Actor John Vernon was born today in 1932. I don’t think there is one movie that I didn’t think he was great in. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Animal House, where he played the frustrated Dean Wormer.

One of my favorite scenes is where he is giving the Delta House boys their mid-term grades….

His whole interaction with Belushi cracks me up.

The soundtrack of the film has some really great tunes. The best one is Shout, which was originally done by the Isley Brothers. The version in Animal House was performed by a fictional band called Otis Day And The Knights. Otis was played by the actor DeWayne Jessie.

The movie became a huge hit, and within days Jessie was getting requests to perform. He quickly put together a real band called Otis Day and the Knights and became a touring act. They mostly hitting college campuses. They were still touring into the 2010s.

In 1989, they released and album called, appropriately, Shout.

Happy Heavenly Birthday to the great John Vernon!