TODAY IS ... 08 DECEMBER

BIRTHDAYS:

1993 - AnnaSophia Robb - an American film and television actress, and singer. She gained prominence in 2005 with starring roles in Because of Winn-Dixie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and subsequently starred in the 2007 film Bridge to Terabithia and the 2009 film Race to Witch Mountain.


1978 - Ian Somerhalder - a fashion model, actor and producer, probably most notable for playing Boone Carlyle in the TV drama Lost, Paul Denton in the film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' The Rules of Attraction, Adam Knight in Smallville and Miles Slater in The Tournament and more recently Damon Salvatore in the TV drama The Vampire Diaries.


1976 - Dominic Monaghan - an English actor who has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost. He is currently portraying the character Dr. Simon Campos on FlashForward.


1966 - Sinéad O’Connor - an Irish singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U". Since then she has regularly courted controversy with her views on religion, while still maintaining a singing career.


1964 - Teri Hatcher - an American actress who is best known for her roles as Lois Lane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, as Susan Mayer in Desperate Housewives and as Paris Carver in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. She won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Susan Mayer on the television series Desperate Housewives in 2005.

1953 - Kim Basinger - an American film actress and former fashion model. Following her role as a Bond girl in Never Say Never Again (1983), Basinger received a Golden Globe nomination for her work in The Natural (1984). She won an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award as best supporting actress for her performance in L.A. Confidential (1997). Her film work includes major roles in Batman (1989) and 8 Mile (2002).


1943 - Jim Morrison - an American singer, songwriter, poet, writer and filmmaker. He was best known as the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors and is widely considered to be one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music history. He was also the author of several books of poetry and the director of a documentary and short film.


1937 - Actor James MacArthur -goes on to portray Fritz Robinson in Disney's 1960 live-action film Swiss Family Robinson. TV audiences will know him best as Detective Danny Williams on the series Hawaii Five-O.


1936 - David Carradine - a popular American character actor of stage, director, martial artist, spokesman and singer, who in his four decades of television is best known for his work in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu, the sequel of the 1990s television show, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, and more recently in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. He appeared in more than 100 feature films and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award.


1930 - Maximilian Schell - an Academy Award-winning Austrian actor. He is also a writer, director and producer of several films. Films included Judgment at Nuremberg [1961]; Little Odessa, Abraham, Stalin, The Freshman, Peter the Great, The Chosen, Julia, The Man in the Glass Booth, The Odessa File, Heidi, The Young Lions, Wiseguy


1925 - Sammy Davis Jr.- Primarily a dancer and singer, Davis was a childhood vaudevillian, and became internationally famous for his performances on Broadway and Las Vegas, as a recording artist, television and film star, and the only black member of Frank Sinatra's "Rat Pack".


OTHER EVENTS:

2007 – Brothers Solomon starring Will Arnett and Will Forte commences screening in Australia. A pair of well-meaning, but socially inept brothers try to find their perfect mates in order to provide their dying father with a grandchild



2000 – Sting receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The former Police frontman’s star (No. 2,168) is revealed in front of the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in a ceremony attended by the artist and his wife, filmmaker Trudie Styler.


1998 – The FBI releases nearly 1,300 pages of the secret files it kept on Frank Sinatra, detailing Old Blue Eyes’ ties to organized crime, allegations that he was a Communist Party sympathizer and that he dodged the draft.


1997 – Winners at Chart Toppers’s 1997 Music Awards include teenage sensation LeAnn Rimes (artist of the year, country album of the year for “Blue” and country artist of the year), Elton John (single of the year for “Candle In the Wind, 1997?), and Brit brats the Spice Girls (album of the year for “Spice”).

1997 - A $25 billion deal: Swiss Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland announced a plan to form a single bank with assets of well over half a trillion dollars. The combined group would be called the United Bank of Switzerland and would become the world’s biggest money manager.

1994 – From New Zealand came Once Were Warriors starring Rena Owen and Temuera Morrison which started screening in Australia. A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.



