By Brenda June Temple
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and three Golden Globe Awards. The films in which she has starred have collectively grossed over $3.9 billion globally, making her one of Hollywood‘s most bankable stars.
After an early breakthrough with appearances in Mystic Pizza (1988) and Steel Magnolias (1989), Roberts established herself as a leading actress when she headlined the top-grossing romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990). She starred in numerous commercially successful films throughout the 1990s, including the romantic comedies My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999) and Runaway Bride (1999). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing the title role in the biographical drama Erin Brockovich (2000). Roberts achieved further film success in the following decades with Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Ocean’s Twelve (2004), Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Valentine’s Day (2010), Eat Pray Love (2010), August: Osage County (2013), Wonder (2017), and Ticket to Paradise (2022).
Roberts also received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for the HBO television film The Normal Heart (2014), had her first regular television role in the first season of the Amazon Prime Video psychological thriller series Homecoming (2018), and portrayed Martha Mitchell in the Starz political limited series Gaslit (2022).
In addition to acting, Roberts runs the production company Red Om Films, through which she has served as an executive producer for various projects she has starred in, as well as for the first four films of the American Girl franchise (2004–2008). She has acted as the global ambassador for Lancôme since 2009. She was the world’s highest-paid actress throughout the majority of the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s. She received a then-unprecedented fees of $20 million and $25 million for her roles in Erin Brockovich (2000) and Mona Lisa Smile (2003), respectively. As of 2020, Roberts’ net worth was estimated to be $250 million. People magazine has named her the most beautiful woman in the world a record five times.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Native Americans named October’s Moon the Hunter’s Moon because it was the time to hunt in preparation for winter. Other tribes called it the Travel Moon and the Dying Grass Moon. See Almanac.com/moon-october for more information!
Question of the Day
The trees in our New Hampshire town are covered with ugly cocoonlike things that look as if they’re destroying the foliage. What are these?
Most likely you’re seeing the webs of fall webworms. These can appear from late July through October. The caterpillars are greenish yellow with lots of hair and black dots, and they feed on leaves. As feeding continues, their silken webs enlarge to cover the areas they plan to eat. This can indeed make it look as if the tree is being destroyed. Insecticides can control the worms, but each web must be penetrated for success. Infected branches also can be removed and the caterpillar webs destroyed. Bad as the webs may look, however, the damage they cause is usually minimal, and most leaves will return the following spring.
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- John Locke (philosopher) –
- Abigail Adams (U.S. First Lady) –
- Red Auerbach (basketball coach) –
- Porter Wagoner (country music singer) –
Born
- Francis Bacon (painter) –
- Dr. Jonas Salk (discovered polio vaccine) –
- Cleo Laine (singer) –
- Joan Plowright (actress) –
- Charlie Daniels (musician) –
- Lenny Wilkens (basketball player, coach) –
- Jane Alexander (actress) –
- Dennis Franz (actor) –
- Bill Gates (Microsoft founder) –
- Lauren Holly (actress) –
- Jami Gertz (actress) –
- Julia Roberts (actress) –
- Brad Paisley (country singer) –
- Joaquin Phoenix (actor) –
Events
- Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba and claimed it for Spain–
- Harvard College founded in Massachusetts–
- The Statue of Liberty was unveiled in the New York Harbor–
- The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was dedicated by President Cleveland–
- St. Louis police became the first in the U.S. to use fingerprinting–
- The Jack Benny Show made its television debut–
- Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature–
- An X17.2 solar flare occurred that, at the time, was the third most powerful ever recorded–
- The Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series–
- Mike Lowell of the Boston Red Sox was named World Series MVP–
Weather
- Lander, Wyoming, received 27 inches of snow–
- The temperature at Big Piney, Wyoming, plunged to -15 degrees F–
- The Georgia mountains received five inches of snow–
- Cyclone 05B in the Indian Ocean became a Category 5–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
