); Dead Heat (2002); Distant Thunder (1988); Do Over (2023); Dolphin Tale 2 (2014); Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (2019); Dying to Live (1999); Family Law (2001); For Your Love (2002); Get Real (2000); Grey's Anatomy (2011); Herman's Head (1991); How to Get Away with Murder (2018); How to Make an American Quilt (1995); JAG (2003); Kansas (1998); L.A. Law (1990–1991); Last Best Chance (2005); Life Goes On (1989–1990); Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993); Mancuso, FBI (1989); Max Q (1998); Metro (1997); Mr. Mercedes (2018); Murder, She Wrote (1990); NightScream (1997); Nothing Lasts Forever (1995); One Special Victory (1991); Past Life (2010); Payback (1997); Picket Fences (1993–1996); Providence (2002); Runaway on Rogue River (1974); S.W.A.T. (2003); Savannah (1997); SeaQuest 2032 (1994); Shuffle (2010); Sniper 3 (2004); Stat (1991); Supernatural (2007); Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story (1994); The 71st Annual Tony Awards (2017); The Beast (1996); The Burning Zone (1996); The District (2000); The Good Fight (2017); The Home Court (1995–1996); The Magical World of Disney (1974); The Practice (1999–2003); The Pretender (1997); The Return of Hunter: Everyone Walks in L.A. (1995); The Uncle Sam Movie Collection (2000); The Wonder Years (1989); Till We Meet Again (1989); Time of Your Life (1999); Touched by an Angel (2000); Turks (1999); TV 101 (1988); Undisputed (2002); Vanished (2006); Wasteland (1999); We're Talkin' Serious Money (1992); Wiseguy (1988).

Born on this day – William Hjortsberg:

 

William Hjortsberg

Writer

February 23, 1941 – April 22, 2017

Credits:

Books:
Alp (1969); Angel's Inferno (2020); Falling Angel (1978); Gray Matters (1971); Jubilee Hitchhiker (2012); Manana (2015); Nevermore (1994); Odd Corners (2004); Sometimes Horses Don't Come Back (1963); Symbiography (1973); Tales and Fables (1985); Toro! Toro! Toro! (1974).

Movies:
Rich Hall's Continental Drifters (2011); Creating a Myth... the Memories of 'Legend' (2002); Angel Heart (1987); Legend (1985); The Georgia Peaches (1980); Thunder and Lightning (1977).

On this day in television history – James Ellroy's L.A.: City of Demons Released (2011)

 

James Ellroy's L.A.: City of Demons

Documentary.

Season 1 Episode 6

Episode entitled: Hot Spot Homicide.

Released: February 23, 2011.

Series directors: Brian Coughlin, Gabe Torres, Brian Coughlin and Robert Kirk.
 
Cast:

James Ellroy, Heather Aitken, James Avise, Gregory DePetro, Michael Fallon, Brad Lewis, Allen Marsh, Deanna Morris, Arman Pardisi, Franklin Ruehl, Christopher Warner.

On this day in movie history - Madonna of the Desert (1948)

Madonna of the Desert

directed by George Blair,

written by Albert DeMond,

based on a story by Frank Wisbar,

was released in the United States on February 23, 1948.

Music by Mort Glickman.

Cast:

Lynne Roberts, Don Barry, Don Castle, Sheldon Leonard, Paul Hurst, Roy Barcroft, Paul E. Burns, Betty Blythe, Grazia Narciso, Martin Garralaga, Frank Yaconelli, Maria Genardi, Renee Donatt, Vernon Cansino.

On this day in movie and book history - Harper (1966) and The Moving Target

Harper

directed by Jack Smight,

written by William Goldman,

based on the novel The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald,

was released in the United States on February 23, 1966.

Music by Johnny Mandel.

Cast:

Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Shelley Winters, Harold Gould, Roy Jenson, Strother Martin.

Recommended reading:

The Moving Target / a.k.a. Harper

by Ross MacDonald.

 

Published in 1949.

ISBN-10: 037570146X
ISBN-13: 978-0375701467
 
Back cover description:
 
CRIME FICTION

“Ross Macdonald remains the grandmaster, taking the crime novel to new heights by imbuing it with psychological resonance, complexity of story, and richness of style that remain awe-inspiring. Those of us in his wake owe a debt that can never be paid. – Jonathan Kellerman.

 

Like many Southern California millionaires, Ralph Sampson keeps odd company. There's the sun-worshipping holy man whom Sampson once gave his very own mountain; the fading actress with sidelines in astrology and S&M. Now one of Sampson's friends may have arranged his kidnapping. And as Lew Archer follows the clues from the canyon sanctuaries of the megarich to jazz joints where you get beaten up between sets, The Moving Target blends sex, greed, and family hatred into an explosively readable crime novel.

 

“Macdonald is one of a handful of writers in the [mystery] genre whose worth and quality surpass the limitations of the form.” – Los Angeles Times.
 

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it was Ross Macdonald. Between the later 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience whop walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.

 

VINTAGE CRIME / BLACK LIZARD

On this day in movie history - The Number 23 (2007)

The Number 23

directed by Joel Schumacher,

written by Fernley Phillips,

was released in the United States on February 23, 2007.

Music by Harry Gregson-Williams.

Cast:

Jim Carrey, Paul Butcher, Virginia Madsen, Logan Lerman, Danny Huston, Rhona Mitra, Bud Cort, Chris Lajoie, Mark Pellegrino, Lynn Collins, Michelle Arthur, Ed Lauter, Corey Stoll.