Oliver Stone has directed Tommy Lee Jones three times: in JFK, Heaven & Earth, and Natural Born Killers. There is no reason to bring this up other than they are two of American cinema’s best, and each man is 70 today. (The two are seen together at top, many years ago.)

Both Stone and Jones are having busy starts to his 80th decade: Stone’s newest film, Snowden, opens in theaters tomorrow, and Jones is in an action film in theaters right now, Mechanic: Resurrection. (Jason Statham likes using punctuation marks in his titles almost as much as I seem to.)

Tommy Lee Jones is also quite busy shooting rather hilarious ads for Suntory “Boss” coffee in Japan (video collection after the jump):

 
* * * *
The first episode of the television series L.A. Law debuted 30 years ago tonight on NBC. Eight full seasons, a total of 171 episodes, followed.

* * * *
Thomas Wolfe died on this date in 1938. He was 37. In August he wrote a letter to his editor, Maxwell Perkins. It is his final letter:

Dear Max: I’m sneaking this against orders—but “I’ve got a hunch” —and I wanted to write these words to you.
 
—I’ve made a long voyage and been to a strange country, and I’ve seen the dark man very close; and I don’t think I was too much afraid of him, but so much of mortality still clings to me—I wanted most desperately to live and still do, and I thought about you all a 1000 times, and wanted to see you all again, and there was the impossible anguish and regret of all the work I had not done, of all the work I had to do—and I know now I’m just a grain of dust, and I feel as if a great window has been opened on life I did not know about before—and if I come through this I hope to God I am a better man, and in some strange way I can’t explain I know I am a deeper and wiser one—If I get on my feet and out of here, it will be months before I head back, but if I get on my feet, I’ll come back.
 
—Whatever happens—I had this “hunch” and wanted to write you and tell you, no matter what happens or has happened, I shall always think of you and feel about you the way it was that 4th of July 3 yrs. ago when you met me at the boat, and we went out on the cafe on the river and had a drink and later went on top of the tall building and all the strangeness and the glory and the power of life and the city were below—Yours Always,
 
Tom

 
Bill Evans died on this date in 1980. Robert Penn Warren died in 1989 on this date. Johnny Ramone died on this date in 2004. Rick Wright died on this date in 2008.

* * * *
James Fenimore Cooper was born on this date in 1789. President William Howard Taft was born on this date in 1857. Bruno Walter was born on this date in 1876. Robert Benchley was born in 1889 on this date. Dame Agatha Christie was born 125 years ago today. Nipsey Russell was born on this date in 1918. Bobby Short was born on this date in 1924.

* * * *
Norm Crosby is 89 today. Murray Gell-Mann is 87. Gaylord Perry is 78. Ron Shelton is 71. Dan Marino is 55.

____________________________________________
Follow The Gad About Town on Facebook! Subscribe today for daily facts (well, trivia) about literature and history, plus links to other writers on Facebook.

Follow The Gad About Town on Instagram!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.