October 23, 1998: Cate Blanchett Stars In "Elizabeth"

October 23, 1998: The film Elizabeth premieres, about the early reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, making a star out of Australian actress Cate Blanchett. It was directed by Shekhar Kapur.

The film's poster said, "Declared illegitimate, aged 3. Tried for treason, aged 21. Crowned Queen, aged 25." But the film glances over the early years of Elizabeth, born on September 7, 1533 to King Henry VIII of England and his 2nd wife, Anne Boleyn. When she was 2 years old, Henry had his marriage to Anne annulled, had Anne executed, and declared Elizabeth illegitimate, although he restored her to the line of succession when she was 10.

Henry died in 1547, and the new monarch was King Edward VI, son of Henry and his 3rd wife, Jane Seymour. But he got sick and died in 1553, only 16 years old. After an ugly squabble for the throne, it went to Mary, daughter of Henry and his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon.

Officially, this left Elizabeth next in line, but Mary (played in this film by Kathy Burke), a Catholic, had Elizabeth, a Protestant, imprisoned on suspicion of supporting Protestant rebels. And to secure a Catholic succession, and possibly a Catholic empire both in Europe and in the New World, Mary married King Philip II of Spain.

But Mary died of cancer on November 17, 1558, age 42, never having had a child. So Elizabeth -- as was Elizabeth II, nearly 400 years later, just 25 years old at the time -- became "By the Grace of God, Queen of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith." 

A young Elizabeth I

It is there that the film begins. Mary's reign, every bit as obsessed with religion and the desire for heirs as that of her rotten father, left England in a mess: Deep in dept, with crumbling infrastructure, hostile neighbors in Scotland and France, and untrustworthy nobles, many of them still loyal to Mary.

Her main advisor is Sir William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (Richard Attenborough). He tells her she's got to get married and produce an heir, or the crown of England will go to Mary, Queen of Scots, her first cousin once removed: King Henry VII of England was Elizabeth's grandfather and Mary's great-grandfather. (Mary does not appear as a character in this film.)

As in real life, Elizabeth was unimpressed by her various suitors, including her ex-brother-in-law Philip (George Yiasoumi). The film suggests that, rather than being "the Virgin Queen" of legend, Elizabeth was having an affair with her childhood friend, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (Joseph Fiennes). He was already married, and the death of his wife in 1560 seemed suspicious, so if Elizabeth married him, it would look even more suspicious. Yet they remained close (how close, history isn't sure) until his death in 1588, shortly after the attack of the Armada.

To keep her safe, especially from Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (Christopher Eccleston), Cecil appoints Sir Francis Walsingham (Geoffrey Rush) as a bodyguard and advisor. Norfolk was a 1st cousin once removed of Catherine Howard, 5th wife of Henry VIII; and a 1st cousin once removed of Elizabeth herself, being a 1st cousin of Anne Boleyn. (Yes, it was all very complicated.)

There are plots from the Scottish-French "Auld Alliance," and from the Roman Catholic Church, to have Elizabeth removed from power, one way or another.

Mary's mother, Mary of Guise, widow of the late King James V, leads the plot to put her daughter on England's throne. The film suggests that Walsingham, meeting her under the pretense of setting up a marriage between Elizabeth and Lady Guise's nephew, Henry, Duke of Anjou, had Lady Guise assassinated. In reality, she simply got sick and died.

Walsingham uncovers another plot, this one by the Church, and arrests the would-be assassin, who implicates Norfolk, with the idea that he would marry the Queen of Scots, she would rule Scotland, he would be King of England, and their heir would rule both. Elizabeth orders his execution, Elizabeth fires all her advisors except her "spymaster" Walsingham, and declares herself "married to England." After a shaky start to her reign, she has found her way.

The film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Blanchett for Best Actor. But it won only 1, for Best Makeup.

In 2007, again directed by Kapur, Blanchett starred in a sequel: Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Rush returned as Walsingham, Samantha Morton played Mary, Queen of Scots, King Philip of Spain was now played (with some irony) by Catalan actor Jordi Mollà, Clive Owen played Sir Walter Raleigh, and Malcolm Storry played Sir Frances Drake.

