On This Day: October 19

On This Day October 19

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1931 – Spy novelist John le Carré, best known for his 1963 international best-seller, “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” (d. 2020)

1932 – Actor Robert Reed, most remembered for playing family man Mike Brady in “The Brady Bunch” TV series (d. 1992)

1937 – Contemporary artist and pop art icon Peter Max

1940 – Actor Sir Michael Gambon, who played Albus Dumbledore in six “Harry Potter” movies

1945 – Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe-winning actor John Lithgow (“The World According to Garp,” “Terms of Endearment,” “Footloose,” “Shrek,” “3rd Rock from the Sun,” “Dexter”)

1962 – Heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield

1964 – Reality TV host Ty Pennington (“Trading Spaces,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”)

1966 – Actor-director Jon Favreau (“Rudy,” “Swingers,” “The Break-Up,” “Elf,” “Cowboys & Aliens” and the “Iron Man” movie series)

1970 – Comedian and “Saturday Night Live” alum Chris Kattan

History Highlights
History Highlights

1781 – Hopelessly trapped at Yorktown, Virginia, British General Lord Cornwallis surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a larger Franco-American force, effectively bringing an end to the American Revolution. The event is known as the Siege of Yorktown or the Battle of Yorktown.

1960 – The Cold War heats up as the U.S. imposes an embargo on exports to Cuba. The original embargo covers all exports except medicine and some food products. President John F. Kennedy expands the embargo to cover U.S. imports from Cuba, which is made permanent in early 1962.

1970 – In New York City, One World Trade Center welcomes its first tenants, even as construction of the upper floors of the world’s tallest building continues.

1977 – An aviation icon, the supersonic Concorde SST, makes its first landing at New York’s JFK International Airport. The aircraft provides high-speed trans-Atlantic service until a 2003 Air France crash during takeoff from Paris that kills everyone on board.

1982 – Auto executive John DeLorean is arrested for drug trafficking and money laundering after FBI agents nab him with a briefcase containing $24 million worth of cocaine.

1987 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffers the largest-ever one-day percentage decline, dropping 508 points (22.6 percent), in what comes to be known as “Black Monday.” It is a bigger collapse than what rocked Wall Street in 1929, right before the Great Depression.

1991 – What begins as a small fire on private property in the hills of Oakland, California grows into an inferno that consumes 2.5 square miles of mostly residential neighborhoods. The Oakland Hills Firestorm kills 25 people and injures 150 others, and destroys nearly 3,500 homes and apartments.

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1967 – Tamla/Motown Records releases “I Second That Emotion,” by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, which peaks at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 that December. However, the track does make it to No. 1 on the R&B singles chart.

1974 – Billy Preston is on top of the singles chart with “Nothing From Nothing.”

1985 – The Norwegian band a-ha claims the top spot on the singles chart with “Take on Me. The accompanying music video features the band in a pencil-sketch animation combined with live action, which won six awards and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.

1991 – “Emotions,” by Mariah Carey, is in the middle of a three-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart.

1998 – “One Week,” by Barenaked Ladies, is No. 1 for a week. The track remains the Canadian band’s best-performing single to this day.

2002 – “Dilemma,” by Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland, begins three weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.

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On this Day: August 16

On this Day August 16

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Celebrity Birthdays
Celebrity Birthdays

1928 – Grammy and Emmy-winning singer Eydie Gormé, who often performed with her husband, Steve Lawrence (d. 2013)

1930 – NFL Hall of Famer and sportscaster Frank Gifford (d. 2015)

1933 – Tony-winning actress Julie Newmar, born Julie Newmeyer, best known for playing Catwoman in the 1960s “Batman” TV series

1953 – TV talk show host Kathie Lee Gifford (“The Morning Show,” “Today” show)

1954 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning director James Cameron (“The Terminator,” “Aliens,” “The Abyss,” “True Lies,” “Titanic,” “Avatar”)

1958 – Golden Globe-winning actress Angela Bassett (“What’s Love Got to Do With It,” “Waiting to Exhale,” “The Rosa Parks Story,” “The Jacksons: An American Dream,” “Malcolm X,” “American Horror Story”)

1958 – Pop superstar Madonna, born Madonna Ciccone

1960 – Oscar-winning actor Timothy Hutton (“Ordinary People,” “Taps,” “The Falcon and the Snowman,” “The Dark Half”)

1962 – Golden Globe-winning actor-comedian Steve Carell (“The Office,” “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Bruce Almighty,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Anchorman,” “Despicable Me,” “Foxcatcher,” “The Big Short”)

History Highlights
History Highlights

1812 – During the War of 1812, U.S. General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit and his army to the British without a fight. Hull, a 59-year-old veteran of the American Revolution, had lost hope of defending the settlement after seeing the large English and Indian force gathering outside Detroit’s walls.

1920 – Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is struck in the temple by a ball pitched by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. Chapman dies 12 hours later, becoming the first and only Major League Baseball player to die as the result of a pitched ball.

1948 – Cancer claims the life of baseball legend George Herman “Babe” Ruth. For two days following, his body lays in state at the main entrance to Yankee Stadium, and tens of thousands of people stand in line to pay their last respects. 

1984 – John DeLorean, the celebrity millionaire caught on videotape discussing cocaine deals with government agents posing as drug dealers, is acquitted of all charges by a federal jury in a tumultuous and emotional climax to a five-month, $1 million trial.

1985 – The final episode of “The Dukes of Hazzard” airs on CBS. 

1987 – A four-year-old girl is the lone survivor of the crash of a Northwest Airlines flight after takeoff from Detroit. 148 passengers and six crew members are killed in the accident which investigators blame on pilot error. 

Musical Milestones
Musical Milestones

1962 – Twelve-year-old ‘Little’ Stevie Wonder releases his first single, “I Call It Pretty Music, (But The Old People Call It The Blues),” which features Marvin Gaye on drums.

1969 – The world is introduced to the Jackson 5 by Diana Ross & The Supremes during a performance at the Los Angeles Forum.

1975 – Peter Gabriel announces that he’s leaving Genesis. After auditioning more than 400 singers over the next 18 months, the band selects its longtime drummer, Phil Collins, as new frontman.

1977 – Music legend Elvis Presley dies of a heart attack at the age of 42. The King’s career included 33 movies and 105 Top 40 hits that continue to entertain fans decades after his death. 

1980 – “Magic,” by Olivia Newton-John, is in the middle of a one-month reign of the Billboard Hot 100.

1985 – On her 27th birthday, Madonna weds actor Sean Penn in a Malibu ceremony described as a “media circus.” The marriage lasts four years. 

1986 – “Papa Don’t Preach” becomes Madonna’s fourth No. 1 single. It holds the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. The track is from her “True Blue” album, which begins its own five-week run atop the album chart this same day.

1997 – “I’ll Be Missing You, by Puff Daddy and Faith Evans featuring 112, tops the Billboard Hot 100. The song samples  The Police’s 1983 hit song “Every Breath You Take.”

2018 – ‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin dies of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. The self-taught piano prodigy, vocalist and songwriter notched 77 Hot 100 chart entries and earned 18 Grammys during her career. In 1987, Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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