Impossible as it is to believe, Sal Mineo would have been 71 today. It's a damn shame he's not. He was carving out an odd and interesting career toward the end of his life, one that seemed on the road to overcoming his somewhat unsustainable stardom as a sidekick-ephebe. Perhaps today he would be a an offbeat elder statesman, playing off-kilter character parts, directing (as he did late in life) the occasional opera, and generally enjoying life as one-who-was-there. Alas.Sharing the day are two fellow heartthrobs, Bollywood sensation Hrithik Roshan and silent god Francis X. Bushman; '80s diva Pat Benatar; bland-furniture-line namesake and revolutionary Ethan Allan; the eternal scarecrow Ray Bolger; and porn pioneer Linda Lovelace. One hesitates to think what they all might have in common...
