On This Day February 21 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1946 – Emmy and Tony-winning actress Tyne Daly (“Cagney & Lacey,” “Judging Amy,” “Gypsy”) 1946 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Alan Rickman (“Die Hard,” “Galaxy Quest,” the “Harry Potter” series, “Something the Lord Made,” “Eye in the Sky”) (d. 2016) 1955 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor-producer Kelsey Grammer (“Cheers,” “Frasier,” “Toy Story 2,” “X-Men: Last Stand”) 1963 – Actor William Baldwin (“Flatliners,” “Backdraft,” “Sliver,” “The Squid and the Whale,” “Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) 1979 – Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt (“Party of Five,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer”) 1987 – Actress Ellen Page (“Juno,” “Whip It,” “Inception”, “X-Men” Series) History Highlights 1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated. The monument, built in the shape of an Egyptian obelisk, underwent two phases of construction: one private (1848-1854) and one public (1876-1884). When completed, it was the tallest structure in the world at 555 feet, 5-1/8 inches. 1925 – The New Yorker magazine publishes its first edition. 1948 – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is officially incorporated and goes on to become one of America’s most popular spectator sports as well as a multi-billion-dollar industry. 1965 – Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity in New York City. 1972 – Richard Nixon makes the first presidential visit to the People’s Republic of China in an effort to normalize Sino-American relations. 1995 – National Aviation Hall of Famer Steve Fossett lands safely in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, completing the first ever solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon. Sadly, Fossett is declared dead in 2008 after a plane he was piloting vanished over the Nevada desert in September 2007. He was 63. Musical Milestones 1970 – Sly & the Family Stone begin the second and final week as chart-toppers with “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).” 1976 – Paul Simon begins his third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” The track, off his Grammy-winning “Still Crazy After All These Years” album, is the only No. 1 Simon has ever achieved as a solo act. 1976 – The Willie Nelson-Waylon Jennings album “Outlaws” becomes the first country music album to go platinum. 1981 – Dolly Parton rules the singles chart with the title track from the motion picture “9 to 5.” Parton co-stars in the movie with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman. 1987 – “Livin’ on a Prayer,” by Bon Jovi, is in the midst of a four-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. 1990 – “Let the River Run,” by Carly Simon, wins Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture at the 32nd annual Grammy Awards. The track, which had previously been honored with an Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Original Song, is from the movie “Working Girl,” starring Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford. 1998 – Usher wraps up two weeks as a Billboard chart-topper with “Nice & Slow.” 2004 – “Slow Jamz,” by Twista featuring Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, begins a week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. READ MORE
On this Day August 9 Click each item below to learn more! 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.” READ MORE