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On This Day September 18

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Celebrity Birthdays

1905 – Oscar-winning actress Greta Garbo, born Greta Lovisa Gustafson (d. 1990)

1933 – Emmy-winning actor Robert Blake (“Baretta,” “Money Train,” “Lost Highway”)

1939 – Actor Fred Willard (“This Is Spinal Tap,” “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind,” “For Your Consideration,” the “Anchorman” movie series)

1940 –  Actor, singer and former teen idol Frankie Avalon, best known for his hit single “Venus” and the “Beach Party movie series

1961 – Emmy-winning actor James Gandolfini, best known for playing mobster Tony Soprano in the HBO series “The Sopranos” (d. 2013)

1971 – Actress-producer Jada Pinkett Smith (“True Colors,” “A Different World,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Menace II Society,” “Set It Off, “Scream 2,” “Ali,” “The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions,” “Madagascar”) 

1971 – Former professional cyclist Lance Armstrong

1973 – Actor James Marsden (“X-Men,” “Superman Returns,” “Hairspray,” “Enchanted,” “Hop,” “27 Dresses,” “The Notebook”)

1975 – Actor-comedian Jason Sudeikis (“Saturday Night Live,” “Hall Pass,” “Horrible Bosses,” “Epic,” “We’re the Millers”) 

History Highlights

1793 – President George Washington lays the cornerstone to the United States Capitol in the building’s southeast corner during a Masonic ceremony that concludes with a 15-gun salute. Washington would return periodically to oversee construction, but did not live to see Congress occupy the new building. He died in December 1799, less than a year before the Senate and House would first convene in the Capitol.

1851 – The first edition of The New York Times is published as the New-York Daily Times and costs readers two cents. 

1964 – After a four-season run in primetime, Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock park their Chevy Corvette for the last time as CBS broadcasts the “Route 66” series finale.

1965 – Television viewers meet secret agents Maxwell Smart and 99 as NBC debuts “Get Smart.” The spy sitcom, starring Don Adams and Barbara Feldon and created by comedic genius Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, runs for five seasons and introduces viewers to the first true mobile phone—embedded in the bottom of Smart’s shoe.

1975 – FBI agents in San Francisco capture newspaper heiress and fugitive Patty Hearst and charge her with armed robbery. Hearst is the granddaughter of media mogul William Randolph Hearst.

Musical Milestones

1961 – Bobby Vee starts a two-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Take Good Care of My Baby.”

1970 – Jimi Hendrix, considered one of rock music’s greatest guitarists of all time, dies of an apparent drug overdose in London at the age of 27. Hendrix dazzled audiences in the 1960s with groundbreaking guitar-playing techniques and experimental sounds.

1976 – “Play That Funky Music,” by Ohio-based funk-rock band Wild Cherry, kicks off three weeks as a No. 1 single. The track sells more than 2.5 million copies in the U.S. and becomes the band’s only Top 40 song.

1983 – Members of Kiss appear without makeup for the first time during an interview on MTV. 

1987 – The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Brian Wilson are nominated to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

1993 – Mariah Carey dominates the Billboard Hot 100 with “Dreamlover,” which holds at No. 1 for eight weeks. It becomes her seventh career chart-topper.

1999 – TLC kicks off three weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart with “Unpretty.”

2004 – “Goodies,” by Ciara featuring Petey Pablo, is in the middle of a seven-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart.

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