Events on This Day
1880 - Baseball’s first El Perfecto, a perfect game, was recorded. A perfect game is when no batter reaches a base during a complete game of at least nine innings. A southpaw, left-handed Lee Richmond of the Worcester (Massachusetts) Ruby Legs, pitched himself to perfection with a 1-0 shutout of the Cleveland Spiders in a National League game. Five days later, on June 17, the second, official perfect game was pitched by John Ward in another National League game between Providence and Buffalo. It was two and a half decades later before this feat was accomplished again.1897 - Swiss cutlery maker Carl Elsener patented his penknife, a “useful pocket tool,” later became well-known as the Swiss Army Knife.
1912 - Lillian Russell, famed theatrical actress, married for the fourth time on this day and said that she was retiring from the stage. Marriage will sometimes do that to people.
1923 - Harry Houdini, while in a straitjacket, suspended 40 feet in the air, amazed a large and quite disbelieving audience as he freed himself of the constraints.
1935 - Ella Fitzgerald recorded her first sides for Brunswick Records. The tunes were Love and Kisses and I’ll Chase the Blues Away. She was featured with Chick Webb and his band. Ella was 17 at the time and conducted the Webb band for three years following his death in 1939.
1939 - The Baseball Hall of Fame was formally dedicated at Cooperstown, NY. The shrine to major-league baseball stands in honor of baseball greats of the past.
1942 - Paul Whiteman and his orchestra recorded Travelin’ Light on Capitol Records of Hollywood, California. On the track with Whiteman’s orchestra was the vocal talent of ‘Lady Day’, Billie Holiday.
1947 - People gathered around the radio to listen to Sergeant Preston of The Yukon for the first time. The show, with the Canadian Mountie and his trusty dog, King, continued on the radio until 1955 (and on TV from 1955-1958). Sgt. Preston was created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, who also created The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet.
1948 - Ben Hogan won his first U.S. Open golf classic on this day.
1952 - Chevrolet Chief Engineer Maurice Olley and his team completed the first chassis for a special project, code-name Opel sports car, that would eventually become the 1953 Corvette. The first Corvette rolled off the assembly line a year later.
1957 - Stan ‘The Man’ Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals set a National-League baseball record by appearing in his 823rd consecutive game. The old record (822) had been held by Gus Suhr of the Pirates (& Phillies). Musial went on to extend his consecutive game streak to 895 in late August 1957.
1957 - Big band leader (and alto saxophonist) Jimmy Dorsey died in New York City of cancer at age 53. Shortly after his death, his band scored high on the charts with So Rare. The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra had been very popular in the early 1940s. With featured vocalists Helen O’Connell and Bob Eberly, the band’s hits included The Breeze and I, Amapola and Green Eyes.
1962 - Three convicts dug their way out of Alcatraz Prizon -- using spoons. Despite an intense search effort, bank robbers Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris were never seen again.
1963 - Elizabeth Taylor starred in the $40,000,000 film epic, Cleopatra. The movie certainly gave ticket buyers their money’s worth. Cleopatra ran four hours, three minutes. It opened at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on this day. Richard Burton starred as Marc Antony, Rex Harrison played Julius Caesar, Hume Cronyn played Sosigines, Carroll O’Connor was Casa and Roddy McDowell appeared as Octavian. We were at a loss, however, to find the name of the asp that bit Cleopatra. We do know where she was bitten -- just not what happened to the little snake. Sorry.
1965 - The Queen of England announced that The Beatles would receive the coveted MBE Award. The Order of the British Empire recognition had previously been bestowed only upon British military heroes, many of whom were so infuriated by the news, they returned their medals to the Queen. In fact, John Lennon wasn’t terribly impressed with receiving the honor. He returned it (for other reasons) four years later.
1967 - In the case of Loving vs. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state laws which prohibited iterracial marriages.
1971 - Tricia Nixon, the President’s daughter, married Edward F. Cox at a White House Rose Garden ceremony.