1991 - Leaders of Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine meet to sign an agreement establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States, signalling the dissolution of the Soviet Union

1988 - Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips and Charlie Sheen head the cast of Young Guns which commenced screening in Australia. A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted



1987 - U.S. President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev signed a treaty agreeing to destroy their nations' arsenals of intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

1984 - Frankie Goes To Hollywood were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Power Of Love'. The group's third No.1 of the year and final UK No.1.



1983 – Abbacadabra, the first of many musicals based on Abba’s collection of hits, opens at London’s Lyric Theatre starring Elaine Paige.

1980 - John Lennon was shot five times by 25 year old Mark Chapman outside the Dakota building in New York City where John and Yoko lived. Chapman had been stalking Lennon for days outside the Dakota apartments and asked for an autograph as Lennon walked through the courtyard. As he signed a piece of paper Chapman fired. Lennon was pronounced dead from a massive loss of blood at 11.30pm.

1980 - Pat Benatar receives a platinum record for her debut album, "In the Heat of the Night." The former waitress and bank teller was discovered late one night at the Catch a Rising Star club in New York. Her album made it to the Top Ten and the follow up, "Crimes of Passion," will go to #2.

1979 - Rod Stewart scored his seventh UK No.1 album when his 'Greatest Hits' started a five-week run at the top of the charts.

1977 – Dean Jones and Don Knotts starred in Herbie goes to Monte Carlo which srated screening in Australia. Herbie, the Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own, is racing in the Monte Carlo Rally. Unbeknownst to Herbie's driver, thieves have hidden a cache of stolen diamonds in Herbie's gas tank, and are now trying to get them back.



1975 – Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue plays its last night at Madison Square Garden. The Night of the Hurricane raises $100,000 for Hurricane Carter, a boxer unjustly jailed for murder immortalized in Dylan’s song “Hurricane.” Roberta Flack and Muhammad Ali are among the celebrities in attendance. Carter himself phones the venue and is put through to the stage.

1969 - Mick Jagger was quoted saying 'I don't really like singing very much, I enjoy playing the guitar more than I enjoy singing and I can't play the guitar either'.


1967 - Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" album is released in UK


1965 - Humphrey Bogart’s wife, Lauren Bacall, opened in Cactus Flower on Broadway. The show also starred Barry Nelson. The production was awarded Best Play honors and ran for 1,234 performances.


1963 - Florence Henderson and Jose Ferrer co-starred in The Girl Who Came to Supper on Broadway. The production, however, only lasted for 112 shows.


1961 - Surfin’, The Beach Boys first record, was released on Candix Records. It became a local hit in Los Angeles but only made it to #75 nationally. The surfin’ music craze didn’t take hold across America for another year. By the time Surfin’ Safari entered the Top 40 (September 1962), though, The Beach Boys were ridin’ a wave of popularity that continues today even though The Beach Boys have become The Beach Men.



1956 - The Olympic games, which had opened Nov 22, closed this day at Melbourne, Australia. ‘The Friendly Games’, as this Olympics came to be known, was Australia’s first attempt at hosting the Olympics and left “an enduring legacy not only for Melbourne and Australia but for the Olympic movement itself.”


1956 - "Singing the Blues" by Guy Mitchell topped the US charts and stayed there for 10 weeks

1956 - Billboard reports Elvis Presley is setting new sales records in Canada. Usually a hit record makes 100,000 sales, however "Hound Dog" and "Don't Be Cruel" have sold over 225,000 copies with "Love Me Tender" selling 135,000 in sixteen weeks.

1952 - On the show "I Love Lucy," a pregnancy was acknowledged in a TV show for the first time.



1949 - One of America’s classic Broadway plays, and later, a major motion picture, debuted. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes began its long run at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. Carol Channing starred in the musical and charmed audiences with the show’s songs such as her trademark signature, Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.

1941 - The United States entered World War II when it declared war against Japan. The act came one day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Britain and Canada also declared war on Japan.


1941 - Ray Eberle and The Modernaires teamed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra to record Moonlight Cocktail on Bluebird Records. By April 1942, the song was a solid hit.



1940 - During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe (German air force) launched a massive attack on London.


1914 - "Watch Your Step" opened in New York. It was the first musical revue to feature a score completely by Irving Berlin.

1854 - Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be an article of faith.