Rock Hudson – Time Rewind

On This Day November 17

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On This Day October 2

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Celebrity Birthdays

1869 – Civil rights leader Mahatma Gandhi, who successfully led India in a nonviolent revolution against the British Empire (d. 1948)

1890 – Comedian Groucho Marx, born Julius Henry Marx (d. 1977)

1945 – Singer Don McLean, best known for his smash single “American Pie”

1948 – Fashion designer Donna Karan

1949 – Acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz, known for her celebrity portraits

1951 – Singer-songwriter and guitarist Sting, born Gordon Sumner, former front man for the band The Police and 17-time Grammy Award winner

1954 – Actress Lorraine Bracco (“Goodfellas,” “The Sopranos,” “Rizzoli & Isles”)

1970 – Actress-TV talk show host Kelly Ripa (“All My Children,” “Hope & Faith,” “Live! with Regis and Kelly,” “Live! with Kelly,” “Live with Kelly and Ryan”)

History Highlights

1835 – Mounting tensions between Mexico and Texas lead to violence when Mexican soldiers attempt to disarm the people of Gonzales, sparking the Texan war for independence. The battle flag used by the Texans at the Battle of Gonzales gained recognition as the “Come and Take It” flag, referring to a small cannon that Mexican forces tried to repossess.

1919 – President Woodrow Wilson, who had just cut short a cross-country speaking tour to promote formation of the League of Nations (a precursor to the United Nations), suffers a massive stroke, which leaves him partially paralyzed on the left side of his body. The stroke is kept a secret from the public, but forces Wilson to abandon his campaign for the League and weakens his presidency.

1950 – The first Peanuts comic strip, created by Charles Schulz, is published in seven newspapers across the U.S. Schulz originally called his strip “L’il Folks,” but United Features Syndicate changed the name.

1959 – “The Twilight Zone,” created and hosted by Rod Serling, premieres with an episode called “Where Is Everybody?” starring Earl Holliman. The black & white sci-fi series runs for five seasons.

1967 – Thurgood Marshall, the first African American U.S. Supreme Court justice, is sworn in to office.

1985 – Actor Rock Hudson becomes the first high-profile celebrity to die of complications from AIDS. Hudson’s death, at the age of 59, raises public awareness of the epidemic, which until that time had been ignored by many in the mainstream as a “gay plague.”

2006 – A 32-year-old milk truck driver enters the West Nickel Mines Amish School in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and fatally shoots five female students and wounds five more before taking his own life. The gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, had no criminal history or record of mental illness.

Musical Milestones

1961 – “Take Good Care of My Baby,” by Bobby Vee, enters its third and final week as a No. 1 single.

1965 – The McCoys claim the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Hang On Sloopy.”

1971 – Rod Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells a Story,” featuring his breakthrough hit “Maggie May,” tops both the U.S. and U.K. album charts.

1976 – Wild Cherry’s single, “Play That Funky Music,” begins its third and final week at No. 1.

1982 – John Mellencamp (known then as John Cougar) kicks off four weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Jack and Diane.” He also rules the Billboard album chart with the breakthrough LP it came from: “American Fool.”

1993 – “Dreamlover,” by Mariah Carey, is midway through an eight-week domination of the singles chart.

1998 – Aerosmith soars to No. 1 with “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” the hit single from the movie “Armageddon,” starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck.

2004 – “Goodies,” by Ciara featuring Petey Pablo, is in the middle of a seven-week run atop the pop chart.

On this Day July 25

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Celebrity Birthdays

1894 – Oscar-winning actor Walter Brennan (“The King of Jazz,” “Come and Get It,” “Kentucky,” “The Westerner”)

1907 – Actor Jack Gilford (“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Cabaret,” “Save The Tiger,” “Cocoon”) (d. 1990)

1923- Actress Estelle Getty, best known for playing Sophia in the TV sitcom “The Golden Girls” (d. 2008)

1955 – Supermodel-actress (and Mrs. David Bowie) Iman

1965 – Actress-writer-producer Illeana Douglas (“Grace of My Heart,” “To Die For,” “Ghost World”)

1967 – Golden Globe-winning actor Matt LeBlanc, best known for playing Joey in the hit NBC sitcom “Friends”

1978 – World’s first test-tube baby, Louise Joy Brown

History Highlights

1898 – More than 16,000 U.S. troops invade Puerto Rico asserting that they are liberating the inhabitants from Spanish colonial rule, which had recently granted the island’s government limited autonomy. The island, as well as Cuba and the Philippines, were spoils of the Spanish-American War, which ended the following month.

1943 – Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy, is voted out of power by his own Grand Council and arrested upon leaving a meeting with King Vittorio Emanuele, who tells Il Duce that the war is lost.

1953 – Big changes take place for New York City commuters as the subway token is introduced, and the cost of riding the underground rises from a dime to 15 cents.

1956 – The Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog off the coast of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, and sinks the next day, killing 51.

1978 – Louise Joy Brown, the world’s first baby to be conceived throughin vitro fertilization (IVF) is born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England.

1984 – Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to walk in space. She spends more than 3.5 hours outside the Salyut 7 space station along with a crewmate, welding, brazing and testing a new multipurpose tool. Savitskaya was twice awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the highest honor bestowed by her country, and later entered Soviet politics.

1985 – The world learns that screen legend Rock Hudson has AIDS through a written announcement released by his publicist. He becomes the first celebrity to go public with such a diagnosis, which was still stigmatized at that time.

Musical Milestones

1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric and fans go ballistic at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. Folk music purists are outraged when Dylan swaps his acoustic guitar for an electric one.

1970 – Carpenters kick off four weeks on top of the Billboard singles chart with “(They Long to Be) Close to You.”

1975 – “A Chorus Line” premieres, becoming the longest running Broadway show.

1981 – Stevie Nicks has her first solo chart success when “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” reaches No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written by Tom Petty, who assists on vocals.

1987 – Heart enters its third and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Alone.”

1992 – Sir Mix-a-Lot is in the middle of five weeks at No. 1 with “Baby Got Back.”

1998 – “The Boy Is Mine,” by Brandy & Monica, is in its eighth week on top of the Billboard Hot 100. The track remains there for a total of 13 weeks.

2009 – The Black Eyed Peas dominate the pop chart with “I Gotta Feeling,” which holds the top spot for 14 consecutive weeks.

2010 – John Fogerty performs “Centerfield” at National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York, where he donates his original “Slugger” guitar shaped like a baseball bat.

2015 – Omi kicks off four weeks on top of the singles chart with “Cheerleader.”