1977 - Ground-breaking ceremonies were held for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
1978 - Country singer Johnny Bond died of a heart attack (after suffering several strokes) in Burbank, California. He was 63. Bond was a guitar playing sidekick in Western films starring Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy. His record hits in the 1940s and early 1950s included Cimarron, Oklahoma Waltz and Sick, Sober and Sorry. His most requested song at live performances was the novelty song, Hot Rod Lincoln (1960).
1981 - Larry Holmes, 31, defended his heavyweight boxing title by earning a third-round TKO (technical knockout) over Leon Spinks in Detroit, MI. Spinks, who had lost his two front teeth in previous bouts, was understandably discouraged at being beaten so early and was quoted as having said, “Thith ith weely, weely a thame, youth know? Like, I wuth weddy, weely weddy, but, I got whupped up pwetty badth, I gueth.”
1982 - A major political rally attracted the largest crowd ever to such an event in New York City’s Central Park. Entertainers Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Linda Ronstadt gathered before 750,000 to rally for the cause of nuclear disarmament.
1985 - The National Hockey League Celebration of Excellence recognized ‘The Great One’, hockey star Wayne Gretsky, by awarding him his sixth Hart Trophy. The honor is earned by the Most Valuable Player in the NHL each year.
1987 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan delivered a now-famous speech at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Destruction began November 9, 1989 on the Berlin Wall that had divided the city for some 28 years.
1991 - The Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines began erupting after some 600 years of dormancy. It was a forewarning of the cataclysmic eruptions coming three days later.
1994 - The gruesomely-murdered bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were discovered outside Nicole’s Brentwood, California condominium. Within days, actor/football player O.J. Simpson was charged by police. He was acquitted in criminal court [1995], but found liable for the deaths in a civil suit [1997].
1994 - The (48th annual) Tony Awards show was held at the Gershwin Theatre, New York. Winners included Angels in America: Perestroika (best Play); Passion (best Musical); An Inspector Calls (best Revival Play); Carousel (best Revival Musical); Stephen Spinella in Angels in America: Perestroika (best Actor Dramatic); Diana Rigg in Medea (best Actress Dramatic); Boyd Gaines in She Loves Me (best Actor Musical); and Donna Murphy in Passion (best Actress Musical).
1996 - Trent Lott of Mississippi was chosen as Senate majority leader after Bob Dole stepped down to run for U.S. president.
1998 - These movies opened in the U.S.: Can’t Hardly Wait, starring Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose and Peter Facinelli; Dirty Work, with Norm Macdonald, Chevy Chase, Artie Lange, Christopher McDonald, Traylor Howard, Don Rickles and Jack Warden; and Six Days, Seven Nights, featuring Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, David Schwimmer and Jacqueline Obradors.
1999 - Texas governor George W. Bush -- in Des Moines, Iowa -- announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.
2001 - A federal court in New York sentenced Mohamed Rashed Daoud Al-’Owhali to life in prison without parole. Al-’Owhali, a Saudi-Arabian follower of Osama bin Laden, was convicted for his role in the deadly bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya, Africa.
2002 - Fashion designer Bill Blass died in New Preston, CT. He was 79 years old.
2002 - The Los Angeles Lakers finished off the New Jersey Nets in four games, winning their third straight NBA title with the 113-to-107 victory.
2003 - Air France donated the oldest of its Concordes to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
2003 - Academy Award-winning (To Kill a Mockingbird [1962]) actor Gregory Peck died in Los Angeles at 87 years of age. His many (over 50) films included Moby Dick, The Keys of the Kingdom, The Yearling, Gentleman’s Agreement, and Twelve O’Clock High.
2004 - Central African leaders of Chad and Cameroon (Africa) officially opened the tap on a 663-mile, $3.7 billion pipeline snaking from Chad through virgin rain forests to the Atlantic.
2005 - Kuwait state TV reported that the Kuwaiti government had appointed its first female Cabinet minister. Massouma al-Mubarak’s appointment came a month after lawmakers in the oil-rich nation granted women the right to vote -- and to run for office.
