Friday, September 21, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• Larry Hagman (Actor, I Dream Of Jeannie's Captain Tony Nelson and Dallas's J.R. Ewing) (81)
• Leonard Cohen (songwriter, "Suzanne," "Bird On A Wire") (78)
• Faith Hill (Singer, married to fellow country music star Tim McGraw) (45)
• Stephen King (best-selling horror novelist, Carrie, The Shining, The Stand, It, Under The Dome, many others) (65)
• Ricki Lake (actress-talk show host, Hairspray, Cry-Baby, Serial Mom) (44)
• Bill Murray (actor-comedian, Groundhog Day, Rushmore, Charlie's Angels, Lost In Translation, Zombieland) (62)
• Nicole Richie (The Simple Life; Lionel Richie's daughter) (31)
• Liam Gallagher (former frontman, Oasis; current frontman, Beady Eye) (40)
• Luke Wilson (actor, Rushmore, the Charlie's Angels movies, the Legally Blonde movies, Old School; brother of Owen Wilson) (41)
• Cheryl Hines (actress, Curb Your Enthusiasm) (47)
• Jerry Bruckheimer (movie and TV producer; Beverly Hills Cop, Bad Boys, Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, Pirates of the Caribbean, the CSI shows, Cold Case) (67)
• Don Felder (former guitarist, the Eagles) (65)
• Rob Morrow (actor, Northern Exposure, Quiz Show, Street Time) (50)
• Alfonso Ribeiro (actor, Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, Silver Spoons) (41)
• David Randall Silveria (former drummer, Korn) (40)
• Maggie Grace (actress, Lost, Taken) (29)
• Bridget Moynahan (actress, The Sum Of All Fears, The Recruit) (42)
• Darva Conger (winner (?) of Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire?) (47)
• Ethan Coen (screenwriter/producer/director, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, True Grit) (55)
• Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor (former drummer, Motorhead) (58)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1780, Benedict Arnold betrayed the U.S. in the Revolutionary War, by giving British Major Andre plans to West Point.
• 1814, "The Star Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key was published as a poem in the Baltimore American.
• 1837, Charles Tiffany founded a store featuring jewelry, china, and other fine accessories.
• 1866 Author H.G. Wells (The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, The War Of The Worlds) is born. He dies in 1946.
• 1893, a horseless carriage, believed to be the first gasoline-powered automobile built in the U.S., was taken for a short test drive in Springfield, Massachusetts, by Frank Duryea.
• 1897 The New York Sun runs an editorial declaring "Yes,Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."
• 1899, a painting of a dog listening to a record player was purchased by the Gramophone Company, parent of RCA Victor, for use as its now famous trademark.
• 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit was first published.
• 1949, the People's Republic OfChina was proclaimed by its Communist leaders.
• 1957, Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr, made its TV debut.
• 1970, NFL Monday Night Football debuted on ABC.
• 1974 Author Jacqueline Susann (Valley Of The Dolls, Once Is Not Enough) dies at age 56.
• 1975 The movie Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino, John Cazale and Charles Durning, opens.
• 1981 The Senate votes 99-0 to confirm Sandra Day O'Connor as the Supreme Court's first female justice.
• 1982, NFL players began a 57-day strike, their first regular-season walkout ever.
• 1989, Hurricane Hugo hit theU.S., coming ashore atCharleston,South Carolina, and leaving over $8 billion in damage in its wake.
• 1993 Nirvana releases In Utero, the band's final collection of all-new studio recordings.
• 1993 The TV show NYPD Blue, starring (at various times) Dennis Franz, Rick Schroder, Kim Delaney, Jimmy Smits, Sharon Lawrence, and David Caruso, debuts.
• 1996, John F. Kennedy Jr. married his longtime girlfriend Carolyn Bessette in a secret ceremony onCumberlandIsland inGeorgia.
• 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense Of Marriage Act, which allows states to disregard same sex marriages that might be legal in other places.
• 1998 Florence Griffith-Joyner, Olympic runner, dies at age 38.
• 1998 The TV show Will & Grace, starring Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Megan Mullally, and Sean Hayes, debuts.
• 1999 Nine Inch Nails releases their first new album in five years, The Fragile.
• 2001 U2, Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews and many others participate in a live televised benefit for victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, which attracts approximately 90 millions viewers and raises an estimated $200 million.
• 2004 Green Day releases its "punk rock opera" called American Idiot.
• 2004 Part-time Queens Of The Stone Age vocalist Mark Lanegan is injured in a car accident inLos Angeles, forcing him to cancel seven shows on his solo tour.
• 2004 The Clash releases a 25th anniversary edition of their classic album London Calling. The new version of the album includes a second CD titled The Vanilla Tapes that includes five unreleased songs and demos of 15 others, along with a DVD with videos for three songs as well as a making-of documentary.
• 2005 Garbage singer Shirley Manson tells the Melbourne Herald Sun that the band will take an "indefinite break" after finishing their Australian tour on October 1st.
• 2005 Switchfoot's fifth album, Nothing Is Sound, debuts at Number Three on the Billboard 200 album chart, with first-week sales of more than 131,000 copies.