Olivia de Havilland is 100 today.

She is the oldest living Oscar winner, the last cast member of the film version of Gone with the Wind still alive, the final star from Hollywood’s Golden Age still with us. And she continues to collect awards: in February, she was named one of several winners of the “Oldie of the Year” by a British satirical magazine, The Oldie. (Photo at top, holding the award and with her two Oscars conveniently behind her.) She did not attend the ceremony, but she did record a sweet and funny acceptance speech (audio after the jump):

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Today is Canada Day. It marks the enactment of the Constitution Act, which united the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a country within the British realm called “Canada.”

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“New York abstains.” After days of group-editing Thomas Jefferson’s draft Declaration of Independence, it was time to vote on the issue of independence from Great Britain itself. On this date in 1776, the first vote on Richard Henry Lee of Virginia’s resolution on independence was taken: Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Delaware voted no; New York abstained, as official guidance had not yet been supplied from the state government; and the other nine colonies voted yes. Thus it passed from committee to consideration by the full Continental Congress. More debate followed.

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Buckminster Fuller died on this date in 1983. Michael Landon died 25 years ago today. Wolfman Jack died in 1995 on this date. Margaux Hemingway died 20 years ago today. Robert Mitchum on this date in 1997. Walter Matthau died on this date in 2000. Marlon Brando died on this date in 2004. Luther Vandross died 11 years ago today. Karl Malden died seven years ago today. Sir Nicholas Winton died on this date last year at the age of 106. Val Doonican died one year ago toay.

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In film history, Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr, was born on this date in 1899 in Princeton, New Jersey. He became famous as an archaeologist nicknamed “Indiana.”

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Estee Lauder was born on this date in 1908. Sydney Pollack would be 82 today. Delaney Bramlett would be 77. Karen Black would be 77 today. Andraé Crouch would be 74. Ron Silver would be 70. Diana, Princess of Wales would be 55 today.

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Leslie Caron is 85 today. Jamie Farr is 82. Jean Marsh is 82. Twyla Tharp is 75. Geneviève Bujold is 74. Debbie Harry is 71. “Two Times Blue” from 2007:

 
Fred Schneider is 65. Dan Aykroyd is 64. Alan Ruck is 60. Carl Lewis is 55. Pamela Anderson is 49. Sufjan Stevens is 41. Liv Tyler is 39.

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