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Celebrate Christopher Walken's 70th Birthday With These Vintage Photos And Fun Facts
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 2, 2013
Modified Apr 2, 2013
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 2, 2013
Modified Apr 2, 2013
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In 2010, Walken got his caricature at Sardi's (Getty Images)
Earlier this week Christopher Walken turned 70 years old—hopefully you celebrated with a little dance. The New York City native's entire career is documented at The Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts—and today they've dug up some treasures from the archives, where they hold clippings, photographs, reviews, videos, an oral history, archived interviews and basically anything short of Walken himself. Did you know...
- Christopher Walken was born in Astoria, Queens where his father ran Walken's Bakery—serving mostly the German community in Long Island City.
- His real name is Ronald, but he went by Ronnie for a long time. Here's Ronnie's 1955 acting shots:
- He attended the Professional Children's School in Manhattan.
- During his teenager years, he worked as a lion tamer in a circus! Though he has said, "the lion was very old and really more like a dog."
- He was also a clown:
via Getty Images
- He originally wanted to be a dancer.
- His debut role was in J.B. at the ANTA Theater (now the August Wilson Theater) on 52nd Street in 1959.
- "His dream of being a dancer was somewhat realized in a string of musicals, including Best Foot Forward with Liza Minnelli."
- While taking on more screen roles in the 1970s, like Annie Hall, "he was still walking the theatrical boards in the Big Apple. He was a familiar face downtown in Central Park's Delacorte Theater and at the Public, performing Chekhov and Shakespeare."
- He has hosted Saturday Night Live seven times, and along with Alec Baldwin is the only actor with a standing offer from Lorne Michaels to host the show whenever his schedule permits.
- '80s Walken was simply striking—office mustache expert Chris Robbins calls this "the Sharpest of Staches," adding, "You could cut diamonds with that thing... you could cut samurai swords with that stache."
via LIFE
- He still dances...
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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