On This Day November 29 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1927 – Retired Hall of Fame sportscaster Vin Scully, play-by-play announcer for the Brooklyn and later the Los Angeles Dodgers for 67 seasons 1935 – Golden Globe-winning actress Diane Ladd, born Rose Diane Lanier (“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” “Alice,” “Wild at Heart,” “Rambling Rose”) 1940 – Jazz trumpeter Chuck Mangione, best known for his 1978 smash “Feels So Good” 1949 – Comedian-actor Garry Shandling (“It’s Garry Shandling’s Show,” “The Larry Sanders Show”) (d. 2016) 1954 – Oscar-winning director Joel Coen of the Coen Brothers (“Blood Simple,” “Raising Arizona,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “Fargo,” “The Big Lebowski,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” “No Country for Old Men,” “A Serious Man,” “True Grit”) 1955 – Comedian-actor and TV host-judge Howie Mandel (“St. Elsewhere,” “Deal or No Deal,” “Bobby’s World,” “America’s Got Talent”) 1960 – Actress Cathy Moriarty (“Raging Bull,” “Soapdish,” “The Mambo Kings,” “Casper,” “Analyze That,” “The Bounty Hunter”) 1961 – Emmy-winning actress Kim Delaney (“NYPD Blue,” “All My Children,” “Philly,” “CSI: Miami”) 1962 – Actor-director Andrew McCarthy (“St. Elmo’s Fire,” “Mannequin,” “Weekend at Bernie’s,” “Pretty in Pink,” “Less Than Zero,” “Orange is the New Black”) 1964 – Golden Globe-winning actor Don Cheadle (“Boogie Nights,” “Hotel Rwanda,” “Crash,” “House of Lies,” “Iron Man 2,” “Iron Man 3,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” “Captain America: Civil War”) History Highlights 1929 – American explorer Richard Byrd and three companions make the first flight over the South Pole. 1947 – Despite strong Arab opposition, the United Nations votes for the partition of Palestine and the creation of an independent Jewish state. 1962 – Britain and France announce a joint agreement to design and build Concorde, the world’s first supersonic airliner. 1963 – One week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the fatal shooting. Led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Commission later concludes that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. 1981 – Actress Natalie Wood, who starred in such movies as “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Splendor in the Grass” and “West Side Story,“ drowns in a boating accident near California’s Catalina Island at the age of 43. Although the Hollywood star’s death was officially labeled accidental, suspicion continues to swirl around the case. 1986 – Two-time Oscar nominee Cary Grant (“The Philadelphia Story,” “The Awful Truth,” “His Girl Friday,” “Notorious,” “North By Northwest”) dies of a stroke at the age of 82. Musical Milestones 1969 – “Come Together/Something,” by The Beatles, claims the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a week. It is the band’s 18th chart-topper. 1975 – Silver Convention soars to the top of the singles chart with “Fly, Robin, Fly.” The disco smash nests there for three weeks. 1986 – Bon Jovi has its first No. 1 single with “You Give Love a Bad Name,” off the “Slippery When Wet” album. The track remains on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for a week. 1997 – Barbra Streisand’s “Higher Ground,” her first album in four years, tops the Billboard album chart. It contains the Grammy-nominated duet, “Tell Him,” with Celine Dion. 2001 – Beatles guitarist, singer and songwriter George Harrison loses his battle with cancer at the age of 58. 2003 – “Baby Boy,” by Beyoncé featuring Sean Paul, wraps up a nine-week run as a Billboard chart-topper. READ MORE
On This Day October 26 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1942 – Actor Bob Hoskins, best known for his role as Detective Eddie Valiant in the movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” (d. 2014) 1945 – Actress Jaclyn Smith, best known for her role in the popular TV detective series “Charlie’s Angels” 1946 – TV host Pat Sajak (“Wheel of Fortune”) 1947 – Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 1962 – Actor Cary Elwes (“The Princess Bride,” “Glory,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” “Days of Thunder,” “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “Hot Shots!” “Twister,” “Liar, Liar”) 1963 – Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, former lead singer of the popular folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs 1967 – Grammy and Golden Globe-winning country music singer Keith Urban (“But for the Grace of God,” “Somebody Like You,” “You’ll Think of Me,” “Stupid Boy,” “For You”) 1973 – Actor-producer and “Family Guy” and “American Dad” creator Seth MacFarlane History Highlights 1881 – The Earp brothers face off against the Clanton-McLaury gang in a legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. The gunfight only lasts 30 seconds, but when the dust clears, Billy Clanton and the McLaury brothers are dead, and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday are wounded. 1958 – The Jet Age begins as the first Boeing 707 commercial airliner, operated by Pan Am, takes off from New York’s Idlewild Airport (now JFK) and crosses the Atlantic to Paris-Le Bourget Airport on an 8.5-hour flight. 1970 – The “Doonesbury” comic strip, created by Garry Trudeau, premieres in 28 newspapers across the U.S. 1982 – “St. Elsewhere,” a drama set at the fictional St. Eligius Hospital in Boston, captivates viewers when it premieres on NBC. Then-unknown actors Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel co-star. 1984 – Surgeons place a baboon heart into the chest of Baby Fae (Stephanie Fae Beauclair), an infant with a heart defect that normally kills newborns within their first 10 days of life. The transplant keeps Baby Fae alive for 21 days. 1984 – Director James Cameron’s career-launching sci-fi action film, “The Terminator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, opens in theaters. The movie is produced on a $6.4 million budget and grosses more than $78 million worldwide. It supercharges Schwarzenegger’s acting career, and “I’ll be back” becomes a popular catch-phrase. 2001 – President George W. Bush signs the Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law drawn up in response to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Musical Milestones 1958 – Bill Haley and his Comets play the first rock and roll concert in West Berlin, Germany, where riots erupt among the 7,000 fans in attendance. The band had to flee the stage as equipment was damaged and four police officers were injured. 1965 – Queen Elizabeth II presents The Beatles with prestigious MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) medals at Buckingham Palace. 1968 – The Beatles are in the midst of a nine-week ride atop the Billboard singles chart with “Hey Jude.” 1974 – The No. 1 single is a collaboration between Dionne Warwick and The Spinners: “Then Came You.” 1985 – Whitney Houston has her first No. 1 single with “Saving All My Love For You,” which goes on to earn the late pop sensation her first Grammy Award. 1991 – Mariah Carey begins her third and final week atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Emotions.” 1999 – Singer, songwriter and actor Hoyt Axton, who penned songs for Elvis Presley, Three Dog Night, John Denver, Ringo Starr and Glen Campbell, dies of a heart attack in Victor, Montana at the age of 61. READ MORE