On This Day October 31

1992
Inquisition: Pope John Paul II announces that the Catholic Church erred by imprisoning Galileo for his belief that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

1950
First black to play in a regular-season NBA game, Earl Lloyd with the Washington Capitols against the Rochester Royals. They lost 78-70.

1941
Mt. Rushmore: The memorial is completed. Work had begun in 1927 by sculpture Gutzon Borglum who died in March leaving his son to complete the task.

1517
Martin Luther: The German religious reformer starts the Protestant reformation when he nails his 95 theses against the corruption of the papacy in Rome to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg.

1961
Larry Mullen, Irish drummer, with U2. Music: Sunday Bloody Sunday (1983) and With You Or Without You (1987, #1).

1950 d. 1994
John Candy, Canadian Emmy-winning actor. Film: Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) and Uncle Buck (1989, title role). TV: Second City TV, and Saturday Night Live.

1948
Deidre Hall, American actress. TV: Days of Our Lives (Dr. Marlena Evans).

1947
Frank Shorter, American marathon runner. He won Olympic gold for the marathon in 1972.

1942
David Ogden Stiers, American actor. TV: M*A*S*H (Charles Emerson Winchester).

1936 d. 1991
Michael Landon (Eugene Orowitz), American actor. TV: Bonanza (Little Joe).

1922
Barbara Bel Geddes, American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Dallas (Miss Ellie).

1900 d. 1977
Robert Calvin Hubbard, American athlete, the first person to be elected to three sports halls of fame: National Football Hall of Fame (1962), Football Hall of Fame (1963), and the National Baseball Hall of Fame (1976).

1896 d. 1977
Ethel Waters, American actress, singer, first black actress nominated for an Emmy (1961, for an episode of Route 66) and the first black star of a TV dramatic series (1950-53, Beulah). She was the second colored actress to be nominated for an Academy Award. Harold Arlen composed the song Stormy Weather for her.

1887 d. 1975
Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese general, head of state (1927-75). He led the Allied forced in China during World War II.

1860 d. 1927
Juliette Low, American woman, founder of the Girl Scouts of America (1912).

1828 d. 1914
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.

1802 d. 1867
Benoît Fourneyron, French inventor, "Father of the Turbine." He designed the first practical water turbine (1827).

1795 d. 1821
John Keats, English poet. Writings: Endymion (1818) and Eve of St. Agnes (1820).

1705 d. 1774
Clement XIV, Italian religious leader, 249th Pope (1769-74). He was pressured into issuing a brief abolishing the Jesuits (1773).

1993 b. 1970
River Phoenix, American actor. Film: Stand By Me (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), and My Own Private Idaho (1991).

1993 b. 1920
Federico Fellini, Italian Oscar-winning director, La Dolce Vita (1959), The Loafers (1953), La Strada (1954, Oscar), 8½ (1963, Oscar), and Amarcord (1973, Oscar). The word "paparazzo" is from the name of a character in La Dolce Vita.

1990 b. 1918
Roger Price, American humorist, creator of Droodles (simplified abstract drawings), which launched a TV show in 1954.

1988 b. 1902
John Houseman (Jacques Haussmann), American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Paper Chase (1973, Oscar). TV: He proclaimed in commercials "They make money the old-fashioned way; They earn it."

1984 b. 1917
Indira Nehru Gandhi, prime minister of India (1966-77, 1980-84), she was killed by two of her own bodyguards.

1983 b. 1895
George Halas, American Football Hall of Famer, player-coach, co-founder of the NFL, and founder of the Chicago Bears. He is the all-time leader in coaching wins (324) and won a record 6 NFL championships. He was also the 1919 Rose Bowl MVP.

1927 b. 1861
John Luther Long, American playwright. Writings: Madame Butterfly (1898).

1927 b. 1849
Elizabeth Harrison, American educator, leader in the U.S. kindergarten movement. She was one of the founders of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers.

1926 b. 1874
Harry Houdini (Ehrich Weiss), American magician, escape artist, "The Handcuff King." He also made Australia's first successful airplane flight.

1879 b. 1814
"Fighting Joe" Hooker, American Civil War general (Union). His proclivity for overnight female "guests" caused his name to be entered into the English language.

1834 b. 1771
Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, French-born American industrialist. He founded E.I. du Pont Company (1801) in Delaware to manufacture gunpowder.

October 31

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