Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis ( April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989)

Davis was an American actress of film, television, and theater,
regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, 
and noted for her  performances in a range of film genres, from
contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films
and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes
were her roles in romantic dramas.

She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the
first person to accrue ten Academy Award nominations for
acting, and the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement
Award from the American Film Institute.

In 1999, Betty Davis was placed second on the American Film
Institute’s list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood
cinema.

Davis with President Ronald Reagan (her co-star in 1939’s
Dark Victory) in 1987, two years before her death.

1934

1937

1937

This 1989 movie is best known for being the last film of Bette Davis, who withdrew from the project after filming began,
citing major problems with the script, Cohen’s direction, and
the way she was being photographed.

Cohen later claimed she really dropped out due to ill health
but avoided publicizing the truth for fear it would affect
potential future employment. Davis disputed this claim.

 
Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976)
(Last known authenticated photo of Howard Hughes alive in 1954)

Hughes, one of the richest men to emerge from the American
West during the 20th century, dies while flying from Acapulco
to Houston.

Born in Houston, Texas, in 1905, he inherited an estate of nearly
a million dollars when his father died in 1923. Hughes’ father
also left him the business that had created this fortune, the
Hughes Tool Company, which controlled the rights to a new
oil drill technology that was in high demand.        

The Hughes H-4 Hercules with Hughes at the controls.

Clocking in at three hours and 32 minutes, William Wyler’s
Technicolor epic Ben-Hur was the behemoth entry at the
32nd annual Academy Awards ceremony, held on this day
in 1960, at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

Setting an Oscar record, the film sweeps 11 of the 12
categories in which it was nominated, including Best
Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Charlton Heston).

Wyler’s 1959 film was the latest dramatic adaptation of the
mega-bestselling novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,
published in 1880 by Lew Wallace. Wallace, a former
general in the American Civil War, wrote his most
successful novel after experiencing a new awakening
of his Christian faith.

The “Twin Towers” of the World Trade Center officially opened in
New York City after years of delays. The buildings replaced the
Empire State Building as the world’s tallest building. Though they
would only hold that title for a year, they remained a dominant
feature of the city’s skyline and were recognizable the world over
long before they were destroyed in a terrorist attack in 2001. 

Manhattan in 1973.

Sept. 19, 2001: Smoke rises from ground zero of the
collapsed World Trade Center, more than a week after
the terrorist attacks in New York. (AP)

Today, the One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. A 
height of 1,776 feet includes its spire.

On April 4, 1975, at a time when most Americans used typewriters, childhood friends Bill Gates (68) and Paul Allen (1953 – 2018) 
found Microsoft, a company that makes computer software.

Originally based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Microsoft relocated
to Washington State in 1979 and eventually grew into a major multinational technology corporation. In 1987, the year after
Microsoft went public, 31-year-old Gates became the world’s
youngest billionaire.

Gates and Allen started Microsoft—originally called Micro-Soft,
for microprocessors and software—in order to produce software
for the Altair 8800 (below) an early personal computer.

Historians will likely view Bill Gates as a business figure as important to computers as John D. Rockefeller was to oil.