On This Day April 23

1962
First U.S. Satellite to reach the surface of the Moon: Ranger IV is launched, reaching the Moon's surface three days later.

1950
First NBA championship: The Minneapolis Lakers defeat the Syracuse Nationals four games to two. The championship had started on the 8th.

1896
First public showing of Edison's motion picture projector: The Vitascope is demonstrated at New York's Koster & Bial's Music Hall.

1789
First Roman Catholic newspaper in the U.S., Courrier de Boston, publishes its first issue. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1943 d. 1993
Herve Villechaize, 3-foot, 10-inch tall French actor. TV: Fantasy Island (Tatoo, with his famous opening "Boss, da plane, da plane").

1942
Sandra Dee (Alexandra Zuck), American teen actress. Film: The Reluctant Debutante (1958) and Gidget (1959).

1940
Lee Majors (Harvey Lee Yearly, 2nd), American actor. TV: The Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy.

1939
David Birney, American actor. TV: Serpico (title role) and St. Elsewhere (Dr. Ben Samuels).

1936 d. 1988
Roy Orbison, American singer. Music: Oh, Pretty Woman (1964, #1).

1932 d. 1984
James Fuller Fixx, American author, The Complete Book of Running (1977) which launched a running craze. He died of a heart attack while jogging. He also published three collections of puzzles: Games for the Super-Intelligent, More Games for the Super-Intelligent and Solve It!.

1928
Shirley Temple, American child actress, U.S. Ambassador to Ghana (1974-76) and Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989-). She became the youngest person to earn over a $1,000,000. Film: Stand Up and Cheer (1934), Curly Top (1935), and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938).

1858 d. 1947
Max Planck, German Nobel-winning physicist, discovered quantum physics (1900). His son was among those executed for the July 1944 attempt to assassinate Hitler.

1813 d. 1861
Stephen Arnold Douglas, American statesman, Lincoln debater. He was called "The Little Giant."

1791 d. 1868
James Buchanan, 15th U.S. President (1857-61). The only bachelor U.S. president.

1564 d. 1616
William Shakespeare, English author, The Taming of a Shrew, Romeo and Juliet (1597), and Hamlet.

1995 b. 1920
Howard Cosell (Howard Cohen), American Emmy-winning sports commentator.

1993 b. 1927
César Chávez, Mexican-American labor leader, activist, founder of the National Farm Workers Association.

1986 b. 1905
Harold Arlen (Hyman Arluck), American Oscar-winning composer. Music: Stormy Weather (1943), It's Only a Paper Moon (1932), That Old Black Magic (1942), and Over the Rainbow (1939, Oscar).

1983 b. 1908
Buster Crabbe (Clarence Linden Crabbe), American athlete, actor. He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for the 400-meter-freestyle swim and played Flash Gordon, Buck Roger, and Tarzan in the movies.

1965 b. 1891
George Adamski, Polish-American extraterrestrial contactee. Some regard him as the first contactee.

1616 b. 1564
William Shakespeare, English author, The Taming of a Shrew, Romeo and Juliet (1597), and Hamlet.

1616 b. 1547
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish author. Writings: Don Quixote (1605).

April 23

Events

Birthdays

Deaths