Wednesday, October 19, 2005

 

Spotlight: Happy 60th birthday to Emmy- and Tony Award-winning actor John Lithgow. Well known to TV audiences for his three-time Emmy award-winning role as Dick Solomon in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, Lithgow has also won a Tony award for his performance on Broadway in the 2002 musical Sweet Smell of Success. Lithgow is currently on stage in the Broadway adaptation of the film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, for which he was nominated for this year's Best Actor in a Musical Tony. He was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscars for The World According to Garp (1983) and Terms of Endearment (1984).

Quote: "Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug." – John Lithgow

Word of the day: petulant: ill-tempered, peevish; John Lithgow's character in 3rd Rock from the Sun is often whiny and petulant. (© )

Today's News:

• Saddam Hussein: trial due to begin in Iraq; defense set to request delay (story)
• gorilla: scientists intrigued by young female who uses tools (story)
• Madeleine Albright: former US secretary of state to appear on TV's Gilmore Girls (story)

Today's History:

• American Revolution: British Gen. Charles Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, effectively ending the land war (1781)
• Black Monday: the Dow fell over 500 points (1987)
• Guildford Four: men wrongly convicted for a deadly IRA bombing were cleared after 15 years in jail (1989)

Today's Birthdays:

• Charles Merrill: founder of Merrill Lynch (1885-1956)
• John Le Carré: spy novelist, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (74)
• Chris Kattan: comic actor, SNL (35)