Filmmaker Steven Allan Spielberg is a major figure of the New
Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster. He is
widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time
and is the most commercially successful director in film history
with many accolades, including three Academy Awards. 

Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in Phoenix,
Arizona. He moved to California and studied film in college. He’s
78 today.
 

Richard (Dick) Wayne Van Dyke is 99 today.      
     
     
 

On December 13, 1925, Dick Van Dyke, the quintessential
“nice guy” actor who would become known for his work
in such movie classics as Mary Poppins (1964) and Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang (1968), as well as the popular 1960s CBS - 
TV sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 – 1966), was born
in West Plains, Missouri.

Van Dyke, who was raised in Danville, Illinois, served in the
Army Air Force Special Services during World War II and in
the 1950s took various acting jobs and hosted a series of
TV game shows. In 1960, he starred on Broadway in Bye
Bye Birdie, a role which earned him a Tony Award.    
    
    
 Van Dyke was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in
1995 and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1993, and has been
honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement
Award in 2013, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2020, and
was recognized as a Disney Legend in 1998. 

(1993 – 2001)

NEW YORK (AP) — Her memories of recording “Rockin’
Around the Christmas Tree” are a little hazy.

She remembers the producer placing decorations around
the studio and blasting the air conditioner on a warm
Nashville day to create a holiday spirit. The musicians,
she recalls, nailed it in a couple of takes.

That’s about it. After all, Brenda Lee was 13 years old at
the time — and it was 66 years ago, in 1958.

Brenda Lee ( Mae Tarpley) is 81 years young today.

Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch)
(December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020)

As an actor and philanthropist, Kirk Douglas received
an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement
and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He lived with his second wife, producer Anne Buydens,
until his death in 2020. A centenarian, Douglas was one
of the last surviving stars of the film industry’s Golden
Age. 

1960

 
CARLATA BRADLEY    
    
    
 
  

Dave Brubeck was a jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded
as a foremost exponent of cool jazz.

Born in Concord, California, Brubeck was drafted into the US
Army, but was spared from combat service when a Red Cross
show he had played at became a hit. Within the US Army,
Brubeck formed one of the first racially diverse bands.

Brubeck died of heart failure on December 5, 2012, in
Norwalk, Connecticut, one day before his 92nd birthday.