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On This Day October 20

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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

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

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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