On This Day April 2 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1914 – Actor Sir Alec Guinness (“Kind Hearts and Coronets,” “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”) (d. 2000) 1939 – Motown titan Marvin Gaye, whose hits include “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “What’s Going On”) (d. 1984) 1941 – Singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Leon Russell (“A Song for You,” “Tight Rope,” “Lady Blue”) (d. 2016) 1945 – Oscar-winning actress Linda Hunt (“The Year of Living Dangerously,” “Kindergarten Cop,” “The Practice,” “NCIS: Los Angeles”) 1947 – Grammy-winning country singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris (“Two More Bottles of Wine,” “You Never Can Tell (C’est La Vie),” “Beneath Still Waters”) 1961 – Actor Christopher Meloni (“Oz,” “Runaway Bride,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “True Blood”) History Highlights 1792 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act, establishing the U.S. Mint and regulating money. 1917 – The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, takes her seat as a representative from Montana. A year later, she earns a second distinction by joining 49 of her House colleagues in voting against U.S. entry into World War I. Rankin remained true to her antiwar beliefs, becoming the only member of Congress to oppose declaring war against Japan following the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. 1956 – One of the longest running soaps debuts on CBS: “As The World Turns.” Former cast members include Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, and Marisa Tomei. 1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the U.S. for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s. 1978 – “Dallas” premieres in primetime on CBS, starring Larry Hagman as the devious and despised oil tycoon J.R. Ewing. Launched as a five-episode miniseries, the ratings juggernaut delivers audiences 356 episodes over 14 seasons, turning its actors into international stars and J.R. and Southfork Ranch into household names. 2005 – John Paul II, history’s most well-traveled pope and the first non-Italian to serve as head of the Roman Catholic Church since the 16th century, dies at his home in the Vatican at the age of 84. Six days later, two million people pack Vatican City for his funeral, believed to be the most-attended funeral of all time. Musical Milestones 1957 – Elvis Presley performs at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada. It is one of only five concert appearances The King ever makes outside the U.S. The tour marks the first and last time that Elvis wears his now-legendary gold lamé suit. 1966 – “Ballad of the Green Berets,” by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, begins its fifth and final week as the No. 1 single. 1977 – “Rich Girl,” by Hall & Oates, tops the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first of the duo’s six No. 1 career singles. 1977 – “Rumours,” by Fleetwood Mac, climbs to No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and remains there for 31 weeks. The album contains tracks that became huge hits for the band, including the chart-topping “Dreams” and Top-10 singles “Go Your Own Way,” “Don’t Stop” and “You Make Loving Fun.” 1987 – Buddy Rich, regarded as one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time, dies at the age of 69 from heart failure following surgery for a malignant brain tumor. 1994 – Ace of Base holds the top spot on the pop chart with “The Sign.” 2003 – Soul singer-songwriter Edwin Starr, best known for his passionate, 1970 chart-topping anti-Vietnam War anthem “War,” dies at his home in England at the age of 61. READ MORE
On This Day November 19 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1933 – Award-winning TV and radio talk show host Larry King, born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger 1936 – Retired Emmy-winning TV talk show host and comedian Dick Cavett, who tackled controversial topics and featured countless celebrities over the years on “The Dick Cavett Show” 1938 – Media mogul Ted Turner, born Robert Edward Turner III, who founded Cable News Network (CNN) and Turner Broadcasting (TBS) 1942 – Fashion designer Calvin Klein 1961 – Actress-producer Meg Ryan, born Margaret Hyra (“Top Gun,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “French Kiss,” “Addicted to Love,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “City of Angels,” “Proof of Life,” “Kate & Leopold”) 1962 – Oscar-winning actress-producer-director Jodie Foster (“Taxi Driver,” “The Accused,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Contact,” “Anna and the King,” “Panic Room,” “Flightplan,” “Elysium”) History Highlights 1863 – During the dedication of a military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln delivers one of the most memorable speeches in American history: the Gettysburg Address. 1954 – The first automatic toll machine in the United States goes into service along the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey, charging motorists 25 cents to pass. 1959 – It’s the end of the road for the Edsel, as Ford Motor Company terminates production of an automobile line that proved to be a marketing disaster. 1964 – Something other than bread pops in and out of the toaster, as Kellogg’s introduces the Pop-Tart in four flavors: strawberry, blueberry, apple currant and brown sugar-cinnamon. 1969 – Apollo 12 becomes the second manned space mission to land on the moon. The crew touches down within walking distance of the Surveyor III spacecraft, which landed in April 1967. The astronauts bring some Surveyor III instruments back to Earth to examine the effects of long-term exposure to the lunar environment. 1975 – “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” opens in theaters, starring Jack Nicholson as a patient in a 1960s psychiatric hospital, and Louise Fletcher as the head nurse. It becomes only the second movie of all time to clinch five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Nicholson). Musical Milestones 1955 – Carl Perkins records “Blue Suede Shoes” at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. Written by Perkins, it is considered one of the first rockabilly recordings. The single reaches No. 2 on the pop chart in 1956 and is later famously covered by Elvis Presley. 1966 – Reigning supreme on the singles chart: “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by Diana Ross and The Supremes. The track hangs on to the No. 1 position for two weeks and is the Motown sensation’s seventh chart-topper. 1977 – Debby Boone is midway through a 10-week hold on No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “You Light Up My Life.” 1979 – Chuck Berry walks out of prison a free man after serving a four-month sentence for tax evasion. 1983 – Tina Turner has her first chart single in more than a decade with her cover of Al Green’s 1972 hit, “Let’s Stay Together.” The track, from her “Private Dancer” album, climbs as high as No. 26 on the Hot 100. 1994 – Boyz II Men have the No. 1 single with “I’ll Make Love to You.” 2003 – California authorities issue an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson on multiple counts of child molestation and ask the pop superstar to turn himself in and surrender his passport. 2005 – “Gold Digger,” by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, begins its tenth and final week on top of the Billboard singles chart. READ MORE