CARLATA BRADLEY

John Glenn made space history on this day in 1962 when he orbited
the Earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first
American to do so. He was aboard the Friendship 7 Mercury
capsule (above).

Here’s what John Glenn saw while orbiting the Earth. 

Friendship 7 capsule after splashdown.

The successful mission concluded with a splashdown and recovery
in the Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles southeast of Bermuda.

Sir Sidney Poitier is 92-years-old today.

Actor, director, and diplomat Sidney Poitier became the first
African American to win an Oscar after performing in Lilies
of the Field (1963). The films Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
(1967) To Sir, with Love (1967) and In the Heat of the Night
(1967), additionally bolstered his fame. The American Film
Institute called him one of the 25 Greatest Male Stars of All
Time in 1999.

1961

TV movie, 2001

JOHN BELMONT

Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)

NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr., was killed in a crash during the final lap
of the Daytona 500 race on this day in 2001. Earnhardt was inducted into
numerous halls of fame, including the NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural
class in 2010.

John Joseph Travolta is 65 years old today.

Actor John Travolta starred in the 1970s hit films Saturday Night Fever 
and Grease. He went on to play Vincent Vega in the critically acclaimed
1994 film Pulp Fiction. Travolta  also starred in the action thriller Face/Off
(1997) with Nicolas Cage.  

1998

 
1996

Albert Finney (May 9, 1936 – February 7, 2019) 

LONDON (AP) — British actor Albert Finney, the Academy
Award-nominated star of films from "Tom Jones" to
"Skyfall," has died. 

Finney’s family said Friday that he "passed away peacefully
after a short illness with those closest to him by his side."

Finney was a rare star who managed to avoid the Hollywood
limelight for more than five decades after bursting to
international fame in 1963 in the title role of "Tom Jones."

The film gained him the first of five Oscar nominations. Others
followed for "Murder on the Orient Express," ”The Dresser,"
”Under the Volcano" and "Erin Brockovich."

In later years he brought authority to action movies, including
the James Bond thriller "Skyfall" and two of the Bourne films.

1963

1982

   
    
 
TIM MAGUIRE

It was on this day in 1968 when a South Carolina civil rights protest
turned deadly.

Businessman William Dickson Boyce (1858 – 1929)
incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on this day
in 1910. According to Scouting magazine, Boyce was
completely lost in a thick London fog in 1909 when a
boy came up to him and led him to where he wanted
to go.

Today is National Boy Scouts Day.