What Happened On
Natalie Wood Drowns
November 29, 1981
Actress Natalie Wood drowns at the age of 43 off the side of her yacht while it was anchored near shore. She was on board with her husband Robert Wagner, Christopher Walken, and the yacht's captain. How she ended up in the water was not determined, but she had bruises on her body and arms and an abrasion on her left cheek. Her blood alcohol content was 0.14% and there were traces of a motion-sickness pill and a painkiller in her bloodstream, both of which increase the effects of alcohol. According to Wagner, he and Wood had been arguing earlier and Wood went to bed first. When Wagner went to join her, he noticed that both she and the yacht's small inflatable dinghy were missing. A witness in a boat nearby said that around 11 p.m. she heard a woman calling out, "Somebody please help me, I'm drowning." Her body was found about a mile from the yacht with the dinghy beached nearby.
Her sister, Lana Wood, said Wood had a fear of water and would never have tried to enter the dinghy alone, especially only wearing a nightgown.
Wood's fear of water started as a child, when she almost drowned while filming The Green Promise (1949). She had recently starred in the TV movie The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980), in which a character she played drowned.
Her death was initially ruled accidental, but the case was reopened in 2011 and the cause of death was changed to "drowning and other undetermined factors."
Photo Credit: Chris Rand
Photo Credit: Chris Rand
Pong
November 29, 1972
The arcade video game Pong is released. It was the world's first commercially successful video game. After hiring Allan Alcorn, Atari founder Nolan Bushnell gave him a learning exercise of a creating a version of the Magnavox Odyssey (the first home video game console) tennis game. Bushnell like the result so much, he decided to market it, naming it Pong. Magnavox later sued Atari for patent infringement.
First U.S. Animal to Orbit the Earth
November 29, 1961
Enos, a 5-year-old chimpanzee, is launched aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 satellite. He orbited the Earth twice making him the first U.S. animal to orbit the Earth and the world's first chimpanzee to orbit the Earth. He was recovered safely later that day. He had trained more than 1,250 training hours for the mission.
This flight was a dress rehearsal for John Glenn's historic flight when he became the first American to orbit the Earth three months later.
The Beatles Arrested for Arson
November 29, 1960
The Beatles members Paul McCartney and then-drummer Pete Best are arrested for arson after lighting a makeshift candle they made from a condom. It scorched a concrete wall. They were using it for lighting while moving out of the living space provided to them by a club owner in Hamburg, Germany who had just terminated their contract.
First TV Sitcom
November 29, 1946
The first television sitcom, Pinwright's Progress, airs on British television on the BBC Television Service. It ran until May of the following year.
The show centered around J. Pinwright, played by James Hayter, the proprietor of a small shop, his staff, his rival, and Ralph a deaf octogenarian messenger boy.
WWII - Coffee Rationing
November 29, 1942
The U.S. begins rationing coffee as a result of World War II. Coffee was rationed to 1 pound (0.45 kg) per family every five weeks. Even though there was record coffee production in Latin American countries, the need for shipping war materials and German U-boat attacks limited transportation. Coffee rationing remained in effect until the following July.
Byrd's Expedition
Photo Credit: Bundesarchiv
Byrd's ExpeditionPhoto Credit: Bundesarchiv
First Person to Fly Over the South Pole
November 29, 1929
American explorer Richard E. Byrd. For his achievement, Byrd was promoted to rear admiral by a special act of Congress. At 41 years old, this made him the youngest admiral in the history of the United States Navy.
Phonograph
November 29, 1877
Thomas Edison gives his first public demonstration of his talking machine. He recorded his recitation of Mary Had a Little Lamb onto a tinfoil cylinder and then played it back.
Painting by Howling Wolf, witness to the massacre
Painting by Howling Wolf, witness to the massacre
Sand Creek Massacre
November 29, 1864
Between 70-163 disarmed Native Americans who were awaiting terms of surrender are attacked and slaughtered by a 675-man force of the Colorado U.S. Volunteer Cavalry led by Col. John M. Chivington at Sand Creek, Colorado. Most of the Indians killed were women and children.
