On This Day March 21 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1685 – Classical composer Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1750) 1944 – Actor Timothy Dalton, who played James Bond in two films 1949 – Singer-songwriter Eddie Money, born Edward Mahoney (“Baby Hold On,” “Two Tickets to Paradise”, “Take Me Home Tonight”) (d. 2019) 1958 – Actor Gary Oldman (“Sid and Nancy,” “JFK,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “The Fifth Element,” “Air Force One,” played Sirius Black in the “Harry Potter” series, “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight” trilogy, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” “The Book of Eli,” “Darkest Hour”) 1962 – Emmy-winning comedian-TV host-actress Rosie O’Donnell (“The Rosie O’Donnell Show,” “The View,” “A League of Their Own,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Now and Then”) 1962 – Tony-winning actor Matthew Broderick (“War Games,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Biloxi Blues,” “Glory,” “The Freshman,” “Inspector Gadget,” “The Producers,” “Tower Heist,” “Rules Don’t Apply”) History Highlights 1947 – With fears about communism swirling across the U.S., President Harry Truman signs Executive Order 9835. It creates a Loyalty Program to investigate federal employees to determine if they demonstrated “complete and unswerving loyalty” to the United States. 1965 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads some 3,200 civil rights activists on a five-day march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and FBI agents supervise the procession, which Alabama state police had previously blocked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. 1980 – President Jimmy Carter announces a U.S. boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. 1980 – In the Season 3 finale of CBS’ hit prime time drama “Dallas,” an unseen assailant shoots bad-boy J.R. Ewing (played by Larry Hagman), who falls to the floor of his office before the scene fades to black. The episode, entitled “A House Divided,” becomes one of the most talked about season finales of all time, sparking the “Who Shot J.R.” craze. Some 160 million fans wait eight months to learn the identity of the shooter in Season 4. 1994 – Eleven-year-old Anna Paquin is stunned when actor Gene Hackman announces that she has won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “The Piano.” Paquin becomes the second youngest Oscar winner of all time. 1999 – Aviators Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones complete the first non-stop around-the-world flight in a hot air balloon, making aviation history. Musical Milestones 1953 – “(How Much is) That Doggie in the Window” launches Patti Page on an eight-week ride at No. 1 on the singles chart. 1964 – The Beatles rule the Billboard Hot 100 with “She Loves You” — the second of three consecutive hits that keep the Fab Four on top of the singles chart through early May of that year. 1970 – Simon & Garfunkel remain suspended at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The track holds there for a total of six weeks. 1981 – REO Speedwagon clinches the top spot on the singles chart with “Keep On Loving You,” the group’s first Top 40 hit and No. 1. 1992 – Vanessa Williams kicks off five weeks on top of the Billboard pop chart with “Save the Best for Last.” 1994 – Bruce Springsteen performs “Streets of Philadelphia” during the 66th Academy Awards, and a short time later, is handed a Best Original Song Oscar for it. It’s from the movie “Philadelphia,” for which Tom Hanks won Best Actor. The track goes on to capture four Grammys. 1998 – Will Smith maintains his hold on the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week with “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.” READ MORE
On This Day January 30 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), 32nd U.S. president (d. 1945) 1930 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor Gene Hackman (“The French Connection,” “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Superman,” “Reds,” “Unforgiven,” “The Firm,” “Crimson Tide,” “Get Shorty,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”) 1937 – Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave (“Murder on the Orient Express,” “Julia,” “The Bostonians,” “Mrs. Dalloway,” “Howard’s End,” “Girl, Interrupted”) 1941 – Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who previously served as Defense Secretary under President George H. W. Bush 1951 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Phil Collins, formerly of the rock band Genesis (“In the Air Tonight,” “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” “One More Night,” “Sussudio,” “Two Hearts,” “Another Day in Paradise”) 1974 – Oscar-winning actor Christian Bale (“Empire of the Sun,” “American Psycho,” “The Machinist,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Fighter,” “American Hustle,” “The Big Short,” “Vice”) History Highlights 1933 – Adolf Hitler is appointed and sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. 1933 – “The Lone Ranger” debuts on Detroit radio station WXYZ, introducing listeners to the legendary “masked rider of the plains.” The show remains on Detroit radio until the mid 1940s. The three main actors who played the Lone Ranger were George Seaton (in 1933), Earle Graser (1933-1941), and Brace Beemer (1941-1954). 1948 – Mohandas Gandhi (also known as Mahatma Gandhi), the political and spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement and a global advocate for non-violent civil disobedience, is assassinated in New Delhi by a Hindu fanatic. 1956 – Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed by an unidentified white supremacist in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. No one is injured, and shortly after the attack, King preaches non-violence to a crowd that had gathered near the site of the blast. 