Tuesday, May 27, 2008

A Busy weekend for the Grim Reaper

Among those who left us this weekend were -

Hollywood legend, Sydney Pollack passed away yesterday after losing his battle with cancer. Pollack will be remembered for his work as the director of Tootsie, The Way We Were and Out of Africa, a producer of such notables as Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr. Ripley, and as an actor in Made of Honor, Michael Clayton, Eyes Wide Shut and on TV as Will's father in Will & Grace. He is survived by his wife Claire, two daughters and six grandchildren.




Comedian Dick Martin, 86, who along with Dan Rowan starred and hosted Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, the variety show from the 1960s that launched the careers of Goldie Hawn and Lily Tomlin among others, died this past Saturday at a hospital in Santa Monica due to respiratory difficulties. After Laugh-In, Dick's career continued as a prolific TV director after his split with Dan Rowan in the 1970s. Rowan passed away in 1987.



Here is your Today in History -

May 27 1923 -
Henry Kissinger is born in Fuerth, Germany. 50 years later, Dr. Kissinger receives the Nobel Peace Prize for quitting the Vietnam War. No kidding.



Mein Fuhrer I can walk !!!

May 27, 1933 -
The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon The Three Little Pigs. The natural commercial tie-in with Parks Link sausages isn't such a big hit though.



May 27 1942 -
A couple of Czech assassins ambush the car carrying Reinhard Heydrich and toss a grenade into the front seat. The man who headed the Wannsee Conference is mortally wounded in the attack, and dies of septicemia a week later. The Nazis retaliate by obliterating the Catholic village of Lidice, Czechoslovakia and its inhabitants.



May 27 1977 -
After the pressing plant initially refuses to duplicate the record and the printer refuses to make the covers, Virgin finally releases "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols in time for the monarch's Jubilee celebration.



Apparently, their deepest wishes have come true, 31 years later, she's still there.

May 27 1993 -
Five are killed and 37 wounded when a Fiat Fiorino explodes outside the Uffizi museum in Florence, Italy. The car bomb (a combination of PETN, T4, and TNT, kids does try to make this at home) also manages to obliterate three priceless artworks and substantially damage thirty more. The bombing appears to have been the work of the Sicilian Mafia.



May 27 1995-
During the third jump of an equestrian event in Charlottesville, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is thrown headfirst over his horse. Reeve breaks his neck in two places, instantly rendering him a
quadriplegic, unable to move or breathe without assistance.



Today's birthday include Siouxsie Sioux (1957),



Neil Finn (1958),



Hubert Humphrey (1911),



Vincent Price (1911),



And so it goes.

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