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Updated July 11, 2012, 2:28 pm
On July 12, 1984, Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale named New York Congresswoman Geraldine A. Ferraro his running mate, making her the first woman to run on a major party ticket.
On July 12, 1865, George Washington Carver, the African-American scientist whose discoveries helped to improve agriculture in the South, was born. Following his death on Jan. 5, 1943, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
100 B.C. Julius Caesar was born in Rome. 1543 England’s King Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr. 1690 Protestant forces led by William of Orange defeated the Roman Catholic army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland. 1862 Congress authorized the Medal of Honor. 1895 Broadway lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II was born in New York City. 1908 Comedian Milton Berle was born Mendel Berlinger in New York City. 1972 George McGovern won the Democratic presidential nomination at the party’s convention in Miami Beach. 2001 Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant tortured in a New York City police station, agreed to an $8.7 million settlement. 2005 Prince Albert II of Monaco acceded to the throne. 2006 Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid; Israel sent ground troops into Lebanon in response. 2010 Roman Polanski was declared a free man, no longer confined to house arrest in his Alpine villa, after Swiss authorities rejected a U.S. request for the Oscar-winning director’s extradition because of a 32-year-old sex conviction. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Actor-comedian Bill Cosby turns 75 years old today.
AP Photo/Richard Drew
Actress Michelle Rodriguez (“Avatar,” “Lost”) turns 34 years old today.
AP Photo/Chris Pizzello
1934 Van Cliburn, Pianist, turns 78 1943 Christine McVie, Rock singer, musician (Fleetwood Mac), turns 69 1948 Walter Egan, Singer, turns 64 1948 Richard Simmons, Fitness guru, turns 64 1948 Jay Thomas, Actor, turns 64 1951 Brian Grazer, Producer, turns 61 1951 Cheryl Ladd, Actress (“Charlie’s Angels”), turns 61 1956 Mel Harris, Actress, turns 56 1969 Lisa Nicole Carson, Actress (“Ally McBeal”), turns 43 1971 Kristi Yamaguchi, Figure skater, turns 41 1976 Anna Friel, Actress, turns 36 1978 Topher Grace, Actor (“That 70’s Show”), turns 34 1991 Erik Per Sullivan, Actor (“Malcom in the Middle”), turns 21
Historic Birthdays
George Washington Carver ?/1864 – 1/5/1943 African-American scientist.Go to obituary »
55 Julius Caesar 7/12/c100 BC – 3/15/44BC
Roman imperial general and statesman44 Henry David Thoreau 7/12/1817 – 5/6/1862
American essayist, poet and philosopher74 Eugene Boudin 7/12/1824 – 8/8/1898
French landscape painter73 Benjamin Altman 7/12/1840 – 10/7/1913
American merchant; founded B. Altman department store chain77 George Eastman 7/12/1854 – 3/14/1932
American manufacturer; founded Eastman Kodak Company58 Frederick Birkenhead 7/12/1872 – 9/30/1930
English lord chancellor (1919-22)35 Amedeo Modigliani 7/12/1884 – 1/24/1920
Italian painter and sculptor67 Kirsten Flagstad 7/12/1895 – 12/7/1962
Norwegian soprano88 Buckminster Fuller 7/12/1895 – 7/1/1983
American engineer and architect65 Oscar Hammerstein ll 7/12/1895 – 8/23/1960
American lyricist and producer of musical theater69 Pablo Neruda 7/12/1904 – 9/23/1973
Chilean Nobel Prize-winning poet (1971) and politician
Updated July 10, 2012, 2:28 pm
On July 11, 1979, the abandoned United States space station Skylab made a spectacular return to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia.
On July 11, 1899, E. B. White, the American writer of essays and children’s books, was born. Following his death on Oct. 1, 1985, his obituary appeared in The Times.
