Robert Redford – Time Rewind

On This Day April 20

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On This Day January 3

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Celebrity Birthdays

1892 – English writer and poet J. R. R. Tolkien (“The Hobbit,” “Lord of the Rings”) (d. 1973)

1926 – Record producer-arranger George Martin, known as the “Fifth Beatle” (d. 2016)

1930 – Actor-director Robert Loggia (“Scarface,” “Big,” “Jagged Edge,” “Independence Day,” “Lost Highway,” “The Sopranos”) (d. 2015)

1932 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Dabney Coleman, (“9 to 5,” “Tootsie,” “WarGames,” “Buffalo Bill,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Rules Don’t Apply”)

1950 – Actress Victoria Principal, best known for her role as Pam Ewing in the hit series “Dallas”

1956 – Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor-producer-director Mel Gibson (“Mad Max,” “Braveheart,” the “Lethal Weapon” movie series, “The Patriot,” “The Passion of the Christ,” “The Beaver,” “Hacksaw Ridge”)

1981 – Star NFL quarterback Eli Manning of the New York Giants

History Highlights

1938 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his former law partner, Basil O’Connor, establish the March of Dimes (originally known as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis) to battle polio, the disease FDR contracted at the age of 39 that prevented him from ever walking on his own again.

1961 – The U.S. severs diplomatic relations with Cuba two years after Fidel Castro seized control of the island nation 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

1967 – Jack Ruby, the Dallas nightclub owner who killed the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, dies of cancer in a Dallas hospital. The Texas Court of Appeals had recently overturned Ruby’s death sentence for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and was scheduled to grant him a new trial.

1969 – Apollo 8 astronauts William Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell grace the cover of TIME magazine as “Men of the Year” for becoming the first humans to orbit the moon. During their mission, the trio also captured the iconic “Earthrise” image of planet Earth hovering above the lunar surface. They were hailed for bringing a hopeful conclusion to 1968 — a year filled with social strife that included the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy.

1990 – Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega surrenders to U.S. military troops to face charges of drug trafficking.

1993 – The Buffalo Bills stage the greatest comeback in NFL history. Backup quarterback Frank Reich leads the Bills to an improbable 41-38 overtime victory over the Houston Oilers in an AFC wild card playoff game that would forever be known to football fans as “The Comeback.” In Houston, however, it was referred to as “The Choke.”

Musical Milestones

1970 – The Beatles record their last song as a group — George Harrison’s “I, Me, Mine” — which appears on the “Let It Be” album.

1970 – “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” by B.J. Thomas, begins a four-week domination of the singles chart. The song is featured in the film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman.

1976 – S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT! Scotland’s Bay City Rollers hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Saturday Night.”

1981 – Less than four weeks after his assassination outside his Manhattan apartment building, John Lennon has the first No. 1 single of 1981 with “(Just Like) Starting Over.”

1987 – Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

1987 – The Bangles claim the top spot on the singles chart with “Walk Like an Egyptian.”

1998 – Elton John’s tribute to the late Princess Diana, “Candle in the Wind 1997,” enters its 13th week as a No. 1 single.

2004 – OutKast rules the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hey Ya!” The track ultimately holds the top spot for nine weeks and goes on to win a Best Urban/Alternative Performance Grammy Award.

On This Day December 25

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Celebrity Birthdays

1821 – Clara Barton, Civil War volunteer nurse who founded the American Red Cross (d. 1912)

1899 – Legendary Oscar-winning actor Humphrey Bogart (“Casablanca,” “Maltese Falcon,” “The African Queen,” “Key Largo”) (d. 1957)

1924 – Emmy-winning “The Twilight Zone” creator-writer Rod Serling (d. 1975)

1946 – Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett (“Margaritaville,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise”) (d. 2023)

1948 – Grammy-winning country music singer Barbara Mandrell (“Sleeping Single in a Double Bed,” “Years”)

1949 – Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek (“Carrie,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “In the Bedroom,” “The Help”)

1952 – Actress CCH Pounder (“Hill Street Blues,” “ER,” “The Practice,” “Law & Order: SVU,”, “Millennium,” “The West Wing,” “The Shield”)

1954 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, formerly of the 1980s new wave band Eurythmics

History Highlights

1776 – General George Washington and 2,400 of his Continental Army troops cross the icy waters of the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, New Jersey.

1914 – Gunfire is replaced with the sounds of Christmas carols as German troops serving in World War I lay down their weapons and break into song on Christmas morning. Russian, French and British troops do the same and even shake hands and exchange cigarettes with enemy soldiers along the eastern and western fronts during the Christmas Truce of 1914.

1962 – “To Kill a Mockingbird,” a film based on the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Harper Lee, opens in theaters, starring Gregory Peck, who wins a Best Actor Oscar for his performance as attorney Atticus Finch.

1973 – “The Sting,” starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford as a pair of 1930s grifters, premieres.

1977 – British director, producer and comedic actor Charlie Chaplin, an icon of the silent film era, dies at the age of 88.

1989 – Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, are executed following a popular uprising.