2006 - Gale force winds battering northern New Zealand cut power to Auckland, while heavy snow from a cold snap collapsed roofs and blanketed much of the country’s south.
2006 - The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, allowed inmates on death row to make last-minute claims that the chemicals used in lethal injections are too painful, and therefore amount to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution’s Eighth Amendment.
2007 - Don Herbert, TV’s Mr. Wizard, died at his Bell Canyon, CA home. He was 90 years old. Watch Mr. Wizard (1951-1965) introduced generations of young viewers to the joys of science. Herbert, using household items in his TV lab, with assistants who were ordinary boys and girls, won a Peabody Award in 1953.
2008 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that foreign prisoners at Guantanamo Bay had the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts.
2009 - New films showing in U.S. theatres: Call of the Wild, starring Christopher Lloyd, Timothy Bottoms, Veronica Cartwright, Christopher Dempsey, Joyce DeWitt and Ariel Gade; Doghouse, with Danny Dyer, Billy Murray, Christina Cole, Stephen Graham, Lee Ingleby, Noel Clarke and Emily Booth; Imagine That, starring Eddie Murphy, Thomas Haden Church, Nicole Ari Parker, James Patrick Stuart, Vanessa Williams, Larramie Doc Shaw and Robb Derringer; Street Dreams, with Paul Rodriguez Jr., Ryan Dunn, Rob Dyrdek, Compton Ass Terry, Ryan Sheckler and Adam Wylie; and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, starring Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro, Luis Guzman, Michael Rispoli and James Gandolfini.
2009 - All full power, over-the-air, analog television transmission signals on channels 2-13 and 14-69 in the U.S. stopped. TV owners of analog TVs or older HDTVs equipped only with standard NTSC tuners, receiving their TV programs over-the-air via an antenna, began receiving only ‘snow’ instead of their favorite shows.
2009 - A diving save in the final seconds by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury gave the Pittsburgh Penguins their first Stanley Cup since 1992 and prevented the Detroit Red Wings from repeating as champions. Not since the 1971 Montreal Canadiens, had a visiting team won the Stanley Cup mug on an opposing teams playing field. Amazingly, the Penguins had never lost a Game Seven in franchise history.
2010 - A French fishing vessel rescued 16-year-old Californian Abby Sunderland from her crippled sailboat in the turbulent southern Indian Ocean. The rescue brought relief to Sunderland’s family but ended her around-the-world sailing effort. She had set out from Los Angeles County’s Marina del Rey on Jan 23, in an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe solo and nonstop.
2011 - The Book of Mormon was the big winner at the 65th Tony Awards. The religious satire musical won nine awards, including Best Musical. War Horse won the Tony for Best Play.
2011 - The underdog Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat four games to two, to capture their first ever NBA championship.
2012 - Syrian forces attacked a neighborhood of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor with mortar fire, killing ten civilians, including a young girl. Three people were killed and dozens wounded in clashes in Al-Haffe. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reported that she had information Russia was supplying attack helicopters to Syria, warning that the Russian aircraft would escalate the conflict quite dramatically.
2013 - Movies opening in U.S. theatres included the comedy This is the End, starring Emma Watson, James Franco, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Michael Cera, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Mindy Kaling; and the documentary More Than Honey, with Fred Jaggi, Randolf Menzel, John Miller, Liane Singer, Heidrun Singer, hao Su Zhang and Fred Terry.
2013 - Thousands of Russian opposition activists marched through Moscow on Russia Day, decrying President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule. The protestors demanded the release from jail of people they considered to be political prisoners.
2014 - A Berlin court ordered Germany to pay the heirs of Jewish owners of a department store chain an additional 50 million euros ($68 million). This, in compensation for Schocken family property seized by the Nazis in the 1930s during their ‘Aryanization’ of businesses.
2014 - Sherri Lynn Wilkins was sentenced to 55 years to life in prison for hitting pedestrian Phillip Moreno with her car, then driving 2 miles with his body on the hood of the vehicle. All this while Wilkins, a substance-abuse counselor, was driving while drunk.
