On This Day May 27

1995
Superman actor, Christopher Reeve, is paralyzed from the neck down after being thrown from a horse. He had been scheduled to pose for an equestrian safety poster.

1994
New Catechism: The Roman Catholic Church releases the English version of its first revision to its catechism in 426 years. It was more tolerant toward gays and maintained the Church's position against birth control and abortion. Its release was delayed 18 months due to debates over gender-neutral language.

1992
Religious leader Yahweh Ben Yahweh is convicted of conspiring to kill, maim, and burn to intimidate both members and non-members of his religious sect.

1977
First woman to race in the Indianapolis 500: Janet Guthrie finishes 29th of 33. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1975
Marijuana: The Alaskan Supreme Court legalizes its use in the privacy of one's home.

1964
From Russia with Love premiers in the U.S., 2nd in the James Bond series, it starred Sean Connery as 007.

1941
World War II: Germany's largest battleship of the war, the Bismarck, is sunk off the coast of France.

1931
First men in the stratosphere: Swiss scientists Auguste Piccard and Charles Kipfer reach 51,775 feet in a sealed-gondola balloon flight in Germany.

????
The $280 million diamond ransom must be delivered by 8:00 P.M., in the movie Thunderball.

1966
Todd Bridges, American actor. TV: Diff'rent Strokes (Willis). In 1989, he was acquitted of the attempted murder of a drug dealer at a crack house, and in a separate incident in 1993, he plead guilty to possession of drugs and a loaded gun.

1936
Louis Gossett Jr., American Oscar-Emmy-winning actor. Film: An Officer and a Gentleman (1982, Oscar).

1935
Lee Meriwether, American actress. TV: Batman (one of the Catwomen) and The New Munsters (Lily).

1923
Henry Alfred Kissinger (Heinz Alfred Kissinger), former U.S. Secretary of State, winner of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize.

1922
Christopher Lee, British actor. Film: The monster in numerous horror movies - including Frankenstein and Dracula - and as Bond's nemesis Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). He was also author Ian Fleming's cousin.

1915
Herman Wouk, American Pulitzer-winning author. Writings: The Caine Mutiny (1951, Pulitzer) and The Winds of War (1971).

1912
Sam Snead, golfer, 3-time Masters winner (1949, 52, 54), 3-timer winner of the PGA Championship (1942, 49, 51), and winner of the British Open (1946), 6-time winner of the Seniors Championship (1964-65, 67, 70, 72-73).

1911 d. 1993
Vincent Price, American horror actor. Film: House of Wax (1953) and The Fly (1958). TV: Batman (as Egghead) and Mystery (as host).

1907 d. 1964
Rachel Louise Carson, American biologist, conservationist. Her 1962 book Silent Spring alerted the nation to the dangers of pesticides.

1897 d. 1967
Sir John Cockcroft, British nuclear physicist, in 1932 he and Ernest Walton became the first to use a particle accelerator to split an atom, for which they were awarded the 1951 Nobel Prize.

1894 d. 1961
Dashiell Hammett, American author. Writings: The Maltese Falcon (1930) and Adventures of Sam Spade (1944).

1837 d. 1876
Wild Bill Hickok (James Butler Hickok), American frontiersman, U.S. marshall, and famous citizen of Deadwood, South Dakota. He was shot in the back during a poker game while holding two pair (aces and eights), since known as a "dead man's hand."

1819 d. 1910
Julia Ward Howe, American poet. She wrote the lyrics to The Battle Hymn of the Republic (1861).

1818 d. 1894
Amelia Jenks Bloomer, American women's rights advocate. She published the Lily, the first major women's rights newspaper (1849), in which she advocated the wearing of bloomers.

1794 d. 1877
Cornelius Vanderbilt, American railroad magnate, and for whom Vanderbilt University is named.

1991 b. 1902
Edward Benton Dodd, American cartoonist, created Mark Trail (1946).

1969 b. 1925
Jeffrey Hunter (Henry H. McKinnies), American actor. Film: King of Kings (1961, Christ). TV: Star Trek (Capt. Pike, the first commander of the Enterprise).

1964 b. 1889
Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman, first prime minister of the Republic of India (1947-64).

1960 b. 1877
James Montgomery Flagg, American artist, creator of the "I Want You" Uncle Sam recruiting poster (1917). He used his own face as the model for the poster.

1949 b. 1893
Robert LeRoy Ripley, American cartoonist, created Believe-It-or-Not (1918). Note: He claimed his birthday was Dec 25, believe it or not.

1914 b. 1828
Joseph Wilson Swan, English inventor, chemist. Known for his development of dry photographic plates, he also invented a carbon element electric light (1860), which was the basis of Edison's light 20 years later.

1840 b. 1782
Nicolo Paganini, Italian violin virtuoso, considered the greatest violinist of all time.

May 27

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