With all the attempts at assassinating Elizabeth, as in real life, having failed, in 1585, Pope Sixtus V ordered Philip to use the greatest naval force ever assembled on Earth to that point, the Spanish Armanda, to invade England, and restore Catholic rule. Philip's plan was to let his daughter Isabella rule England. She already had a husband, but not yet any children (and never would).

Elizabeth and Walsingham foil one more plot, led by Anthony Babington (Eddie Redmayne), who is executed on September 20, 1586. Mary, a Catholic, but having been forced off her throne in 1567 in favor of her infant son James and his regents, has fled to England but has been imprisoned on Elizabeth's orders. She is shown writing letters, encouraging the plots of both Babington and Philip.

Elizabeth finds out that Mary was, however tangentially, involved in the Babington Plot, and, reluctantly, orders Mary's execution. It happened on February 8, 1587, at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire. Mary, once considered one of the great beauties in Europe and a "supreme seductress," was 44, and confinement and other hardships had left her looking a bit older.

Though heavily outnumbered, luck and weather are on England's side, and Drake and Raleigh defeat the Spanish Armada on August 8, 1588. Elizabeth watches from the shore (which probably didn't happen in real life, nor did her Henry V-at-Agincourt-like speech to the troops at Tilbury). The film ends with Elizabeth at the height of her powers, at age 55. But what is generally regarded as the Elizabethan "Golden Age" isn't shown, with the plays of William Shakespeare and the acceptance of England as a first-rate European power.

An older Elizabeth I, in her "Gloriana" phase

And it wasn't all that "golden," either. Religious strife continued, and by the time Elizabeth died on March 24, 1603, at 69, the country was in a serious economic downturn. And, without an heir, the House of Tudor came to an end. Elizabeth's 1st cousin once removed, King James VI of Scotland, now 36 years old, became King James I of England, establishing the rule of the House of Stuart.

Despite the fact that Elizabeth was already dead by the time English ships settled North America, one of the colonies established there was called Virginia, named for the business settling it, the Virginia Company, named for "the Virgin Queen" -- making it ironic that the later Commonwealth of Virginia would adopts as its tourism slogan, "Virginia is for Lovers." The original settlement, though, was named for her successor: Jamestown. North Carolina and South Carolina would be named for James' son and successor, King Charles I; and Georgia would be named for a later monarch, King George II. But Maryland, though settled by English Catholics as a haven for their faith was not named for Elizabeth's sister, Mary I. It was named for St. Mary, mother of Jesus.

Even more than the preceding film, Elizabeth: The Golden Age had lots of historical inaccuracies, including the fact that Raleigh had little to do with the victory. Blanchett herself said, "It's terrifying that we are growing up with this very illiterate bunch of children, who are somehow being taught that film is fact, when, in fact, it's invention."

Nevertheless, playing Elizabeth made Blanchett a star. She is 1 of only 4 actresses to win the Academy Awards for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress; and, for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, she is the only Oscar winner to win an Oscar for playing an Oscar winner. And, unlike her most famous role, Blanchett is married, to writer Andrew Upton, and has 3 sons and a daughter.

Other actresses noted for playing Elizabeth I include Sarah Bernhardt in the silent Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth in 1912, Gwendolyn Jones in The Prince and the Pauper in 1937, Bette Davis in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex in 1939 and The Virgin Queen in 1955, Jean Simmons in Young Bess in 1953, Agnes Moorehead in The Story of Mankind in 1957, Judith Anderson on NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of Elizabeth the Queen in 1968, Glenda Jackson in both the BBC miniseries Elizabeth R and the film Mary, Queen of Scots in 1971, Miranda Richardson (as "Queenie") in the BBC's Blackadder II in 1986, Quentin Crisp (yes, an elderly gay man) in Orlando in 1992, Helen Baxendale in Granada Television's In Suspicious Circumstances in 1996, Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love in 1998 (unlike Blanchett, winning an Oscar), Margot Kidder in Mentors in 2001, Anne-Marie Duff in the BBC series The Virgin Queen in 2005, Rachel Skarsten on The CW's Reign in 2015, and Margot Robbie in Mary Queen of Scots in 2018.

