Happy Birthday to the crown jewel of American cinema. Walken is 62 years young today! In celebration, have a quick peek at this list of facts and trivia from his fascinating life. Among my favorites:
- Always tries to work a jig (dance) into his movies.
- Jerry Lewis influenced Walken to make show business his career.
- Was George Lucas‘s second choice for the role of Han Solo in Star Wars
- Worked briefly as a lion tamer in a circus at age 15.
- Was on Natalie Wood‘s yacht the night she drowned.
- Only Oscar-winning actor to portray a 007 villain, in A View to a Kill.
- Along with Alec Baldwin, he has a standing invitation to host “Saturday Night Live” (1975) every year.
- In his 35 years in film, he has acted in well over 90 films. He rarely turns down a part, under the belief that making movies (whether they turn out good or bad) is always a rewarding experience.
“I have this theory about words. There’s a thousand ways to say `Pass the salt.’It could mean, you know, `Can I have some salt?’; or it could mean, `I love you.’; It could mean `I’m very annoyed with you’; really, the list could go on and on.; Words are little bombs, and they have a lot of energy inside them.”
“I need more CowBell! Gotta have more CowBell!”
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Besides the ‘Cowbell’ skit, which is also hilarious thanks to Will Ferrell’s gut sticking out of that half shirt, ‘The Continental’ is my personal Walken favorite from SNL. Think I fell in love with him and his smooth dance moves in Fatboy’s ‘Weapon of Choice’ video! Happy Birthday Chris!!
Aubrey – I fell in love with Chris in True Romance – The whole eggplant skit – I wonder how long he rehearsed that. I mean Chris is a big fan planning his work and working his plan.