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)

White House National Security Communications Advisor
John Kirby speaks during the daily briefing at the White
House on Dec. 12, 2024. 

New Jersey State Assemblyman Paul Kanitra described
the government’s handling of the weekslong drone
sightings across the northeast as "infuriating."
(Doug Hood/Asbury Park Press)

NEW YORK (AP) — George Joseph Kresge Jr., who was known
to generations of TV watchers as the mesmerizing entertainer
and mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, reportedly died from
complications of dementia at an assisted living facility in Wayne,
New Jersey.         

Kreskin (right) and Johnny Carson.

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.

Michael Cole, who most famously portrayed Pete Cochran,
one of the three young undercover cops on ABC’s crime
drama Mod Squad (1968-1973), died on Tuesday at the 
Medical Center in Tarzana, California. No cause of death
has been revealed at this time.

Cole was the last surviving member of the original cast.