Often hailed as Britain's greatest monarch, Elizabeth I has been portrayed on what is often hailed as Britain's greatest TV show, Doctor Who: By Vivienne Bennett in 1965, Angela Pleasence in 2007, and Joanne Page in 2013. And Helen Mirren is the only actress known to have played both Queen Elizabeth I (in the 2005 Channel 4 film Elizabeth I) and Queen Elizabeth II (in the 2006 feature film The Queen).

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October 23, 1998 was a Friday. Actress Amandla Stenberg was born.

The baseball season had ended 2 days earlier, when the New York Yankees completed a 4-game sweep of the San Diego Padres in the World Series. Due to a lockout of the players by the team owners, the NBA season wouldn't begin until February 5, 1999. There were 5 games in the NHL:

* The Washington Capitals beat the Buffalo Sabres, 1-0 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-2 at the Ice Palace (now the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa.

* The Vancouver Canucks beat the Florida Panthers, 5-0 at the National Car Rental Center (now the Amerant Bank Arena) in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Nashville Predators, 4-3 at the Nashville Arena (now the Bridgestone Arena).

* And in an "Original Six" matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

The NFL and college football were in midweek. But in New Jersey high school football, my Alma Mater, East Brunswick, beat Sayreville, 28-7 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.

August 28, 1895: The Invention of Movies' "Special Effects"

August 28, 1895: The Execution of Mary Stuart premieres. This film is directed by Arthur Clark, is produced by Thomas Edison, and stars Robert L. Thomae (not “Thomas”), one of the top Shakespearean stage actors of the time, in drag, as Mary, Queen of Scots.

An edit halfway through shows Thomae replaced by a mannequin, whose head is chopped off by an axe. Thus, all at once, in a space of 15 seconds, is invented film editing, film special effects, the historical film, and the horror film.

The real Mary, cousin and rival of Queen Elizabeth I of England, was executed on February 8, 1587, at Fotheringay Castle outside Oundle, Northamptonshire, England. She was 44, had been married 3 times, the 1st time, to King Francis II of France, which is why she spoke French at court and signed her name as "Marie R" -- for "Marie Regina," or "Mary, the Queen."

And, while seeming to have lost the struggle against Elizabeth for the throne of England, ended up having the last laugh: Elizabeth had no children, and thus the Tudor line died out; but Mary's son became King James VI of Scotland, and, on Elizabeth's death in 1603, he became King James I of England.

So all subsequent British monarchs, including Queen Elizabeth II and her heirs, are descended from Mary, Queen of Scots and the House of Stuart.

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August 28, 1895 was a Saturday. The only professional sports league operating in North America at the time was baseball's National League. These games were played:

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-1 at the Polo Grounds, the version in use from 1890 to 1911.

* The Brooklyn Bridegrooms beat the Louisville Colonels, 13-5 at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The Bridegrooms became the Superbas in 1899, and the Dodgers in 1911. The Colonels folded after the 1899 season.

* The Cleveland Spiders beat the Boston Beaneaters, 10-5 at the 3rd and final version of the South End Grounds in Boston, in used from 1894 to 1914. The Beaneaters went through a few name changes, and became the Braves in 1912. The Spiders folded after the 1899 season.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Colts, 5-3 at the Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds, later renamed Baker Bowl. The Colts became the Cubs in 1903.

* An unusual doubleheader was played at Union Park in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles, the defending Champions, played the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 0-0 tie, then beat them, 11-5. This doesn't seem to make sense, and Baseball-Reference.com gives no explanation. If it had been the other way around, if the 2nd game had ended in a tie, it could be argued that it was cut short due to darkness, or because the teams were wrapping up a series, and at least one of them had to catch a train to get to the next city on their schedule. Maybe darkness or a train schedule was the reason they didn't play extra innings in the 1st game, but there's no indication. The Orioles folded after the 1899 season, and bear no connection to the later American League team of the same name.

* And the St. Louis Browns and the Washington Senators were tied at 5-5 after 9 innings at Boundary Field in Washington, when the game was called due to darkness. The Browns became the Cardinals in 1900. The Senators folded after the 1899 season. Neither bears any connection to the later American League teams of the same names.