On December 28, 1981, the first American "test-tube baby,"
a child born as a result of in-vitro fertilization,was born in
Norfolk, Virginia. Considered a miracle at the time, births
like that of Elizabeth Jordan Carr are now common.
Elizabeth Jordan Carr is 42 years young today.
On August 5, 2010, Carr gave birth to her first child, Trevor
James Comeau (below). He was conceived without the
assistance of Artificial Reproductive Technology.
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is 69 years old today.
With a career spanning over four decades, actor Washington
has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award,
two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and two
Silver Bears.
He was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement
Award in 2016, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and in
2020 The New York Times named him the greatest actor of
the 21st century. In 2022, Washington received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.
1989
1995
2002
2012
Denzel Washington holds his Oscar after winning
the award for best actor in a leading role for his
portrayal of Alonzo, a narcotics officer who has
crossed the dangerous line between cop and
criminal, in the movie "Training Day" (2001).
On December 22, 1956, a baby gorilla named Colo entered the
world at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, becoming the first-ever
gorilla born in captivity.
Weighing in at approximately 4 pounds, Colo, a western lowland
gorilla whose name was a combination of Columbus and Ohio,
was the daughter of Millie and Mac, two gorillas captured in
French Cameroon, Africa, who were brought to the Columbus
Zoo in 1951.
Before Colo’s birth, gorillas found at zoos were caught in the
wild, often by brutal means. In order to capture a gorilla when
it was young and therefore still small enough to handle,
hunters frequently had to kill the gorilla’s parents and other
family members.
Colo was fond of baseball caps.
Colo on her 60th birthday, surpassed the median life expectancy for female gorillas in human care (37.5 years) by more than two
decades.
Colo became a mother of three, grandmother of 16, great-
grandmother of 12 and great-great-grandmother of three.
She died in her sleep January 17, 2017, less than a month
after her birthday.
ED DANAHUE
Jane Seymour Fonda is 86 years young today.
The actress and activist Jane Fonda is the recipient of
various accolades, including two Academy Awards,
two British Academy Film Awards, seven Golden
Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the AFI
Life Achievement Award, the Honorary Palme d’Or,
and the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
1980
On December 13, 1925, Dick Van Dyke, the quintessential
“nice guy” actor who would become known for his roles
in such movie classics as Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang, as well as the popular 1960s TV sitcom The
Dick Van Dyke Show, is born in West Plains, Missouri.
Initially aired on CBS from October 3, 1961, to June 1, 1966,
a total of 158 half-hour episodes spanning five seasons.
On the set.
