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.

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.

SANDY KOZEL

Just after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was
fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-
story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation
workers’ strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet
struck him in the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was
pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. He
was only 39 years old.

James Earl Ray (March 10, 1928 – April 23, 1998)

Ray was convicted of the Assassination of Martin Luther
King, Jr.

The Lorraine Motel, now known as the National Civil Rights Museum, where King was assassinated.

English rock / blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric
Patrick Clapton is regarded as one of the most successful
and influential guitarists in rock music. He ranked second
in Rolling Stone‘s list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All
Time and fourth in Gibson‘s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time."

 
ROSS SIMPSON

    
    
 John Warnock Hinckley Jr. will be 69 in May.