By Mariana Smithfield
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born March 22, 1976) is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2015, and Forbes listed her among the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2019 and 2021. In 2021, Forbes named her the world’s highest earning actress, and in 2023, she was named one of the richest women in America with an estimated net worth of $440 million.
Witherspoon began her career as a teenager, making her screen debut in The Man in the Moon (1991). Her breakthrough came in 1999 with a supporting role in Cruel Intentions, and for her portrayal of Tracy Flick in the black comedy Election. She gained wider recognition for playing Elle Woods in the comedy Legally Blonde (2001) and its 2003 sequel, and for starring in the romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama (2002). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying June Carter Cash in the musical biopic Walk the Line (2005). Following a career downturn, during which her sole box-office success was the romantic drama Water for Elephants (2011), Witherspoon made a comeback by producing and starring as Cheryl Strayed in the drama Wild (2014), which earned her a second nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards.
She has since worked primarily in television, producing and starring in several female-led literary adaptations under her company Hello Sunshine. These include the HBO drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019), the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show (2019–present), and the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere (2020). For the first of these, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series. She has also produced the film adaptations Gone Girl (2014) and Where the Crawdads Sing (2022), and the miniseries adaptation Daisy Jones & the Six (2023).
Witherspoon also owns Reese’s Book Club and a clothing company, Draper James. She is involved in children’s and women’s advocacy organizations. She serves on the board of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) and was named Global Ambassador of Avon Products in 2007, serving as honorary chair of the charitable Avon Foundation dedicated to women’s causes.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Died
- Jean-Baptiste Lully (composer) –
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (writer) –
- Karl Wallenda (circus performer) –
- Sir Richard Sykes (British ambassador to the Netherlands, assassinated by Irish Republican Army) –
- David Strickland (actor) –
- Janet Akyuz Mattei (astronomer) –
- Aldabra tortoise Adwaitya (thought to be 255 years old, in Kolkata, India) –
- Israel “Cachao” Lopez (pioneer of mambo style music) –
Born
- Thomas Crawford (sculptor) –
- Randolph Caldecott (illustrator) –
- Robert Andrews Millikan (physicist) –
- Chico Marx (comedian) –
- Louis L’Amour (author) –
- Karl Malden (actor) –
- Marcel Marceau (French mime ) –
- Stephen Sondheim (composer) –
- William Shatner (actor) –
- George Benson (singer) –
- Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer) –
- Bob Costas (sports broadcaster) –
- Stephanie Mills (singer) –
- Keegan-Michael Key (comedian and actor) –
- Reese Witherspoon (actress) –
- James T. Kirk (character on Star Trek series) –
Events
- Massasoit, chieftain of the Wampanoags, came to Plymouth to treat of peace with Pilgrims–
- Gambling made illegal in Boston–
- Stamp Act passed by the English Parliament, requiring American colonists to buy and affix British-issued stamps to most documents–
- Young Men’s Hebrew Association founded–
- President Grover Cleveland appointed members of the first regulatory agency, the Interstate Commerce Commision–
- First women’s basketball game was played at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts–
- Beer and Wine Revenue Act, signed by FDR, legalized wine and so-called 3.2 beer–
- Grand Coulee Dam on Columbia River began production of electric power –
- First U.S. rocket to leave the earth’s atmosphere, launched from White Sands, New Mexico, attained height of 50 miles–
- 7.0-magnitude earthquake occurred in Fox Islands, Alaska–
- Hank Williams Jr. made his stage debut at 8 years old–
- Louis B. Leakey announced his 1961 discovery of a 14 million-year-old hominoid in Kenya–
- The Beatles’ first album, Please Please Me, was released in Britain–
- Muhammad Ali knocked out Zora Foley in NY. This was his last fight before being stripped of his title for avoiding the military draft–
- Proposed women’s equal rights amendment to Constitution submitted to states for ratification–
- Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter revealed that the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, and Bob Dylan inspired him while he worked late nights at the Georgia governor’s mansion–
- U.S. Congress voted to overide President Reagan’s veto and reinstate the Civil Rights Restoration Act. The law, which was designed to replace protections voided by 1984 U.S. Supreme Court decision, prohibitted discrimination by an institution receiving federal funds–
- A coyote was captured in Central Park, New York City. Named Hal by park workers, he was about a year old and weighed 35 pounds. First spotted on Sunday, March 19, the hunt began the afternoon of Tuesday, March 21 and ended Wednesday, March 22. He was taken to a wildlife center outside NYC. City Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said the coyote is believed to be only the second coyote ever spotted in Central Park.–
- Alaska’s Mount Redoubt volcano erupted four times. An ash plume more than 9 miles was released into the air in the volcano’s first emission in nearly 20 years–
- An animatronic T-rex caught fire in Canon City, Colorado–
Weather
- Deadly tornado struck Urbana, Ohio, blowing a Bible 15 miles–
- Kansas and Texas experienced a blizzard–
- Twenty degrees F at Barrow, Alaska–
- Ninth day of March record highs (78 to 87 degrees Fahrenheit) in Chicago, Illinois–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
