On this Day May 16 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1905 – Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning actor Henry Fonda (“The Grapes of Wrath,” “Mister Roberts,” “12 Angry Men,” “On Golden Pond”) (d. 1982) 1919 – Emmy-winning pianist Liberace, born Wladziu Valentino Liberace, known for his signature candelabra and glittery wardrobe (d. 1987) 1953 – Actor Pierce Brosnan (“Remington Steele,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Dante’s Peak,” “GoldenEye” and three other James Bond films, “The Ghost Writer”) 1955 – Actress Debra Winger (“Urban Cowboy,” “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Terms of Endearment,” “Legal Eagles,” “Shawdowlands,” “Rachel Getting Married”) 1966 – Grammy-winning pop superstar Janet Jackson 1973 – Actress Tori Spelling (“Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Scream 2,” “The House of Yes,” “Trick,” “Cthulhu”) 1986 – Actress and model Megan Fox (“Hope & Faith,” “Transformers,” “Jennifer’s Body,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) History Highlights 1929 – A far cry from the pageantry of today’s Oscar ceremonies, about 270 guests attend a dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel where the first Academy Awards are handed out. 1960 – Two weeks after the Soviet downing of an American U-2 spy plane, Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev lashes out at the U.S. and President Dwight D. Eisenhower at a Paris summit between the two heads of state. Khrushchev’s outburst angered Eisenhower and doomed any chances for successful talks or negotiations. 1965 – The Franco-American food company revolutionizes the way American kids eat when it introduces SpaghettiOs — canned pasta rings in tomato and cheese sauce. “The neat round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon…Uh-Oh! SpaghettiOs.” 1977 – A commuter helicopter accident on the roof of the Pan Am Building (now MetLife Building) in Manhattan leaves five people dead, eight others injured. Investigators blame the crash on “metal fatigue,” which caused the landing gear to fail. The helipad is never used again. 1988 – Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issues a report stating that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine. 1996 – The final episode of “Murder, She Wrote,” starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, airs on CBS, ending a successful 12-season run. 2014 – Broadcast journalist and TV personality Barbara Walters retires from ABC News and as co-host of the daytime program “The View.” The 84-year-old Walters blazed a trail for women in television news during a distinguished career spanning more than 50 years. Musical Milestones 1964 – Motown sweetheart Mary Wells lays claim to the top of the pop chart for two weeks with “My Guy,” a track written and produced by Smokey Robinson. 1970 – The Guess Who are in the midst of a three-week ride at No. 1 on the singles chart with “American Woman.” 1970 – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young land on top of the Billboard album chart with “Deja Vu,” which spawns three Top 40 singles: “Teach Your Children,” “Our House” and “Woodstock.” 1981 – Kim Carnes begins a nine-week domination of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Bette Davis Eyes.” The track goes on to capture Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. 1987 – U2’s “With or Without You,” off the band’s Grammy-winning “The Joshua Tree” album, begins three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. 1990 – Entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr. dies of throat cancer at the age of 64. Davis was an acclaimed comedian, actor, dancer and singer, and a member of the “Rat Pack” with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. 1998 – “Too Close,” by Next, marks its fourth and final week as a Billboard chart-topper. 2009 – Bob Dylan grabs the top spot on the album chart with “Together Through Life,” which garners two Grammy Award nominations in the Best Americana Album category and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance category for “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’.” READ MORE
On this Day May 9 Click each item below to learn more! Celebrity Birthdays 1874 – Archaeologist Howard Carter, who discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun (d. 1939) 1918 – Longtime CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace (d. 2012) 1936 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Albert Finney (“Miller’s Crossing,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Big Fish”) (d. 2019) 1940 – Oscar and Emmy-winning director-producer James L. Brooks (“Terms of Endearment,” “The Simpsons,” “As Good as it Gets”) 1946 – Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actress Candice Bergen (“Murphy Brown,” “Boston Legal,” “Miss Congeniality”) 1949 – Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Billy Joel (“Piano Man,” “Just the Way You Are,” “Movin’ Out,” “Only the Good Die Young,” “She’s Always a Woman”) 1961 – Actor-singer John Corbett (“Northern Exposure,” “Sex and the City,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”), who also provides voiceovers for Applebees and Walgreens History Highlights 1926 – Polar explorer Richard Byrd and co-pilot Floyd Bennett fly over the North Pole in a triple-engine Fokker monoplane, marking the first time an aircraft crosses the top of the world. The flight’s earlier-than-expected return prompted some to challenge the achievement. However, a scientific committee of the National Geographic Society confirms the historic crossing, and Byrd and Bennett are awarded Medals of Honor by President Calvin Coolidge. 1960 – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the first commercially produced birth control pill, which comes to be known as “The Pill,” and paves the way for the sexual revolution of the 1960s. 1970 – A Vietnam War protest draws nearly 100,000 demonstrators to an area near the White House. Speakers include actress Jane Fonda and acclaimed pediatrician-author Dr. Benjamin Spock. President Richard Nixon meets secretly with a group of protesters at the Lincoln Memorial. 1971 – The long-running comedy “The Honeymooners,” starring Jackie Gleason as bus driver Ralph Kramden and Audrey Meadows as his wife Alice, signs off for the last time. 1974 – The House Judiciary Committee opens impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon. 1978 – The bullet-riddled body of former Italian prime minister Aldo Moro is found in the back of a car in Rome. Moro had been kidnapped by Red Brigade terrorists two months earlier after a bloody shoot-out near his suburban home. Musical Milestones 1964 – Louis Armstrong’s “Hello Dolly” ends The Beatles’ 14-week hold on the top spot on the singles chart which began with “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and was followed by “She Loves You” and “Can’t Buy Me Love.” At age 62, Satchmo becomes the oldest artist to reach No. 1. 1966 – The Beatles hold the first of three studio sessions to record “For No One,” a track on the band’s “Revolver” album. 1970 – “American Woman,” by The Guess Who, begins a three-week run at No. 1 on the singles chart. 1987 – Cutting Crew begins its second and final week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 with “(I Just) Died in Your Arms.” 1992 – Bruce Springsteen makes his network television debut on “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) with host Tom Hanks. 1992 – “Jump,” the debut single by hip hop duo Kris Kross, is midway through an eight-week reign of the Billboard Hot 100. The artists are just 12 and 13 years old when they record the track, which becomes an international smash. 2014 – Michael Jackson’s second posthumous album, “Xscape,” is released. It contains previously unreleased tracks dating back to 1980. READ MORE