1972 – In Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators are shot and killed by British Army paratroopers in an event that becomes known as “Bloody Sunday.” The protesters, all Northern Catholics, were marching in opposition to the British policy of internment of suspected Irish nationalists. 1994 – American speed skater Dan Jansen sets a new world record of 35.76 at the World Sprint Championships in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Musical Milestones 1961 – “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” by The Shirelles, begins two weeks on top of the pop chart. Co-written by legendary singer-songwriter Carole King, the recording is the first by an African American girl group to reach No. 1. 1969 – The Beatles entertain for the last time in public when they play a free rooftop concert above the London headquarters of Apple Records. Throngs of passersby gather below to take in the music. 1973 – Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss make their first appearance as KISS at the Popcorn Pub in Queens, New York (later known as Coventry). About 10 guests attend and, according to Simmons, the band earned $50 for playing two sets. 1982 – “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do),” by Daryl Hall & John Oates, becomes the duo’s fourth single to top the Billboard Hot 100. 1988 – The Australian rock band INXS rules the singles chart for a week with “Need You Tonight.” The track, from the “Kick” album, is the group’s only No. 1 in the U.S. 1999 – Britney Spears kicks off two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “…Baby One More Time,” her debut single. 2010 – Ke$ha is in the midst of a nine-week reign over the pop chart with “Tik Tok.” READ MORE
On this Day June 30 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1917 – Grammy-winning jazz and pop music singer, dancer and actress Lena Horne (d. 2010) 1956 – Actor-comedian David Alan Grier (“In Living Color”) 1959 – Actor Vincent D’Onofrio (“Full Metal Jacket,” “Men In Black,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Judge,” “Run All Night,” “Jurassic World”) 1966 – Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson 1982 – Actress Lizzy Caplan (“Mean Girls,” “True Blood,” “Cloverfield”) 1985 – U.S. Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps History Highlights 1859 – Frenchman Jean Francois Gravelet, a.k.a. The Great Blondin, or Charles Blondin, becomes the first daredevil to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Thousands of spectators line the American and Canadian sides of the falls to observe the feat, which he performs along an 1,100-foot-long tightrope suspended 160 feet above the raging waters of Niagara Gorge. 1934 – In what comes to be known as the Night of the Long Knives, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler orders a bloody purge of his own political party, assassinating hundreds of Nazis whom he believed had the potential to become political enemies in the future. 1936 – Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Gone with the Wind,” one of the best-selling novels of all time and the basis for the blockbuster 1939 movie, is published. 1971 – “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory,” a movie musical-fantasy starring Gene Wilder, opens in theaters. It’s an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” 1971 – Three Soviet cosmonauts who made up the crew of the world’s first space station are killed when their spacecraft, Soyuz 11, depressurizes during reentry to Earth’s atmosphere. 1974 – The July 4th scene from the movie “Jaws” is filmed on Martha’s Vineyard, with 400 screaming, panic-stricken extras in bathing suits running from the water multiple times until director Steven Spielberg gets the right take. 1989 – Writer-director Spike Lee’s celebrated third feature film, “Do the Right Thing” — about racial tensions boiling over in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood on the hottest day of the year — opens in U.S. theaters. The movie receives Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Danny Aiello. 1993 – The legal thriller “The Firm,” directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Gene Hackman, opens in theaters. It’s based on the 1991 novel of the same name by John Grisham. 1995 – Director Ron Howard’s high-intensity drama “Apollo 13,” about NASA’s desperate efforts to bring the crew of Apollo 13 safely home after an explosion that denies them a moon landing, opens in U.S. theaters. Starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris and Gary Sinise, the movie receives nine Oscar nominations and wins for Best Film Editing and Best Sound. Musical Milestones 1962 – Ray Charles enjoys his fifth and final week dominating the pop chart with “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” 1973 – George Harrison has the hottest single on the radio for a week with “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth),” from his “Living in the Material World” album.” The track is the ex-Beatles’ second solo No. 1. 1975 – Less than a week after her divorce from Sonny Bono is finalized, Cher ties the knot with rock musician Gregg Allman only to divorce him 10 days later. 1984 – “The Reflex,” by Duran Duran, begins its second and final week as a No. 1 single. 1990 – New Kids On the Block step to the top of the singles chart for three weeks with “Step By Step.” The song is an international smash, selling over 10 million copies worldwide, and becomes one of the biggest selling singles of 1990. 2001 – “Lady Marmalade,” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink, enters its fifth and final week as a chart-topper. The cover is from the “Moulin Rouge!” soundtrack. 2007 – Rihanna and Jay-Z rule the Billboard Hot 100 with “Umbrella.” READ MORE