By StephanieLee Elliott
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Keira Christina Knightley OBE (/ˈkɪərə ˈnaɪtli/ KEER-ə NYTE-lee; born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, four Golden Globes, and a Laurence Olivier Award. In 2018, she was appointed an OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to drama and charity.
Born in London to actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald, Knightley obtained an agent at age six and initially worked in commercials and television films. Following a minor role as Sabé in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), her breakthrough came when she played a tomboy footballer in Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and co-starred in Love Actually (2003). She achieved global recognition for playing Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2003–2007 and 2017).
For her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005), Knightley was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She starred in several more period films over the next few years, including Atonement (2007), The Duchess (2008), A Dangerous Method (2011), and Anna Karenina (2012). She took on contemporary-set parts in Begin Again (2013) and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), and returned to historical films playing Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game (2014), earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has since starred as the title character in Colette (2018), journalist Loretta McLaughlin in Boston Strangler (2023), and a spy in the thriller series Black Doves (2024).
On stage, Knightley has appeared in two West End productions: The Misanthrope in 2009, which earned her an Olivier Award nomination, and The Children’s Hour in 2011. She also starred as the titular heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Thérèse Raquin. Knightley is known for her outspoken stance on social issues and has worked extensively with Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Comic Relief. She is married to musician James Righton, with whom she has two daughters.
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
- John Winthrop (founder of Mass. Bay Colony) –
- Ludwig van Beethoven (composer) –
- Walt Whitman (poet) –
- Sarah Bernhardt (actress) –
- Margaret Millar (Canadian author) –
- Jan Sterling (star of Hollywood’s film noir movies in the 1940s and 1950s) –
- Paul Hester (drummer) –
- Paul Dana (race car driver) –
- Harry Wesley Coover Jr. (inventor of Super Glue) –
- Geraldine Ferraro (in 1984 became the first woman vice presidential candidate on a major U.S. party ticket) –
Born
- Robert Frost (writer) –
- Tennessee Williams (playwright) –
- Gen. William Westmoreland (military commander) –
- Bob Elliot (comedian) –
- Sandra Day O’Connor (first female U.S. Supreme Court justice) –
- Leonard Nimoy (actor) –
- Alan Arkin (actor) –
- James Caan (actor) –
- Bob Woodward (journalist) –
- Diana Ross (singer) –
- Steven Tyler (musician; lead singer of Aerosmith) –
- Vicki Lawrence (actress) –
- Martin Short (actor) –
- Curtis Sliwa (founder of the Guardian Angels) –
- Kenny Chesney (country singer) –
- Keira Knightley (actress) –
Events
- Congress created the Territory of Orleans –
- North West Company merged with Hudson’s Bay Company –
- An estimated 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurred in Owens Valley, California –
- Popeye statue unveiled during spinach festival, Crystal City, Texas –
- Deadly dynamite explosion in quarry, Sandts Eddy, Pennsylvania –
- The U.N. Security Council met for the first time in New York –
- Dr. Jonas Salk announced development of polio vaccine –
- Perpetrators of the Great Train Robbery were convicted in London –
- North Vietnamese took Hue (Vietnam War) –
- Groundbreaking took place in Washington, D.C., for a memorial to honor American armed forces members killed in Vietnam –
- The U.S. government sold its 85% ownership of Conrail, one of the nation’s largest rail systems, and earned $1.6 billion in one of the largest stock offerings in history –
- The post-perestroika Soviet Union held its first nationwide multiparty, multicandidate elections –
- A 2-pound 5-ounce yellow hybrid bass was caught in the Kiamichi River of Oklahoma –
- Melissa macro computer virus released, disrupting systems worldwide –
- A 12-pound walleye was caught with fly tackle in Manistee River, Michigan –
Weather
- Nineteen inches of snow, Chicago, Illinois –
- 28.76” barometric pressure, Omaha, Nebraska –
- The temperature at Allakaket, Alaska, was 69 degrees below zero F –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
