On This Day: November 20

On This Day November 20

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1908 – British journalist and “Masterpiece Theatre” host Alistair Cooke (d. 2004)

1925 – U.S. Attorney General and Senator Robert F. Kennedy (d. 1968)

1932 – Actor-game show host Richard Dawson (d. 2012)

1939 – Dick Smothers of the musical comedy duo The Smothers Brothers

1942 – Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States and former U.S. Senator from Delaware

1943 – Model-turned-actress Veronica Hamel, most remembered for her role as public defender Joyce Davenport in the NBC police series “Hill Street Blues”

1947 – Guitarist, singer and former Eagles band member Joe Walsh, born Joseph Fidler (“Life’s Been Good,” “All Night Long”)

1956 – Actress Bo Derek, born Mary Cathleen Collins (“Tarzan, the Ape Man,” “10,” “Tommy Boy”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1923 – The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants Garrett Augustus Morgan a patent for his mechanical traffic signal that adds a warning setting (which eventually becomes the yellow light) to the existing stop and go. The African-American inventor, who also created a fireproof hood (gas mask) for firefighters, sells the rights to the traffic signal to General Electric for just $40,000.

1945 – Two dozen high-ranking Nazis go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II. Judges from the Allied powers — Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the U.S. — preside over the hearings.

1962 – President John F. Kennedy signs an executive order banning discrimination in government-sponsored housing. With the civil rights movement gaining momentum, the order bans federally funded housing agencies from denying mortgages to anyone based on race, color, creed or national origin.

1983 – A fictional account of a nuclear attack on the U.S. draws an audience of 100 million American TV viewers as “The Day After,” starring Jason Robards and JoBeth Williams, airs on ABC.

2003 – Legendary music producer Phil Spector faces indictment in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. Spector pleads not guilty to the charges. Six years and two trials later, he’s convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 19 years to life in prison

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1961 – “Big Bad John,” by country music star-turned-sausage magnate Jimmy Dean, is mid-way through its five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart.

1965 – The Supremes have their sixth chart-topping single with the Motown production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland’s, “I Hear A Symphony.” 

1971 – Isaac Hayes lays claim to the nation’s hottest single with “Theme from Shaft.” The track goes on to capture an Academy Award for Best Original Song, with Hayes becoming the first African American to receive that honor.

1976 – Rod Stewart is on an eight-week ride atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright),” from his “A Night on the Town” album.

1982 – “Up Where We Belong,” the Grammy-winning Joe Cocker-Jennifer Warnes duet from the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman,” begins its third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

1993 – “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” by Meat Loaf, is in the middle of a five-week run at No. 1 on the pop chart.

2004 – The Usher-Alicia Keys duet, “My Boo,” maintains its hold on the top spot on the singles chart.

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On This Day: November 6

On This Day November 6

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1854 – Composer John Philip Sousa (“The Stars and Stripes Forever”) (d. 1932)

1914 – Actor Jonathan Harris, born Jonathan Charasuchin, who played Dr. Zachary Smith in the 1960s sci-fi TV series “Lost in Space” (d. 2002)

1931 – Emmy, Oscar, Tony and Grammy-winning director Mike Nichols (“Barefoot in the Park,” “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” “The Graduate,” ” Silkwood,” “Working Girl,” “Postcards from the Edge,” “The Birdcage,” “Primary Colors,” “Angels in America,” “Closer,” “Charlie Wilson’s War”) (d. 2014)

1946 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Sally Field (“Gidget,” “The Flying Nun,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “Sybil,” “Norma Rae,” “Places in the Heart,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Forrest Gump,” “Lincoln,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “My Name Is Doris,” “80 for Brady” )

1948 – Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey (d. 2016)

1955 – Journalist, author and former First Lady of California, Maria Shriver

1970 – Actor Ethan Hawke (“Dead Poets Society,” “Reality Bites,” “Before Sunrise,” “Gattaca,” “Training Day,” “Before Sunset,” “The Black Phone,” “The Northman”)

1988 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actress Emma Stone (“Superbad,” “The Help,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” “Birdman,” “La La Land,” “Cruella,” “Poor Things”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1860 – Former Illinois congressman Abraham Lincoln is elected 16th U.S. president, handily defeating three other candidates to become the first Republican to win the presidency.

1962 – The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution condemning South Africa’s racist apartheid policies and calling on all its members to end economic and military relations with the country.

1977 – Thirty-nine people die when the Kelly Barnes Dam bursts, sending a wall of water through Toccoa Falls College in Georgia.

1987 – “Less Than Zero” opens in theaters. It’s a movie about a group of wealthy, young friends in 1980s L.A., starring Robert Downey, Jr., Andrew McCarthy, James Spader and Jami Gertz.

1990 – Nearly a fifth of the Universal Studios back lot in southern California is destroyed in a massive fire that was deliberately set. The blaze also consumes vintage cars from the 1920s and 30s, causing an estimated $50 million in damage.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1961 – Jimmy Dean kicks off a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart with “Big Bad John.”

1965 – The Rolling Stones are on Cloud 9 when “Get Off Of My Cloud” hits the top spot on the singles chart and floats there for two weeks.

1971 – The soundtrack to the movie “Shaft,” by Isaac Hayes, tops the U.S. album chart.

1971 – “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves” marks the first of two weeks as a No. 1 hit for Cher. It’s her first chart-topper as a solo act.

1976 –  The Steve Miller Band scores its second Billboard chart-topper with “Rock ‘n’ Me,” off the “Fly Like an Eagle” album.

1982 – Movie music propels Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes to the top of the Billboard singles survey as “Up Where We Belong,” from the motion picture “An Officer And A Gentleman,” begins three weeks at No. 1.

1993 – Meat Loaf starts a five-week run at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “I’d’ Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).”

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