March 1,
1954
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is born.
Film director, producer and actor.
He came to prominence playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The
Andy Griffith Show for eight
years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years.[1] He appeared in the films The
Music Man in 1962, American Graffiti in 1973, and The Shootist in 1976, the latter during his run on Happy Days.
Howard made his directorial debut with the 1977 comedy
Grand
Theft Auto, and left Happy
Days in 1980 to focus on directing. His films include Cocoon, Apollo 13, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and A
Beautiful Mind, which earned
Howard the Academy Award for Best Director. In 2002, Howard conceived the idea for the Fox/Netflix series Arrested Development,
on which he also serves as producer and narrator, and plays a
semi-fictionalized version of himself.
March 2, 1904
Dr. Seuss born.
Theodor Geisel, better known to the world as Dr. Seuss, the author and illustrator of such beloved children's books as "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham," is born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Geisel, who used his middle name (which was also his mother's maiden name) as his pen name, wrote 48 books--including some for adults--that have sold well over 200 million copies and been translated into multiple languages. Dr. Seuss books are known for their whimsical rhymes and quirky characters, which have names like the Lorax and the Sneetches and live in places like Hooterville.
Geisel, who was born on March 2, 1904, in Springfield, Massachusetts, graduated
from Dartmouth College, where he was editor of the school's humor magazine, and
studied at Oxford University. There he met Helen Palmer, his first wife and the
person who encouraged him to become a professional illustrator. Back in
America, Geisel worked as a cartoonist for a variety of magazines and in
advertising.
The first children's book that Geisel wrote and illustrated, "And to Think
That I Saw It On Mulberry Street," was rejected by over two dozen
publishers before making it into print in 1937. Geisel's first bestseller,
"The Cat in the Hat," was published in 1957. The story of a
mischievous cat in a tall striped hat came about after his publisher asked him
to produce a book using 220 new-reader vocabulary words that could serve as an
entertaining alternative to the school reading primers children found boring.
Other Dr. Seuss classics include "Yertle the Turtle," "If I Ran
the Circus," "Fox in Socks" and "One Fish, Two Fish, Red
Fish, Blue Fish."
Some Dr. Seuss books tackled serious themes. "The Butter Battle Book"
(1984) was about the arms buildup and nuclear war threat during Ronald Reagan's
presidency. "Lorax" (1971) dealt with the environment.
Many Dr. Seuss books have been adapted for television and film, including
"How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" and "Horton Hears a Who!"
In 1990, Geisel published a book for adults titled "Oh, the Places You'll
Go" that became a hugely popular graduation gift for high school and
college students.
Geisel, who lived and worked in an old observatory in La Jolla, California,
known as "The Tower," died September 24, 1991, at age 87.
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