Shavar Ross is 39 today. Those who’ve been reading this blog for awhile will know that Shavar is also a reader and posts comments occasionally. Most will probably remember him as Dudley from Different Strokes in the 80s. But he’s done a lot of other TV work since then – notably parts in Magnum PI, Designing Women, Amen, Growing Pains, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, Chicago Hope, and a few others. He also played a young Booker T Washington in the 1984 made-for-tv movie Booker, which Curtis recently profiled on this blog (read that post HERE). Shavar has his own website which you can check out HERE.

Mykelti Williamson is 53 today. He was last seen in Black Dynamite and The Final Destination, both in 2009; he also has a recurring role on Fox’s 24. He can next be seen in a WWII drama titled, Algona, currently listed as being in pre-production. The synopsis reads: During WWII, as battles raged across the globe, the small town of Algona, Iowa became home to one of largest prisoner of war camps ever built in the United States. This is the true story of, Algona.

Revered, uncompromising Ethiopian filmmaker, and member of the Los Angeles School of Black Film Makers 1970s movement (a collective that also included the likes of Charles Burnett & Julie Dash), Haile Gerima is 64 today. I’m sure we’re all familiar with Sankofa, likely his most recognizable work. Currently in circulation is his latest – a film called Teza, which we’ve previously profiled on this blog. It won The Golden Stallion of Yennenga at FESPACO, (the Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou). Read MsWOO’s initial post HERE; and check out a revealing, inspiring 2-part interview with Gerima HERE. Currently, Gerima, a self described “third-world independent filmmaker,” is a professor of film at Howard University.

And finally, R&B/Blues/Funkster Bobby Womack, is 66 today! The man’s music has been used on the soundtracks of a variety of films – most notably, he produced the entire soundtrack for the 1972 crime-drama, Across 110th Street (a film I recently reviewed, which you can read HERE). Other more recent title soundtracks where his music can be heard include Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, Meet the Parents, Ali, Talk To Me, and most recently, American Gangster.

That’s it! Here’s the opening sequence to Across 110th Street, in which you can hear Womack singing the title track: