Look Who's Having A Birthday

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday January 25, 2006

Richard Jinman

Glance at a list of famous people who were born in 1946 and one thing is apparent: it is hard to believe some of them are turning 60, while others have always seemed that old. Can Patti Smith, the high priestess of New York punk, really be blowing out the candles on her 60th birthday cake this year? She can (on December 30, to be precise) and so is the baby-faced former US president Bill Clinton and boomer movie directors Steven Spielberg and David Lynch.

The British actor Tim Curry made his name in a boomer hit, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but seems too youthful to be 60. And it's hard to accept that Tinseltown action men Sylvester Stallone and Danny Glover will both turn 60 in July.

The country singer Dolly Parton celebrated her 60th birthday on January 19 - not all of her dates back to 1946, of course - and another time-defying singer, Cher, has her big day in May.

It's much easier to believe that the entrepreneur and reality television star Donald Trump will tell his 50s they're "fired" on June 14 and the uncanny resemblance between the US President, George Bush, and his father means Dubya's 60th birthday on July 6 does not come as too much of a shock.

The Spanish tenor Jose Carreras and American soul singer Thelma Houston will sing "happy birthday to me" this year and the comedian Cheech Marin of Cheech and Chong fame will fire up his candles, or something else, on July 13.

Another 1960s survivor, the singer and Rolling Stones muse Marianne Faithfull - who famously sang about riding through Paris with the warm wind in her hair at the age of 37 - is 60 on December 29.

Many happy returns.

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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