The Flaming Nose Happy Birthday List for November 19th

An abundance of riches today!  In order of birth year, as follows:

Alan Young, born on this date in 1919.  He's most famous, TV-wise, for his delightful starring -- though not titular -- role in the charmingly absurd early 1960s sitcom Mister Ed, opposite Connie Hines and the voice of Chill Wills as the talking horse.  The versatile Young had already starred in his own radio show and later a  TV comedy/variety show at the beginning of the previous decade, and of course we also remember him so well as the kindly friend of H. G. Wells in the classic 1960 movie version of The Time Machine.  In addition to acting roles, Young became a much sought-after animation voice actor and he's still working today!  Be sure to visit his wonderful official website and pick up a copy of his autobiography Mister Ed and Me and More!.   Happy 94th Birthday, Alan!

Talkmeister Larry King was born on this day in 1933.  The New York-born King became a well-liked radio personality on Florida radio in the late 1950s, eventually moving into his trademark call-in format which went national in the late 1970s.  CNN cable founder Ted Turner plucked King and put him on TV in the same format, a winning recipe that became legendary as virtually anybody who was ANYBODY wanted to get on his show.  He retired from CNN in 2010, but has returned to the interviewer role on his web project Ora TV where he hosts Larry King Now.  Larry King is a legend!  Happy 80th Birthday, Larry!

It's almost hard to believe that fellow talk show host Dick Cavett celebrates his 77th birthday today!  Smartly funny, provocative, willing to go to to more intellectual places with his interviews than most of the other men doing the same job, Dick Cavett hosted his eponymous TV talk show The Dick Cavett Show from 1968 - 1974 and thereafter in various incarnations over the years.  (Many available on DVD and also on YouTube). His beginnings as an actor and stand-up comic served him well as he matched wits with a wide array of personalities and seemed to make genuine connections with many of them. Cavett now writes for The New York Times.  Happy Birthday, Dick!

It's also crazy but true that the man who put Larry King on CNN also celebrates his birthday on this day.  Media mogul, philanthropist, champion yachtsman Ted Turner turns 75 today! From a somewhat challenging childhood to advertising mogul and then on to creating the world's first 24 news network, Turner has always led from his passion and achieved incredible things over his amazing career.  He was the only head of a television network -- networks, that is -- who was more interesting than anything he could possibly put on the air.  CNN aired Ted Turner: The Maverick Man earlier this week; worth watching!  Those of us who worked at any of the Turner networks usually have several Ted Turner stories in our memories; I'll share mine one of these days here.  Happy Birthday, Ted!







We can't leave the ladies out for November 19th, so we wish a very Happy 54th Birthday to Allison Janney, star of The West Wing and currently this season Mom and Masters of Sex.  The multi-talented Jodie Foster celebrates her 51th Birthday today also.  Though perhaps best known these days for her motion picture career both in front of and now in back of the camera, Jodie started out in TV guest roles as a child and became a familiar face in shows such as The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Gunsmoke, My Three Sons and many others, including a starring role as Addie in the TV version of Paper Moon.  Once she hit motion pictures screen in Taxi Driver she left TV behind, but it was a wonderful training ground for this mature and intelligent actress.  Happy Birthday to these talented ladies!







We'd also like to say Happy 59th Birthday to actress Kathleen Quinlan who's done a lot of TV over the years, including The Waltons, Ironside, Little Ladies of the Night, and more recently Family Law, Prison Break and Chicago Fire.  A Happy 60th Birthday also to actor Robert Beltran, much loved for his co-starring role in Star Trek: Voyager and many other TV appearances including in the terrific SyFy channel movie Manticore!