Gulf War
November 29, 1990
In response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations sets a deadline of January 15th for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.
Birthdays
C. S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis)
Born November 29, 1898 d. 1963
British author, Christian apologist. Books: The Allegory of Love (1936), The Screwtape Letters (1942), Out of the Silent Planet (1938), and The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56).
Nellie Tayloe Ross
Born November 29, 1876 d. 1977
American politician. She was the first woman U.S. governor (Wyoming, 1925-27), winning by special election after her husband the previous governor died in office. She was also the first woman director of the U.S. Mint (1933-53).
Inventor of the Vacuum Tube
Sir John Ambrose Fleming
Born November 29, 1849 d. 1945
English engineer. He patented the first vacuum tube (1904, also known as the thermionic valve), revolutionizing the wireless telegraph and ushering in the age of modern electronics. He also made numerous contributions to the development of the telephone and electric lighting.
Louisa May Alcott
Born November 29, 1832 d. 1888
American author. Writings: Louisa May Alcott: Little Women (1868) and Louisa May Alcott: Little Men (1871).
Christian Johann Doppler
Born November 29, 1803 d. 1853
Austrian physicist. He discovered the "Doppler effect" (1842, The frequency of a wave is relative to the motion between its source and observer).
Jon Knight (Jonathan Rasleigh Knight)
Born November 29, 1968
American pop musician, member of New Kids on the Block.
Andrew McCarthy
Born November 29, 1962
American actor. Movies: St. Elmo's Fire (1985), Pretty in Pink (1986), and Weekend at Bernie's (1989).
Howie Mandel
Born November 29, 1955
Canadian comic actor. TV: St. Elsewhere (Dr. Wayne Fiscus), America's Got Talent, and Deal or No Deal.
Gary Shandling
Born November 29, 1949 d. 2016
American comic actor. TV: It's Gary Shandling's Show (1986-90), The Larry Sanders Show (1992-98), and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (guest host).
Dennis Doherty
Born November 29, 1940 d. 2007
Canadian folk singer. With The Mamas and The Papas. Music: California Dreamin' (1965) and Monday, Monday (1966, #1).
Chuck Mangione
Born November 29, 1940
American Grammy-winning musician. Music: Feels So Good (1977).
Diane Ladd (Rose Diane Ladner)
Born November 29, 1935
American actress. Film: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974, waitress Flo). TV: Alice (waitress Belle Dupree).
David Reuben
Born November 29, 1933
American psychiatrist, author. He wrote the book Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex* (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1969). It is the most popular book on human sexuality of all time.
Paul Martin Simon
Born November 29, 1928 d. 2003
American politician, U.S. Senator (1985-97, Democrat Illinois). Known for his bowtie and horn-rimmed glasses.
Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times
Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times
Vin Scully (Vincent Edward Scully)
Born November 29, 1927 d. 2022
American sportscaster, game-show host. His 67 seasons with the Dodgers (1950-2016), is the longest of any broadcaster with a single team in professional sports history. TV: Challenge of the Sexes (1977) and The Vin Scully Show (1973).
Frank Reynolds
Born November 29, 1923 d. 1983
American anchorman. TV: ABC Evening News.
Axis Sally (Mildred Elizabeth Gillars)
Born November 29, 1900 d. 1988
American Nazi sympathizer. She broadcast Nazi propaganda to U.S. troops in Europe during World War II. After the war she was convicted of treason and served 12 years in prison.
World's Oldest Italian
Emma Morano
Born November 29, 1899 d. 2017
Italian supercentenarian. World's oldest living person at time of her death - 117 years old. She is also the last living person verified to have been born in the 1800s. She was the oldest Italian person ever.
Jean-Martin Charcot
Born November 29, 1825 d. 1893
French physician. He and Guillaume Duchenne founded modern neurology. As one of his pupils, Sigmund Freud's interest in the psychological aspects of neurosis was initiated by his use of hypnosis.
Morrison Remick Waite
Born November 29, 1816 d. 1888
American jurist, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1874-88).
