HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO. . . . . . . . MITZI GAYNOR

Born Francesca Marlena de Czanzi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois, on September 4, 1931, singer and actress Mitzi Gaynor turns 80 years old today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO. . . . . . . . JUDITH IVEY

Born in El Paso, Texas, on September 4, 1951, actress Judith Ivey is 60 years old today.

The Lawless Breed (1953)

Starring Rock Hudson, Julie Adams, Dennis Weaver, John McIntire, Hugh O'Brian, Lee Van Cleef, Glenn Strange, and Michael Ansara. Directed by Raoul Walsh. Wild West gunslinger and gambler John Wesley Hardin is released from jail and recounts his exploits outside the law with his manuscript detailing his life.

Kansas Raiders (1950)

Starring Audie Murphy, Brian Donlevy, Tony Curtis, James Best, Scott Brady, Dewey Martin, George Chandler, Richard Egan, and Richard Long. Directed by Ray Enright. Jesse James and his brother Frank, together with the Younger Brothers,join Quantrill's Raiders, believing that Quantrill's mission -- to save the Confederacy by sacking Kansas -- is just. Only when it is too late does Jesse discover that Quantrill is little more than a bloodthirsty mercenary.

Canyon Passage (1946)

Starring Susan Hayward, Dana Andrews, Lloyd Bridges, Ward Bond, Andy Devine, Hoagy Carmichael, Brian Donlevy, Ray Teal, and Peter Whitney. Directed by Jacques Tourneur. In 1856, an ambitious freight company and store owner agrees to escort a young woman home to the settlement of Jacksonville, Oregon.

The Texas Rangers (1936)

Starring Fred MacMurray, Jack Oakie, George "Gabby" Hayes, Jean Parker, Lloyd Nolan, and Irving Bacon. Directed by King Vidor. Jim Hawkins, one of three outlaws in Texas in the years following the Civil War, and his partner in crime Wahoo Jones decide to go straight, but their bandit pal Sam McGee has not seen the light. Eventually, Jim and Wahoo join the fledgling Texas Rangers, an organization dedicated to bringing law, order, and honest government to their state, while McGee cuts a swath of terror with his new gang.

The Man From the Alamo (1953)

Starring Glenn Ford, Julie Adams, Chill Wills, Hugh O'Brian, Victor Jory, Neville Brand, and Jeanne Cooper. Directed by Budd Boetticher. During the siege at the Alamo, John Stroud is chosen by lot to leave the fort and warn the families of the mission's defenders of the impending arrival of General Santa Ana. But when everyone around him is wiped out by the Mexicans, Stroud has no proof that he was ordered to leave his post and is branded a coward.

The Cimarron Kid (1952)

Starring Audie Murphy, James Best, Leif Erickson, Noah Beery, Jr., Hugh O'Brian, Roy Roberts, Yvette Dugay, and Beverly Tyler. Directed by Budd Boetticher. After being falsely accused of a payroll heist, The Cimarron Kid heads for the high country where he joins the outlaw Dalton Gang. When the Daltons are decimated during a daring daylight bank robbery, the Kid takes over what is left of the gang and hides out at a local ranch where he is reformed by the love of rancher's daughter.

California (1946)

Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Ray Milland, Barry Fitzgerald, Anthony Quinn, Jeff Corey, Minerva Urecal, Frank Ferguson, Will Wright, Ian Wolfe, Frank Faylen, and Albert Dekker. Directed by John Farrow. Wagon master Jonathon Trumbo is leading a wagon train of settlers to the promised land of California in the late 1840s. In one of the towns he meets saloon girl Lily Bishop who is being run out of town by the ladies of the town. She asks to accompany the wagon train and wine maker Michael Fabian agrees to take her along. When news of a gold strike in California reaches the wagons, the farmers catch gold fever and desert Trumbo and the train.

The Texans (1938)

Starring Randolph Scott, Joan Bennett, Robert Cummings, Walter Brennan, May Robson, Irving Bacon, and Chris-Pin Martin. Directed by James Hogan. In post-Civil War Texas, an ex-Confederate soldier trying to make a new life for himself as a rancher crosses paths with a female ranch owner who is eager to help keep the war for the Confederacy alive, running guns to her would-be lover, an unrepentant ex-Confederate captain who is preparing to ally himself with the Mexican emperor Maximilian as a means of starting a new war against the Yankee government.

Simon Birch (1998)

Starring Ashley Judd, Oliver Platt, Jim Carrey, Jan Hooks, David Strathairn, Dana Ivey, and Ian Michael Smith. Directed by Mark Steven Johnson. Joe Wenteworth visits the grave of his childhood friend Simon Birch who was afflicted with Morquio's syndrome, a genetic disorder which causes dwarfism. Simon and Joe were bound by broken families and their misfit status: Simon as a dwarf, and Joe is illegitimate. But the boys faced a devastating blow as Simon searched for a destiny bigger than his body and Joe searched for his father.

Mother Didn't Tell Me (1950)

Starring Dorothy McGuire, William Lundigan, Gary Merrill, June Havoc, Larry Keating, Jesse Royce Landis, Leif Erickson, and Georgia Backus. Directed by Claude Binyon. A young woman learns that it's difficult being a doctor's wife, finding herself home alone most of the time and silently fuming as she watches her husband's parade of beautiful female patients.

Onionhead (1958)

Starring Andy Griffith, Walter Matthau, Joey Bishop, Felicia Farr, Claude Akins, James Gregory, Erin O'Brien, and Ray Danton. Directed by Norman Taurog. When his grades drop and his relationship with his girlfriend sours, a college student joins the Coast Guard as an assistant cook, fully expecting to sit out World War II in peace and quiet.

State of the Union (1948)

Starring Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Angela Lansbury, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Margaret Hamilton, Adolphe Menjou, Lewis Stone, Charles Lane, and Irving Bacon. Directed by Frank Capra. An aircraft tycoon is coerced into seeking the Republican nomination for President by a predatory newspaper mogul with whom he is having an affair.

It's Love I'm After (1937)

Starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Spring Byington, Bonita Granville, and Irving Bacon. Directed by Archie Mayo. An egotistical Broadway acting team famous for their romantic scenes spend so much time bickering that they never get around to marriage. Their relationship is complicated by a young heiress, a fan who worships the ground the man walks on.

These Wilder Years

Starring Barbara Stanwyck, James Cagney, Walter Pidgeon, Dean Jones, Edward Andrews, Michael Landon, Herb Vigran, Will Wright, Burt Mustin, and Donald Dubbins. Directed by Roy Rowland. A lonely middle-aged businessman returns to his old home town in hopes of finding the son he fathered twenty years earlier.

Breakfast For Two (1937)

Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Herbert Marshall, Glenda Farrell, Donald Meek, and Eric Blore. Directed by Alfred Santell. A playboy wakes up after a night on the town to find that a Texas debutante has escorted him home. She is attracted to him but decides to reform him first and marry him later aer learning that his family shipping business is nearly bankrupt.