Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

December 9

1993
Todd Bridges: The actor who played Willis in TV's Diff'rent Strokes is sentenced to year in a live-in drug treatment program and five years probation after having plead guilty to possession of methamphetamine and a loaded gun.

1992
Prince Charles and Lady Diana announce they are separating, but have no plans for a divorce.

1969
Charles Manson: The cult leader is indicted for the murders of Sharon Tate and five others committed by his followers.

1958
John Birch Society is founded.

1907
First Christmas Seals: They go on sale in the Wilmington Post Office. The proceeds went to the fight against tuberculosis. (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1905
France enacts legislation for the separation of Church and State.

1878
Joseph Pulitzer buys his first newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

1843
First Christmas cards: They are created in England by John Calcott Horsley and featured a family feasting with the words "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You." (Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church)

1840
Scottish explorer Dr. Livingstone sets sail on his first trip to Africa.

1792
First formal human cremation in America, Henry Laurens, South Carolina, as requested in his will.

1957
Donny Osmond, American singer. Music: One Bad Apple (1971, #1) and Go Away Little Girl (1971, #1).

1953
John Malkovich, American actor. Film: The Killing Fields (1984), Places in the Heart (1984), and Dangerous Liaisons (1988).

1942
Dick Butkus, American football player, actor.

1941
Beau Bridges (Lloyd Vernet Bridges III), American actor. Film: The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989).

1929     d. 1989
John Cassavetes, American actor. He wrote and directed Faces (1968) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974).

1928
Dick Van Patten, American actor. TV: Eight is Enough (Tom the father).

1922     d. 1991
Redd Foxx (John Elroy Sanford), American actor. TV: Sanford & Son (Fred Sanford). He was the only entertainer to attend Elvis Presley's wedding (1967).

1916
Kirk Douglas (Issur Danielovitch), American actor. He worked as a professional wrestler before making it in films.

1912     d. 1994
Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, American politician, Speaker of the House.

1911     d. 1986
Broderick Crawford, American Oscar-winning actor. Film: All The King's Men (1949, Oscar). TV: Highway Patrol (Dan Matthews).

1909
Douglas Fairbanks Jr., American actor.

1903     d. 1965
Brace Beemer, American radio actor. Radio: The announcer for The Lone Ranger from its first broadcast in 1933. When the voice of the Lone Ranger, Earle Graser died in a car accident, Beemer took over the role until the end of the series in 1954.

1902     d. 1985
Margaret Hamilton, American actress, Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939), and as Cora who sold Maxwell House coffee in the TV commercials.

1898     d. 1979
Emmett Kelly, American circus clown, known as Weary Willie. He became the mascot for the Brooklyn Dodgers after leaving Ringling Bros.

1886     d. 1956
Clarence Frank Birdseye, American inventor. He created a way of deep-freezing foods, and co-founded General Foods Corp.

1848     d. 1908
Joel Chandler Harris, American author, creator of Uncle Remus.

1742     d. 1786
Karl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist, discovered oxygen, chlorine (1774), molybdenum (1778), tungsten (1781), glycerin, and was the first to observe the effect of light on silver chloride (the basis for modern photography).

1608     d. 1674
John Milton, English poet. Writings: Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671).

1561     d. 1629
Sir Edwin Sandys, English politician, treasurer of the Virginia Company (1619-24). He financed the Mayflower expedition to the New World (1620). In 1621, he was imprisoned for suspicion of plotting to establish a republican government in America.

1992     b. 1922
Vincent Gardenia (Vincent Scognamiglio), Italian Tony-Emmy-winning actor. TV: All in the Family (Frank Lorenzo).

1979     b. 1895
Fulton J. Sheen (Peter John Sheen), American Emmy-winning Catholic evangelist. TV: Life Is Worth Living. He was the first TV preacher of note. He won an Emmy as Most Outstanding TV Personality (1952).  Actor Martin Sheen took his stage name from him.

1975     b. 1896
William Augustus Wellman, American film director, Wings (1927, winner of the first Best Picture Oscar), Public Enemy (1931), and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943).

1959     b. 1881
Gene Carr, American cartoonist, creator of Lady Bountiful.

1874     b. 1807
Ezra Cornell, American telegraph pioneer, founder of Western Union Telegraph (1855) and Cornell University (1865).

1669     b. 1600
Clement IX, Italian religious leader, 238th Pope (1667-69).

1565     b. 1499
Pius IV, Italian religious leader, 224th Pope (1559-65). He reopened the Council of Trent (1562).

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