An Officer and a Gentleman

On This Day November 20

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On This Day November 6

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Celebrity Birthdays

1854 – Composer John Philip Sousa (“The Stars and Stripes Forever”) (d. 1932)

1914 – Actor Jonathan Harris, born Jonathan Charasuchin, who played Dr. Zachary Smith in the 1960s sci-fi TV series “Lost in Space” (d. 2002)

1931 – Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy-winning director Mike Nichols (“Barefoot in the Park,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” “The Graduate,” ” Silkwood,” “Working Girl,” “Postcards from the Edge,” “The Birdcage,” “Primary Colors,” “Angels in America,” “Closer,” “Charlie Wilson’s War”) (d. 2014)

1946 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Sally Field (“Gidget,” “The Flying Nun,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Sybil,” “Norma Rae,” “Places in the Heart,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Forrest Gump,” “Lincoln,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “My Name Is Doris,” “80 for Brady” )

1948 – Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey (d. 2016)

1955 – Journalist, author and former First Lady of California, Maria Shriver

1970 – Actor Ethan Hawke (“Dead Poets Society,” “Reality Bites,” “Before Sunrise,” “Gattaca,” “Training Day,” “Before Sunset,” “The Black Phone,” “The Northman”)

1988 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Emma Stone (“Superbad,” “The Help,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Birdman,” “La La Land,” “Cruella,” “Poor Things”)

History Highlights

1860 – Former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln is elected 16th U.S. president, handily defeating three other candidates to become the first Republican to win the presidency.

1962 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution condemning South Africa’s racist apartheid policies and calling on all its members to end economic and military relations with the country.

1977 – Thirty-nine people die when the Kelly Barnes Dam bursts, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls College in Georgia.

1987 – “Less Than Zero” opens in theaters. It’s a movie about a group of wealthy, young friends in 1980s L.A., starring Robert Downey, Jr., Andrew McCarthy, James Spader and Jami Gertz.

1990 – Nearly a fifth of the Universal Studios back lot in southern California is destroyed in a massive fire that was deliberately set. The blaze also consumes vintage cars from the 1920s and 30s, causing an estimated $50 million in damage.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Jimmy Dean kicks off a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Big Bad John.”

1965 – The Rolling Stones are on Cloud 9 when “Get Off Of My Cloud” hits the top spot on the singles chart and floats there for two weeks.

1971 – The soundtrack to the movie “Shaft,” by Isaac Hayes, tops the U.S. album chart.

1971 – “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves” marks the first of two weeks as a No. 1 hit for Cher. It’s her first chart-topper as a solo act.

1976 – The Steve Miller Band scores its second Billboard chart-topper with “Rock ‘n’ Me,” off the “Fly Like an Eagle” album.

1982 – Movie music propels Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes to the top of the Billboard singles survey as “Up Where We Belong,” from the motion picture “An Officer And A Gentleman,” begins three weeks at No. 1.

1993 – Meat Loaf starts a five-week run at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’d’ Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).”

On this Day August 21

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Celebrity Birthdays

1904 – Jazz pianist-bandleader Count Basie (d. 1984)

1924 – Sportscaster Jack Buck (d. 2002)

1932 – Actor-filmmaker-writer Melvin Van Peebles

1936 – Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain (d. 1999)

1938 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, Country Music Hall of Famer and actor Kenny Rogers (“Lucille,” “The Gambler,” “Islands in the Stream,” “Lady”) (d. 2020)

1939 – Actor Clarence Williams III, most recognized for his role as Linc in the TV police drama “The Mod Squad” (d. 2021)

1941 – Singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon (“What the World Needs Now Is Love,” “Put a Little Love in Your Heart”)

1956 – Golden Globe-winning actress Kim Cattrall, best known for playing Samantha in the HBO series “Sex and the City”

1958 – Entrepreneur and AOL co-founder Steve Case

1967 – Actress Carrie-Anne Moss (“The Matrix” trilogy, “Chocolat,” “Memento,” “Disturbia”)

1989 – Actress Hayden Panettiere (“One Life to Live,” “Racing Stripes,” “Heroes,” “Nashville”)

History Highlights

1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen from the Louvre in Paris by Vincenzo Perugia, a former museum employee who smuggled the painting to his native Italy. It wasn’t until December 1913 that Peruggia was finally caught and the Mona Lisa recovered, becoming the best known painting on the planet.

1959 – President Dwight Eisenhower signs a proclamation admitting Hawaii into the Union as the 50th state.

1965 – NASA launches the third manned Gemini flight, Gemini V, carrying astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles “Pete” Conrad. The nearly eight-day mission breaks a record for space flight duration set by the Soviets’ Vostok 5 spacecraft two years earlier.

1971 – Vietnam War protesters raid federal draft board offices in Buffalo, New York and Camden, New Jersey and destroy draft records. The FBI and local police arrest 25 protestors.

1979 – Soviet ballet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the U.S.

1987 – “Dirty Dancing,” starring Patrick Swayze as a dance instructor at a summer resort and Jennifer Grey as the young guest that falls in love with him, opens in theaters. The movie’s theme song, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes captures both the Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy Award for best duet.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Still recuperating from a car crash two months earlier, legendary country crooner Patsy Cline makes her way to a studio on crutches to record the classic Willie Nelson composition “Crazy.”

1971 – The Bee Gees are mid-way through a four-week reign over the Billboard Hot 100 with “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.”

1976 – “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” by Elton John and Kiki Dee, is the No. 1 single.

1982 – New on the singles chart: “Up Where We Belong,” the Joe Cocker-Jennifer Warnes duet from the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman.” The track captures a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Oscar for Best Original Song. Cocker and Warnes also win a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the song.

1991 – Bryan Adams is in the midst of a seven-week ride atop the singles chart with “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)” from the movie “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.”

1999 – Christina Aguilera owns the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Genie in a Bottle.”