This Day in History: Aug. 11

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Robin Williams dead: Hollywood stunned by another tragedy

Industry hit with shocking news

On this day, Aug. 11 ...

2014: Academy Award-winning actor and comedian Robin Williams commits suicide at age 63 in Tiburon, Calif.

Also on this day:

• 1949: President Harry S. Truman nominates General Omar N. Bradley to become the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• 1956: Artist Jackson Pollock, 44, dies in an automobile accident on Long Island, N.Y.
• 1964: The Beatles movie "A Hard Day's Night" has its U.S. premiere in New York.

• 1965: Rioting and looting break out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles, claiming 34 lives.
• 1984: At the Los Angeles Olympics, American runner Mary Decker falls after colliding with South African-born British competitor Zola Budd in the 3,000-meter final; Budd finishes seventh.
• 1992: The Mall of America, the nation's largest shopping-entertainment center, opens in Bloomington, Minn.
• 2012: Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney announces his choice of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to be his running mate.
• 2012: Usain Bolt caps his perfect London Olympics by leading Jamaica to victory in a world-record 36.84 seconds in the 4x100 meters.
• 2017: A federal judge ordered Charlottesville, Va., to allow a weekend rally of white nationalists and other extremists to take place at its originally planned location downtown. (Deadly violence would erupt at the rally when a man plows his car into a group of counterprotesters.)