2015 - Movies opening in the U.S. included: Jurassic World, with Chris Pratt, Judy Greer and Ty Simpkins; The 11th Hour, starring Kim Basinger, Jordan Prentice and Sebastian Schipper; Debug, with Tenika Davis, Adrian Holmes and Kerr Hewitt; Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, starring Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman and Connie Britton; Vendetta, with Dean Cain, Michael Eklund and Kyra Zagorsky; and The Wolfpack, with Bhagavan Angulo, Govinda Angulo and Jagadisa Angulo.
2015 - Over 100,000 bare-chested, muscular Israeli men, drag queens in heavy makeup and high heels, women in colorful balloon costumes and others partied at Tel Aviv’s annual gay pride parade.
2016 - The Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup after Game 6 of the NHL hockey finals, beating the San Jose Sharks. The win came seven years to the day after the Pens won their last Cup.
2016 - It was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at the time: 49 people were killed (and 53 others were injured) when a gunman opened fire and seized hostages at the Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The shooter, Omar Mateen (29) from Port Saint Lucie, Florida, was killed in a gunfight with police officers.
2017 - French urban climber Alain Robert scaled a 29-story hotel in Barcelona with his bare hands -- in just 20 minutes.
2017 - The Golden State Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 129 to 120 in game five to wrap up the NBA finals (4 games to 1) at Oracle Arena in Oakland, CA. It was the first time in NBA history the same two teams had met for a third consecutive year (with the Warriors winning two out of the three).
2018 - POTUS Trump and North Korea dictator Kim Jong Un, meeting on Sentosa Island in Singapore, said they had committed to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula. This, during the first meeting in history between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean despot. Trump also announced a halt to U.S. military exercises with ally South Korea.
2019 - And Argentina court sentenced former government minister Jose Lopez to six years in prison. He had been caught by police trying to hide bags stuffed with $9 million in cash at a Buenos Aires convent.
2019 - POTUS Trump bragged that if a foreign power offered dirt on his 2020 opponent, he would be willing to accept it and that he would have no obligation to call in the FBI.
2020 - Movies released in the U.S. (theatres and virtual) this day included: Aviva, starring Zina Zinchenko, Bobbi Jene Smith and Tyler Phillips; Chhalaang, with Rajkummar Rao, Nushrat Bharucha and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub; and Infamous, starring Bella Thorne, Jake Manley and Marisa Coughlan.
2020 - The Minnesota Board of Pardons granted the state’s first posthumous pardon. This, to a man convicted because of a white woman’s false rape claim in 1920. Max Mason was in Duluth with a traveling circus. He was one of several black men accused of raping a white woman in the city. Three men were lynched as a result. Mason was the only one convicted. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. However, the doctor who examined the accuser never found evidence of rape. Mason was released from prison in 1925 on the condition that he not return to Minnesota for the next 16 years.
2020 - A federal judge ordered Seattle police to stop using tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang devices to break up largely peaceful protests. For nearly a week, people opposing police brutality and racial injustice had turned a neighborhood near the largely abandoned Capitol Hill precinct into ground zero for their protests. The judge said police had used excessive force. Protesters said they wanted the police precinct to be turned into a community center and some of the police department’s funding redirected to health and social services.
2020 - CVS drugstore chain joined Walmart in stopping the practice of keeping beauty and personal care products designed for people of color in locked display cases.
2020 - Russian President Vladimir Putin said an “absolute majority” of Russians backed his plan to change the constitution. Russian authorities had pulled out all the stops to get people to vote on amendments that would enable Putin to stay in office until 2036.
2021 - Hong Kong democracy activist Agnes Chow was released from prison on the second anniversary of the city’s huge democracy rallies, with police out in force and protests all but banned. The 24-year-old Chow served nearly seven months for her role in an unauthorised assembly during anti-government protests in the city in 2019.
2021 - Moscow’s mayor declared a public holiday for the week to combat a surge in COVID-19 cases. Sergei Sobyanin said the holiday would not apply to organizations that maintain the Russian capital’s infrastructure, the military, and other strategically important enterprises.
