On This Day April 2 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1914 – Actor Sir Alec Guinness (“Kind Hearts and Coronets,” “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”) (d. 2000) 1939 – Motown titan Marvin Gaye, whose hits include “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “What’s Going On”) (d. 1984) 1941 – Singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Leon Russell (“A Song for You,” “Tight Rope,” “Lady Blue”) (d. 2016) 1945 – Oscar-winning actress Linda Hunt (“The Year of Living Dangerously,” “Kindergarten Cop,” “The Practice,” “NCIS: Los Angeles”) 1947 – Grammy-winning country singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris (“Two More Bottles of Wine,” “You Never Can Tell (C’est La Vie),” “Beneath Still Waters”) 1961 – Actor Christopher Meloni (“Oz,” “Runaway Bride,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “True Blood”) History Highlights 1792 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act, establishing the U.S. Mint and regulating money. 1917 – The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, takes her seat as a representative from Montana. A year later, she earns a second distinction by joining 49 of her House colleagues in voting against U.S. entry into World War I. Rankin remained true to her antiwar beliefs, becoming the only member of Congress to oppose declaring war against Japan following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. 1956 – One of the longest running soaps debuts on CBS: “As The World Turns.” Former cast members include Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, and Marisa Tomei. 1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the U.S. for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s. 1978 – “Dallas” premieres in primetime on CBS, starring Larry Hagman as the devious and despised oil tycoon J.R. Ewing. Launched as a five-episode miniseries, the ratings juggernaut delivers audiences 356 episodes over 14 seasons, turning its actors into international stars and J.R. and Southfork Ranch into household names. 2005 – John Paul II, history’s most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to serve as head of the Roman Catholic Church since the 16th century, dies at his home in the Vatican at the age of 84. Six days later, two million people pack Vatican City for his funeral, believed to be the most-attended funeral of all time. Musical Milestones 1957 – Elvis Presley performs at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada. It is one of only five concert appearances The King ever makes outside the U.S. The tour marks the first and last time that Elvis wears his now-legendary gold lamé suit. 1966 – “Ballad of the Green Berets,” by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, begins its fifth and final week as the No. 1 single. 1977 – “Rich Girl,” by Hall & Oates, tops the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first of the duo’s six No. 1 career singles. 1977 – “Rumours,” by Fleetwood Mac, climbs to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and remains there for 31 weeks. The album contains tracks that became huge hits for the band, including the chart-topping “Dreams” and Top-10 singles “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun.” 1987 – Buddy Rich, regarded as one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time, dies at the age of 69 from heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor. 1994 – Ace of Base holds the top spot on the pop chart with “The Sign.” 2003 – Soul singer-songwriter Edwin Starr, best known for his passionate, 1970 chart-topping anti-Vietnam War anthem “War,” dies at his home in England at the age of 61. READ MORE
On This Day November 28 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1929 – Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Jr. 1943 – Oscar, Emmy and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter and composer Randy Newman, best known for his 1977 hit “Short People” and movie soundtracks including the animated blockbuster “Toy Story” series and “Monsters, Inc.” 1949 – Singer, actor and multi-instrumentalist Paul Shaffer, best known as the bandleader for David Letterman’s late-night TV shows 1950 – Golden Globe-winning actor Ed Harris (“The Right Stuff,” “The Abyss,” “Pollack,” “Apollo 13,” “The Rock,” “The Truman Show,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Man on a Ledge,” “Westworld”) 1959 – Actor-producer Judd Nelson (“The Breakfast Club,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “New Jack City,” “Suddenly Susan”) 1962 – Comedian, director and former “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart History Highlights 1520 – Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan leads a fleet of three ships through treacherous waters below South America to become the first European explorer to reach the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. 1895 – Driving a gas-powered horseless carriage known as the Duryea Motor Wagon at an average speed of 5 miles per hour in the Chicago snow, J. Frank Duryea wins America’s first auto race. Frank and his brother, Charles, designed and manufactured the vehicle. 1942 – The deadliest nightclub fire in U.S. history strikes the Cocoanut Grove in Boston, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more. Investigators never determined what sparked the inferno. The disaster led to sweeping changes in fire codes 1964 – The U.S. scores one in the Space Race as NASA launches Mariner 4 on a successful fly-by mission to Mars. 1975 – “As The World Turns” and “The Edge of Night” become the last American soaps to switch from live broadcasts to videotape. 1994 – Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is beaten to death in a Wisconsin prison while serving 15 consecutive life terms for the rape, murder and dismemberment of 17 men and boys. Musical Milestones 1925 – The Grand Ole Opry, one of the longest-lived and most popular showcases for country music, begins broadcasting live from Nashville, Tennessee. At the time, it is known as the WSM Barn Dance. 1960 – Elvis Presley scores his 15th chart-topping single when “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” reaches No. 1 on the pop chart. It holds the top spot for six weeks. 1970 – Ex-Beatle George Harrison makes his solo Billboard chart debut with “My Sweet Lord,” a song he is later found guilty of having “subconsciously plagiarized” from Ronnie Mack’s “He’s So Fine,” which was a smash for The Chiffons. 1974 – John Lennon joins Elton John on stage at New York’s Madison Square Garden for what becomes Lennon’s last concert appearance. He performs three songs: “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” 1987 – The Bill Medley-Jennifer Warnes duet, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” from the movie “Dirty Dancing,” is No. 1 on the singles chart. 1998 – “Lately,” by one-hit-wonder Divine, tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a week. 2001 – Aretha Franklin sues the supermarket tabloid “Star” for $50 million dollars claiming that her reputation was damaged by a December 2000 article that alleged she had alcohol problems. 2007 – Kanye West and stuntman Evel Knievel settle a copyright dispute over West’s use of the name “Evel Kanyevel” in a music video. The 69-year-old daredevil claimed his image was harmed by the video’s “vulgar, sexual nature.” The clip for “Touch The Sky” shows the rap star attempting to cross a canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle. READ MORE