Happy birthday to a Ladies Man and others
Feb. 5 — Musical birthdays and one for the ladies …
The Ladies’ Man turns 60! Tim Meadows (1961) was one of the longest-running cast members on “Saturday Night Live” (1991–2000). While he had a couple of film roles in the ’90s, he really broke into the genre regularly starting with “The Ladies Man” (2000), based on his SNL character Leon Phelps.
A face of NASCAR for several decades, Darrell Waltrip (1947) became a voice for the motorsport after retiring in 2000. If you (or your dad) followed NASCAR back in the ’80s, Waltrip was all over the TV. With 84 wins, including the 1989 Daytona 500, Waltrip won three Winston Cup titles (1981, ’82, ’85) and was voted most popular in 1989. Most importantly, he earned a voice role as “Darrell Cartrip” in the Pixar film “Cars” (2006). He retired from the booth in 2019 turns 74 today.
Jennifer Jason Leigh (1962) is 59, having gained stardom in a couple of memorable films, “Backdraft” (1991) and “Single White Female” (1992). Born Jennifer Leigh Morrow, she adopted the name “Jason” from famed actor Jason Robards, a friend of her family’s.
The bassist for Guns ‘n Roses for 12 years, Michael Andrew “Duff” McKagan (1964) turns 57. One of the last people known to have seen Kurt Cobain alive before Cobain’s demise, McKagan sat next to him on a flight from LA to Seattle on April 1, 1994. McKagan said it seemed like Cobain was “bummed,” and while he didn’t find it that out of place, McKagan was going to ask Cobain if he wanted to stay at his place for a few days, but when he looked up Cobain was gone.
Laura Linney (1964) turns 57, but if you’ve seen her play Wendy Byrde on Netflix’s “Ozark” (2017-), you won’t dare tease her about it. While she’s gained acclaim for the crime drama, she established herself long ago with roles in “Primal Fear” (1996), “The Truman Show” (1998), “Mystic River” and “Love Actually” (both 2003), and “Sully” (2016).
Acting isn’t for everyone, so when Thomas Christopher “Chris” Parnell (1967) became disenchanted with it, he returned to his hometown of Memphis and taught for a year before recharging and moving to LA in 1992. He debuted on SNL in 1998 and was let go — twice — by Lorne Michaels before branching off into roles on “30 Rock” (2006–13) and on “Archer” (2009-). My favorite, though, is the rapping digital short he did on SNL with Andy Samburg, “The Chronic of Narnia.”
Bobby Brown (1969) went from New Edition in 1981 to pop stardom with “My Prerogative” in 1988 that earned him the attention of one Whitney Houston. He was all over the radio with “Don’t Be Cruel” (1988), “Every Little Step” (1989), and “Rock Wit’cha” (1989). But tales of substance abuse and domestic issues between him and Houston, and his own countless arrests in the ’90s and 2000s, dominated tabloids. Houston died of heart failure Feb. 11, 2012.
Sara Evans (1971) waved to me! We saw the then-budding country star at the county fair years back, and she’s hit no. 1 on the country charts five times with “No Place That Far” (1998), “Born to Fly” (2000), “Suds in the Bucket” (2004), “A Real Fine Place to Start” (2005), and “A Little Bit Stronger” (2010). Coincidence?
Cristiano Ronaldo (1985) is a world-class soccer player for Portugal. He’s right at the tail end of GenX, and he’s 36. … That’s all I got.
