Today is Tuesday, Nov. 18, the 322nd day of 2025. There are 43 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On Nov. 18, 2005, eight months after Robert Blake was acquitted of murdering his wife at a criminal trial, a civil jury decided the actor was behind the killing and ordered him to pay $30 million to Bonny Lee Bakley’s children.
Also on this date:
In 1928, “Steamboat Willie,” the first cartoon with synchronized sound as well as the first release of the character Mickey Mouse, debuted on screen at the Colony Theater in New York.
In 1978, U.S. Rep. Leo J. Ryan of California and four others were killed on an airstrip in Jonestown, Guyana, by members of the Peoples Temple; the killings were followed by a night of mass murder and suicide, resulting in the deaths of more than 900 cult members.
In 1987, an underground fire broke out in the King’s Cross St. Pancras subway station in London, causing 31 deaths.
In 1991, Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon freed Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland, the American dean of agriculture at the American University of Beirut.
In 1999, 12 people were killed and dozens injured when a bonfire under construction at Texas A&M University collapsed. The stack of thousands of logs more than 50 feet tall gave way ahead of an annual bonfire tradition marking a Texas A&M-Texas rivalry football game in College Station.
In 2021, more than half a century after the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, two of his convicted killers were exonerated; a New York judge dismissed the convictions of Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam after prosecutors and the men’s lawyers said a renewed investigation had found new evidence that undermined the case against them.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Author Margaret Atwood is 86.
- Actor Linda Evans is 83.
- Actor Delroy Lindo is 73.
- Comedian Kevin Nealon is 72.
- Football Hall of Famer Warren Moon is 69.
- Actor Oscar Nunez is 67.
- Actor Elizabeth Perkins is 65.
- Rock musician Kirk Hammett (Metallica) is 63.
- Author and lecturer Brené Brown is 60.
- Actor Romany Malco is 57.
- Actor Owen Wilson is 57.
- Commentator Megan Kelly is 55.
- Actor Chloe Sevigny (SEH’-ven-ee) is 51.
- Baseball Hall of Famer David Ortiz is 50.
- Rapper Fabolous is 48.
- NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin is 45.
- Actor-comedian Nasim Pedrad (nah-SEEM’ peh-DRAHD’) is 44.
- Actor Damon Wayans Jr. is 43.
- Olympic track and field gold medalist Allyson Felix is 40.
- Fashion designer Christian Siriano is 40.
- Actor Nathan Kress is 33.
- NFL quarterback Caleb Williams is 24.