Celebrity Birthday of the Day

Happy Birthday, Jurgen Prochnow! 

Look at you, you crazy Kraut! You're intense!

(pictured: Jurgen Prochnow smiling) 

Jurgen is quite possibly the most German man ever. He was born in Berlin. In 1941. Among his hobbies, he lists weight lifting. He has a brother named -- I shit you not -- Dieter (who may or may not like to touch monkeys). He has portrayed Kaiser Willhelm II, as well as characters named Gerhardt Dach, Klaus Woermann, and Mann am Stammtisch.

And, well, he's been in a few famous movies, too. You might remember him from such films as Beverly Hills Cop 2 (villain), Beerfest (villain), and Air Force One (villain). 

Oh, and he was also in Das Boot (literally, "the boot"), though I've never seen that. I'm pretty sure he was the captain, but I'll just assume the plot of the movie involves some kind of wacky scheme using alphabetized, terrorist beer to restore himself to power, only it doesn't work and he gets shot or something. Anyway, it sounds awesome! It's kind of a long movie, though, but the next time I have three or four days to spare, I'll definitely get on it!

So Happy Birthday, Jurgen. I see among your recent credits an episode of the TV show "Nachschicht" where you play a character named Friedrich Otto Winterstein. On behalf on everyone at Hollywood Humiliation let me just say: way to step out of your comfort zone. 

Celebrity Birthay Honorable Mention: 18th Century British politician James Cragg the Elder. This crooked politician made himself a fortune abusing his power and died in disgrace a month after his son -- the conveniently named James Cragg the Younger -- was born. 

A Question I Have About This: So... they're saying he's known as James Cragg the Older now, right? Not then? I mean, he died right after his son was born, so there's no way anyone calls him James Cragg the Elder until there's a James Cragg the Younger. To his friends, James Cragg the Elder was, you know, just Jim or Jimmy. Or even Jimbarino, if they weren't into the whole brevity thing.