Saturday, September 29, 2012

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS:

• Bryant Gumbel (TV host/sportscaster; host, HBO's Real Sports; former host of both NBC's Today show and CBS's The Early Show) (64)
• Jill Whelan (Actress, Love Boat's Vicki Stubing) (46)
• Natasha Gregson Wagner (Actress, Two Girls And A Guy) (42)
• Andrew Dice Clay (comedian-actor, The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane, Entourage) (55)
• Ian McShane (actor, Deadwood's Al Swearengen, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Snow White And The Huntsman) (70)
• Erika Eleniak (actress, Baywatch, Under Siege, The Beverly Hillbillies; Playboy Playmate Of The Month in July 1989) (43)
• Mark Farner (former singer-guitarist, Grand Funk Railroad) (64)
• Mike Pinera (singer-guitarist, Blues Image; "Ride Captain Ride"; also was a member of Iron Butterfly) (64)
• Jerry Lee Lewis (rock-and-roll pioneer; cousin of former televangelist Jimmy Swaggart and club owner & country performer Mickey Gilley) (77)
• Ken Norton Jr. (former NFL player and son of boxer Ken Norton) (46)
• Mackenzie Crook (the British version of The Office, Pirates Of the Caribbean) (41)
• Ken Weatherwax (actor, Pugsly on The Addams Family TV series) (57)
• Cindy Morgan (actress, Caddyshack's Lacey Underall) (58)
• Mike Post (musician, composer of music for many TV shows, including Rockford Files, NewsRadio, Hill Street Blues, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, Magnum, P.I., CHiPs, Hardcastle & McCormick, Doogie Howser, M.D., Quantum Leap, Remington Steele, Wise Guy, Murder One, NYPD Blue, L.A. Law, Hunter, and Law & Order) (68)
• Zachary Levi (actor, Chuck) (32)
• Les Claypool (singer/bassist, Primus) (49)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1907 Actor Gene Autry ("The Singing Cowboy," known for his horse Champion and the song "Back In The Saddle Again") is born. He dies in 1998.
• 1939 Actor Larry Linville (M*A*S*H's Major Frank Burns) is born. He dies in 2000.
• Madeline Kahn (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, History Of the World: Part I, Betsy's Wedding, Nixon) is born. She dies in 1999.
• 1942 Actress Madeline Kahn (Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, History Of the World: Part I, Nixon) is born. She dies in 1999.
• 1954, in Game one of the World Series, Willie Mays of the New York Giants made one of the greatest catches ever, racing back to deep center field in the Polo Grounds to make an over-the-shoulder catch of a 462-foot drive hit by Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians.
• 1957, the New York Giants played their last game atNew York City's Polo Grounds. The next year they moved toSan Francisco.
• 1960 The TV show My Three Sons, starring Fred MacMurray, Tim Considine, Don Grady, Stanley Livingston, William Frawley, William Demarest, Meredith MacRae, and Barry Livingston, debuts.
• 1962 "Green Onions" by Booker T. & the MG's peaks at Number Three on the pop chart.
• 1963 The Rolling Stones open their first English tour at the New Victoria in London as an opening act for the Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley.
• 1963 The TV show My Favorite Martian, starring Ray Walston, Bill Bixby, and J. Pat O'Malley, debuts.
• 1963, Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals played his last game, ending with 3,630 hits.
• 1967 Mickey Hart joins the Grateful Dead.
• 1973 "We're An American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad hits Number One on the pop chart.
• 1975 The movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Peter Hinwood, and Meat Loaf, opens.
• 1976, Alice, starring Linda Lavin, debuted on CBS.
• 1979 "Ain't That A Shame" by Cheap Trick, a cover of the Fats Domino song, peaks at Number 35 on the pop chart.
• 1979 "Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor Doctor)" by Robert Palmer peaks at Number 14 on the pop chart.
• 1979 "Cruel To Be Kind" by Nick Lowe peaks at Number 12 on the pop chart.
