Today in 80s history! What happened on August 17th in the 80s? Find out what happened today in 80s Movies, 80s Music, 80s TV Shows, and 80s Sports! Also find out about celebrity birthdays for the legends, icons and characters we grew up with in the 80s!
TODAY'S 80S BIRTHDAYS
Sean Penn (Fast Times at Ridgemont High, At Close Range) - 66
August 17, 1960
Belinda Carlisle (The Go-Go's, "Heaven Is a Place on Earth") - 68
August 17, 1958
Robert De Niro (Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Once Upon a Time in America) - 83
August 17, 1943
Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners) - 73
August 17, 1953
Larry B. Scott (Lamar in Revenge of the Nerds) - 65
August 17, 1961
Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block) - 57
August 17, 1969
Posdnuos (Kelvin Mercer of De La Soul) - 57
August 17, 1969
REMEMBERING
Yvonne Craig (Batgirl)
May 16, 1937 - August 17, 2015 (Age 78)
Sib Hashian (Boston)
August 17, 1949 - March 22, 2017 (Age 67)
Mae West (Sextette, Myra Breckinridge)
August 17, 1893 - November 22, 1980 (Age 87)
TODAY IN 80S MUSIC
80s Music Released on August 17th
1987 - Substance
Artist: New Order (Compilation)
Billboard Charts: #36
UK Charts: #3
Note: Assembled mostly so the band's 12-inch singles would exist on CD, and it accidentally became the definitive New Order album — "Blue Monday," "Bizarre Love Triangle," "True Faith," all in one place.
TODAY IN 80S MOVIES
80s Movies Released On August 17th
Tightrope (1984)
Release Date: August 17, 1984
Director: Richard Tuggle
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Geneviève Bujold and Alison Eastwood
Box Office: $48.1 Million
Note: Eastwood as a New Orleans detective whose own appetites uncomfortably resemble the killer's — the darkest thing he'd done to that point, and a deliberate answer to anyone who thought Dirty Harry was uncomplicated. His daughter Alison plays his daughter.
Sheena (1984)
Release Date: August 17, 1984
Director: John Guillermin
Starring: Tanya Roberts and Ted Wass
Budget: $25 Million
Box Office: $5.7 Million
Note: Twenty-five million dollars in, under six million out — one of the decade's great financial disasters. Tanya Roberts had left Charlie's Angels for this, and turns up again in The Beastmaster on August 20.
TODAY IN 80S TV
1989 - FM Premiered
Event: Series Premiere
Network: NBC
Episodes: 13
Note: A sitcom set at a public radio station starring Robert Hays, nine years after Airplane!. Thirteen episodes and gone.
TODAY IN 80S SPORTS
1980 - George Brett Went 4-for-4 to Reach .401
Event: MLB
Details: The high-water mark of the last serious run at .400. Brett's hitting streak ended two days later on August 19, and he finished the season at .390 with the AL MVP.
1984 - Pete Rose's First Game as Player-Manager
Event: MLB
Details: Back in Cincinnati where he started, Rose put himself in the lineup and went 2-for-4 with two RBI. He'd break Ty Cobb's hit record thirteen months later.
1982 - The Cubs and Dodgers Played 21 Innings Over Two Days
Event: MLB
Details: Suspended after 18 innings at Wrigley because of darkness — the park had no lights and wouldn't until 1988 — and finished the next day, with the Cubs winning 2-1 in the 21st.
TODAY IN OTHER 80S NEWS
1982 - The First Compact Discs Rolled Off the Line
Details: Mass production began at a Philips plant in Langenhagen, West Germany. CDs reached America the following March, and the first title sold in the US was Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. The IBM PC had launched five days earlier, in 1981.
