Saturday, October 2

• On this day in 1971, Rod Stewart's Every Picture Tells a Story tops the U.S. album chart, featuring his breakthrough hit Maggie May.
• Wild Cherry's Play That Funky Music begins its third and final week as a No. 1 single in 1976.

• The popular Peanuts comic strips debuts on this day in 1950.
• In 1959, The Twilight Zone, created and hosted by Rod Serling, premieres and runs for five seasons.
• The first black associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall, is sworn in to office in 1967. Marshall retires in 1991 at the age of 82.

• Actress Lorraine Bracco, who played psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Melfi in The Sopranos (55)
• Gordon Sumner, better known as the Grammy-winning Sting (59)
• Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz (61)
• Fashion designer Donna Karan (62)
• Singer Don McLean, best known for his smash single American Pie (65)

• Meco's disco interpretation of composer John Williams' theme from the motion picture Star Wars soars to No. 1 on the singles chart in 1977.
• On this day in 1982, John Mellencamp (then John Cougar) rules the singles chart with Jack and Diane, and he's also on top of the album chart with the breakthrough LP it came from: American Fool.

• Johnny Carson takes over hosting duties for The Tonight Show on NBC in 1961.
• That same day, Americans discover a talking horse with the television premiere of the comedy Mr. Ed.
• Disney opens its second theme park on this day in 1971 -- Disney World, located in Orlando, Florida.
• 1982 marks a revolution in the way we listen to music as the first compact disc (CD) player goes on sale. The cost: $625.

• Actor Randy Quaid (60)
• Grammy, Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress and singer Julie Andrews (75)
• Former President Jimmy Carter (86)

• Mac Davis is in the midst of a three-week ride on top of the singles chart in 1973 with Baby, Don't Get Hooked on Me.
• Exile begins a four-week run at No.1 on the singles chart with Kiss You All Over in 1978.

• In 1927, Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season off Tom Zachary of the Washington Senators. Ruth's record for the most homers in a single season stands for 34 years, until Roger Maris hits 61 in 1961.
• Film icon James Dean dies in a car accident in 1955 at the age of 24.
• Yabba Dabba Do! The Hanna Barbera cartoon The Flintstones premieres on this day in 1960.
• The NBC sitcom Cheers, set in a Boston bar and starring Ted Danson and Shelly Long, debuts in 1982.
• Angela Lansbury stars as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher, who travels the country solving murder cases in the CBS series Murder, She Wrote, which premieres on this day in 1984.

• Actress Jenna Elfman of TV's Dharma & Greg (39)
• Actress and comedian Fran Drescher of the sitcom The Nanny (53)
• Grammy Award-winning pop vocalist Johnny Mathis (75)
• Golden Globe Award-winning actress Angie Dickinson of 1970s TV crime drama Police Woman (79)

• Grand Funk Railroad's We're An American Band is the No. 1 single on this day in 1973.
• Enjoying his own birthday celebration with a little target practice on this day in 1976, singer Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shoots his bass player, Norman Owens, in the chest. Owens survives but sues his boss.
• In 1984, Prince and the Revolution top the singles chart with Let's Go Crazy, from the soundtrack to the motion picture Purple Rain.

• The Chevy Camaro makes its debut on this day in 1966. The vehicle is GM's effort to counter the Ford Mustang.
• In 1988, Stacy Allison of Portland, Oregon, becomes the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth.
• Also in 1988, NASA launches the so-called "Return to Flight Mission" -- the first shuttle launch since the Challenger disaster. STS-26 marks the seventh flight for shuttle Discovery.

• Former Today Show host and sportscaster Bryant Gumbal (62)
• Nobel Laureate Lech Walesa, former Polish president and leader of Poland's Solidarity movement (67)
• Rock and roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis (75)

• Bobby Vinton is captain of the singles chart in 1963 with Blue Velvet.
• In 1968, the Beatles begin a nine-week hold on the top slot of the singles chart with Hey Jude. At just over seven minutes in length, it remains the longest single ever to reach No. 1.
• Rock Me Gently by Andy Kim is the hottest song on the radio in 1974.
• Jazz great Miles Davis dies in 1991.

• At Boston’s Fenway Park in 1960, Red Sox star Ted Williams hits a home run in the last at-bat of his 21-year career.
• Carl Sagan's series Cosmos premieres on PBS in 1980.
• On this day in 1982, the first of seven deaths is reported in the Chicago area from Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide.
• Former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos, whose corrupt regime spanned 20 years, dies in exile in Hawaii in 1989.

• Actress and singer Hilary Duff (23)
• Actress, comedian and political activist Janeane Garofalo (46)
• Director John Sayles (60)
• Legendary soul singer Ben E. King (72)

• In 1975, I'm Sorry becomes the final No. 1 single of John Denver's career.
• On the Great White Way in 1983, A Chorus Line achieves the status of longest-running Broadway musical to date.
• Stuck with You by Huey Lewis and the News is stuck on top of the Hot-100 chart where it remains for three weeks in 1986.

• The Tonight Show premieres on NBC in 1954 with Steve Allen hosting through 1957 before handing off to Jack Paar and later Johnny Carson and Jay Leno.
• The Warren Commission Report on the JFK assassination is released on this day in 1964. It concludes there was no conspiracy and that gunman Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the presidential shooting on November 12, 1963.
• In 1973, two Soviet cosmonauts blast off aboard Soyuz 12 donning pressurized suits which were developed after the Soyuz 11 crew was asphyxiated while re-entering Earth's atmosphere.

• Academy Award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow (38)
• Teen idol Shaun Cassidy (52)
• Grammy Award-winning rocker Meat Loaf (63)
• Musician Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive (67)
• Actor Wilford Brimley (76)

• Roy Orbison dominates the singles chart in 1964 with Oh Pretty Woman.
• On this day in 1969, the Beatles release their 13th and final album, Abbey Road.
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show opens in movie theaters in 1975. The cult classic features then-unknows Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick and still draws crowds to midnight screenings.

• Democratic Massachusetts Senator John F. Kenndey and Republican Vice President Richard Nixon go head to head during the first televised presidental debate on this day in 1960.
• Also on television, in 1964, seven fictional passengers set sail aboard the charter boat Minnow for a three-hour tour, but end up stranded on an island. It's the debut of Gilligan's Island.
• This day in 1969 marks the premiere of another sitcom that lives on in re-runs: The Brady Bunch.

• Tennis star Serena Williams (29)
• Grammy Award-winning vocalist Olivia Newton-John (62)
• Fitness guru Jack LaLanne (96)