On This Day: April 25

On This Day April 25

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1874 – Nobel Prize-winning radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi (d. 1937)

1908 – Pioneering broadcast journalist and longtime CBS correspondent Edward R. Murrow (d. 1965)

1917 – Legendary Grammy-winning jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, affectionately known as “The First Lady of Song” (d. 1996)

1932 – Basketball Hall of Famer and former Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, born Meadow Lemon III (d. 2015)

1940 – Oscar, Tony and Emmy-winning actor Al Pacino (“The Godfather” movie series, “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” ” …And Justice for All,” “Scarface,” “Scent of a Woman,” “Carlito’s Way,” “The Devil’s Advocate,” “The Insider,” “Oceans Thrteen,” “Danny Collins,” “The Irishman,” “Hunters”)

1946 – Actress Talia Shire, best known for her roles as Connie Corleone in “The Godfather” films and Adrian Balboa in the “Rocky” series

1964 – Emmy-winning actor-producer-comedian Hank Azaria (“The Simpsons,” “The Birdcage,” “Mystery Men,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” “The Smurfs,” “Brockmire”)

1969 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Renée Zellweger (“Jerry McGuire,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Me Myself and Irene,” “Chicago,” “Cold Mountain,” “Cinderella Man”) 

History Highlights
History Highlights

1901 –  New York becomes the first state to require license plates on cars. Owners had to display their initials on the back of the vehicle and the letters had to be at least three inches tall. Since the state did not produce license plates, owners were forced to make their own, and they did so using metal, leather or wood — or they painted their initials directly onto the vehicle. In 1903, Massachusetts became the first state to produce license plates.

1945 – A milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe is achieved when U.S. and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting Nazi Germany in two. 

1980 – President Jimmy Carter informs the nation that eight U.S. servicemen were killed in the collision of two military aircraft to be used to rescue 52 Americans held hostage in Iran. Those hostages are finally freed the following January, on the day Ronald Reagan is inaugurated president.

1983 – Soviet leader Yuri Andropov personally invites American fifth-grader Samantha Smith of Maine to visit his country after reading her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war. She makes the trip that summer and becomes an honorary ambassador for peace at a time when U.S.-Soviet relations were strained during the Cold War. Sadly, Smith dies in a plane crash two years later.

1990 – The crew of Space Shuttle Discovery places the Hubble Space Telescope, a long-term space-based observatory, into a low orbit around Earth. Hubble — named after astronomer Edwin Hubble — continues to provide astronomers with an unparalleled view of the solar system, the galaxy and the universe. 

1995 – Oscar-winning entertainer Ginger Rogers, best known for her films with dance partner Fred Astaire, dies at the age of 83.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1956 – Rock and Roll King Elvis Presley signs a seven-year movie contract with Paramount Pictures.

1960 – Elvis Presley gets stuck on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks with “Stuck On You.” It’s his first hit single following his two-year stint in the U.S. Army.

1970 – The Jackson 5 give The Beatles’ “Let It Be” the boot and claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks with “ABC.”

1981 – Daryl Hall and John Oates begin their third and final week as chart-toppers with “Kiss On My List.”

1987 – U2 begin a nine-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart with “The Joshua Tree,” which packs chart-topping tracks including “With or Without You,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It goes on to capture Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

1990 – The Fender Stratocaster that rock guitar legend Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock festival is auctioned off for a record $330,000. His two-hour set at the 1969 rock festival included a rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

1992 – “Jump,” by hip hop duo Kris Kross, grabs the top spot on the singles chart and remains there for eight weeks.

1998 – Next has the No. 1 single with “Too Close.” The track remains on top of the pop chart for five weeks.

2007 – Leukemia claims the life of 69-year-old Bobby “Boris” Pickett, best known for his hit novelty song “Monster Mash,” which still gets radio airplay every Halloween.

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On This Day: October 20

On This Day October 20

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1882 – Actor Bela Lugosi, who played Count Dracula and starred in other early black and white horror films (d. 1956)

1927 – Psychologist-advice columnist Dr. Joyce Brothers (d. 2013)

1935 – Actor Jerry Orbach (“Dirty Dancing,” “Law & Order,” “Beauty and the Beast”) (d. 2004)

1950 – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer-songwriter Tom Petty of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers fame (“Breakdown,” “American Girl,” “Refugee,” “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “Here Comes My Girl,” “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” “Free Fallin”) (d. 2017)

1956 – Director and screenwriter Danny Boyle (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “Trainspotting,” “28 Days Later,” “Steve Jobs”)

1958 – Actor Viggo Mortensen (“Witness,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “28 Days,” “A History of Violence,” “Eastern Promises”)

1971 – Legendary rapper, producer and actor Snoop Dogg, born Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. (“What’s My Name?” “Gin & Juice”)

1979 – Actor-director John Krasinski (“The Office,” “Away We Go,” “Leatherheads,” “License to Wed,” “Big Miracle,” “Something Borrowed,” “It’s Complicated,” “Promised Land,” “Aloha,” “A Quiet Place”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1947 – In what comes to be known as the “Red Scare,” the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opens hearings in Washington designed to expose communists in Hollywood. Many screenwriters, actors and directors are arrested and blacklisted by studio executives. Some would never work in Hollywood again.

1968 – Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis five years after the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy.

1973 – As part of the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre,” President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to dismiss Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox.

1973 – Queen Elizabeth II travels to Australia to dedicate the Sydney Opera House.

1973 – “The Six Million Dollar Man” premieres on TV, starring Lee Majors as astronaut Steve Austin, who was “rebuilt” with bionic arms, legs and an eye after an accident that nearly killed him.

1994 – Oscar-winning Hollywood legend Burt Lancaster (“Elmer Gantry,” “Birdman of Alcatraz,” “Airport,” “Atlantic City,” “Field of Dreams”) dies at the age of 80.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1958 – “It’s All in the Game,” by Tommy Edwards, is in the No. 1 single and goes on to become a million-seller. Carl Sigman composed the lyrics in 1951 to a wordless 1911 composition titled “Melody in A Major,” written by Charles Dawes, who was Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. It is the only No. 1 single in the U.S. to have been co-written by an American VP or a Nobel Peace Prize laureate (Dawes was both).

1962 – Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Crypt-Kickers kick off two weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Monster Mash,” still considered a staple of Halloween party playlists today.

1977 – A twin-engine plane carrying southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd (“Sweet Home Alabama,” “Free Bird”) crashes in a Mississippi swamp, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backup singer Cassie Gaines, a tour manager and both pilots.

1979 – “In Through the Out Door,” Led Zeppelin’s eighth and final studio album, is in the middle of a seven-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.

1983 – Country singer-songwriter Merle Travis, considered one of the most influential American guitarists of the 20th century, dies of a heart attack at the age of 65.

1984 – Stevie Wonder sits on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Just Called to Say I Love You.”

1990 – “I Don’t Have the Heart,” by James Ingram, tops the Billboard Hot 100 for a week. The track garners him a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

2003 – Amy Winehouse releases her debut album, “Frank,” named after her idol, legendary crooner Frank Sinatra.

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