2022 - Twenty senators — ten Democrats and ten Republicans — announced a gun-control deal in response to recent mass shootings. The framework, kept modest to win enough support to overcome an expected Republican filibuster, called for establishing a federal grant program encouraging states to adopt red-flag laws, which generally would allow authorities to temporarily confiscate the guns of people deemed a threat to themselves or others. Other provisions would close the boyfriend loophole, preventing gun sales to domestic violence offenders other than spouses, and provide money to bolster mental health care and school security programs. The bipartiasn negotiations started after deadly mass shootings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and a Buffalo, New York, supermarket.
2022 - A Strange Loop won Best Musical at the 75th Tony Awards. Jennifer Hudson scored a Tony for producing A Strange Loop, giving her the rare EGOT status of those who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. The Lehman Trilogy took the Tony for Best Play. Company, which flipped the gender of the protagonist of Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical to become more female-focused, won five awards, including Best Musical Revival. Take Me Out was voted Best Revival of a Play. (The complete rundown.)
2023 - A boat carrying wedding guests overturned on the river Niger in Nigeria’s north central Kwara State. 106 people were killed; 144 were rescued.
and more...
Birthdays on This Day June 12
1897 - Sir (Robert) Anthony Eden
British Prime Minister [1955-1957]; died Jan 14, 19771909 - Archie Bleyer
musician: piano; song arranger, bandleader: Hernando’s Hideaway, Rockin’ Ghost; founded Cadence Records; died Mar 20, 19891914 - William Lundigan
actor: I’d Climb the Highest Mountain, The Fighting 69th, Pinky, Love Nest, The White Orchid; died Dec 20, 19751915 - Priscilla Lane (Mullican)
actress: Varsity Show, Million Dollar Baby, Arsenic and Old Lace; died Apr 4, 19951915 - David Rockefeller
banker: chairman: Chase Manhattan Bank; modern-art lover: trustee/chairman: Museum of Modern Art; chairman: Rockefeller University; died March 20, 20171916 - Irwin Allen
producer, director: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Towering Inferno, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure; died Nov 2, 19911916 - Ivan Tors
producer, director: Flipper, Zebra in the Kitchen, Namu, the Killer Whale, Gentle Ben, Salty; died June 4, 19831919 - Uta (Thyra) Hagen
Tony Award-winning actress: The Country Girl [1950], Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [1963]; films: The Boys from Brazil, Reversal of Fortune; died Jan 14, 20041921 - James A. Houston
author: Ghost Fox, The White Dawn, The Ice Master: A Novel of the Arctic; died Apr 17, 20051924 - George (Herbert Walker) Bush
41st U.S. President [1989-1993]; married to Barbara Pierce [four sons, two daughters]; nickname: Poppy; VicePresident under President Reagan, U.S. Congressman from Texas, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.; father of 43rd U.S. President George W. (Walker) Bush; died Nov 30, 20181927 - Al Fairweather
jazz musician: groups: Al Fairweather-Ralph Laing All Stars, Fairweather-Brown all Stars; died Jun 21, 19931928 - Vic Damone (Vito Rocco Farinola)
singer: On the Street Where You Live, An Affair to Remember, You Were Only Fooling; died Feb 11, 20181928 - Richard M. Sherman
songwriter [w/brother Robert]: It’s a Small World (After All); musical films include: Mary Poppins, The Happiest Millionaire, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Snoopy Come Home, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Slipper and the Rose, Charlotte’s Web; died May 25, 20241929 - Anne Frank
