Tuesday, December 11, 2012

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

• Teri Garr (actress, Tootsie and Mr. Mom, Young Frankenstein, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Oh, God!) (68, disputed)
• Brenda Lee (singer, "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree") (68)
• Donna Mills (actress, played Abby on the 1980s prime time soap Knot's Landing) (72, disputed)
• Rita Moreno (actress/singer) Moreno is one of the few people to have won an Oscar (West Side Story), an Emmy (The Electric Company), a Tony (The Ritz), and a Grammy (for a recording of The Electric Company) (Singin' In The Rain, The King And I, Carnal Knowledge, Oz) (81)
• John Kerry (2004 Democratic presidential nominee,Massachusetts senator) (69)
• Nikki Sixx (bassist, Motley Crue) (54)
• Gary Dourdan (actor, C.S.I., Soul Food, Trois ) (46)
• Jermaine Jackson (member of The Jackson Five) (58)
• Mos Def (actor and rapper, Italian Job, Brown Sugar, Monster's Ball) (39)
• Darryl Jones (bassist, Bill Wyman's replacement in the Rolling Stones) (51)
• David Gates ("Goodbye Girl" and leader of Bread) (72)
• Chester Thompson (drummer, Genesis, Phil Collins) (64)
• Mo'Nique (actress-comedienne, The Parkers, It's Showtime At The Apollo, Soul Plane, Beerfest, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" By Sapphire) (45)
• Ben Browder (actor, Farscape, Stargate SG-1) (50)
• McCoy Tyner (jazz pianist) (74)
• Hailee Steinfeld (actress, True Grit) (16)
• Zacky Vengeance (guitarist, Avenged Sevenfold) (31)

ON THIS DAY:

• 1816Indiana becomes the 19th state in theUnion.
• 1926 Blues singer Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton is born. She does the original version of "Hound Dog" before Elvis Presley had a hit with it.
• 1936, Britain's King Edward VIII (The Eighth) abdicated the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson, saying he had to be with "the woman I love."
• 1939, Betty Grable's famous pin-up photo was featured on the cover of Life magazine. The "legs" shot became a symbol of home for American troops during World War II.
• 1941, four days after the Japanese attack onPearl Harbor,Germany andItaly declared war on theUnited States. TheU.S. responded by declaring war on them in return.
• 1951, Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from baseball. DiMaggio played only for the New York Yankees during his 13-year, Hall Of Fame career.
• 1957 Jerry Lee Lewis marries his 13-year-old second cousin Myra Gale Brown inHernando,Mississippi.
• 1961, a U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters arrived in Saigon, the first direct American military support for South Vietnam's battle against Communist guerrillas.
• 1964 Sam Cooke is shot dead by aLos Angeles motel manager at age 33.
• 1965 "I'm A Man" by the Yardbirds, a cover of the Bo Diddley song, peaks at Number 17 on the pop chart, while Having A Rave Up With The Yardbirds peaks at Number 53 on the album chart.
• 1965 Farewell, Angelina by Joan Baez peaks at Number 10 on the album chart.
• 1967 The movie Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?, starring Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, and Sidney Poitier opens.
• 1968 The Rolling Stones stage the first of two days that will be filmed and (eventually) released as The Rolling Stones Rock 'N' Roll Circus.
• 1970 John Lennon releases his first post-Beatles album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
• 1970 Ringo Starr's movie The Magic Christian premieres inLondon.
• 1972 Genesis makes theirU.S. debut atBrandeisUniversity inBoston.
• 1974 The Godfather Part II, starring Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, and Robert DeNiro, opens in five New York theatres.
• 1976 "Hello Old Friend" by Eric Clapton peaks at Number 24 on the pop chart.
• 1976 Kiss lead guitarist Ace Frehley suffers a near-fatal shock when he touches a metal railing onstage during a concert inLakeland,Florida. He recovers enough to continue the show, but some say Ace hasn't been the same since.
• 1981, Muhammad Ali fought his 61st and final fight, losing to Trevor Berbick and ending his career with a 56-5 record.
• 1985, General Electric agreed to buy RCA for $6.3 billion. Included in the deal was NBC Radio and Television.
• 1988 Don Henley, Tom Petty, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and many others attend Roy Orbison's funeral.
• 1991, a Florida jury acquitted Kennedy cousin William Kennedy Smith of raping Patricia Bowman.
• 1992 The movie A Few Good Men, starring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, and Demi Moore, opens.
• 1993 The Spaghetti Incident? by Guns N' Roses enters the album chart at its peak position of Number Four.
• 1997 Radiohead's third album, OK Computer, is certified gold.
• 1997, over 150 countries agreed at a global warming conference inKyoto,Japan, to control the Earth's greenhouse gases. When the Bush administration came into office, however, it refused to be a part of the agreement.
• 1998 Star Trek: Insurrection opens in theatres. More people are interested in the trailer for Star Wars: Episode I that plays before it.
• 2000 Shortstop Alex Rodriguez signs the richest contract in sports history, a 10-year deal with the Texas Rangers worth $252 million. The quarter-billion dollars doubled the previous high of $126 million paid by the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves to Kevin Garnett in a six-year agreement signed in October 1997. "A-Rod" is traded to the Yankees before the 2004 season.
• 2002 David Lee Roth files suit against his former Van Halen bandmates -- Edward and Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony -- for back royalties in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming the group didn't include him in a 1996 renegotiation of their record contract, which led to financial inequity.
• 2002 Moby is assaulted by three men outsideBoston's Paradise Club after he performs there.
• 2006 Courtney Love gets a break after more than three years of legal problems when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ends her probation and dismisses three misdemeanor cases against her, including two that are drug-related.
• 2009 Courtney Love loses legal control over her daughter. Los Angeles Superior Court appoints a legal guardianship for 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain, Love's daughter with late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. The court appoints Kurt's mother, Wendy Cobain, and his sister, Kimberly Dawn Cobain, as guardians.