What Happened On
Hank Williams, Jr. Falls From Mountain
August 8, 1975
The singer Hank Williams, Jr. falls 442 feet (135 meters) while climbing Ajax Mountain in Montana. His injuries required reconstructive surgery to his face and he had to relearn to talk and sing. The accident happened a month after recording his breakthrough album Hank Williams, Jr. & Friends that would be released later that year.
Nixon Announces His Resignation
August 8, 1974
U.S. President Richard Nixon announces on live television that he will resign the following day. Three days earlier, he had admitted his complicity in the Watergate cover-up.
The Great Train Robbery
August 8, 1963
Masked bandits rob a British postal train of £2.6 million (equivalent to $7 million US) in Buckinghamshire, England. This was Britain's largest robbery up to that time. The gang was eventually apprehended, although much of the money was never recovered. The 1988 film Buster starring singer Phil Collins was based on one of the robbers.
First Federal Savings and Loan Association
August 8, 1933
First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Miami, Florida is chartered.
Birthdays
First Woman to Walk in Space
Svetlana Savitskaya
Born August 8, 1948
Soviet cosmonaut. The first woman to walk in space (1982). She set 18 international world records on MiG aircraft and three records in team parachute jumping. She won first place at the 6th FAI World Aerobatic Championship (1970).
Dustin Hoffman
Born August 8, 1937
American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Graduate (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979, Oscar), Tootsie (1982), and Rain Man (1988, Oscar).
Colonel Nolde
Colonel Nolde
Last American Combat Casualty of the Vietnam War
Colonel William B. Nolde
Born August 8, 1929 d. 1973
American Army officer. Nolde was killed by an artillery shell 11 hours before the truce was to take effect. He was the 45,914th confirmed death and 57,597th in the total list of Americans killed during the conflict and is the last official Combat Casualty of the Vietnam War.
During his time in service, he earned four medals, including the Bronze Star Medal and Legion of Merit.
Princess Beatrice (Beatrice Elizabeth Mary)
Born August 8, 1988
British royalty, first child of Prince Andrew and the Duchess of York.
The Edge (Dave Evans)
Born August 8, 1961
Irish guitarist, with U2. Music: Sunday Bloody Sunday (1983) and With You Or Without You (1987, #1).
Keith Carradine
Born August 8, 1949
American actor, singer.
John Holmes (John Curtis Estes)
Born August 8, 1944 d. 1988
American porn star. He appeared in over 2,000 pornographic films. Died of AIDS. His life was the basis for the films Boogie Nights (1997) and Wonderland (2003).
Roberta Cooper Ramo
Born August 8, 1942
American lawyer, first woman president of the American Bar Association (1995-96).
Connie Stevens (Concetta Ann Ingolia)
Born August 8, 1938
American actress. TV: Hawaiian Eye (Cricket Blake).
Don Bowden
Born August 8, 1936
American Hall of Fame athlete. He was the first American to run a four-minute mile (1957, 3 minutes and 58.7 seconds).
Mel Tillis
Born August 8, 1932 d. 2017
American country songwriter, singer, actor. Wrote: Ruby Don't Take Your Love to Town (1969). TV: Hee-Haw.
Anderson as Goldman
Anderson as Goldman
Richard Anderson
Born August 8, 1926 d. 2017
American actor. TV: The Six Million Dollar Man (1974-78, Oscar Goldman) and The Bionic Woman (1976-78, Oscar Goldman) and various TV movies based on the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman.
Rudi Gernreich
Born August 8, 1922 d. 1985
Austrian-born American fashion designer, introduced topless bathing suits (1964), thong bathing suits, and the first designer jeans.
Rory Calhoun (Francis Timothy McCown)
Born August 8, 1922 d. 1999
American actor. TV: The Texan (Bill Longley).
