On This Day April 26 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1933 – Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe-winning comedian-actress Carol Burnett 1936 – Guitarist and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Duane Eddy 1958 – Actor Giancarlo Esposito (“Do The Right Thing,” “School Days,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Malcolm X,” “Breaking Bad”) 1963 – Martial artist-actor Jet Li (“The War Lords,” “Lethal Weapon 4,” “Romeo Must Die,” “Kiss of the Dragon,” “The Forbidden Kingdom”) 1965 – Actor-comedian Kevin James (“Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The King of Queens,” “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” “Grown Ups,” “Zookeeper,” “Pixels”) 1980 – Actor Channing Tatum (“Coach Carter,” “21 Jump Street,” “22 Jump Street,” “She’s the Man,” “The Dilemma,” “White House Down,” “Foxcatcher,” “The Hateful Eight,” “Hail, Caesar!”, “Smallfoot”) History Highlights 1865 – Presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth is killed by Union soldiers that track him to a Virginia farm 12 days after Booth fatally shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. 1954 – More than 1.8 million American children (“Polio Pioneers”) participate in the Salk polio vaccine field trials. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine in an effort to wipe out polio — an infectious disease occurring primarily in children that can result in paralysis. A year later, researchers declare that the vaccine is safe and effective, and it becomes a standard part of childhood immunizations across the U.S. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan visits China — the first such mission by a U.S. president since the historic Nixon trip in 1972. 1986 – An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine sets off fires that release deadly radioactive material into the air, becoming the world’s worst nuclear disaster. 1986 – Almost a decade after meeting at a celebrity tennis tournament, TV news reporter Maria Shriver weds movie actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger. The marriage lasts 25 years. 1989 – An American entertainment icon, comedian Lucille Ball (“I Love Lucy”) dies at the age of 78. 1994 – South Africa’s 18 million blacks vote in multi-party elections for the first time ever and anti-Apartheid crusader Nelson Mandela is elected president. Musical Milestones 1969 – The Edwin Hawkins Singers hit the singles chart with “Oh Happy Day,” which eventually soars to No. 4 and million-selling status. It becomes the first gospel track to cross over to the pop chart. 1975 – B.J. Thomas owns the hottest single in America with “(Hey Won’t You Play), Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.” 1980 – Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” begins its 15th and final week on top of the Billboard album chart. It becomes the best-selling album of 1980. 1986 – “Kiss,” by Prince and The Revolution, holds at No. 1 on the singles chart for a second week. The song clinches Prince a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. 1988 – A jury in White Plains, New York finds Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger not guilty of copyright infringement. Reggae singer Patrick Alley had sued Jagger for $7 million over the song “Just Another Night,” claiming the chorus’s lyrics were similar to his version. Jagger provided jurors with a rare glimpse into his work habits by playing homemade and studio tapes demonstrating the development of his song. 1997 – “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” by Puff Daddy featuring Mase, wraps up a six-week run as a Billboard chart-topper. 2008 – Leona Lewis kicks off a week at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with “Bleeding Love.” 2013 – George Jones, known as “the greatest voice in country music,” dies in Nashville at the age of 81. READ MORE
On This Day November 6 Click each item below to learn more! 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 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 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).” READ MORE