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On this Day August 9

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Celebrity Birthdays

1927 – Actor Robert Shaw (“A Man For All Seasons,” “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three,” “Jaws,” “Black Sunday”) (d. 1978)

1944 – Actor Sam Elliott (“Gunsmoke,” “Mask,” “Road House,” “Tombstone,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Ghost Rider,” “The Golden Compass,” “Grandma,” “The Ranch”)

1957 – Golden Globe-winning actress Melanie Griffith (“Something Wild, “Working Girl,” “Shining Through,” “Crazy in Alabama”)

1963 – Six-time Grammy-winning pop sensation Whitney Houston (d. 2012)

1968 – Actor Eric Bana (“Black Hawk Down,” “Hulk,” “Munich,” “Star Trek”)

1968 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Gillian Anderson, best known for playing Special Agent Dana Scully in the hit sci-fi series “The X-Files.”

1985 – Actress Anna Kendrick (“Up in the Air,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” “The Twilight Saga,” “Pitch Perfect,” “Pitch Perfect 2,” “Into the Woods”)

History Highlights

1936 – African American track star Jesse Owens captures his fourth Gold medal at the Berlin Olympic Games in the 4×100-meter relay. His relay team set a new world record of 39.8 seconds. In their strong showing in track and field, Owens and other African American athletes struck a publicity blow to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who planned to use the international event to showcase supposed Aryan superiority.

1945 – Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the U.S. drops a second atomic bomb on Japan. This time the target is Nagasaki. The attack leads to Japan’s unconditional surrender and brings hostilities in World War II to a close. The combined attacks leave some 200,000 people dead and level both cities.

1969 – In one of the most horrifying crimes of the 1960s, members of Charles Manson’s cult, the Manson Family, murder five people in the Beverly Hills home of director Roman Polanski. Polanski’s pregnant wife, 26-year-old actress Sharon Tate, is among the victims.

1974 – Gerald Ford becomes the 38th U.S. president, taking the oath of office on the heels of the Richard Nixon resignation. 

1975 – The Louisiana Superdome opens and an exhibition game there sees the Houston Oilers trounce the hometown New Orleans Saints by a score of 31-7.

2010 – JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater quits his job in dramatic fashion after his flight lands at New York’s JFK International Airport. He gets on the public address system, swears at a passenger whom he claimed treated him rudely, grabs a beer and slides down the plane’s emergency chute onto the tarmac.

Musical Milestones

1959 – “Stagger Lee,” by Lloyd Price, begins a four-week hold on the top spot on the singles chart.

1969 – Blood, Sweat, & Tears’ Grammy-winning self-titled album tops the Billboard 200. The album delivers the Top 5 hits “And When I Die,” “Spinning Wheel” and “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy.”

1975 – The Bee Gees dominate the Billboard Hot 100 with their second No. 1 hit in the U.S.: “Jive Talkin’.” The single holds the top spot for two weeks.

1980 – Olivia Newton-John is in the midst of a four-week reign over the pop chart with “Magic.” 

1995 – Deadheads everywhere mourn as a heart attack claims the life of Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia at the age of 53. Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time ranks Garcia at No. 13.

1997 – “I’ll Be Missing You,” by Puff Daddy featuring Faith Evans and 112, continues its domination over the Billboard Hot 100. 

2003 – “Crazy in Love,” by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, is the No. 1 single. The track holds the top spot for eight weeks.

2008 – Katy Perry is in the middle of a seven-week domination of the pop chart with “I Kissed a Girl.”

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