Entertainment History
On March 7, 1946, "The Lost Weekend" was named best picture at the
Academy Awards. Ray Milland won the best actor award for his role in
that movie. Joan Crawford was named best actress for her role in
"Mildred Pierce. In 1956, "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins entered
the R-and-B chart, the first time a country artist had done that. In
1963, Jack Anglin of the country duo Johnny and Jack died in a car
accident while on his way to a memorial service for singer Patsy Cline.
Cline had been killed in a plane crash a few days earlier. In 1969,
"Pinball Wizard" by The Who, which was the first single from the album
"Tommy," was released in Britain. In 1983, the country music channel
The Nashville Network went on the air. In 1987, "Licensed to Ill" by
The Beastie Boys became the first rap album to hit number one. In 1994,
the Supreme Court ruled 2 Live Crew's parody of Roy Orbison's "Oh,
Pretty Woman" was legal. In 1996, 20th Century Fox sued an Australian
brewery for distributing Duff Beer, the brand favored by cartoon
character Homer Simpson. In 1999, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick died of
natural causes at his home outside London at the age of 70. In 2001,
Pearl Jam set a record for the most simultaneous chart debuts from a
single band in a single week on the Billboard album chart. They had
seven of their American bootleg albums debut on the chart. The previous
record holder: Pearl Jam, when five of their European bootlegs hit the
album chart their first week out. In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the
first female to win the best director Oscar, for "The Hurt Locker.
Today's Birthdays: TV personality Willard Scott ("Today") is 83. Actor
Daniel J. Travanti ("Hill Street Blues") is 77. Bassist Chris White of
The Zombies is 74. Actor John Heard ("Big," 'Home Alone" films) is 71.
Singer Peter Wolf of The J. Geils Band is 71. Keyboardist Matthew
Fisher of Procol Harum is 71. Guitarist Ernie Isley of The Isley
Brothers is 65. Actor Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") is 61. Actress
Donna Murphy ("Mercy Street," 'Murder One") is 58. Actress Mary Beth
Evans ("Days of Our Lives") is 56. Singer Taylor Dayne is 55. Actor
Bill Brochtrup ("Major Crimes," 'NYPD Blue") is 54. Opera singer Denyce
Graves is 53. Comedian Wanda Sykes is 53. Actor Jonathan Del Arco
("Major Crimes") is 51. Drummer Randy Guss of Toad The Wet Sprocket is
50. Actress Rachel Weisz (WYS) is 47. Actor Peter Sarsgaard ("Kinsey,"
'Garden State") is 46. Actor Jay Duplass ("The Mindy Project") is 44.
Singer Sebastien Izambard of Il Divo is 44. Singer Hugo Ferreira of
Tantric is 43. Actress Jenna Fischer ("The Office") is 43. Actor Tobias
Menzies ("Outlander," 'Game of Thrones") is 43. Actor TJ Thyne
("Bones") is 42. Actress Laura Prepon ("Orange Is The New Black," 'That
'70s Show") is 37. Actress Bel Powley (Film: "Diary of a Teenage Girl")
is 25.
