Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

December 4

1981
Falcon Crest debuts on CBS.

1974
Brightest fireball ever photographically recorded, 10,000 times brighter than a full moon, by Dr. Zdenek Ceplecha, Czechoslovakia.

1947
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams opens in New York. It starred Marlon Brando in his first major role.

1843
Manila paper is patented.

1154
First English pope: Nicholas Breakspear is elected assuming the name Adrian IV.

963
Pope John XII: The leader of the Roman Catholic Church is temporarily deposed by the Roman Council for his wrongdoings. He is reputed to have gambled and run a brothel.

1964
Marisa Tomei, American Oscar-winning actress. Film: My Cousin Vinny (1992, Oscar).

1949
Jeff Bridges, American actor. Film: The Last Picture Show (1971) and The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989).

1944     d. 1983
Dennis Wilson, American singer, with The Beach Boys. Music: Surfin' USA (1963), I Get Around (1964, #1), Help Me Rhonda, (1965, #1), and Good Vibrations (1966, #1). He drowned while swimming in Marina Del Rey, California; he should have stayed on the beach.

1942
Chris Hillman, American musician, with The Byrds. Music: Mr. Tambourine Man (1965, #1) and Turn! Turn! Turn! (1966).

1937
Max Baer Jr., American actor. TV: The Beverly Hillbillies (Jethro and his twin sister Jethrine).

1934     d. 1989
Victor French, American actor. TV: Little House on the Prairie (Isaiah Edwards) and Highway to Heaven (Mark Gordman).

1925
Maurice Binder, he created the titles for most of the James Bond movies.

1921
Deanna Durbin (Edna Mae Durbin), Canadian-born Oscar-winning actress, singer. Film: Three Smart Girls (1936, the success of which helped saved Universal from bankruptcy).

1915     d. 1989
Eddie Heywood, American jazz pianist, composed Canadian Sunset.

1912     d. 1988
Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, American World War II flying ace. His book Baa Baa Black Sheep (1958) chronicled his days as head of the Flying Tigers.

????
Jethro Bodine, character on the TV show The Beverly Hillbillies.

1993     b. 1940
Frank Zappa (Francis Vincent Zappa Jr.), American Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, leader of The Mothers of Invention. Music: Yellow Snow (1974), Valley Girl (1982), and Jazz From Hell (1987, Grammy).

1993     b. 1925
Frank Sturgis, American private investigator. He was one of the Watergate burglars, for which he served 13 months in prison.

1984     b. 1890
John C. Rock, American physician. He and Mirian Menkin achieved the first in vitro fertilization of a human ovum (1944) and he co-developed the birth control pill (1956).

1980     b. 1911
Stella Walsh (Stanislawa Walasiewicz), Polish Olympic gold medal winner (1932) and the first woman to run the 100-yard dash in under 11 seconds (10.8 sec., 1930). She received more than 5,000 medals and awards. After her death, it was determined that she was actually a man.

1973     b. 1885
Carl Alfred Fuller, Canadian-born American businessman. He founded the Fuller Brush Co. (1906) utilizing door-to-door salesman.

1967     b. 1895
Bert Lahr (Irving Lahrheim), American actor. Film: The Wizard of Oz (1939, the Cowardly Lion).

1945     b. 1866
Thomas Hunt Morgan, American zoologist. He won a 1933 Nobel Prize for his discovery of the chromosome's role in heredity.

1732     b. 1685
John Gay, English poet, best known for The Beggar's Opera (1727).

1334     b. 1249
John XXII (Jacques d'Euse), 196th Pope (1316-34), in 1317 he prohibited the practice of alchemy.

1131     b. 1048
Omar Khayyam, Persian poet and mathematician, first to solve the general cubic equation of the third degree.

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