Ralph Fiennes is an actor, film producer and director best known
for his role as the menacing Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter
films and for portraying Nazi captain Amon Goeth in the 1993
Steven Spielberg film Schindler’s List (below).

CAMILLE
BOHANNON

On April 28, 1945, “Il Duce,” Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci,
(shown above) were shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as
they attempted to flee to Switzerland.

The 61-year-old deposed former dictator of Italy was established by his
German allies as the figurehead of a puppet government in northern Italy
during the German occupation toward the close of the war. As the Allies
fought their way up the Italian peninsula, defeat of the Axis powers all
but certain, Mussolini considered his options. Not wanting to fall into
the hands of either the British or the Americans, and knowing that the
communist partisans, who had been fighting the remnants of roving
Italian fascist soldiers and thugs in the north, would try him as a war
criminal, he settled on escape to a neutral country.

Benito Mussolini (left) with Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler.

SANDY KOZEL

   
    
    

SANDY KOZEL

 
It’s a Wonderful Life, a 1946 Christmas fantasy drama film produced and
directed by Frank Capra and starring James Stewart, premiered in New
York on this day. The film is one of the most beloved in American cinema,
and has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season. It is 
now considered one of the greatest films of all time. It was nominated
for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and had been\ rated
as one of the 100 best American films ever made by the American Film
Institute.

        Frank Russell Capra             James "Jimmy" Maitland Stewart
(May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997)      (May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991)