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On This Date
By The Associated Press
1533 England’s King Henry VIII was excommunicated. 1767 John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, was born in Braintree, Mass. 1798 The U.S. Marine Corps was created by an act of Congress. 1804 Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel near Weehawken, N.J. 1859 Big Ben, the great bell inside the famous London clock tower, chimed for the first time. 1914 Baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth made his major league debut as a pitcher for the Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston. 1952 The Republican National Convention, meeting in Chicago, nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower for president and Richard M. Nixon for vice president. 1955 The Air Force Academy was dedicated at Lowry Air Base in Colorado. 1960 “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, was published. 1977 The Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in a White House ceremony. 1979 The abandoned U.S. space station Skylab returned to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere and showering debris over the Indian Ocean and Australia. 1995 The United States normalized relations with Vietnam. 2007 Former first lady Lady Bird Johnson died in Austin, Texas, at age 94. Current Birthdays
By The Associated Press
Tennis player Caroline Wozniacki turns 22 years old today.
AP Photo/Yves Logghe
Actress Sela Ward (“Once and Again,” “Sisters”) turns 56 years old today.
AP Photo/Evan Agostini
1931 Tab Hunter, Actor, turns 81 1949 Jay Johnson, Ventriliquist, actor (“Soap”), turns 63 1953 Leon Spinks, Boxer, turns 59 1959 Richie Sambora, Rock musician (Bon Jovi), turns 53 1959 Suzanne Vega, Singer, turns 53 1963 Lisa Rinna, Actress, TV host, turns 49 1966 Greg Grunberg, Actor (“Heroes”), turns 46 1967 Jeff Corwin, Wildlife expert, turns 45 1970 Justin Chambers, Actor (“Grey’s Anatomy”), turns 42 1975 Lil’ Kim, Rapper, turns 37 1976 Ben Gibbard, Rock singer, musician (Death Cab for Cutie), turns 36
Historic Birthdays
E. B. White 7/11/1899 – 10/1/1985 American author and editor for The New Yorker.Go to obituary »
54 Robert I, the Bruce 7/11/1274 – 6/7/1329
Scottish king (1306-29)80 John Quincy Adams 7/11/1767 – 2/23/1848
American sixth president38 John Fowler 7/11/1826 – 12/4/1864
English developer of the steam-hauled plow84 John Wanamaker 7/11/1838 – 12/12/1922
American businessman; founded Wanamaker department stores71 Leon Bloy 7/11/1846 – 11/2/1917
French writer72 Harry Kellar 7/11/1849 – 3/10/1922
American magician38 Georgiana Barrymore 7/11/1854 – 7/2/1893
American actress84 Sir Joseph Larmor 7/11/1857 – 5/19/1942
Irish physicist40 Roger de La Fresnaye 7/11/1885 – 11/27/1925
French painter76 Arthur Tedder 7/11/1890 – 6/3/1967
English deputy commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force68 Rudolf Abel 7/11/1903 – 11/15/1971
Russian spy imprisoned by U.S. in 195765 Yul Brynner 7/11/1920 – 10/10/1985
American stage and motion-picture actor
I’m told this is a remake of the old Saheb Biwi aur Ghulam movie that starred the iconic Guru Dutt and Meena Kumari, but having never seen it, allow me to assure you that there will be no comparisons whatsoever. Instead, I am happy to review it in a most unbiased way! And the report I have is a very complimentary one, indeed, because this is a well-made film with a good script, great actors, and beautiful landscape that evoke all the pathos of a bygone era: the era of princely sahebs and their retinue of servants that wait on them hand and foot, and cater to their every wish and whim. Even if those whims border on the Biwi– or wife of the Saheb– choosing to amuse herself with the chauffeur, who is the ‘gangster’ in the movie title.
Well, one doesn’t need to stretch one’s imagination too much to wonder where all this might be going, but despite the predictability of the plot, there is still a good amount of suspense throughout, and a delicious climax that is worth waiting for. Jimmy Shergill does an excellent job in comporting himself as the Saheb who knows how to dress and eat impeccably well even as his haveli and biwi are crumbling from within and without. His passions lie more with his mistress than with bothering himself in the upkeep of the house or the staff.
The Biwi is one firecracker who looks exquisite all the time, especially when her eccentricities are in full-swing! But it is the Gangster who does an excellent job even as he plays a double-game with the Saheb and his other mentors. And yet, in the end, it is the Biwi who has the last word, and you begin to wonder if there’s poetic justice to it all, after all.
All things considered, this is a story of exquisite deception from all parties involved and high-strung drama to make it a suspenseful thriller with a good dose of illicit romantic adventure– all essential ingredients for a most entertaining movie.
