1987

HISTORY & POLITICS

Chase, Maryland rail wreck: An Amtrak train en route from Washington, DC to Boston, Massachusetts collides with Conrail engines, killing 16.

President Ronald Reagan addresses the American people on the Iran-Contra Affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had 'deteriorated' into an arms-for-hostages deal.

Klaus Barbie, a German soldier and Gestapo member, goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II. He is sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.

The USS Stark (FFG-31), while patrolling the Persian Gulf, is struck by two Exocet missiles from an Iraqi F-1 Mirage fighter, killing 37 sailors and injuring 21 other crew members (during the Iran-Iraq War).

The Legend of Zelda was released for the NES in North America.

The 200th anniversary of the United States Constitution is celebrated across the country.

PSA Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-supervisor on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself.

MUSIC

Walk Like An Egyptian - Bangles
Alone - Heart
Shake You Down - Gregory Abbott
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship
With or Without You - U2
You Keep Me Hangin' On - Kim Wilde
C'Est la Vie - Robbie Nevil
I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) - Aretha Franklin, George Michael
At This Moment - Billy Vera & the Beaters
I Heard a Rumour - Bananarama
Heaven Is a Place on Earth - Belinda Carlisle
Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House
Lady in Red - Chris de Burgh
Hot Hot Hot - Buster Poindexter
Open Your Heart - Madonna
Faith - George Michael

TELEVISION

Star Trek: the Next Generation: Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, & Wil Wheaton
Ninty-five years after Capt. Kirk's 5 year mission, a new generation in a new Enterprise set out on their own mission to boldly go where no one has gone before.

21 Jump Street: Starring: Steven Williams, Holly Robinson Peete, Peter DeLuise, Dustin Nguyen, & Johnny Depp
21 Jump Street is the headquarters for a squad of police officers who specialize in investigations relating to young people. Each of the Jump St. personnel was selected for their ability to pass for high school or college students, allowing them to operate undercover in areas where it is difficult for regular police officers to blend in unnoticed.
   
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [cartoon]: Four turtles (Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, & Raphael) were transformed into humanoids by a strange ooze. A human martial arts master, Hamato Yoshi (aka Splinter), also affected by the same ooze, transformed into a humanoid rat. Splinter, takes the four turtles under his wing and trains them as ninjas. Together with the intrepid reporter, April O'Neil, they fight against the threats against the world, like Shredder and Krang.
   
Beauty and the Beast: Starring: Linda Hamilton & Ron Perlman as Vincent
Vincent is a mythic, noble man-beast that lives in a secret Utopian community of social outcasts beneath the city. Catherine is a savvy assistant DA in New York. Through an emotional bond connecting the two of them, Vincent is able to sense the dangers Catherine's job brings her, and he comes to be her protector as well as the man she loves beyond all measure.

MOVIES
     
Fatal Attraction: Starring: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, & Anne Archer
A married man's one night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.
   
Beverly Hills Cop II: Starring: Eddie Murphy & Judge Reinhold
Axel Foley returns to Beverly Hills to help Taggart and Rosewood investigate Chief Bogamil's near-fatal shooting and the series of "alphabet crimes" associated with it.
   
Good Morning, Vietnam: Starring: Robin Williams
An unorthodox and irreverent DJ begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the US Armed Services Radio station in Vietnam.

The Witches of Eastwick: Starring: Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, & Michelle Pfeiffer
Three single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted - at a cost - when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.

Predator: Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger A team of commandos, on a mission in a Central American jungle, find themselves hunted by an extra-terrestrial warrior.

Robocop: Starring: Peter Weller In a dystopic & crime ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg with submerged memories haunting him.
 
The Lost Boys: Starring: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman, Jami Gertz, & Edward Hermann
Financial troubles force a recent divorcee and her teenage sons Mike and Sam to settle down with her father in the California town of Santa Carla. At first, Sam laughs off rumors he hears about vampires who inhabit the small town. But after Mike meets a beautiful girl at the local amusement park, he begins to exhibit the classic signs of vampirism. Fearing for his own safety, Sam recruits two young vampire hunters to save his brother by finding and destroying the head vampire.

SPORTS

N.Y. Giants defeat the Denver Broncos, 39-20, in Super Bowl XXI.

Edmonton Oilers win the Stanley Cup.

Alysheba wins the Kentucky Derby with a time of 2:03.40.

Stephen Roche (Ireland) wins the Tour de France.

PEOPLE WHO DIED

Liberace (b. 1919) - Pianist & Entertainer
Andy Warhol (b. 1928) - Artist / Director / Writer
Randolph Scott (b. 1898) - Actor who appear in 100+ movies, of which more than 60 were westerns
Robert Preston (b. 1918) - Actor - as Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man, Mame, Victor/Victoria, The Last Starfighter
Elizabeth Hartman (b. 1943) - Actress - A Patch of Blue & voice of Mrs. Frisby in The Secret of NIMH
Clara Peller (b. 1902) - Character actress - Wendy's "Where's the beef?" lady
Lorne Greene (b. 1915) - Actor - as Ben Cartwright on Bonanza & Commander Adama on Battlestar Galactica & Galactica 1980

PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN

Jesse McCartney - Singer/Actor - as Bradin Westerly on Summerland
Maria Sharapova - Russian tennis player
Katie Leung - Actress - as Cho Chang, Harry's love interest, in Harry Potter and the Golet of Fire & Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Tom Felton - Actor - as Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies
Hilary Duff - Actress/singer - Lizzie McGuire, Cheaper by the Dozen 1 & 2, A Cinderella Story
Zac Efron - Actor - as Cameron Bale on Summerland, Troy Bolton in High School Musical movies, & Link Larkin in Hairspray
Aaron Carter - Singer/Actor and younger brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter
Thomas Dekker - Actor - as Nick Szalinski in Honey I, Shrunk the Kids; Zach on Heroes; and John Connor on The Sarah Connor Chronicles