Today in 80s history! What happened on August 21st 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
Kim Cattrall (Mannequin, Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China) - 70
August 21, 1956
Jim McMahon (Chicago Bears, Super Bowl XX) - 67
August 21, 1959
Steve Smith (Journey) - 72
August 21, 1954
Peter Weir (Witness, Dead Poets Society) - 82
August 21, 1944
Loretta Devine (A Different World) - 77
August 21, 1949
REMEMBERING
Joe Strummer (The Clash)
August 21, 1952 - December 22, 2002 (Age 50)
Hugh Wilson (Created WKRP in Cincinnati, Directed Police Academy)
August 21, 1943 - January 14, 2018 (Age 74)
Kenny Rogers ("The Gambler," "Islands in the Stream")
August 21, 1938 - March 20, 2020 (Age 81)
Wilt Chamberlain (Los Angeles Lakers)
August 21, 1936 - October 12, 1999 (Age 63)
John Amos (Good Times, Coming to America)
December 27, 1939 - August 21, 2024 (Age 84)
TODAY IN 80S MUSIC
80s Music Released on August 21st
1984 - Warrior
Artist: Scandal (Debut Album)
Billboard Charts: #17
Note: Patty Smyth fronting one of the great one-album bands. "The Warrior" went top ten, the video's warpaint became a Halloween costume, and Smyth later turned down the job of replacing David Lee Roth in Van Halen.
TODAY IN 80S MOVIES
80s Movies Released On August 21st
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Release Date: August 21, 1987
Director: Emile Ardolino
Starring: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach and Cynthia Rhodes
Budget: $6 Million
Box Office: $214.6 Million
Note: Made for six million dollars by a company that expected to dump it straight to video. Swayze had to talk Jennifer Grey into it — she couldn't stand him after Red Dawn. Nobody puts Baby in a corner.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Release Date: August 21, 1981
Director: John Landis
Starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter and Griffin Dunne
Budget: $5.8 Million
Box Office: $62 Million
Note: Rick Baker's transformation scene won the very first Academy Award for Best Makeup, an Oscar created largely because of this film. Landis wrote the script in 1969, at 19. David Naughton lost the Dr Pepper gig over it.
The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)
Release Date: August 21, 1987
Director: Rod Amateau
Starring: Anthony Newley and Mackenzie Astin
Budget: $1 Million
Box Office: $1.6 Million
Note: Someone looked at a line of deliberately revolting trading cards and decided it needed a live-action feature with children in animatronic suits. Routinely named one of the worst films ever made, and beloved by exactly the people who collected the cards.
TODAY IN 80S TV
1988 - The Final Episode of Werewolf Aired
Event: Series Finale
Network: Fox
Episodes: 29
Note: One of the shows Fox launched with when it was barely a network, with Rick Baker creature effects seven years after An American Werewolf in London — which opened on this same date.
1980 - The Games People Play Premiered
Event: Series Premiere
Network: NBC
Note: A stunt-competition show whose "World's Toughest Bouncer" segment was won twice by a Chicago bodyguard named Laurence Tureaud. Within two years he was Mr. T.
TODAY IN 80S SPORTS
1982 - Rollie Fingers Recorded His 300th Save
Event: MLB
Details: The first pitcher ever to reach 300. Fingers had won both the Cy Young and the MVP the year before, at 34, with a moustache visible from orbit.
1986 - The Red Sox Scored 11 Runs with Two Outs in One Inning
Event: MLB
Details: A 24-5 demolition of Cleveland with 24 hits, including eleven runs in the sixth after two were already out. Two months later they were one strike from a World Series title.
TODAY IN OTHER 80S NEWS
No other news in the 80s today!