German Jewish girl who wrote a diary while in hiding with her family and four friends i n Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II; the diary has since been adapted into various books, movies and stage productions; died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Mar 12, 19451930 - Innes Ireland
auto racer: champ: American Grand Prix [1961]; died Oct 22, 19931930 - Jim Nabors
actor: Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., The Andy Griffith Show, The Jim Nabors Hour; singer: Back Home Again in Indiana; died Nov 30, 20171931 - Rona Jaffe
author: The Last Chance, Class Reunion; films: The Best of Everything, Mazes and Monsters; died Dec 30, 20051941 - Marv Albert (Marv Philip Aufrichtig)
sportscaster: NBC-TV1941 - Chick (Armando) Corea
Grammy Award-winning jazz composer, musician: No Mystery [1975], The Leprechaun: Leprechaun's Dream [1976], Friends [1978], In Concert, Zurich, Oct 28, 1979 [1981], GRP Super Live In Concert: Light Years [1988], Akoustic Band [1989], Native Sense: Rhumbata [1999], Like Minds [2000], Corea.Concerto: Spain [2001]; died Feb 9, 20211942 - Len Barry (Leonard Borisoff)
singer: 1-2-3, Like a Baby; group: The Dovells: The Bristol Stomp, You Can’t Sit Down1943 - Cornelius Johnson
football: Baltimore Colts guard: Super Bowl III, V1945 - Reg Presley
singer: group: Troggs: Wild Thing, Give It to Me, Love is All Around; died Feb 4, 20131947 - John Clifford
choreographer New York City Ballet, Artistic Director of Los Angeles Ballet, ballet master/repetiteur for George Balanchine Trust1947 - Steve Kiner
football: Dallas Cowboys linebacker: Super Bowl V1951 - Bun Carlos (Brad Carlson)
musician: drums: group: Cheap Trick: I Want You to Want Me, Ain’t That a Shame, Dream Police, Voices1951 - Brad Delp
musician: guitar, singer: group: Boston: More Than a Feeling, Long Time, Piece of Mind, Don’t Look Back, Man I’ll Never Be, Amanda; died March 9, 20071957 - Timothy Busfield
actor: Thirtysomething, Byrds of Paradise, Little Big League, Field of Dreams, Revenge of the Nerds, Sneakers, The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip1958 - Meredith Brooks
singer: I Need, What Would Happen, Where Lovers Meet; group: Graces: Lay Down Your Arms, Fear No Love, Time Waits for No One1958 - Rebecca Holden
actress: Knight Rider, General Hospital, Shattered Glory, From Venus, The Hollywood Beach Murders, The Sisterhood, Yogoreta eiyu; more1958 - Rory Sparrow
basketball: Villanova Univ., New York Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Sacramento Kings; NBA Player Programs Director1959 - Jenilee Harrison
actress: Three’s Company, Dallas, Fists of Iron, Prime Target, Curse 3: Blood Sacrifice, Tank1963 - Tim DeKay
actor: White Collar, Party of Five, Carnivàle, Tell Me You Love Me, Seinfeld, Friends, CSI, My Name Is Earl, NCIS, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Scrubs, Chuck1963 - Jerry Lynn
pro wrestler, actor: ECW Hardcore TV, Extreme Championship Wrestling, Raw Is War, Sunday Night Heat1964 - Doug Brown
hockey: NJ Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings1964 - Paula Marshall
actress: The Wonder Years, Snoops, Cupid, Spin City, Chicago Sons, The Single Guy, Seinfeld1965 - Cathy Tyson
actress: Perfect, Band of Gold, Priest, The Golden Years, Out of the Blue, Rules of Engagement, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Mona Lisa1968 - Scott Aldred
baseball [pitcher]: Detroit Tigers, Colorado Rockies, Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Philadelphia Phillies1970 - Rick Hoffman
actor: Suits, Jake in Progress, The Day After Tomorrow, Cellular, Smiley Face, The Condemned1971 - Mark Henry
pro wrestler, actor: Raw is War, Wrestlemania XIV, Sunday Night Heat, WWF Judgement Day, WWF Smackdown!, Armageddon1971 - Ryan Klesko
baseball: Atlanta Braves, SD Padres1974 - Kerry Kittles
basketball [guard]: Villanova Univ; NJ Nets, LA Clippers1974 - Hideki Matsui