Hollywood's Mermaid
Esther Williams
Born August 8, 1921 d. 2013
American swimmer, actress. Known as "Hollywood's Mermaid." Williams set multiple national and regional swimming records in her late teens as part of the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. She was prevented from competing in the 1940 Olympics due to the outbreak of World War II; however, she served as a commentator for synchronized swimming at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Film: Million Dollar Mermaid (1952, Annette Kellerman).
Ernest Orlando Lawrence
Born August 8, 1901 d. 1958
American Nobel-winning physicist. He developed the atom smasher which produced the fuel for the first atomic bombs.
Deaths
Jim Irwin on the Moon - Apollo 15
Jim Irwin on the Moon - Apollo 15
Eighth Person to Walk on the Moon
Jim Irwin (James Benson Irwin)
Died August 8, 1991 b. 1930
American Astronaut. He was the eighth person to walk on the Moon (1971) and was the lunar module pilot for Apollo 15, the fourth human lunar landing. Irwin died of a heart attack at age 61 and was the first of the 12 men who walked on the Moon to die.
Olivia Newton-John
Died August 8, 2022 b. 1948
British-Australian Grammy-winning singer, actress. She has sold more than 100 million records. Music: Let Me Be There (1973) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Film: Grease (1978) and Xanadu (1980).
Glen Campbell
Died August 8, 2017 b. 1936
American singer, five-time Grammy-winner. Music: Gentle on My Mind (1967), Wichita Lineman (1968), and Rhinestone Cowboy (1975). Film: True Grit (1969). TV: The Glenn Campbell Goodtime Hour (1969-72).
Karen Black (Karen Ziegler)
Died August 8, 2013 b. 1939
American actress. Film: Easy Rider (1969, as the acid-tripping whore) and Five Easy Pieces (1970, waitress). TV: Trilogy of Terror (1975, memorable as the spear-wielding doll's victim).
Patricia Neal
Died August 8, 2010 b. 1926
American Oscar-winning actress. Film: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, WWII widow Helen Benson) and Hud (1963, Oscar).
Barbara Bel Geddes
Died August 8, 2005 b. 1922
American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Dallas (1978-90, Miss Ellie). Broadway: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955, Maggie). She starred in an episode of TV's Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "Lamb to the Slaughter", in which she played a housewife *SPOILER ALERT* who killed her husband by bludgeoning him to death with a frozen leg of lamb, cooking the murder weapon, and then serving it to the investigating police.
Film: I Remember Mama (1948, Katrin Hanson) and Vertigo (1958, Midge).
Fay Wray
Died August 8, 2004 b. 1907
Canadian-American actress. Film: King Kong, (1933, Kong's main squeeze).
Harry Bellaver
Died August 8, 1993 b. 1905
American actor. TV: Naked City (Frank Arcaro) and Another World (Ernie Downs).
Alan Napier as Alfred in Batman
Alan Napier as Alfred in Batman
Alan Napier (Alan Napier-Clavering)
Died August 8, 1988 b. 1903
English actor. TV: Batman (1966-68, Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler).
Citation
Died August 8, 1970 b. 1945
American thoroughbred race horse. 1948 Triple Crown winner, and the first race horse to win $1,000,000 (1951).
World's Tallest Natural Giant
Angus MacAskill
Died August 8, 1863 b. 1825
Scottish-born Canadian giant. He is recognized by Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest non-pathological giant in recorded history (7 ft 9 in, or 2.36 m), the strongest man who ever lived, and had the largest chest measurements of any non-obese man (80 inches, or 200 cm). He is classified as a natural giant because he didn't have gigantism or an unusual amount of growth hormones, as opposed to such giants as Andre the Giant or Robert Wadlow. MacAskill was known for his feats of strength. Claims of his feats of strength include lifting a ship's anchor weighing 2,800 pounds (1,300 kg) to chest height and carrying barrels weighing over 350 pounds (160 kg) apiece under each arm. He toured with P.T. Barnum.
Trajan
Died August 8, 117 b. A.D. 53
Spanish-born Roman Emperor (98-117). Emperor Nerva, whom he succeeded, adopted him as his son in 97 A.D.