ROSS SIMPSON

Merle Haggard received many honors and awards for
his music, including a Kennedy Center Honor (2010);
a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2006); a BMI
Icon Award (2006) and induction into the Nashville
Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977), Country Music Hall
of Fame (1994) and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame
(1997). He died on April 6, 2016—his 79th birthday—
at his ranch in Shasta County, California, having
recently suffered from double pneumonia.

Albert “Tootie” Heath, a legendary American jazz drummer who
played with many notable legends, has reportedly tragically died
during his battle with leukemia.

He reportedly lost his battle with cancer on April 3rd, 2024, though
news of his death is just finally beginning to circulate. He died in
Sante Fe, New Mexico.

  Slingshot News

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.