baseball [outfielder]: New York Yankees [2003–2009]: 2009 World Series champs; Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim [2010]; Oakland Athletics [2011]; Tampa Bay Rays [2012]1974 - Jason Mewes
actor: Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks: The Animated Series1975 - Ryan Tucker
football: Texas Christian Univ; NFL: SL Rams, Cleveland Browns1976 - Antawn Jamison
basketball [forward]: Univ of North Carolina; Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards1977 - Kenny Wayne Shepherd
blues guitarist, singer, songwriter: Slow Ride, Everything Is Broken, I Found Love [When I Found You], Trouble Is...., Born With a Broken Heart, Shame, Shame, Shame1978 - DJ (Donald Joseph) Qualls
actor: Road Trip, The New Guy, Hustle & Flow, Delta Farce, Familiar Strangers, Last Day of Summer, Circle of Eight, Memphis Beat, Supernatural1979 - Dallas Clark
football [tight end]: Univ of Iowa; NFL: Indianapolis Colts [2003–2011]: Super Bowl XLI champs [2007]; Tampa Bay Buccaneers [2012]1979 - Robyn (Robin Miriam Carlsson)
singer: Do You Know (What It Takes), Show Me Love, Do You Really Want Me, Electric, Keep This Fire Burning, Be Mine!, Dancing on My Own, Hang with Me, Indestructible, Missing U1981 - Adriana Lima
model, in films: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Videofashion! News1985 - Dave Franco
actor: Scrubs, 21 Jump Street, Charlie St. Cloud, Fright Night; younger brother of actor James Franco1986 - Jessica Keenan Wynn
actress: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, The Mimic, The Girl on the Train, Forever; Broadway: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Heathers: The Musical1988 - Cody Horn
actress: The Office, Rescue Me, Occupant, Magic Mike, Demonic1990 - Jrue Holiday
basketball [guard]: NBA: Philadelphia 76ers [2009–2013]; New Orleans Pelicans [2013–2020]; Milwaukee Bucks [2020– ]: 2021 NBA champs
and still more...
Hit Music on This Day June 12
1944Long Ago and Far Away (facts) - Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes
I’ll Get By (facts) - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Dick Haymes)
I’ll Be Seing You (facts) - The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra (vocal: Frank Sinatra)
Straighten Up and Fly Right (facts) - King Cole Trio
1953Song from Moulin Rouge (facts) - The Percy Faith Orchestra
April in Portugal (facts) - The Les Baxter Orchestra
Pretend (facts) - Nat King Cole
Take These Chains from My Heart (facts) - Hank Williams
1962I Can’t Stop Loving You (facts) - Ray Charles
Lovers Who Wander (facts) - Dion
(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance (facts) - Gene Pitney
She Thinks I Still Care (facts) - George Jones
1971Want Ads (facts) - The Honey Cone
Rainy Days and Mondays (facts) - Carpenters
It’s Too Late (facts)/I Feel the Earth Move (facts) - Carole King
You’re My Man (facts) - Lynn Anderson
1980Funkytown (facts) - Lipps, Inc.
Coming Up (facts) - Paul McCartney & Wings
Biggest Part of Me (facts) - Ambrosia
My Heart (facts) - Ronnie Milsap
1989Wind Beneath My Wings (facts) - Bette Midler
I’ll Be Loving You (Forever) (facts) - New Kids on the Block
Every Little Step (facts) - Bobby Brown
A Better Man (facts) - Clint Black
1998My All (facts) - Mariah Carey
Too Close (facts) - Next
I Get Lonely (facts) - Janet Jackson
I Just Want to Dance With You (facts) - George Strait
2007Summer Love (facts) - Justin Timberlake
Girlfriend (facts) - Avril Lavigne
Makes Me Wonder (facts) - Maroon 5
Good Directions (facts) - Billy Currington
2016One Dance (facts) - Drake featuring WizKid & Kyla
Panda (facts) - Desiigner
Can’t Stop The Feeling! (facts) - Justin Timberlake
H.O.L.Y. (facts) - Florida Georgia Line
and even more...
Those were the days, my friend. We thought they’d never end...
TWtD Calendar