Here are some folks who turn 70 in February 2025, plus a few who did not make it. Criminal lawyer-turned-author John Grisham (8th) has written a slew of legal thrillers. I haven’t read any of them, though I did see two of the nine movies made from his books, The Firm (1993) and A Time to Kill (1996).
But I’m most interested in his recent non-fiction book. “From a moral perspective, it is imperative for a society to face and correct injustice… We decided to write about and focus on the ten most astonishing cases, and publish them as Framed. There are hundreds of others.” Grisham wrote this with Jim McCloskey, “the godfather of the innocence movement.”
Jeff Daniels (19th) is an actor I’ve seen in many films, including Terms of Endearment, Purple Rose of Cairo, Heartburn, Speed, Pleasantville, The Hours, Because of Winn-Dixie, and The Martian.
He has also appeared on Broadway, most recently originating Atticus in the reimagined To Kill A Mockingbird. (I did not see him, but I did catch Richard Thomas in the touring show.)
“In 1991, Daniels founded a not-for-profit organization called The Purple Rose Theatre Company, which offers an attractive apprenticeship program for youngsters looking for a career in theatre.”
Kelsey Grammer (21st) is most noted for his two-decade long portrayal of Dr. Frasier Crane in the hit series, Cheers, and its spin-off, Fraise, and I watched virtually all of those episodes . The reboot of Frasier, which I saw infrequently,y recently ended after a two-season run. He’s also done a great deal of voice acting, most notably Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons.
RIP
Then there were these folks that WOULD have been 70 had they made it to 2025.
Miguel Ferrer (7th) was an American actor who broke through after portraying Bob Morton in RoboCop. I knew him from the movies Traffic and The Manchurian Candidate, as well as the TV procedural Crossing Jordan. He died on January 19, 2017, from throat cancer at the age of 61.
College dropout Steve Jobs (24th) founded or co-founded Apple Inc., Pixar Animation Studios, and NeXT Inc. He was responsible for developing “the iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPad, and the iPhone, which ushered in a new era in the computer, music, and film industries.” Here’s all about Steve.
He died on October 5, 2011, from pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer at the age of 56.
Gilbert Gottfried (28th): While I saw him on several programs, including The Cosby Show and Beverly Hills Cop II, most know him for the voice: the wise-cracking parrot “Iago” in Aladdin (1992) and the AFLAC duck.
In the documentary Life, Animated (2016), about a child who learned to communicate by watching Disney films, the young man Owen had a fan club. He invited Gilbert to one of their events, and Gilbert gladly showed up.
He died on April 12, 2022, from recurrent ventricular tachycardia, complicated by type II myotonic dystrophy, at the age of 67.