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On this Day July 13

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Celebrity Birthdays

1928 – Actor Bob Crane (Hogan in TV’s “Hogan’s Heroes”) (d. 1978)

1940 – Actor Patrick Stewart, best known for playing Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and Prof. Charles Xavier from the “X-Men” movies

1942 – Actor Harrison Ford  (“American Graffiti,” “Star Wars,” “Witness,” the “Indiana Jones” movie series, “Blade Runner,” “Working Girl,” “Presumed Innocent,” “The Fugitive,” “Air Force One,” “Six Days and Seven Nights”)

1944 – Rubik’s Cube inventor Erno Rubik

1946 – Comedian-actor Cheech Marin of the comedy duo Cheech & Chong 

1957 – Oscar-winning director Cameron Crowe (“Say Anything…,” “Jerry Maguire,” “Almost Famous”)

1962 – Actor Tom Kenny, best known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants

1969 – Actor-comedian Ken Jeong (“The Hangover” film trilogy, “Community,” “Dr. Ken”)

History Highlights

1923 – The iconic Hollywood sign is officially dedicated on Mount Lee, overlooking Los Angeles, as “Hollywoodland.” The last four letters are removed during a 1949 renovation. Meant to be a temporary advertisement for a new housing tract, it evolves into one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world.

1930 – The first World Cup soccer competition is held in Montevideo, Uruguay, with 13 teams participating. 

1960 – Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy  is nominated for the presidency at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, defeating Senator Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. The next day, Johnson is named Kennedy’s running mate by a unanimous vote of the convention.

1977 – On a sweltering summer’s evening, a massive power outage caused by a lightning strike at an electrical substation, plunges New York City into darkness for 25 hours. During the blackout, looters raid 1,600 stores, 50 vehicles are stolen from a Bronx car dealership, and more than a thousand fires are set across the five boroughs. Police arrest some 3,700 looters — the largest mass arrest in NYPD history.

1990 – The supernatural-romantic-thriller “Ghost,” starring Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze and Whoopi Goldberg, opens in theaters. Goldberg goes on to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, becoming only the second African-American actress to do so after Hattie McDaniel in 1939 for her performance in “Gone With The Wind.”

Musical Milestones

1959 – Paul Anka has the second No. 1 single of his career when “Lonely Boy,” from the movie “Girls Town,” hits the top of the pop chart.

1968 – “This Guy’s in Love with You,” by Herb Alpert, wraps up four weeks as a No. 1 single.

1974 – The hottest single is George McCrae’s “Rock Your Baby,” one of the earliest disco tracks to get airplay on Top 40 radio. 

1974 – Elton John is on top of the Billboard album chart with “Caribou,” the LP that spawns the hit “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” 

1985 – Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill,” from the James Bond movie of the same name, kicks off two weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart. Coincidentally, the band performs the song the same day at Live Aid in Philadelphia.

1985 – Live Aid features simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia to raise funds for African famine relief. Organized by activist/musician Bob Geldof, the global event draws one of the largest audiences in television history — nearly two billion viewers.

1989 – Milli Vanilli release “Blame It On The Rain,” which climbs to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 that November.

1991 – Paula Abdul begins her fifth and final week on top of the pop chart with “Rush Rush.”

2002 – Nelly commandeers the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hot in Herre.”

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