On This Day April 3 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1924 – Oscar-winning actor Marlon Brando (“A Streetcar Named Desire,” “On The Waterfront,” “The Godfather” trilogy, “Apocalypse Now”) (d. 2004) 1924 – Golden Globe and Grammy-winning actress and singer Doris Day (“Sentimental Journey,” “Pillow Talk,” “The Doris Day Show”) (d. 2019) 1934 – Primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall, best known for her extensive studies of chimpanzees in their African habitat 1958 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor and frequent “SNL” host Alec Baldwin (“Beetlejuice,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “The Cooler,” “The Departed,” “It’s Complicated,” “30 Rock”) 1961 – Golden Globe-winning actor, comedian, singer and “SNL” alum Eddie Murphy (“48 Hours,” “Trading Places,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Coming to America,” “The Nutty Professor,” “Shrek,” “Dreamgirls”) 1986 – TV and film actress Amanda Bynes (“The Amanda Show,” “What a Girl Wants,” “Hairspray”) History Highlights 1860 – The Pony Express launches, with horse and rider relay teams simultaneously leaving St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California as part of a new effort to speed up U.S. mail delivery. 1948 – President Harry S. Truman signs the Economic Recovery Act of 1948 — later known as the Marshall Plan — which would foster the recovery of war-torn Europe. 1968 – Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction classic, “2001: A Space Odyssey” — regularly voted as one of the greatest movies ever made, but whose philosophical meaning most fans cannot explain — opens in theaters around the U.S. 1968 – Another sci-fi classic opens at U.S. theaters. It’s “Planet of the Apes,” starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter and Maurice Evans. It’s the story about an astronaut crew that crash-lands on a planet in the distant future where intelligent talking apes rule and humans are oppressed and enslaved. 1974 – More than 140 tornadoes rip through 11 states within 16 hours. The “Super Tornado Outbreak” kills 330 people and injures more than 6,000 others. 1978 – At the 50th annual Academy Awards, Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall” wins the Oscar for Best Picture, beating out George Lucas’ “Star Wars.” 1986 – IBM unveils its first laptop computer. The 5140 “Convertible” retails for $1,995 and weighs 13 pounds. 1996 – FBI agents arrest accused Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski at his rural Montana cabin. Kaczynski was linked to 16 mail bombs that killed three people and injured 23 others during an 18-year period. Musical Milestones 1956 – Elvis Presley is a guest on “The Milton Berle Show,” live from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Hancock in San Diego, California. He performs “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Shake Rattle And Roll” and “Blue Suede Shoes.” It is estimated that one out of every four Americans watched the program. 1961 – The Marcels start a three-week run on top of the singles chart with their doo-wop rendition of the Rodgers and Hart song, “Blue Moon.” 1971 – The Temptations score their second No. 1 single with “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me),” which holds the top spot for two weeks. 1971 – Six months after her death, Janis Joplin holds the top spot on the Billboard album chart with “Pearl,” which features her smash, “Me and Bobby McGee.” The album remains at No. 1 for nine weeks. 1976 – “Disco Lady,” by the so-called ‘Philosopher of Soul,’ Johnnie Taylor, is No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart and remains there for four weeks. 1982 – Joan Jett & the Blackhearts are in the middle of a seven-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” 1990 – Grammy-winning jazz singer and pianist Sarah Vaughan, considered one of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century, dies of lung cancer at the age of 66. READ MORE
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