Olivia de Havilland in the 1939 epic Gone With the Wind.
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland
Retired actress Olivia de Havilland portrayed Melanie Hamilton in Gone with the Wind. Her performance in the 1946 film To Each His Own earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Her acting career began when she participated in school drama club.
She is of British heritage but was born in Japan. Her first stage production was at the Hollywood Bowl, playing Hermia in A Midsummer’s night Dream.
During the U.S. Civil War, the first day’s fighting at Gettysburg began on this day in 1863.
The first peacetime detonation of a nuclear bomb happened on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean on this day in 1946.
During the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" waged a victorious assault on San Juan Hill in Cuba on this day in 1898.
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919)
Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances Spencer) (July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997)
The sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain to China on this day in 1997. Britain had controlled Hong Kong as a colony for 156 years.
Adolf Hitler purged the Nazi Party by destroying the SA and bringing to power the SS in the "Night of the Long Knives”.
The original Pure Food and Drug Act (also known as the Wiley Act) was passed by Congress on June 30, 1906 and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt. It prohibited interstate commerce in misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks and drugs under penalty of seizure of the questionable products and/or prosecution of the responsible parties.
The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 11 returned to Earth on this day in 1971. The three cosmonauts (below) were found dead inside.
Margaret Mitchell’s book, "Gone with the Wind," was published in this day in 1936. It was one of the best-selling novels of all time and the basis for a blockbuster 1939 movie.
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell(November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949)
From left: Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan.
On this day in 1994, the U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the 1994 national championship and banned her from the organization for life for an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne(June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010)
Twentieth-century African-American singer and actress Lena Horne sang "Stormy Weather," won a Grammy Award for a 1981 album entitled Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, and appeared in film versions of The Wiz, Broadway Rhythm, and Ziegfeld Follies.
After dropping out of high school at the age of sixteen, she performed in the chorus of Harlem’s famed Cotton Club.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – An R2-D2 droid that was used in several “Star Wars”
films has sold at auction for nearly $3 million.
The auction house Profiles in History said the 43-inch tall unit that was
compiled from parts used throughout filming of the original trilogy sold for
$2.76 million at an auction Wednesday.
There was no information about who purchased the droid, which was the
most expensive item offered in a movie memorabilia auction that included numerous props from the “Star Wars” franchise.
R2-D2, played by Kenny Baker, and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
on the set of the original Star Wars film in 1976.
On this day in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty could constitute "cruel and unusual punishment." The ruling prompted states to revise their capital punishment laws.
Israel removed barricades, re-unifying Jerusalem on this day in 1967.
The shuttle Atlantis (bottom) and the Russian space station Mir docked, forming the largest man-made satellite ever to orbit the Earth on this day in 1995.
