On This Day June 27

1994
Anna Nicole Smith: The 26 year-old topless dancer/playmate marries 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall. He died a little more than a year later, leading to an extended legal battle over his estate.

1992
Dave beats Dan: Reebok's advertising campaign comes to a halt when Dan O'Brien fails to make the Olympic track team. Dave Johnson went on without him.

1991
Thurgood Marshall: The first black U.S. Supreme Court justice announces his resignation.

1990
Hubble Space Telescope: NASA announces that the $1.5 billion telescope intended to view farther into space than any telescope on Earth, has a flawed lens which greatly reduces it capabilities.

1979
First black woman judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals: Amalya Lyle Kearse is sworn in at the U.S. Court of Appeals, New York City.

1979
Affirmative Action: U.S. Supreme Court rules that private businesses can give special preference to minorities and women.

1973
Live and Let Die: The 8th film in the James Bond series premiers in the U.S. It starred Roger Moore as 007.

1966
Dark Shadows: This unusual - it featured vampires and ghosts - daytime soap opera debuts on ABC.

1954
First nuclear power plant: The Soviet Union begins operating a 5,000-Kilowatt plant in Obninsk.

1950
Korean War - First U.S. combat mission involving gunfire: An American pilot shoots down a North Korean fighter.

1949
TV's first interplanetary hero: Captain Video and His Video Rangers debuts on DuMont, starring Richard Coogan as the Captain.

1934
Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation: Agency to insure investors up to $5,000 (later increased to $10,000) is created.

1929
First U.S. public demonstration of color TV: Bell Laboratories demonstrates their low-definition mechanically-scanned TV system.

1930
H. Ross Perot, American billionaire. He gave George Bush a run for his money in 1992.

1927 d. 2004
Bob Keeshan, American Emmy-winning actor. TV: Howdy Doody (Clarabell the Clown) and Captain Kangaroo (title role). Quote: If you want more time in your life, don't watch TV.

1888 d. 1946
Antoinette Perry, American actress, director, for whom "Tony Awards" are named. She served as director of the wartime board of the American Theater Wing.

1880 d. 1968
Helen Keller, American author, lecturer. She overcame being both blind and deaf since the age of 19 months.

1859 d. 1915
Mildred J. Hill, American schoolteacher. She composed Happy Birthday to You (1893). Originally called Good Morning to All, the lyrics - written by her sister - were changed in 1924 to the now familiar words. It has become the most sung song in the world.

1550 d. 1574
Charles IX, King of France (1560-74). Responsible for the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572) in which thousands of Huguenots were killed.

1996 b. 1909
Albert Broccoli, American movie producer of the James Bond movies.

1992 b. 1930
Sandy Amoros (Edmundo Isasi Amoros), Cuban-born baseball player. He made one of the greatest catches of World Series history (1955).

1984 b. 1902
Oswald Jacoby, American actuary, bridge expert, author of numerous books on card playing.

1952 b. 1889
Elmo Lincoln, American actor. Film: Tarzan of the Apes (1918, making him the first Tarzan of film). He was afraid of heights and had to have a double do the scenes in trees.

1952 b. 1889
Elmo Lincoln (Otto Elmo Linkenhelt), American actor. Film: Tarzan of the Apes (1918, making him the first film Tarzan).

1946 b. 1893
Wanda Gag, American author, artist. She is known for her translation and illustration of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

1876 b. 1795
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, German biologist, founder of micropaleontology - the study of fossil microorganisms.

1861 b. ????
James Harmon Ward, Union Naval officer, first Naval officer killed in the Civil War. He was shot by a Confederate sharpshooter while unloading a cannon at Mathias Point, Virginia.

1844 b. 1805
Joseph Smith, American mormon prophet, received a set of gold plates from an Angel (1827). Using a pair of magic glasses he translated these into the Book of Mormon. While running for office, he and his brother were killed by a mob, making him the first U.S. presidential candidate to be assassinated. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1829 b. 1765
James Smithson, English scientist. His will funded the creation of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., even though he had never been to America.

1776 b. ????
Thomas Hickey, American soldier, the first American soldier to be executed. He had plotted to kidnap George Washington and deliver him to the British.

June 27

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