1993 Todd Bridges The actor who played Willis in TV's Diff'rent Strokes is sentenced to year in a live-in drug treatment program and five years probation after having plead guilty to possession of methamphetamine and a loaded gun.

1992 Prince Charles and Lady Diana announce they are separating, but have no plans for a divorce.

1969 Charles Manson The cult leader is indicted for the murders of Sharon Tate and five others committed by his followers.

1958 John Birch Society is founded.

1907 First Christmas Seals They go on sale in the Wilmington Post Office. The proceeds went to the fight against tuberculosis. Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church

1905 Separation of Church and State France enacts legislation for the separation of Church and State.

1878 Joseph Pulitzer buys his first newspaper The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

1843 First Christmas cards They are created in England by John Calcott Horsley and featured a family feasting with the words "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You." Source: An Almanac of the Christian Church

1840 Scottish explorer Dr. Livingstone sets sail on his first trip to Africa.

1792 First formal human cremation in America, Henry Laurens, South Carolina, as requested in his will.

1957 Donny Osmond American singer. Music: One Bad Apple (1971, #1) and Go Away Little Girl (1971, #1).

1953 John Malkovich American actor. Film: The Killing Fields (1984), Places in the Heart (1984), and Dangerous Liaisons (1988).

1942 Dick Butkus American football player, actor.

1941 Beau Bridges (Lloyd Vernet Bridges III), American actor. Film: The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989).

1929 John Cassavetes d. 1989 American actor. He wrote and directed Faces (1968) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974).

1928 Dick Van Patten American actor. TV: Eight is Enough (Tom the father).

1922 Redd Foxx d. 1991 (John Elroy Sanford), American actor. TV: Sanford & Son (Fred Sanford). He was the only entertainer to attend Elvis Presley's wedding (1967).

1916 Kirk Douglas (Issur Danielovitch), American actor. He worked as a professional wrestler before making it in films.

1912 Thomas "Tip" O'Neill d. 1994 American politician, Speaker of the House.

1911 Broderick Crawford d. 1986 American Oscar-winning actor. Film: All The King's Men (1949, Oscar). TV: Highway Patrol (Dan Matthews).

1909 Douglas Fairbanks Jr d. 2000 American actor. Quote: "I was only saying to the Queen the other day how I hate name dropping."

1903 Brace Beemer d. 1965 American radio actor. Radio: The announcer for The Lone Ranger from its first broadcast in 1933. When the voice of the Lone Ranger, Earle Graser died in a car accident, Beemer took over the role until the end of the series in 1954.

1902 Margaret Hamilton d. 1985 American actress, Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939), and as Cora who sold Maxwell House coffee in the TV commercials.

1898 Emmett Kelly d. 1979 American circus clown, known as Weary Willie. He became the mascot for the Brooklyn Dodgers after leaving Ringling Bros.

1886 Clarence Frank Birdseye d. 1956 American inventor. He created a way of deep-freezing foods, and co-founded General Foods Corp.

1848 Joel Chandler Harris d. 1908 American author, creator of Uncle Remus.

1742 Karl Wilhelm Scheele d. 1786 Swedish chemist, discovered oxygen, chlorine (1774), molybdenum (1778), tungsten (1781), glycerin, and was the first to observe the effect of light on silver chloride (the basis for modern photography).

1608 John Milton d. 1674 English poet. Writings: Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671).

1561 Sir Edwin Sandys d. 1629 English politician, treasurer of the Virginia Company (1619-24). He financed the Mayflower expedition to the New World (1620). In 1621, he was imprisoned for suspicion of plotting to establish a republican government in America.

1995 Wrong-Way Corrigan b. 1907 (Douglas Groce Corrigan), American aviator, made a nonstop transatlantic flight from N.Y. to Ireland without a permit (1938), claiming he had intended to fly to Los Angeles, but had followed the wrong end of his compass.

1992 Vincent Gardenia b. 1922 (Vincent Scognamiglio), Italian Tony-Emmy-winning actor. TV: All in the Family (Frank Lorenzo).

1979 Fulton J. Sheen b. 1895 (Peter John Sheen), American Emmy-winning Catholic evangelist. TV: Life Is Worth Living. He was the first TV preacher of note. He won an Emmy as Most Outstanding TV Personality (1952).  Actor Martin Sheen took his stage name from him.

1975 William Augustus Wellman b. 1896 American film director, Wings (1927, winner of the first Best Picture Oscar), Public Enemy (1931), and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943).

1959 Gene Carr b. 1881 American cartoonist, creator of Lady Bountiful.

1874 Ezra Cornell b. 1807 American telegraph pioneer, founder of Western Union Telegraph (1855) and Cornell University (1865).

1669 Clement IX b. 1600 Italian religious leader, 238th Pope (1667-69).

1565 Pius IV b. 1499 Italian religious leader, 224th Pope (1559-65). He reopened the Council of Trent (1562).

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