July 14th

Kelly Leak is 50 today. That’s Jackie Earle Haley who played the athlete/juvenile delinquent in the Bad News Bears movies. Haley was also Moocher in Breaking Away and more recently the pedophile Ronnie McGorvey in Little Children, for which he received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination.

Sue Sylvester is 51 today. That’s Jane Lynch of Glee.

Joel Silver the movie producer is 59 today. He has been associated with Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, the Matrix, etc. More importantly he is considered the co-creator of Ultimate, the Frisbee team sport.

William Hanna, the Hanna of Hanna-Barbera, was born 101 years ago today. The team gave us The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs and Yogi Bear. Yabba dabba doo!

The 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford was born 98 years ago today. He was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. in 1913. He took the name Gerald Rudolff Ford Jr. when adopted by his stepfather as a small child (later using Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr.). When Ford died in 2006 he had lived longer than any president (93 years, 165 days), passing Ronald Reagan, who died at age 93 years, four months. John Adams and Herbert Hoover both lived to be 90.

Billy the Kid, aka Billy Bonney, aka William Antrim, actual name Henry McCarty, was killed 130 years ago tonight. Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett located his escaped prisoner at Pete Maxwell’s ranch, waited in a dark bedroom, and shot him twice when he saw him outlined in the opened bedroom doorway. The Kid died without knowing who had killed him. He was 21 years old.