• 1979 "Girls Talk" by Dave Edmunds peaks at Number 65 on the pop chart.
• 1980, Actors Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen are married. They later divorce.
• 1982 Seven people in theChicago area die after unwittingly taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide.
• 1984, "Drive" by the Cars peaks at Number Three on the pop chart, where it stays for three weeks.
• 1984, No Brakes by John Waite peaks at Number 10 on the album chart.
• 1986, The TV show Designing Women, starring Dixie Carter, Annie Potts, Delta Burke, Jean Smart, Julia Duffy, Jan Hooks, Judith Ivey, Meshach Taylor, Alice Ghostley, and Hal Holbrook, debuts.
• 1988, The space shuttle Discovery blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.
• 1988, Cartoonist Charles Addams (he created The Addams Family) dies at age 76.
• 1989, Bruce Springsteen takes a break from a cross-country motorcycle trip to jam with the local musicians in the Mile High Band at Matt's Saloon in Prescott, Arizona. During the hour-long set, they play "Don't Be Cruel," "I'm On Fire," and "Route 66," among other songs. Springsteen overhears barmaid Brenda Techanec talking about problems paying her hospital bills, and a week later, she gets a $100,000 check from Springsteen.
• 1989, Zsa Zsa Gabor was convicted of slapping a police officer in Beverly Hills who stopped her while she driving without a valid driver's license and with an open intoxicant in her car. As part of her sentence, she spent three days in jail.
• 1990 Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars and Emi Canyn are married. They later divorce.
• 1990 The Wall-Live In Berlin by Roger Waters is released. It features Waters' performance of Pink Floyd's The Wall at the site of the Berlin Wall with guest appearances by the Band, Van Morrison, Cyndi Lauper, and Sinead O'Connor, among others.
• 1991 Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen and Stacy Gilbert are married. They later divorce.
• 1993 Van Halen's self-titled debut album, released in 1978, is certified seven-times platinum by the RIAA.
• 1995 The O.J. Simpson trial is sent to the jury.
• 1995, threeU.S. servicemen were indicted in the rape of a 12-year-old girl inOkinawa and were handed over to Japanese authorities.
• 1996 After the Bob Dole presidential campaign accuses the movie Trainspotting of glamorizing drug use, Capitol Records run advertisements for the soundtrack with pictures of Dole wearing a button that says "Iggy Pop For President."
• 1996 The Nintendo 64 video game system makes itsU.S. debut.
• 1998 The Beastie Boys' fifth album, Hello Nasty, is certified triple platinum by the RIAA.
• 2001 Members of Rage Against The Machine, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Static X, Foo Fighters, and Queens Of The Stone Age attend the Los Angeles date of Slipknot and System Of A Down's Pledge Of Allegiance tour.
• 2002 Steven Tyler sings the national anthem before a charity hockey game organized by actor-comedian Denis Leary inWorcester,Massachusetts.
• 2002 The White Stripes complete work on their fourth album, titled Elephant.
• 2004 Green Day's American Idiot becomes the trio's first Number One debut on the Billboard 200 album chart and their biggest first-week seller ever, moving 267,000 copies in its first seven days of release.
• 2004 U2 frontman Bono is the guest speaker inEngland at the ruling Labour Party's annual conference, where he challenges the leadership to do more to helpAfrica.
• 2005 Nine Inch Nails drummer Jerome Dillon is hospitalized for the second time during the band's fall U.S. tour with an unknown condition that later turns out to be heart-related.
• 2005 Rob Zombie, Jerry Cantrell, and members of Incubus perform with Camp Freddy, the Los Angeles "covers band" featuring members of Jane's Addiction and Velvet Revolver, at a benefit for the American Red Cross New Orleans Relief Fund.
• 2006 Republican U.S. Representative Mark Foley ofFlorida resigns after allegations of inappropriate emails to house pages are introduced.
• 2008 Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker is released from the Joseph M.StillBurn Center atDoctorsHospital inAugusta,Georgia, nine days after suffering severe second and third degree burns in a plane crash that killed four other people.