Saturday, July 14, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• Harry Dean Stanton (actor, Alien, Escape From New York, Pretty In Pink, The Green Mile, Anger Management, Big Love, The Avengers) (86)
• Matthew Fox (actor, Lost, Party of Five ) (46)
• Rosey Grier (Former NFL player, actor, and now minister) (80)
• Taboo (member of Black Eyed Peas) (37)
• Igor Khoroshev (former keyboardist, Yes) (47)
• Vincent Pastore (actor, Who's The Man?, The Jerky Boys, "Big Pussy" on The Sopranos) (66)
• Scott Porter (actor, Friday Night Lights, Hart of Dixie) (33)
• Jackie Earle Haley (actor, The Bad News Bears, Little Children, Watchmen, A Nightmare On Elm Street '10, Shutter Island, Dark Shadows) (51)
• Sid Haig (actor, House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects) (73)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1789, citizens ofParis stormed the Bastille prison and released the seven prisoners inside, beginning the French Revolution.France celebrates the holiday as Bastille Day.
• 1853, the firstU.S. World's Fair opened at theCrystalPalace inNew York.
• 1910 William Hanna (animation legend; created The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Tom & Jerry, Top Cat, and Magilla Gorilla, among others, along with partner Joseph Barbera) is born. He dies in 2001.
• 1912 Folk singer Woody Guthrie is born. He dies in 1967.
• 1913 Former President and Vice-President Gerald Ford is born. He dies in 2006.
• 1918 Legendary Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal, Scenes From A Marriage) is born. He dies in 2007.
• 1921, Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were convicted inMassachusetts of killing of a shoe company paymaster and his guard. They were executed six years later.
• 1933 That famous spinach-eating sailorman makes his debut in Popeye The Sailor.
• 1933, all German political parties except the Nazi Party were outlawed.
• 1938 1960s anti-war activist Jerry Rubin is born. He dies in 1994.
• 1946, Dr. Benjamin Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care was published. It became one of the best selling books in history.
• 1953, the birthplace of George Washington Carver was declared a National Monument, the first dedicated to an African-American.
• 1957, the comedy team Lou Costello and Bud Abbott officially ended their partnership.
• 1967, The Who begin their first U.S. tour in Seattle, opening for Herman's Hermits and the Blues Magoos.
• 1969, the movie Easy Rider premiered, starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Jack Nicholson.
• 1973, Latter-day Byrds guitarist Clarence White is hit by a drunk driver and killed at the age of 29.
• 1976, Jimmy Carter won the Democratic presidential nomination by an overwhelming margin at the party's convention inNew York City.
• 1977, Elvis Costello & the Attractions play their first gig together at a show inCornwall,England.
• 1979, "Dance The Night Away" by Van Halen peaks at Number 15 on the pop chart.
• 1979, Cheap Trick At Budokan by Cheap Trick peaks at Number Four on the album chart, where it stays for four weeks.
• 1984, "Eyes Without A Face" by Billy Idol peaks at Number Four on the pop chart, where it stays for two weeks. That same day, Rebel Yell peaks at Number Six on the album chart, where it stays for three weeks.
• 1984, Heartbeat City by the Cars peaks at Number Three on the album chart.
• 1991, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad accepted President Bush's compromise proposal for aMiddle East peace conference.
• 1994, Scores of Hutu refugees fromRwanda's civil war flooded across the border intoZaire, swamping relief organizations.
• 1996 An estimated 50-70,000 attend Canada's Eden Festival to see Everclear, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Porno For Pyros and many others.
• 1997 The White Stripes play their first public gig inDetroit.
• 1998 Garbage receives eight MTV Video Music Award nominations for its "Push It" video.
• 1998 The Beastie Boys release their Hello Nasty album.
• 1999 Original Megadeth drummer Gar Samuelson dies at his home inOrange City,Florida, due to complications with his liver. He was 41 years old.
• 1999, race-based school busing inBoston came to an end after 25 years.
• 2000 AFlorida jury orders five major tobacco companies to pay smokers a record $145 billion in punitive damages.
• 2000, A Florida jury ordered five major tobacco companies to pay smokers a record $145 billion in punitive damages.
• 2000, The movie X-Men, starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, opens in theatres.
• 2003 Linkin Park nixes Internet sales and downloads of individual album tracks, preferring that only their full albums be made available for downloading.
• 2003 Police say that two accused killers in San Bernardino were listening to Slipknot music before murdering their victim.
• 2006 A Foo Fighters concert for 85,000 fans inLondon'sHyde Park, the biggest show in the band's history, is posted online at AOL Music.
• 2007 Killers frontman Brandon Flowers and his wife Tana welcome a baby boy, their first child, into the world.
• 2007 The White Stripes celebrate their 10th anniversary as a band with a performance at aNova Scotia theatre built in the 1920s. Members of the duo's families are in attendance, and fans are given cups of champagne by the road crew before the show.
• 2008 Coldplay launches its latest North American tour inLos Angeles after a two week production-related delay. The band celebrates by allowing fans to download a previously unreleased song at its web site.