9 Milestone Celebrity Birthdays in February
Joanne Woodward, Smokey Robinson, other stars celebrating big ones this month
by Susan Wloszczyna, AARP, January 31, 2020
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PHOTO BY: Phillip Faraone/WireImage
Feb. 3: Morgan Fairchild, 70
En español | The soap opera star born Patsy Ann McClenny played an unstable femme fatale on CBS's Search for Tomorrow in the 1970s, then was a regular on the prime-time NBC soap Flamingo Road and Falcon Crest (among other 1980s’ soaps). Last year she competed on Food Network's Worst Cooks In America: Celebrity Edition — and lost to Tonya Harding.
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PHOTO BY: Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
Feb. 6: Tom Brokaw, 80
This network anchorman is the only person to have hosted all three of NBC's major news shows — The Today Show, NBC Nightly News and, briefly, Meet the Press — over 22 years, from 1982 to 2004. When he signed off on his final newscast, he told his audience, “Whatever the story, I had only one objective, to get it right.” He's now a special news correspondent for NBC and is involved with documentaries.
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PHOTO BY: Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
Feb. 7: James Spader, 60
The actor has played dark, oddball characters in films like Less Than Zero, Crash and Secretary, and was the unscrupulous lawyer Alan Shore on ABC's Boston Legal. His latest starring role continues the trend: Spader plays the fugitive-turned-FBI informant Raymond “Red” Reddington on NBC's The Blacklist.
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PHOTO BY: Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Feb. 10: Robert Wagner, 90
The actor known for marrying Natalie Wood (twice) got his first substantial role as a traumatized soldier opposite Susan Hayward in 1952's With a Song in My Heart, but was a better fit on TV, starring in ABC's It Takes a Thief (1968-1970) and ABC's Hart to Hart with Stefanie Powers. He periodically appears on NCIS as Anthony DiNozzo Sr., and has been married to Jill St. John since 1990.
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PHOTO BY: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Live Nation
Feb. 13: Peter Gabriel, 70
This English singer fronted the prog-rock band Genesis in the ‘70s, but went solo after the huge success of his album Solsbury Hill. With a clever video that scored heavy rotation on MTV, his 1986 single “Sledgehammer” became a No. 1 hit in the U.S. and his music is still heard on series like Stranger Things and Mindhunter. He has been working on a follow-up to his 2002 album Up for years; fans are still waiting eagerly.
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PHOTO BY: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
Feb. 14: Meg Tilly, 60
Tilly was a Gen-X standout in the 1983 boomer dramedy The Big Chill, and received an Oscar nomination for her role as a novice nun in 1985's Agnes of God (sister Jennifer received one, too, for her gun moll turned terrible thespian in 1994's Bullets Over Broadway). Now Tilly is a novelist, writing romantic fiction such as Hidden Cove, the third in her Solace Island series.
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PHOTO BY: Andrew Chin/Getty Images
Feb: 19: Smokey Robinson, 80
It's said that Bob Dylan called this R&B Motown songwriting legend “America's greatest living poet,” and anyone who has heard “Tears of a Clown” would be hard-pressed to disagree. The Detroit native's group the Miracles gave the record label Motown its first million-selling single, 1960's “Shop Around,” and such hits as “You Really Got a Hold on Me” and “I Second That Emotion.” When Robinson isn't busy collecting honors, he continues to perform in concert.
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PHOTO BY: Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Feb. 22: Julius Erving, 70
Dr. J popularized a style of play that relied on leaping and hovering over the rim and landing slam dunks. He won three championships, four Most Valuable Player awards and three scoring titles as a player for the Virginia Squires, New York Nets and the Philadelphia 76ers. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
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PHOTO BY: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage
Feb. 27: Joanne Woodward, 90
She was the love of the late Paul Newman's life — they costarred in the 1958 film The Long, Hot Summer — and an Oscar winner for her role in 1957's The Three Faces of Eve. Woodward said of her marriage to Newman: “Sexiness wears thin after a while and beauty fades, but to be married to a man who makes you laugh every day, ah, now that's a real treat.”