By Kiesly Jameson
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Richard Dean Anderson (born January 23, 1950) is an American retired actor. He began his television career in 1976, playing Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series General Hospital, and then rose to prominence as the lead actor in the television series MacGyver (1985–1992). He later appeared in films such as Through the Eyes of a Killer (1992), Pandora’s Clock (1996), and Firehouse (1997).
In 1997, Anderson returned to television as the lead actor of the series Stargate SG-1, a spin-off of the 1994 film Stargate, replacing actor Kurt Russell. He played the lead from 1997 to 2005 and had a recurring role from 2005 to 2007. Since 1997, he has starred in only one film: Stargate: Continuum, released in 2008 as a sequel film after the Stargate SG-1 film The Ark of Truth. He appeared in the follow-up Stargate spin-off series Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: Universe (reprising his role from SG-1 as Major General and later Lieutenant General Jack O’Neill).
He is of Norwegian, Scottish, Finnish-Swedish, English, German, Swedish and possibly Mohawk descent. His last name, Anderson, derives from his Finnish-Swedish paternal grandfather.
AS ANGUS McGUYVER
Anderson came to fame in the lead role of Angus MacGyver in the hit television series MacGyver, which lasted from 1985 to 1992 and was highly successful throughout its seven-year run. The character Angus MacGyver, also known as just MacGyver or Mac, was an optimistic action hero who was notable for using a Swiss Army knife instead of a firearm as his tool of choice. Anderson stated that he was initially drawn to the role because he “was intrigued by the idea of a TV hero who had an aversion to guns”, noting his own aversion to violence and how the MacGyver character differed from popular action heroes of that time.
Anderson would go on to produce two follow-up movies to MacGyver in 1994. After MacGyver ended, Anderson stated “MacGyver was seven years of being in virtually every frame that was shot and having absolutely no life at all.”
During the run of the program, Anderson suffered a number of injuries related to doing his own stunt work, some of which required surgery. He suffered a compressed disc in his back when he fell into a hole while filming an episode midway through the first season of the show; he continued filming in a “fairly crippled” state for a year and a half before having surgery that improved his condition, but still experienced pain from the incident. Anderson described it as an “exploded” disc that caused a “severe sciatic condition”.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
What is lactose?
Lactose is a light sweetener and carbohydrate found only in milk. Any product made with milk contains lactose. Bacteria turn lactose to lactic acid, and that’s when milk turns sour. Some people cannot tolerate lactose and must avoid milk products.
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- John Hancock (statesman ) –
- Camilla Collett (writer) –
- Joseph Nathan Kane (fact-finding guru) –
- Ernie Kovacs (actor) –
- Chita Rivera (singer, actress, & dancer) –
- Gil Gerard (actor) –
- Rutger Hauer (actor) –
- Richard Dean Anderson (actor) –
- Princess Caroline of Monaco –
- Mariska Hargitay (actress) –
Died
- Anna Pavlova (ballerina) –
- Samuel Barber (composer) –
- Salvador Dali (artist) –
- Daniel Pearl (Wall Street Journal reporter who disappeared and was later killed) –
- Nell Carter (singer & actress) –
- Helmut Newton (fashion photographer) –
- Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) –
- Johnny Carson (comedian who dominated late-night television for 30 years as the host of The Tonight Show) –
Events
- Deadliest earthquake on record killed 830,000 in China –
- Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive an M.D. degree –
- Envelope machine patented –
- California vintner Agoston Haraszthy received 100,000 European grape vine cuttings. –
- Charles Curtis first of Native American descent to be elected as U.S. senator –
- Leonard Thompson received the world’s first successful insulin injection –
- The movie Casablanca was copyrighted –
- Duke Ellington played at New York City’s Carnegie Hall for the first time –
- Fire devastated streetcar barns in Regina, Saskatchewan –
- Bathyscaphe Trieste dove a record-breaking 35,800 feet –
- Eldfell volcano began to form, Heimaey Island, Iceland –
- Willie Mays elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame –
- China’s giant pandas were added to the endangered species list –
- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its first members: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard –
- International Polar Bear Conservation Centre opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba –
- At 12:31 am, a 7.9 earthquake struck the Gulf of Alaska, about 181 miles southeast of Kodiak, prompting a tsunami warning for coastal Alaska and British Columbia, and a tsunami watch for the rest of the U.S. West Coast. This was cancelled after several hours; a minor tsunami, less than a foot, was reported in Alaska. –
Weather
- In Iroquois Falls, Ontario, the temperature reached -73°F. –
- Eighty degrees below zero F at Prospect Creek, Alaska –
- 13.4 inches of snow fell on Boston, the most snow the city had received in a single day since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1892. This was from a powerful blizzard which started on January 22 and ended on the 23rd. –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
