On this day in 2014, broadcast journalist and TV personality Barbara Walters retires from ABC News and as co-host of the daytime program “The View.” In a landmark career that spanned some 50 years on air, the 84-year-old Walters blazed a trail for women in TV news. On Walter’s May […]
On this day in 2014, Philip Seymour Hoffman, considered one of the most talented and versatile actors of his generation, dies of an accidental drug overdose at age 46 in New York City. During his career, the prolific performer appeared in more than 50 movies, including “Capote,” “Doubt” and “The […]
On this day in 2013, James Gandolfini, the actor best known for his role as New Jersey crime boss Tony Soprano on the TV series “The Sopranos,” which debuted in 1999 and ran for six seasons, dies of a heart attack while vacationing in Rome, Italy. He was 51. The […]
On this day in 2013, Esther Williams, a champion teenage swimmer who went on to star in a series of hugely popular aquatic-themed movie-musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, dies at age 91 in Beverly Hills, California. Born on August 8, 1921, in Inglewood, California, Williams learned to swim as […]
On this day in 2013, one of America’s best-known and most influential movie critics, Roger Ebert, who reviewed movies for The Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years and on TV for 31 years, dies at age 70 after a battling cancer. In 1975, Ebert started co-hosting a movie review program on […]
On this day in 2012, Andy Griffith, famous for his role as the good-hearted, small-town sheriff of fictional Mayberry, North Carolina, on the iconic 1960s TV sitcom “The Andy Griffith Show,” dies at age 86 at his North Carolina home. The actor also was known for his starring role in […]
On this day in 2012, Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Nora Ephron, whose credits include “Silkwood,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and “You’ve Got Mail,” dies at age 71 of complications from leukemia in New York City. Known for her sharp, witty writing style, Ephron was an accomplished writer, director and producer as […]
On this day in 2012, Dick Clark, the TV personality and producer best known for hosting “American Bandstand,” an influential music-and-dance show that aired nationally from 1957 to 1989 and helped bring rock `n’ roll into the mainstream in the late 1950s, dies of a heart attack at age 82 […]
On this day in 2010, 88-year-old actress Betty White, known for her former roles on “The Golden Girls” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” becomes the oldest person to host the long-running, late-night TV sketch comedy show “Saturday Night Live” (SNL). White’s hosting gig came about, in part, after hundreds […]
On this day in 2010, comedian Conan O’Brien hosts his final episode of “The Tonight Show,” following an announcement by NBC earlier in the month that Jay Leno would return as the host of the long-running, late-night program. The decision to replace O’Brien was met with protests by his fans […]
On this day in 2009, Michael Jackson, one of the most commercially successful entertainers in history, dies at the age of 50 at his home in Los Angeles, California, after suffering from cardiac arrest caused by a fatal combination of drugs given to him by his personal doctor. Michael Joseph […]
On this day in 2008, The Dark Knight, the fifth film in the big-screen Batman series, opens in theaters around the United States, six months after the death of one of its stars, Heath Ledger, who played the Joker. The Dark Knight beat out the previous record-holder, 2007’s Spider-Man 3, […]
On this day in 2008, the final episode of The Real World: Hollywood, a reality television show about seven young adults selected to live together, airs on MTV. Real World: Hollywood marked the 20th season of the pioneering reality program, which debuted in 1992 and went on to become MTV’s […]
On this day in 2008, the influential comic writer, actor and stand-up comedian George Carlin dies of heart failure at the age of 71. Born in New York City, Carlin dropped out of high school and joined the Air Force. While stationed in Shreveport, Louisiana, he got a job as […]
Cyd Charisse, who shot to Hollywood stardom as the graceful, long-legged dancing partner of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire in classic Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals such as Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Brigadoon (1954) and Silk Stockings (1957), dies of a heart attack on this day in 2008, in Los Angeles. She […]
