Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

January 14

1993
David Letterman announces he is moving to CBS, to compete with Jay Leno who received the Johnny Carson spot Letterman felt he deserved.

1990
America's Funniest Home Videos debuts on ABC.

1976
The Bionic Woman debuts on ABC.

1969
Explosions on the nuclear aircraft carrier Enterprise kill 27 people and injure 82.

1952
Today, network TV's first early-morning show, debuts on NBC.

1923
First transatlantic radio broadcast, between New York and London.

1914
Henry Ford begins assembly line production: The assembly time for his automobiles was reduced from 12½ hours to 93 minutes.

1905
The body of John Paul Jones is found buried in Paris, after six years of searching.

1832
Edgar Allen Poe: Metzengerstein, his first published short story appears in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier.

1639
First written constitution in America: The Fundamental Orders are created for the government of Connecticut. These earned Connecticut its nickname of The Constitution State.

1969
Jason Bateman, American actor. TV: The Hogan Family (David Hogan).

1941
Faye Dunaway, American Oscar-winning actress. Film: Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Chinatown (1974), and Network (1976, Oscar).

1926
Frank Aletter, American actor. TV: It's About Time (Mac).

1924     d. 1989
Guy Williams (Armando Catalano), American actor. TV: Zorro (title role) and Lost in Space (Dr. John Robinson).

1923     d. 2003
Mary Ann Jackson, American actress, one of The Little Rascals (older sister of Wheezer). She appeared in 32 Our Gang films (1928-31).

1919
Andy Rooney, American Emmy-winning commentator. TV: 60 Minutes ("Did you ever wonder...").

1914     d. 2002
Harold Russell, Canadian-born American actor. He was the first visibly handicapped person to appear in a major motion picture; he lost both hands in World War II. He won an Oscar for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) which he sold in 1992, making him the first person to openly sell their own Oscar.  He needed the money for his wife's medical expenses.

1902     d. 1989
Frances Bavier, American actress. TV: The Andy Griffith Show (Aunt Bee).

1892     d. 1992
Hal Roach, American Oscar-winning film director, producer. His films starred Harold Lloyd, Laurel & Hardy, and the Little Rascals.

1886     d. 1947
Hugh John Lofting, English-born American children's author, illustrator. Writings: The Story of Dr. Dolittle (1920) and its 10 sequels.

1875     d. 1965
Albert Schweitzer, German Nobel-winning medical missionary, philosopher.

1874     d. 1965
Thornton Waldo Burgess, American author of children's books, creator of Peter Rabbit and the briar patch, Reddy Fox, and Grandfather Frog.

1863     d. 1928
Richard Felton Outcault, American cartoonist, created the first recurring comic strip character (1896), the Yellow Kid of Hogan's Alley. He also created Buster Brown (1902).

1791     d. 1812
Calvin Phillips, American dwarf, world's shortest adult male. At age 19, he was 26½ inches, 12 pounds. (source: Guinness Book of World Records)

1741     d. 1801
Benedict Arnold, American general, traitor, attempted to betray West Point to the British during the American Revolution.

2006     b. 1922
Shelley Winters (Shirley Schrift), American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. Film: A Place In the Sun (1951), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959, Oscar), A Patch of Blue (1965, Oscar), Bloody Mamma (1970, Ma Barker), and The Poseidon Adventure (1972).  TV: Roseanne's grandmother in Roseanne.

1986     b. 1921
Donna Reed (Donna Mullenger), American Oscar-winning actress. Film: It's A Wonderful Life (1947, Mrs. Bailey) and From Here to Eternity (1953, Oscar, Alma the prostitute). TV: The Donna Reed Show.

1984     b. 1902
Ray Albert Kroc, American businessman, founder of McDonald's (1955).

1977     b. 1916
Peter Finch (William Mitchell), British Oscar-winning actor. Film: Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971, British Film Academy Award) and Network (1976, Oscar - the first posthumously-awarded Oscar).

1966     b. 1906
Sergei Korolev, Soviet scientist, rocket pioneer. He designed the rocket systems used for launching the first Soviet satellites and rockets to the moon.

1957     b. 1899
Humphrey Bogart (Humphrey DeForest Bogart), Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1943), and The African Queen (1952). His upper lip was scarred and partially paralyzed while serving in the Navy during World War I.

1742     b. 1656
Edmund Halley, English astronomer, mathematician. In 1682, he became the first to correctly predict the return date of a comet by predicting the 1758 return of the comet of 1682.

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