Deaths
George Harrison
Died November 29, 2001 b. 1943
British singer, one of the Beatles. He wrote the song While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
Cary Grant, with Audrey Hepburn, and in North By Northwest
Cary Grant, with Audrey Hepburn, and in North By Northwest
Cary Grant (Archibald Leach)
Died November 29, 1986 b. 1904
English-born American Oscar-winning actor.
When Grant was nine years old, his father placed his mother in a mental institution, and told him that she had gone away on a "long holiday", later telling him that she had died. Grant did not learn that his mother was still alive until he was 31, when his father confessed shortly before his own death. Grant then located her and had her removed from the home.
Film: North By Northwest (1959) and That Touch of Mink (1962).
Natalie Wood (Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko)
Died November 29, 1981 b. 1938
American actress. Film: Miracle on 34th Street (1947, as the little girl who trusted Santa Claus) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955, Judy).
She drowned off the side of her yacht while it was anchored near shore. She was on board with her husband Robert Wagner, Christopher Walken, and the yacht's captain. How she ended up in the water was not determined, but she had bruises on her body and arms and an abrasion on her left cheek. Her blood alcohol content was 0.14% and there were traces of a motion-sickness pill and a painkiller in her bloodstream, both of which increase the effects of alcohol. According to Wagner, he and Wood had been arguing earlier and Wood went to bed first. When Wagner went to join her, he noticed that both she and the yacht's small inflatable dinghy were missing. A witness in a boat nearby said that around 11 p.m. she heard a woman calling out, "Somebody please help me, I'm drowning." Her body was found about a mile from the yacht with the dinghy beached nearby.
Her sister, Lana Wood, said Wood had a fear of water and would never have tried to enter the dinghy alone, especially only wearing a nightgown.
Wood's fear of water started as a child, when she almost drowned while filming The Green Promise (1949). She had recently starred in the TV movie The Memory of Eva Ryker (1980), in which a character she played drowned.
Her death was initially ruled accidental, but the case was reopened in 2011 and the cause of death was changed to "drowning and other undetermined factors."
John Drew Barrymore (John Blythe Barrymore, Jr.)
Died November 29, 2004 b. 1932
American actor, son of John Barrymore and father of Drew Barrymore. In 1980, he swiped his father's body from its grave in order to fulfill his father's wish for cremation. Even though his father's will specified cremation when he died in 1942, his body was entombed by the deceased's brother due to religious beliefs.
Gene Rayburn
Died November 29, 1999 b. 1917
American TV personality. TV: The Match Game (emcee).
Robert Shayne (Robert Shaen Dawe)
Died November 29, 1992 b. 1900
American actor. TV: The Adventures of Superman (Inspector Henderson).
Ralph Bellamy
Died November 29, 1991 b. 1904
American Tony-winning actor. Stage: Sunrise at Campobello (1958, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Tony Award), The Winds of War (President Franklin D. Roosevelt), Rosemary's Baby (1968, evil doctor), Trading Places (1983, conniving billionaire), and as Ellery Queen in the films of the 1940s.
Miss Baker
Died November 29, 1984 b. circa 1957
Peruvian-born squirrel monkey. In 1958 she was flown into space by the U.S. to prove that primates could survive space travel. Her and her traveling companion Able became the first monkeys to survive space flight.
Giacomo Puccini
Died November 29, 1924 b. 1858
Italian operatic composer. Operas: La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), and Madama Butterfly (1904).
Horace Greeley
Died November 29, 1872 b. 1811
American editor, author. Co-founder of the New Yorker (1834), founder of the New York Tribune (1841), and famous for the phrase "Go West, young man."
Thomas Wolsey
Died November 29, 1530 b. circa 1475
English statesman and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He founded Cardinal College at Oxford (later King's College, and now Christ Church).
It is believed that he is the Little Boy Blue of the nursery rhyme.
Charles IV
Died November 29, 1378 b. 1316
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Bohemia (1347-78).
Clement IV
Died November 29, 1268 b. circa 1195
French-born religious leader, 183rd Pope (1265-68). He renewed the prohibition of the Talmud and ordered that the Jews of Aragon submit their books for censorship.