Happy Birthday RIP John “Dizzy” Gillespie(1917–1993) Carrie Fisher(1956–2016) Joyce Randolph(Sirola 1924–2024) ; Manfred Mann(Lubowitz)–84 Judith “Judy” Sheindlin(Blum)–82 Kensaku Watanabe–65 Jade Jagger–53 Sasha Roiz–51 Jeremy Miller–48 William Estes Nipper–46 Matthew Dallas–42 Aaron Tveit–41 ; 1879 – Thomas Edison invented a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. which was tested the next day and lasted 13.5 hours. This would be the start of the invention of the first commercially practical incandescent light. Popular belief is that he invented the light bulb, which he did not. He invented the first bulb for which use was practical.
October 20
Happy Birthday RIP Bela Lugosi(Blaskó 1882–1956) John Dewey(1859–1952) Jerome Orbach(1935–2004) Dr. Joyce Brothers(Bauer 1927–2013) William Christopher(1932–2016) Thomas Petty(1950–2017) ; Thomas Newman–69 Viggo Mortensen Jr–66 Kamala Harris–60 Calvin Broadus(“Snoop Dogg”)–53 Samuel Witwer–47 John Krasinski–45 Niall Matter–44 Adam Butcher–36 ; 1803 – The U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase.
October 19
Happy Birthday RIP “LaWanda Page”(Alberta Peal 1920–2002) “Robert Reed”(John Rietz Jr 1932–1992) Harris Glenn Milstead(“Divine” 1945–1988) David Cornwell(“John Le Carré” 1931–2020) Sir Michael Gambon(1940–2023) ; John Lithgow–79 Patricia Ireland–79 Jennifer Holliday–64 Amy Carter–57 Randolph “Trey” Parker III–55 Christopher Kattan–54 Desmond Harrington–48 ; 1987 – “Black Monday” the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or -22.6 percent in value, the largest one-day percentage drop (worse than 1929 at -12.82%)
October 18
Happy Birthday RIP George Campbell Scott(1927–1999) Peter Boyle Jr(1935–2006) Erin Moran(1960–2017) Charles “Chuck” Berry(1926–2017) Dawn Wells 1938–2020) ; Michael Ditka(Dyczko)–85 Pamela Dawber–73 Martina Navratilova–68 Jean-Claude Van Damme(Varenberg)–64 Zachary Efron–37 Tyler Posey–33 ; 1867 – United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day ; 1922 – The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service
October 17
Happy Birthday RIP Edward Montgomery Clift(1920–1966) “Rita Hayworth”(Margarita Cansino 1918–1987) Thomas Poston(1921–2007) Robert “Evil” Knievel(1938–2007) Margaret “Margot” Kidder(1948–2018) Norman Macdonald (1958–2021)James Seals(1941–2021) ; Michael McKean–77 George Wendt III–76 David “Ziggy” Marley–56 Marshall Mathers III(“Eminem”)–52 David Matthew Macfadyen–50 Chris Lowell–40 Maximillian Irons–39 ; 1919 – RCA is incorporated as the Radio Corporation of America ; 1956 – The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield, Cumbria, England ; 2010 – Spirit Day is an annual LGBTQ awareness day observed on the third Thursday in October. Started in 2010 by Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan, it was initially created in response to a rash of widely publicized bullying-related suicides of gay school students in 2010
October 16
Happy Birthday RIP Oscar Wilde(1854–1900) Michael Conrad(1925–1983) Angela Lansbury(1925–2022) Suzanne Somers(Mahoney 1946–2023) ; Leonard Barrie Corbin–84 Timothy Robbins–66 Kim Wayans–63 Michael Balzary(“Flea”)–62 Paul Sparks–53 Johnathan Mayer–47 Brea Grant–43 ; 1923 – The Walt Disney Company is founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy
October 15
Happy Birthday RIP “Mark Lenard”(Leonard Rosenson 1924–1996) Carole Penny Marshall(1943–2018) Tanya Roberts(Victoria Blum 1955–2021) ; Linda Lavin–87 Richard Carpenter–78 Sarah Ferguson Duchess of York–65 Emeril Lagasse III–65 Dominic West–55 William Brent Unger–29 ; 1878 – The Edison Electric Light Company begins operation (later General Electric) in Schenectady New York ; 1951 – The first episode of “I Love Lucy”, an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley, airs on the Columbia Broadcasting System(CBS)
October 14
Happy Birthday RIP David Dwight Eisenhower(1890–1969) Lillian Gish(1893–1993) Charles Everett Koop(1916–2013) Sir Roger Moore(1927–2017) Harry Anderson(1952–2018) ; Ralph Lauren(Lifschitz)–85 Gregory Evigan–71 Thomas Dolby(Robertson)–66 Isaac Mizrahi–63 Stephen Coogan–59 Karyn White–59 Usher Raymond IV–46 Maximillion Thieriot–36 ; 1926 – The children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne, is first published ; 1964 – Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was named winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence ; 1977 – Anita Bryant gets a pie thrown in her face by gay rights activist Tom Higgins after she makes derogatory remarks about homosexuals. She called us deviants and predators, telling Mr Higgins that Rolling Stone would report the incident and he would regret it. Instead the incident ruined Bryant’s career and made her infamous. She’s still alive and in seclusion living out her pathetic final days.
October 13
Happy Birthday RIP Laraine Johnson(“Day” 1920–2007) Margaret Thatcher(Roberts 1925–2013) ; Paul Simon–83 Grady Demond Wilson–78 Samuel “Sammy” Hagar–77 Olive Marie Osmond–65 Matthew Walsh–60 Kathleen “Kate” Walsh–57 Sacha Baron Cohen–53 Ashanti Douglas–44 ; 1843 – In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others founded B’nai B’rith (בני ברית) “Children of the Covenant” , the oldest Jewish service organization in the world
October 12
Happy Birthday RIP Luciano Pavarotti(1935–2007) Adam Rich(1968–2023) ; Christopher Wallace–77 Susan Anton–74 Christopher Botti–62 Hugh Jackman–56 Joshua Hutcherson–32 ; 1998 – Matthew Shepard, a gay student at University of Wyoming, dies five days after he was brutally beaten, suffered severe head trauma, and was robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside of Laramie Wyoming. When he was found there was blood caked on his entire face except where tears had steamed down his cheeks. The two men that murdered him are serving double life sentences without parole in separate facilities.