D.A.R.E. Day (is the day when local law enforcement officers will traditionally visit schools all over the United States spreading the word about drugs, how to avoid them, why they’re bad for you)
1975 – A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.
1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico
1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup.
1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled.
1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.
1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel.
1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.
1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.
1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded in Germany.
1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.
1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.
1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President.
1818 – The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).
1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French.
1812 – United States President James Madison enacts a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture.
1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus.
1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister.
1460 – Basel University is founded.
1147 – First historical record of Moscow.
Births
1996 – Austin Mahone, American singer-songwriter and actor. He is currently signed to Elektra Records as of 2019.
1993 – Frank Kaminsky, American basketball player. Francis Stanley Kaminsky III (born April 4, 1993) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
1991 – Jack Cooley, American basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of Notre Dame.
1991 – Jamie Lynn Spears, American actress and singer. In July 2019, Netflix announced that Spears has been cast as a series regular in the upcoming romance drama series Sweet Magnolias.
1987 – Cameron Maybin, American baseball player. He was the tenth overall pick in the 2005 MLB draft by the Tigers and debuted with them in 2007.
1984 – Sean May, American basketball player. Sean Gregory May (born April 4, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player and current director of basketball operations at the University of North Carolina.
1983 – Amanda Righetti, American actress. She is best known for her role as Grace Van Pelt on The Mentalist, as well as her roles in Friday the 13th, The O.C. and Colony.
1983 – Ben Gordon, American basketball player. Gordon played college basketball for the University of Connecticut and won a national championship with them in 2004.
1982 – Justin Cook, American voice actor and producer. Justin Ryan Cook (born April 4, 1982) is an American voice actor, animator, line producer, ADR director, and audio engineer who works for anime-dubbing companies Funimation and Okratron 500.
1981 – Casey Daigle, American baseball player. Sean Casey Daigle (born April 4, 1981) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher.
1981 – Currensy, American rapper. Shante Scott Franklin (born April 4, 1981), better known by his stage name Currensy (stylized as Curren$y) is an American rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur and record executive.
1981 – Ned Vizzini, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013), was an American writer. He was the author of four books for young adults including It's Kind of a Funny Story, which NPR named #56 of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" and which is the basis of the film of the same name.
1980 – Eric Steinbach, American football player. He was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft.
1979 – Andy McKee, American guitarist. Andy McKee (born April 4, 1979 in Topeka, Kansas) is an American fingerstyle guitar player who has released five albums and been the subject of YouTube videos, garnering over 100 million views.
1979 – Natasha Lyonne, American actress. Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein (/liˈoʊn/; born April 4, 1979), known professionally as Natasha Lyonne, is an American actress, writer, producer and director.
1978 – Jason Ellison, American baseball player and scout. Jason Jerome Ellison (born April 4, 1978) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder.
1977 – Adam Dutkiewicz, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. Adam Jonathan Dutkiewicz (born April 4, 1977) is an American musician, recording engineer, songwriter, and music producer, best known as the lead guitarist and backup vocalist from Massachusetts metalcore bands Killswitch Engage, Aftershock, and Times of Grace.
1977 – Keith Bulluck, American football player and sportscaster. Bulluck (born April 4, 1977) is a former American Football linebacker who played for eleven seasons in the National Football League (NFL).
1977 – Omarr Smith, American football player and coach, was most recently the head coach of the Baltimore Brigade of the Arena Football League (AFL). He played professionally for the San Jose SaberCats of the AFL, and played college football at San Jose State.
1977 – Stephan Bonnar, American mixed martial artist. Bonnar was the runner-up on The Ultimate Fighter 1, his TUF Ultimate Finale loss to Forrest Griffin is considered to be one of the most important fights in the history of the UFC.
1976 – James Roday, American actor, director, and screenwriter. He currently stars in A Million Little Things.
1975 – Joyce Giraud, Puerto Rican-American model, television actress and producer, Miss Puerto Rico 1994. Joyce Marie Giraud Mojica (born April 4, 1975), also known as Joyce Giraud de Ohoven, is a Puerto Rican actress, model, philanthropist, film and television producer.
1975 – Miranda Lee Richards, American singer-songwriter. Miranda Lee Richards (born April 4, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter.
1975 – Pamela Ribon, American actress, screenwriter, and author. She decried elements of the book where Barbie appeared to be reliant on male colleagues.
1975 – Scott Rolen, American baseball player. Scott Bruce Rolen (born April 4, 1975) is an American former professional baseball third baseman.
1973 – David Blaine, American magician and producer. David Blaine White (born April 4, 1973) is an American illusionist, endurance artist and extreme performer.
1973 – Kelly Price, American singer-songwriter. Kelly Cherelle Price (born April 4, 1973) is an American R&B and gospel singer and songwriter.
1972 – Jill Scott, American singer-songwriter and actress. She made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? in 2007.
1971 – John Zandig, American wrestler and promoter. He is the founder and former owner of the promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).
1971 – Josh Todd, American singer-songwriter and actor. Joshua Todd Gruber (born April 4, 1970), known professionally as Josh Todd, is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor, best known as the lead singer of the American rock band Buckcherry.
1971 – Malik Yusef, American actor, producer, and poet. Malik Yusef El Shabazz Jones (born April 4, 1971) is an American spoken word poet, rapper, writer, actor and producer based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
1966 – Nancy McKeon, American actress. She is known for her roles as Jo Polniaczek on the NBC sitcom The Facts of Life and Jinny Exstead on The Division.
1965 – Robert Downey Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter. In 2008, Downey was named by Time magazine among the 100 most influential people in the world, and from 2013 to 2015, he was listed by Forbes as Hollywood's highest-paid actor.
1964 – David Cross, American actor, producer, and screenwriter. David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer, known primarily for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series Mr.
1964 – Dr. Chud, American drummer and singer. Chud (born David Calabrese on April 4, 1964 in Lodi, New Jersey) is an American horror punk drummer, singer and producer.
1963 – A. Michael Baldwin, American actor, producer, and screenwriter. Michael Baldwin (born Michael M.
1963 – Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach. Jack Louis Del Rio Jr. (born April 4, 1963) is an American football coach and former linebacker who is the defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL).
1961 – Hildi Santo-Tomas, American interior decorator. Trading Spaces is an hour-long American television reality program that originally aired from 2000 to 2008 on the cable channels TLC and Discovery Home.
1956 – David E. Kelley, American screenwriter and producer. David Edward Kelley (born April 4, 1956) is an American television writer, producer, and former attorney, known as the creator of Picket Fences, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Public, Boston Legal, Harry's Law, Big Little Lies, and Mr.
1956 – Tom Herr, American baseball player and manager. Thomas Mitchell Herr (born April 4, 1956) is an American former professional baseball second baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St.
1950 – Christine Lahti, American actress and director. Her other film roles include ...And Justice for All (1979), Housekeeping (1987), Running on Empty (1988), and Leaving Normal (1992).
1949 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican-American singer (d. 1999), was a reggae musician from Kingston, Jamaica and the youngest member of the vocal group, The Wailing Wailers. The Wailing Wailers was a vocal group Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh started in 1963, together with Braithwaite, when ska music had become popular in Jamaica.
1949 – Shing-Tung Yau, Chinese-American mathematician and academic, was awarded the Fields Medal in 1982. He is currently the William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University.
1948 – Berry Oakley, American bass player (d. 1972), was an American bassist and one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band. He is ranked number 46 on Bass Player magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time".
1948 – Dan Simmons, American author. Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer.
1947 – Ray Fosse, American baseball player and sportscaster. He also played for the Seattle Mariners and the Milwaukee Brewers.
1946 – Bubba Wyche, American football player and coach. Bubba Wyche (born April 4, 1946) is a former American and Canadian football quarterback in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and World Football League (WFL).
1945 – Caroline McWilliams, American actress (d. 2010), was an American actress best known for her portrayal of Marcy Hill in the television series Benson. McWilliams had also appeared in nine episodes of its parent-series Soap, as Sally.
1944 – Bob McDill, American country music songwriter. Robert Lee "Bob" McDill (born April 4, 1944) is an American songwriter, active from the 1960s until 2000.
1944 – Craig T. Nelson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Craig Theodore Nelson (born April 4, 1944) is an American actor.
1942 – Elizabeth Levy, American author. Elizabeth Levy (born April 4, 1942) is an author who has written over eighty children's books in a variety of genres.
1942 – Jim Fregosi, American baseball player and manager (d. 2014). James Louis Fregosi (April 4, 1942 – February 14, 2014) was an American professional baseball shortstop and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1961 to 1978, primarily for the Los Angeles / California Angels.
1942 – Kitty Kelley, American journalist and biographer. Catherine "Kitty" Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American journalist and author of several best-selling unauthorized biographies of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, the British Royal Family, the Bush family, and Oprah Winfrey.
1940 – Sharon Sheeley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2002), was an American songwriter who wrote songs for Glen Campbell, Ricky Nelson, Brenda Lee, and Sheeley's former fiancé, Eddie Cochran.
1939 – Darlene Hooley, American educator and politician. Darlene Kay Olson Hooley (born April 4, 1939) is a former Democratic member of the U.S.
1939 – JoAnne Carner, American golfer. She is the only woman to have won the U.S.
1938 – A. Bartlett Giamatti, American businessman and academic (d. 1989), was an American professor of English Renaissance literature, the president of Yale University, and the seventh Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
1935 – Kenneth Mars, American actor and comedian (d. 2011), was an American actor and voice actor, who specialized in comedic roles. He appeared in two Mel Brooks films: as the deranged Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in The Producers (1968) and Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Friedrich Kemp in Young Frankenstein (1974).
1934 – Helen Hanft, American actress (d. 2013). Hanft was born in the Bronx, the eldest of three daughters born to Esther and Benjamin Hanft.
1932 – Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992), was an American actor and singer. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his second film, Friendly Persuasion (1956), but is best remembered for playing Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and its three sequels.
1932 – Clive Davis, American record producer, founded Arista Records and J Records. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer.
1932 – Johanna Reiss, Dutch-American author. Johanna Reiss /ˈriːs/ (born Johanna "Annie" de Leeuw, 4 April 1932) is a Dutch-American writer and longtime resident of New York City.
1932 – Richard Lugar, American lieutenant and politician, 44th Mayor of Indianapolis, was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party.
1931 – Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence officer. Bobby Ray Inman (born April 4, 1931) is a retired United States Navy admiral who held several influential positions in the United States Intelligence Community.
1929 – Humbert Allen Astredo, American actor (d. 2016), was an American stage, film, and television actor. He made several notable Broadway and Off Broadway theatrical performances, but was best known for the numerous roles he performed on the daytime Gothic horror soap opera Dark Shadows, most notably that of the warlock Nicholas Blair.
1928 – Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian. Potato Head in the Toy Story franchise, and Muriel on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
1928 – Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (d. 2014), was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years.
1927 – Joe Orlando, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1998), was an Italian American illustrator, writer, editor and cartoonist during a lengthy career spanning six decades. He was the associate publisher of Mad and the vice president of DC Comics, where he edited numerous titles and ran DC's Special Projects department.
1926 – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (d. 2010), was an American physician and political activist. The first black woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School, the first woman to graduate in surgery from Harvard Medical School and the first woman to become a member of the Boston Surgical Society, she is known for her opposition to the legalization of abortion and her work as president of the National Right to Life Committee.
1925 – Emmett Williams, American poet and author (d. 2007), was an American poet and visual artist. He was married to British visual artist Ann Nöel.
1925 – Frank Truitt, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014), was a multi-sport collegiate coach and a veteran of World War II.
1925 – Gene Reynolds, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the producers of the TV series M*A*S*H.
1924 – Gil Hodges, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972). Gilbert Ray Hodges, ne Hodge (April 4, 1924 – April 2, 1972) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman and manager who played most of his 18-year career for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers.
1922 – Elmer Bernstein, American composer and conductor (d. 2004), was an American composer and conductor known for his film scores. In a career that spanned more than five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 original movie scores, as well as scores for nearly 80 television productions.
1921 – Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (d. 2015), was an American actress whose career spanned nearly 70 years, including memorable roles in film and television. In 1972 she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Sticks and Bones.
1920 – Orunamamu, American-Canadian author and educator (d. 2014), was an American/Canadian professional storyteller, raconteur and griot. Her peripatetic storytelling led her on extensive, demanding and often impromptu journeys across the United States including Alaska, overseas to the United Kingdom and Egypt and finally to Canada.
1916 – Mickey Owen, American baseball player and coach (d. 2005), was an American professional baseball catcher. He played thirteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1937 and 1954 for the St.
1914 – Richard Coogan, American actor (d. 2014). Coogan (April 4, 1914 – March 12, 2014) was an American actor best known for his portrayal of Captain Video in Captain Video and His Video Rangers, in five episodes, from 1949 to 1950.
1913 – Frances Langford, American actress and singer (d. 2005), was an American singer and entertainer who was popular during the Golden Age of Radio and also made film appearances for over two decades.
1913 – Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1983), was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues", and an important figure on the post-war blues scene. His style of playing has been described as "raining down Delta beatitude".
1906 – Bea Benaderet, Turkish-Jewish Irish-American television, radio, and voice actress (d. 1968), was an American radio and television actress and voice actress. Born in New York City and raised in San Francisco, she began performing in Bay Area theatre and radio before embarking on a Hollywood career that spanned over three decades.
1906 – John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995), was an American news commentator and game show panelist during the 1940s and 1950s who later became best known as a product spokesman.
1902 – Stanley G. Weinbaum, American author and poet (d. 1935), was an American science fiction writer. His first story, "A Martian Odyssey", was published to great acclaim in July 1934, but he died from lung cancer less than a year and a half later.
1898 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940), was an American actress who rose to fame during the silent film era. She was known for her role as Lady Diana Mayo in The Sheik opposite Rudolph Valentino.
1897 – Dina Manfredini, Italian-American super-centenarian (d. 2012). Italian supercentenarians are citizens, residents or emigrants from Italy who have attained or surpassed 110 years of age.
1896 – Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1955). Born in 1896 in New Rochelle, New York, Robert was a son of Arthur Murray Sherwood, a rich stockbroker, and his wife, the former Rosina Emmet, a highly accomplished illustrator and portrait painter known as Rosina E.
1895 – Arthur Murray, American dancer and educator (d. 1991), was an American ballroom dancer and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name.
1888 – Tris Speaker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958). Tristram Edgar Speaker (April 4, 1888 – December 8, 1958), nicknamed "The Gray Eagle", was an American professional baseball player.
1886 – Frank Luther Mott, American historian and journalist (d. 1964), was an American historian and journalist, who won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for History for Volumes II and III of his series, A History of American Magazines.
1884 – James Alberione, Italian priest, founded the Society of St. Paul (d. 1971), was an Italian Catholic priest, and the founder of the Society of St. Paul, the Daughters of St.
1875 – Pierre Monteux, Sephardic Jewish French-American viola player and conductor (d. 1964), was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1907.
1869 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (d. 1958), was an American architect and designer. She was one of the very few female American architects in her day.
1843 – William Henry Jackson, American painter and photographer (d. 1942), was an American painter, Civil War veteran, geological survey photographer and an explorer famous for his images of the American West. He was a great-great nephew of Samuel Wilson, the progenitor of America's national symbol Uncle Sam.
1826 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer, invented the Gramme machine (d. 1901), was a Belgian electrical engineer. He was born at Jehay-Bodegnée on 4 April 1826, the sixth child of Mathieu-Joseph Gramme, and died at Bois-Colombes on 20 January 1901.
1821 – Linus Yale, Jr., American engineer and businessman (d. 1868). Linus Yale is the name of:
1818 – Thomas Mayne Reid, Irish-American author and poet (d. 1883), was a Scots-Irish American novelist. Thomas Mayne Reid fought in the American-Mexican War (1846-1848).
1802 – Dorothea Dix, American nurse and activist (d. 1887), was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as a Superintendent of Army Nurses.
1792 – Thaddeus Stevens, American lawyer and politician (d. 1868), was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania and one of the leaders of the Radical Republican faction of the Republican Party during the 1860s. A fierce opponent of slavery and discrimination against African-Americans, Stevens sought to secure their rights during Reconstruction, in opposition to U.S.
1780 – Edward Hicks, American minister and painter (d. 1849), was an American folk painter and distinguished religious minister of the Society of Friends (aka "Quakers"). He became a Quaker icon because of his paintings.
Deaths
2015 – Donald N. Levine, American sociologist and academic (b. 1931)
2014 – Curtis Bill Pepper, American journalist and author (b. 1917)
2013 – Carmine Infantino, American illustrator (b. 1925)
2013 – Roger Ebert, American journalist, critic, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
2012 – A. Dean Byrd, American psychologist and academic (b. 1948)
2012 – Roberto Rexach Benítez, American-Puerto Rican academic and politician, 10th President of the Senate of Puerto Rico (b. 1929)
2011 – Scott Columbus, American drummer (b. 1956)
2009 – Maxine Cooper, American actress, activist and photographer (b. 1924)
2007 – Bob Clark, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
2003 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (b. 1916)
2001 – Ed Roth, American illustrator and engineer (b. 1932)
2001 – Maury Van Vliet, American-Canadian academic (b. 1913)
1999 – Early Wynn, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1920)
1999 – Lucille Lortel, American actress, artistic director and producer (b. 1900)
1996 – Barney Ewell, American runner and long jumper (b. 1918)
1996 – Boone Guyton, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1913)
1995 – Priscilla Lane, American actress (b. 1915)
1993 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American game designer, invented Scrabble (b. 1899)
1992 – Arthur Russell, American singer-songwriter and cellist (b. 1951)
1991 – Graham Ingels, American illustrator (b. 1915)
1991 – H. John Heinz III, American soldier and politician (b. 1938)
1987 – C. L. Moore, American author and academic (b. 1911)
1984 – Oleg Antonov, Russian-Ukrainian engineer and businessman, founded Antonov (b. 1906)
1983 – Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
1980 – Red Sovine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1917)
CALENDAR
