John Matthew Heard Jr. (March 7, 1945 – July 22, 2017)

Heard, who played Peter McCallister in Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost
in New York, has died. According to the Santa Clara Medical Examiner’s office
he was found dead today in a Palo Alto, California hotel where he was reportedly recovering after undergoing recent back surgery. 

John Heard and Catherine O’Hara from Home Alone (1990).

TIM MAGUIRE

Astronaut Neil Armstrong

America’s Viking I robot spacecraft made a successful landing
on Mars on this day in 1976.

First image taken by Viking 1 form the surface of Mars.

An attempt by a group of German officials to assassinate Adolf
Hitler failed on this day in 1944. The bomb exploded at Hitler’s Rastenburg headquarters. He was only wounded.

The conference room soon after the explosion that wounded
Hitler.

Sir Edmund Percival "Ed" Hillary
(July 20, 1919 – January 11, 2008)

Adventurer and philanthropist Sir Edmund Hillary became one
of the first people to reach the top of Everest with the help of his
guide, Tensing Norgay. He became a beekeeper during the
summer so as to keep himself available to climb in the winter.

His adventures led to him being named one of the most influential
people by Time Magazine of the 20th century.

Sir Edmund Hillary (left) and Tenzing Norgay.

Carlos Santana is 70 years old today.

Guitarist Carlos Santana blended rock with Latin American music and fronted
Santana. He won the Best Rock Album Award and the Album of the Year
Award for Supernatural in 2000. He began playing the guitar when he was
eight and turned down an opportunity to attend Humbolt State University to
pursue a career in music.

In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 20 on their list of
the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. He has won 10 Grammy Awards and
three Latin Grammy Awards.

Donald McNichol Sutherland

Canadian born Donald Sutherland played Hawkeye Pierce in
the 1970 movie, M*A*S*H. His other films include The Dirty
Dozen (1967), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and
JFK (1991). He graduated from Victoria College with the
intention of becoming an engineer.

Donald Sutherland in JFK

Martin Landau (June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) born in Brooklyn,
New York.

Landau died at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles,
California on Saturday,July 15. He had been briefly hospitalized and,
according to his representative, died of “unexpected complications”

Martin Landau’s film career started in the 1950s, with early appearances
including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock‘s North by Northwest
(1959). He played regular roles in the CBS-TV series Mission: Impossible
(for which he received several Emmy Award nominations and a Golden
Globe Award) and Space: 1999.

The song "Ode to Billie Joe" was written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry,
a singer-songwriter from Chickasaw County, Mississippi. The single,
released in late July, was a number-one hit in the U.S. and became a
big international seller. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 3 song for
1967. The song is ranked #412 on Rolling Stone‘s list of "the 500 Greatest
Songs of All Time". It generated eight Grammy nominations, resulting in
three wins for Gentry and one win for arranger Jimmie Haskell.

Bobbie Gentry (Roberta Lee Streeter) will be 73 on July 27.