MILESTONES: April 3, birthdays for Alec Baldwin, Adam Scott, Leona Lewis

Brooklyn Today

April 3, 2018 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Alec Baldwin. AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

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On this day in 1865, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle featured reports and commentary on the great victory of the Union Army in the Civil War. The Army, under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s leadership, captured the Confederate Capital of Richmond, Virginia. After weeks of trying to infiltrate the rebel city, Grant got his break after his adversary, Gen. Robert E. Lee’s attack on Fort Stedman. Grant planned an offensive that resulted in the Confederate States Army’s fleeing on April 2. The Eagle featured a related story on the news of this victory reaching Brooklyn: “The Rev. Mr. Beecher, [abolitionist founder of Plymouth Church] having received the dispatch just prior to the close of the morning service, read it to his congregation, who rose in a body and received the news with cheers.”

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On this day in 1887, the Eagle reported the death of famed German composer, Johannes Brahms. The story noted that Brahms, whose doctors said he had cancer, did not know the nature of his illness, as his doctors had kept from him knowledge on the gravity of his condition.

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On this day in 1921, the front page of the Eagle reported that German physicist Albert Einstein had arrived in New York on the steamship Rotterdam. He arrived with a professor Chaim Weizmann, the inventor of TNT, and a delegation of Zionists. Although the stated purpose of their visit was a fundraiser for a Hebrew university, their host’s real point of interest became Einstein’s theory of relativity.

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On this day in 1948, Eagle’s front page featured a report that President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, a $6 billion global aid bill. The Eagle called the Marshall plan “the most far-reaching peacetime project of its kind in U.S. history.” And more than 50 U.S. military police formed a blockade at Soviet rail center control in the American sector of Berlin. This stopped the Russians from entering the center. But nine Russians were reportedly in the building, and their comrades brought them soup and baskets of food.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor Alec Baldwin, who was born in 1958; actor Jamie Bamber, who was born in 1973; actress Amanda Bynes, who was born in 1986; singer and actress Doris Day, who was born in 1924; journalist Max Frankel, who was born in 1930; actress Jennie Garth, who was born in 1972; anthropologist Jane Goodall, who was born in 1934; singer Leona Lewis, who was born in 1985; writer, actor and director Jonathan Lynn, who was born in 1943; actress Marsha Mason, who was born in 1942; comedian and actor Eddie Murphy, who was born in Brooklyn in 1961; singer Wayne Newton, who was born in 1942; singer Tony Orlando, who was born in 1942; Hall of Fame hockey player Bernie Parent, who was born in 1945; Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor David Hyde Pierce, who was born in 1959; actor Adam Scott, who was born in 1973; actress Cobie Smulders, who was born in 1982; and Olympic skier Picabo Street, who was born in 1971.

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MARLON BRANDO WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1924. Perhaps the most influential film actor of his generation, his powerful performances in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Viva Zapata!” established his presence as a star, and “On the Waterfront” earned him an Academy Award. Later films included “Last Tango in Paris” and “Apocalypse Now,” but he is perhaps best remembered for his role as Vito Corleone in “The Godfather,” for which he won his second Oscar. Brando died in 2004 in California.

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LESLIE HOWARD WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1893. The romantic actor of Hollywood’s Golden Age became a casualty of World War II when, during the return trip from a British government–sponsored tour of Spain, a plane transporting his was shot down by German raiders. Howard’s most-remembered film role is that of Ashley Wilkes in “Gone with the Wind” He died at sea in 1943.

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HENRY LUCE WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1898. The American editor and publisher was born to missionary parents in Penglai, China. He built his publishing empire with Time, Fortune, Life and Sports Illustrated. Luce was also involved in broadcasting. He died in Arizona in 1967.

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WASHINGTON IRVING WAS BORN ON THIS DAY IN 1783. The American author, attorney and onetime U.S. minister to Spain was the creator of “Rip van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” He was also the author of many historical and biographical works, including “A History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus” and the “Life of Washington.” Irving died in New York in 1859.