Ross Simpson

John Cleese, 2 years old

 
John Marwood Cleese is 74 today

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is known for his humorous
songs that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical
acts. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he has sold more
than 12 million albums, and recorded more than 150 parody and
original songs. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards 
among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum
records.

1989

Joan Fontaine (Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland)

Joan was born in Japan to British parents. She moved to California with
her older sister Olivia de Havilland in 1919. Fontaine began a career on
the stage in 1935 and signed a contract with RKO Pictures that same
year. In 1941, she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best
Actress for her role in Rebecca, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The
following year, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for
Hitchcock’s Suspicion (1941) making Fontaine the only actress to
ever win an Academy Award in a film directed by Hitchcock.

After a career spanning over 50 years, Fontaine made her last on-
screen appearance in 1994. She currently lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea,
California where she owns a home, Villa Fontana.

Carol Burnett, the 2013 Mark Twain Prize recipient

WASHINGTON (AP) — When Carol Burnett launched her namesake variety
show in the 1960s, one TV executive told her the genre was "a man’s game”,
but she proved him wrong with an 11-year run that averaged 30 million viewers
each week.

This evening, the trailblazing comedienne will receive the nation’s top humor
prize at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Top entertainers including
Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will pay tribute to Burnett
as she receives the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The 16th annual show will be taped and broadcast Sunday, Nov. 24 on most PBS 
stations.

 
The series aired on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978

  .

Jeannie C. Riley at 16

Jeannie C. Riley (Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson)

Riley won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance
for he 1968 country and pop hit "Harper PTA”. Before fame she was a
secretary by day and recorded music by night.