1989 – Former New York Yankees manager Billy Martin dies in a traffic accident at the age of 61.

1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union just days after 11 of the former Soviet republics establish the Commonwealth of Independent States.

1996 – Six-year-old JonBenét Ramsey is killed in her Boulder, Colorado, home. Her parents call police the following morning to report their daughter missing and discover a ransom note demanding $118,000. The girl’s body is found in the basement that afternoon. The crime becomes a national sensation that remains unsolved today.

Musical Milestones

1941 – Bing Crosby performs the Irving Berlin holiday classic “White Christmas” for the first time on his weekly NBC Radio show “The Kraft Music Hall.” Crosby later performs it in the 1942 movie “Holiday Inn.” It remains the largest-selling single in music history until surpassed by Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind 1997.”

1961 – The Brooklyn-based doo-wop group The Tokens rule the singles chart with “The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)” — originally written and recorded as “Mbube” in 1939 by Zulu artist Solomon Linda.

1965 – The Dave Clark Five have the No. 1 single with “Over and Over.”

1976 – Rod Stewart claims the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a seventh straight week with “Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright).”

1982 – “Maneater,” by Hall & Oates, is mid-way through a four week domination of the singles chart.

1995 – Entertainer Dean Martin, a beloved member of the so-called “Rat Pack,” dies at the age of 78.

2004 – Ludacris has the No. 1 album with “The Red Light District,” which spawns the hit singles “Get Back” and “Number One Spot.”

On This Day October 17

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Celebrity Birthdays

1915 – Pulitzer-winning playwright Arthur Miller (“All My Sons,” “A View from the Bridge,” “The Crucible,” “Death of a Salesman”) (d. 2005)

1918 – Actress and dancer Rita Hayworth (“Only Angels Have Wings,” “Strawberry Blonde,” “You’ll Never Get Rich,” “Gilda”) (d. 1987)

1920 – Actor Montgomery Clift (“From Here to Eternity,” “The Young Lions,” “A Place in the Sun,” “I Confess”) (d. 1966)

1930 – Longtime New York columnist and author Jimmy Breslin (d. 2017)

1938 – Motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel, born Robert Craig Knievel (d. 2007)

1948 – Actor George Wendt, best known for his portrayal of Norm Peterson on the TV sitcom “Cheers”

1948 – Actress Margot Kidder, best known for her role as Lois Lane in the film “Superman,” opposite Christopher Reeve (d. 2018)

1958 – Grammy-winning country singer Alan Jackson

1962 – Cartoonist-actor Mike Judge (“Beavis and Butt-head,” “King of the Hill”)

1963 – Comedian-actor and “Saturday Night Live” alum Norm Macdonald (d. 2021)

1968 – Reggae guitarist and singer-songwriter Ziggy Marley

1972 – Grammy and Oscar-winning rapper and record producer Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III

History Highlights

1931 – A jury finds Chicago mob boss Al Capone guilty of tax evasion. One of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s, Capone is later sentenced to 11 years in federal prison, ordered to pay $215,000 in back taxes and fined $50,000.

1966 – The TV game show takes on a new shape with the premiere of “The Hollywood Squares.”

1973 – OPEC announces it will cut oil exports to the U.S. and other nations friendly with Israel, a move that eventually leads to the “Energy Crisis.”

1973 – The romantic drama, “The Way We Were,” starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, has its world premiere in New York before opening nationally three days later. The film captures the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for the theme song, “The Way We Were,” sung by Streisand.

1974 – President Gerald Ford goes before Congress to explain his pardon of predecessor Richard Nixon.

1989 – A powerful 6.9 magnitude earthquake rocks the San Francisco Bay Area, killing 63 people, injuring 3,000 others and causing more than $5 billion in damage. Known as the Loma Prieta earthquake, the natural disaster strikes just as Game 1 of the World Series is starting at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park between local teams The Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants.

Musical Milestones

1964 – “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” by Manfred Mann, kicks off two weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100. It’s the cover of a song originally recorded in 1963 by the American band The Exciters, but it was the British group Manfred Mann that made it an international smash.

1964 – The Ronettes release their classic ballad, “Walking in the Rain.” The single later earns producer Phil Spector the first and only Grammy of his career for sound effects (thunder and rain).

1967 – “Hair,” touted as “an American tribal love-rock musical,” opens on Broadway.

1970 – “I’ll Be There,” by the Jackson 5, begins a five-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. It is the group’s fourth consecutive chart-topper.

1981 – Christopher Cross is king of the Billboard Hot 100 with music from the movies – “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do).” The track holds at No. 1 for three weeks and goes on to earn a Best Original Song Oscar.

1991 – Singer and TV host Tennessee Ernie Ford dies of liver failure at the age of 72. Ford was best known for his chart-topping 1955 cover of the Merle Travis song “Sixteen Tons.”

2008 – Levi Stubbs, lead singer of Motown giants the Four Tops, dies at the age of 72. Stubbs had been in ill health since a 1995 cancer diagnosis; a stroke and other health problems led him to stop touring in 2000.