The Irish portrait painter Nathaniel Hone the Elder was born on this day in 1718. The Russian cubist Lyubov Popova was born in 1889. And the Dutch abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning (who I can appreciate but really don’t like) was born in 1904.

Action film director Richard Donner is 83 today. Shirley MacLaine is 79. And Barbra Streisand is 71.

But the day belongs to the great filmmaker William Castle who was born in 1914. He was an amazing guy who pretty much invented the gimmick film. But regardless of that, he made good films. My favorite is House on Haunted Hill, which I never tire of watching. The character Lawrence Woolsey (played by John Goodman) in the film Matinee is supposed to be based on Castle, and I suspect he really was that colorful.

Happy birthday William Castle!