July 15, 1988 must have been the day to celebrate Christmas in July because it”s the day classic Christmas movie (don”t argue) Die Hard was gifted to us.
28 years after the Die Hard hit theaters, it”s difficult to accept that the movie”s great villain is gone, and it”s wild to think about the fact that this was his first Hollywood film role – Alan Rickman was in his first movie at age 42, which makes it all the more tragic that his life and career were cut short this year.
Since 1988, Bruce Willis has made four more Die Hard movies. Meanwhile, director John McTiernan”s last completed film was 2003″s Basic, and these days he”s keeping busy bashing modern blockbusters, Captain America and Mad Max: Fury Road included.
Die Hard is available for purchase here on Fox Connect
Other notable July 15 happenings in pop culture history:
• 1963: The Newbery Medal was given to A Wrinkle in Time.
• 1964: The Universal Studios Hollywood theme park opened.
• 1968: The soap opera One Life to Live premiered on ABC. It aired on the network for over 43 years.
• 1981: Steven Ford, son of former President Gerald Ford, appeared in soap The Young and the Restless as Andy the bartender.
• 1994: True Lies, which had reunited James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger again, opened in theaters.
• 2004: I, Robot, the Will Smith movie based on the short story collection by Isaac Asimov, opened in theaters.
• 2005: Wedding Crashers got its theatrical release.
• 2009: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, based on the sixth book in J.K. Rowling”s series, opened in theaters around the world.
• 2010: Robbie Williams announced that he was returning to the band Take That. He recorded with the group for their new album Progress but later left the band again and did not join them for their performance at the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony.