Happy Birthday, Madonna!
Wow, it’s hard to believe that the Material Girl is 49.
More August 16th Celebrity Birthdays:
1953: Kathie Lee Gifford, Paris, Florida, hostess, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee
1958: Angela Bassett, born in New York City, actress, What’s Love Got to Do With It
1960: Timothy Hutton, born in Malibu, California, actor, Turk 182, Ordinary People
1963: Steve Carell, American Actor
1980: Vanessa Carlton, American Musician
1988: Rumer Willis, child of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore
August 16th Celebrity Deaths:
1948: Babe Ruth, Baseball legend (New York Yankees), dies in New York at 53
1949: Margaret Mitchell, U.S. writer (Gone With the Wind), dies at 48
1956: Bela Lugosi, actor (Dracula), dies of heart attack at 73
1977: Elvis Presley, rocker, dies of heart ailment/drugs at Graceland at 42
1991: Shamu the Whale, dies of respiratory failure at 16
Source: BrainyHistory.com
While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on this day in 1896, George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West.
On August 16, 1920, Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is struck in the temple by a ball pitched by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees. He died 12 hours later. This was the first and only death to occur as the result of a pitched ball in major league history.
A plane crash at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Michigan kills 156 people on this day in 1987. A four-year-old girl was the sole survivor of the accident, which was caused by pilot error.