Timelines for year 1985
Helen Mirren
Met husband-to-be Taylor Hackford when he directed her in White Nights . When the couple married in the Scottish Highlands, Hackford was dressed in a traditional Scottish tartan kilt.
Sting
Filmed his son Jake's birth and put in his movie, Bring on the Night
The Police won the British Phonographic Industry Award for Outstanding Contribution in 1985.
Rock Hudson
After announcing he had AIDS in July 1985, Hudson received telegrams of support from Frank Sinatra, Gregory Peck, Marlene Dietrich, James Garner, Carol Burnett, Ali MacGraw, Jack Lemmon, Richard Dreyfuss, Ava Gardner, Mickey Rooney, Milton Berle and Madonna. President Ronald Reagan, who had recently undergone surgery for colon cancer, personally telephoned him at the hospital.
Michael Jackson
Ended more than a year of speculation by buying the British music publishing company ATV Music for a reported £34 million ($50 million) in August 1985. The company owned 40,000 songs, including the Northern Songs catalog which contained all The Beatles songs up to their Apple Days. Jackson outbid Coca-Cola, EMI, CBS (who thereafter looked after the catalog for Jackson) and a very disappointed Paul McCartney, who had originally tried to buy Northern Songs for £21 million ($35 million) in 1981 and then later - again unsuccessfully - in conjunction with Yoko Ono.
Won a poll of superstars to have his image on a stamp issued by the Virgin Islands in July 1985. He asked that the Virgin Islands donated all revenue (the stamps were priced between 60 cents and $1.50) to welfare and education.
Dan Aykroyd
Is ambidextrous, as is evident by his writing left-handed during the examination scene in Spies Like Us .
Betty White
Admits to having surgery before "The Golden Girls" , even though the program was about growing old and not having a problem with it.
Betty was originally considered for the role of the sexpot, "Blanche," on "The Golden Girls" . However, Betty had already been the aggressive "Sue Ann Nivens" on "Mary Tyler Moore" and Rue McClanahan had played the introverted "Vivian" on "Maude" . It was thought best not to have these two actresses reprise similar characters. Therefore, Betty got the part of naive "Rose Nylund" and Rue played the oversexed "Blanche".
Rachel Weisz
Was offered a large part in the Richard Gere movie King David when she was only 14. Her parents wouldn't let her do it.
Charlton Heston
Attended the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States of America, along with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Ray Charles. .
When his TV series "The Colbys" was canceled, both he and fellow cast members John James and Emma Samms were offered contracts to continue playing their characters on "Dynasty" , the series that "The Colbys" was spun off from. Heston ultimately declined because his salary demands could not be met. James and Samms, on the other hand, accepted contracts.
John Cusack
Was originally the actor chosen to play John Bender in the The Breakfast Club . At the last minute, things changed and Judd Nelson ended up in the role.
Ricky Nelson
Ricky's children Tracy Nelson, Matthew Nelson, and Gunnar Nelson always maintained that their father's 1985 plane crash death was the result of a malfunctioning heater and not of alleged drug use on board the plane.
Ever since his death in a private plane crash on New Year's Eve, 1985, it had been speculated that the fire that caused the crash was the result of drug use - supposedly freebasing cocaine - either by Nelson himself or by one of his crew. This theory has since been discredited by, among other sources, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board in their official report on the crash. Their evidence shows that the cause originally given for the crash (an on-board heater short-circuiting and catching fire) is the correct one.
Prince
Winner of the British Phonographic Industry Awards for International Act and Soundtrack for "Purple Rain" in 1985.
Rue McClanahan
Betty White was originally considered for the role of the sexpot, Blanche, on "The Golden Girls" . However, Betty had already been the aggressive Sue Ann Nivens on "Mary Tyler Moore" and Rue had played the introverted Vivian on "Maude" . It was thought best not to typecast these two actresses by having them portray similar characters. Therefore, Betty got the part of naive Rose Nylund and Rue played the oversexed Blanche.