[Nadnoud]

August 9, 1957

Entertainment: Melanie Griffith is born
Actress Melanie Griffith is born this day to actress Tippi Hedren and real estate developer Peter Griffith.

Griffith grew up near Los Angeles and at age 14 fell in love with 19-year-old Don Johnson, who was co-starring with her mother in The Harrad Experiment. She soon moved in with him and launched her own acting career, beginning with Night Moves (1975). She and Johnson married the following year but divorced soon after. Griffith gave impressive performances in Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), playing a porn actress, and Something Wild (1986), directed by Jonathan Demme.

Her breakthrough came in 1988 with Working Girl, in which the baby-voiced actress played a savvy secretary who outmaneuvers her villainous boss (Sigourney Weaver) while falling in love with her boss's business rival (Harrison Ford). The movie was a hit and launched Griffith to stardom.

Along the way, though, Griffith had become dependent on drugs and alcohol. After Working Girl, she checked into a rehab clinic. When she came out, she and Johnson decided to give marriage a second chance but divorced again later. While continuing to appear in films, she helped launch an Internet company in 2000. She has three children, the youngest by her current husband, actor Antonio Banderas.

August 9, 1963

Entertainment: Whitney Houston is born
On this day in 1963, singer and actress Whitney Houston is born in Newark, New Jersey. The cousin of singer Dionne Warwick and the daughter of a gospel singer, Houston grew up singing in a church choir and landed professional management by the time she turned 15. She made numerous live appearances and provided guest vocals for several recordings. She also developed a modeling and acting career, appearing on magazine covers and sitcoms, including Silver Spoons. In 1985, she released her first album, Whitney Houston, which yielded several hit singles, including "You Give Good Love" and "Saving All My Love for You." Her next album, Whitney (1987), scored seven consecutive No. 1 singles. In the early '90s, she developed her acting career with starring roles in The Bodyguard (1992) and Waiting to Exhale (1995).

August 9, 1995

Entertainment: Jerry Garcia dies
Jerry Garcia, lead singer of the Grateful Dead, dies just days after his 53rd birthday. Garcia helped form the psychedelic rock group in 1965 and toured with it for more than 30 years, developing a tremendously loyal fan following. When one 19-year-old fan using LSD died in 1989, the band began broadcasting announcements asking fans to act responsibly. Garcia, who struggled with heroin addiction, was arrested for drug possession in 1985. He died of a heart attack while at a drug rehab center in California.