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Births on November 21

Eleanor Powell
1912Nov, 21

Eleanor Powell

Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (d. 1982)
Eleanor Torrey Powell (November 21, 1912 – February 11, 1982) was an American dancer and actress. Best remembered for her tap dance numbers in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s, she was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's top dancing stars during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Powell appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and most prominently, in a series of movie musical vehicles tailored especially to showcase her dance talents, including Born to Dance (1936), Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), Rosalie (1937), and Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940). She retired from films in the mid 1940s and settled into a career on television hosting a Christian children's show, but resurfaced for the occasional specialty dance scene in films such as "Thousands Cheer" and eventually headlined a successful nightclub act in Las Vegas. She died from cancer at 69 years of age. Powell is known as one of the most versatile and powerful female dancers of the Hollywood studio era.

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Events on 1912

  • 6Mar

    Airship

    Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 6,000 feet.
  • 15Apr

    Sinking of the RMS Titanic

    The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.
  • 14Oct

    Theodore Roosevelt

    While campaigning in Milwaukee, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech.
  • 17Oct

    First Balkan War

    Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
  • 26Oct

    Thessaloniki

    First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.