TODAY IS ... 28 OCTOBER

TODAY IS ... 28 OCTOBER

BIRTHDAYS: 1988 - Devon Michael Murray - is an Irish actor known for playing Seamus Finnigan in the Harry Potter films. Before Harry Potter, Murray had played Christy in This is My Father, Malachy in Angela's Ashes, and Geoffrey in Yesterday's Children.

Devon Michael Murray

1974 - Joaquin Phoenix - is best known as the villainous Commodus in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000), and as country singer Johnny Cash in the movie Walk The Line (2005). The younger brother of actors Rain and River Phoenix, Joaquin got his start in the entertainment business when he was a kid. Like the other kids in his family, Joaquin (who went by the name Leaf for a time) began making commercials and appearing in the movies in the early 1980s.

Joaquin Phoenix

1967 - Julia Roberts - Julia first grabbed the public's attention as a small-town Connecticut teen in the 1988 film Mystic Pizza. After box office successes like Steel Magnolias (1989, with Dolly Parton) and Pretty Woman (1990, with Richard Gere), Roberts was among the highest paid actresses in the business and one of Hollywood's most bankable movie stars. In 2001 she won the Academy Award as best actress for playing the title role in the 2000 Steven Soderbergh film Erin Brockovich.

Julia Roberts

1955 - Bill Gates (William Henry Gates 3d),–, American business executive, b. Seattle, Wash. Gates founded in 1974 the Microsoft Corp., a computer software firm, with Paul Allen. They began by purchasing the rights to convert an existing software package. In 1980 they agreed to produce the operating system for the personal computer being developed by International Business Machines (IBM). That system, MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System), and subsequent programs (including the Windows operating systems) made Microsoft the world's largest producer of software for microcomputers.

Bill Gates

1941 - Hank Marvin of the Shadows is born in Newcastle, England. 1927 - Cleo Laine - is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range. She is the only female performer to have received Grammy nominations in the jazz, popular and classical music categories. OTHER EVENTS: 2004 - The Manchurian Candidate is released in Australia. It starred Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Pablo Schreiber and Anthony Mackie. In the midst of the Gulf War, soldiers are kidnapped and brainwashed for sinister purposes. 2004 – The third time is the charm for Rod Stewart, who with his third collection of standards sits at No. 1 on The Chart Toppers 200 for the first time in more than 25 years. The artist’s J Records release, “Stardust…The Great American Songbook, Vol. 3,” opened with first-week sales of 240,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Stewart’s last chart-topping album was his 1978 set “Blondes Have More Fun,” which sat at the summit for three weeks. 2003 – David Bowie and his wife Iman sign with Tommy Hilfiger as the clothing designer’s new spokesmodels. 2003 – Tonight’s the Night, a musical based around the songs of Rod Stewart, opens in London’s West End. 2003 – Mayor Mike Bloomberg makes Jennifer Lopez the honorary chairwoman of a council to draw more Latin-based entertainers to New Y 1975 – US No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Island Girl,” Elton John. The song is John’s third No. 1 song in 1975. 1961 - Brian Epstein serving in his record shop in Whitechapel, Liverpoool, is asked for 'My Bonnie' by Beatles. He discovers that the disc is available only in Germany and sets out to see the group for himself. Raymond Jones is the customer 1956 - Elvis Presley's song "Love Me Tender" became the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit. He became the first artist to follow himself into the No. 1 position. The song "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog" had been the No. 1 song for 11 weeks. 1927 - First scheduled international passenger flight: Pan Am begins flying a route from Key West to Havana. 1886 - The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor by U.S. President Cleveland. The statue weighs 225 tons and is 152 feet tall. It was originally known as "Liberty Enlightening the World." 1636 - Harvard College was founded in Massachusetts. The original name was Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was the first school of higher education in America.