ON THIS DAY AUGUST 5 2023

This Day in History: August 5

Featured Event

2010




Thirty-three workers became trapped after a mine in the Atacama Desert of Chile collapsed, and the resulting rescue took 69 days, attracting international attention.



Chile mine rescue of 2010, also called Chile mining accident of 2010, rescue of 33 workers from the San Jose gold and copper mine on October 13, 2010, 69 days after the mine’s collapse on August 5. The mine, owned by the San Esteban Primera Mining Company, was located in the Atacama Desert of Chile, approximately 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the town of Copiapó and approximately 500 miles (800 km) north of Santiago.

The collapse

At approximately 2:00 pm a cave-in occurred at the San Jose mine following warnings of disturbances earlier in the day. The mine, opened in 1889, had been the site of numerous earlier accidents, including an explosion in 2007 that killed three miners. Little was done to improve conditions before the mine was reauthorized for continued excavation by Chile’s National Geology and Mining Service (Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería; Sernageomin) in 2008. Inside the mine at the time of the collapse were 33 workers; 32 were Chilean and one was Bolivian. Most were miners, though several subcontracted workers were also trapped. The mine, which spiraled into the depths of a mountain, was approximately 2,625 feet (800 metres) deep.





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Featured Biography

Marilyn Monroe
American actress




Jeane Mortenson, later called Norma Jeane Baker, Jeane sometimes spelled Jean, (born June 1, 1926, Los Angeles, California, U.S.—died August 5, 1962, Los Angeles), American actress who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful films during the 1950s, and who is considered a pop culture icon.



Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe, original name Norma Jeane Mortenson,
Norma Jeane Mortenson later took her mother’s name, Baker. Her mother was frequently confined in an asylum, and Norma Jeane was reared by 12 successive sets of foster parents and, for a time, in an orphanage. In 1942 she married a fellow worker in an aircraft factory, but they divorced soon after World War II. She became a popular photographer’s model and in 1946 signed a short-term contract with Twentieth Century-Fox, taking as her screen name Marilyn Monroe. After a few brief appearances in movies made by the Fox and Columbia studios, she was again unemployed, and she returned to modeling for photographers. Her nude photograph on a calendar brought her a role in the film Scudda-Hoo! Scudda-Hay! (1948), which was followed by other minor roles.


In 1950 Monroe played a small uncredited role in The Asphalt Jungle that reaped a mountain of fan mail. An appearance in All About Eve (1950) won her another contract from Fox and much recognition. In a succession of movies, including Let’s Make It Legal (1951), Love Nest (1951), Clash by Night (1952), and Niagara (1953), she advanced to star billing on the strength of her studio-fostered image as a “love goddess.” With performances in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How to Marry a Millionaire (1953), and There’s No Business Like Show Business (1954), her fame grew steadily and spread throughout the world, and she became the object of unprecedented popular adulation. In 1954 she married baseball star Joe DiMaggio, and the attendant publicity was enormous. With the end of their marriage less than a year later she began to grow discontented with her career.




The Seven Year Itch



The Seven Year Itch



Bus Stop



Some Like It Hot



The Misfits
Monroe studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors’ Studio in New York City, and in The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Bus Stop (1956) she began to emerge as a talented comedian. In 1956 she married playwright Arthur Miller and briefly retired from moviemaking, although she costarred with Laurence Olivier in The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). She won critical acclaim for the first time as a serious actress for Some Like It Hot (1959). Her last film, the drama The Misfits (1961), was written by Miller specifically for Monroe, though their marriage disintegrated during production; they divorced in 1961.

In 1962 Monroe began filming the comedy Something’s Got to Give. However, she was frequently absent from the set because of illnesses, and in May she traveled to New York City to attend a gala where she famously sang “Happy Birthday” to Pres. John F. Kennedy, with whom she was allegedly having an affair. In June Monroe was fired from the film. Although she was later rehired, work never resumed. After several months as a virtual recluse, Monroe died from an overdose of sleeping pills (barbiturates) in her Los Angeles home. Her death was ruled a “probable suicide,” and this finding was supported by the actress’s history of drug use and previous suicide attempts. However, some believed that she had been killed after threatening to reveal her relationship with the Kennedy brothers—she was also rumoured to have had an affair with U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy—or that she had information linking the two men to organized crime. Although there was insufficient evidence to support these claims, conspiracy theories persisted.



In their first runs, Monroe’s 23 movies grossed a total of more than $200 million, and her fame surpassed that of any other entertainer of her time. Her early image as a dumb and seductive blonde gave way in later years to the tragic figure of a sensitive and insecure woman unable to escape the pressures of Hollywood. Her vulnerability and sensuousness combined with her needless death eventually raised her to the status of an American cultural icon.