1966 First Successful U.S. Soft Landing of a Manmade Object on the Moon Surveyor I.  Part of its mission was to study the lunar soil in preparation for the Apollo missions.  The Soviets had landed Luna 9 four months earlier.

1899 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid The notorious outlaws commit their first train robbery, netting them $30,000.

1896 Wireless telegraphy is first patented by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi.

1886 Pres. Grover Cleveland marries Miss Frances Folsom in the White House.

1875 Telephone Alexander Graham Bell discovers the principle of sending sound by wire. He transmitted the sound of a twanging clock spring.

1858 The Donati Comet is discovered by Italian astronomer Giovanni Donati.

1783 Slavery New Hampshire constitution goes into effect. It prohibited slavery.

1948 Jerry Mathers American child actor. TV: Leave It to Beaver (the Beaver).

1944 Marvin Hamlisch American Oscar-Grammy-winning composer. Music: A Chorus Line (1975), The Way We Were (1973), and The Sting (1973).

1941 William Guest American singer, one of Gladys Knight's Pips. Music: Midnight Train to Georgia (1973, #1).

1941 Stacy Keach (William Stacy Keach Jr.), American actor. TV: Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer (Mike Hammer).

1941 Charlie Watts British rock drummer for the Rolling Stones.

1938 Sally Kellerman American actress. Film: M*A*S*H (1970, Hot Lips). TV: Hidden Valley salad dressing commercials.

1930 Charles Conrad Jr d. 1999 American astronaut, third person to walk on the Moon (1969). Personal Motto: "If you can’t be good, be colorful."

1929 Chuck Barris American producer. TV: The Dating Game, The Newlywed Game, and the Gong Show.

1904 Johnny Weismuller d. 1984 American swimmer, actor, won three gold medals in the 1924 and two in the 1928 Olympics. He is famous for his portrayal of Tarzan.

1857 Sir Edward Elgar d. 1934 English composer, famous for his "Pomp and Circumstance" marches.

1835 Saint Pius X d. 1914 Italian religious leader, 257th Pope (1903-14), canonized in 1954.

1740 Marquis de Sade d. 1814 (Count Donatien Alphonse Francois Sade), French obscene author, from whom the word "sadism" is derived.

2001 Imogene Coca b. 1908 (Imogene Fernandez de Coca), American actress, comedienne.

1990 Rex Harrison b. 1908 (Reginald Carey Harrison), British Tony-Oscar-winning actor. Film: Anna and the King of Siam (1946, the King), My Fair Lady (1964), and Doctor Dolittle (1967).

1969 Leo Gorcey b. 1915 American actor. Film: He played Spit in the movies featuring the Dead End Kids, East Side Kids, and Bowery Boys.

1947 Jesse Wilford Reno b. 1861 American inventor. He patented the first escalator (1892).

1943 Alan Roy Dafoe b. 1883 Canadian physician, delivered the world's first known surviving quintuplets (1934).

1941 Henry Louis Gehrig b. 1903 American Baseball Hall of Famer (1939). Record holder for the most consecutive games played (2,130 from 1925-39) and for the most major-league grand slams (23). He died of the disease which now bears his name.

1910 Marius Petipa b. 1819 French-born Russian choreographer. Stage: The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and Swan Lake (1895).

657 Saint Eugene I b. ???? Italian religious leader, 75th Pope (654-657).

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