| Friday, April 25, 2008 |
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| Al Pacino |
Spotlight: We tend to think that Al Pacino only became a star in 1972 with his performance as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. We know he was nominated for eight Oscars and won one (for Scent of a Woman). But, before he hit the silver screen, theater goers were already well acquainted with Pacino's talents. He won a 1967 Obie for his off-Broadway role in The Indian Wants the Bronx, and a 1969 Tony for the short-lived Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? In 1977, Pacino took home another Tony for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel. And, believe it or not, Pacino — who turns 68 today — started out as a stand-up comic.
Quote: "My first language was shy. It's only by having been thrust into the limelight that I have learned to cope with my shyness."
Question of the Day: What off-Broadway play charged the most-ever for tickets?The highest-priced off-Broadway show was The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, during the period when Al Pacino was starring in it.
Word of the day: neanderthal (nee-an-duhr-thawl, nee-an-duhr-tawl)The ancient and now extinct relatives of modern humans. Neanderthals lived in Europe about 150,000 years ago and were the earliest form of the human species, Homo sapiens.
Usage: The Neanderthal man was named after the valley of Neanderthal where he was discovered. The valley was named for Joachim Neander, a 17th-century poet who frequented the area.
One of the most consistently clicked-on words in Answers.com is eponymous, a word for something that comes from the name of the person most closely associated with it. Did you know that "bloomers" were named for Amelia Bloomer, who created them? This week, we feature eponyms and the people responsible for them.
Today's History:
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| Dredging The Suez |
- "La Marseillaise": French national anthem was composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg (1792)
- Suez Canal: ground was broken on the waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea (1859)
- license plates: were required for the first time on cars in the US (1901)
Today's Birthdays:
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| Ella Fitzgerald |
- Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658): Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland
- Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893): composer of Swan Lake and the 1812 Overture
- Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937): physicist and inventor of wireless telegraphy
- Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965): father of broadcast journalism
- Ella Fitzgerald (1918-1996): jazz singer known for scat
- Renée Zellweger (39): award-winning actress whose latest film is Leatherheads; other actors born today include Paul Mazursky (78), Hank Azaria (44) and Jason Lee (38)
