As predicted, Nostradamus was born on this date in 1503.
But who could have predicted that December 14th would also be the birthday
… of jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player Clark Terry, 91.
Clark Terry performed with Charlie Barnet (1947) and in Count Basie’s big band and small groups (1948-51) before beginning an important affiliation with Duke Ellington, which lasted from 1951 to 1959. During this period Terry took part in many of Ellington’s suites and acquired a lasting reputation for his wide range of styles (from swing to hard bop), technical proficiency, and infectious good humor. After leaving Ellington, he became a frequent performer in New York studios and a staff member of NBC; he appeared regularly on the Tonight Show, where his unique “mumbling” scat singing became famous.
… of Patty Duke. The Oscar-winning actress is 65.
… of Gabriella. Vanessa Hudgens is 23 today.
Best actress Oscar nominee for Days of Wine and Roses, Lee Remick was born on this date in 1935. She is often remembered too for her performance in the classic film Anatomy of a Murder. Miss Remick died of cancer in 1991.
Don Hewitt, the long-time producer of 60 Minutes was born on this date in 1922. He died in 2009.
Hewitt worked as a copyboy for a New York newspaper for 15 dollars a week, then got a job with a photo agency, and then got hired away by CBS radio — since he had experience with pictures and visual layout — to help produce the new television news programming that the network was trying to launch. It was all brand-new in the 1940s, and Hewitt remembers asking them “What-avision?” He went down to Grand Central Terminal in New York and up to the top floor to take a look at these “little pictures in a box” of which people spoke. He later reminisced, “They also had cameras and lights and makeup artists and stage managers and microphone booms just like in the movies, and I was hooked.” That year, in 1948, he began producing and directing an evening news broadcast for CBS, and he would later become the executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.
On September 24, 1968 Don Hewitt launched his investigative news magazine, 60 Minutes.
Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy, was born on this date in 1939. Davis played for Syracuse — he was on their undefeated National Championship team as a sophomore in 1959 — and wore the same number as Jim Brown, 44. He was the number one pick in the 1962 NFL draft, selected by the Washington franchise. Davis was the first African-American drafted by the Washington team, and then only under pressure from Stewart Udall who, as Secretary of the Interior, controlled the stadium where the team played. Davis refused to play for Washington, hence the trade to Cleveland. During the summer of 1962 Davis was diagnosed with acute monocytic leukemia; he died the following May.
Charlie Rich was born on December 14 in 1932. He is remembered best for his hits, “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl.”
Spike Jones was born 100 years ago today as Lindley Armstrong Jones. With his band, the City Slickers, Jones was the known for his satires, most notably “Der Fuehrer’s Face”, “Cocktails for Two” and, of course, “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth,” number one in 1948.
Frances Bavier was born on this date in 1902. You know, Aunt Bee. She won an Emmy for the role.
Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was the first woman elected to both the House and the Senate and the first whose name was put in nomination for president at a major party convention (Republican 1964).
Congressional Medal of Honor winner Jimmy Doolittle was born on this date in 1896. Doolittle led the daring bombing raid on Tokyo in April 1942. Sixteen B-25s from the U.S.S. Hornet did little damage, but the attack on the Japanese homeland was a major public relations and morale-boosting effort for U.S. forces just five months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
George Washington died at his Mount Vernon home on this date in 1799 at the age of 67. According to the Library of Congress, his last words reportedly were: “I feel myself going. I thank you for your attentions; but I pray you to take no more trouble about me. Let me go off quietly. I cannot last long.”
100 years ago today Roald Amundsen, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting became the first individuals to reach the South Pole. See the NOAA South Pole Live Camera. Bustling place. It looks like they’ll be building a mall there soon.
It’s been 39 years to the day since man last walked on the Moon. Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were the last, Apollo 17.
And it’s the birthday of Veronica. Happy Birthday, Veronica.