1977 History, Facts, and Trivia

In 1977, Star Wars arrived, and the world divided itself, permanently, into people who had seen it and people who were about to. Elvis Presley died in August. The Son of Sam was arrested. Roots aired on eight consecutive nights and drew the largest television audience in American history. Debby Boone spent ten weeks at number one. The Atari 2600 launched. Annie opened on Broadway and stayed for six years. Steve Martin told audiences to excuse him and they did. If you were alive in 1977, you remember where you were when you heard about Elvis.

Quick Facts from 1977

• World-Changing Event: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope opened May 25, 1977, and changed the film industry, science fiction, merchandising, and American popular culture permanently; Elvis Presley died August 16, 1977
• Top Song: You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone, the best-performing single of the year on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100, spending 10 weeks at number one — the longest run of the decade to that point
• Must-See Movies: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Saturday Night Fever, Smokey and the Bandit, and Annie Hall
• Most Famous Person in America: Steve Martin was the dominant comic presence of the year; Elvis Presley was the most discussed person in America from August onward
• Notable Books: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough and Oliver’s Story by Erich Segal
• Price of an 8-Day/7-Night Walt Disney World Vacation Including Airfare from Philadelphia: $233 to $377 per person
• US Life Expectancy: Males: 69.5 years / Females: 77.2 years
• The Funny Guy: Steve Martin
• The Funny Lady: Carol Burnett
• Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Snake, associated with wisdom, intuition, and a tendency to appear when least expected — which describes Star Wars fairly well
• The Habits: Everything Star Wars, disco dancing, watching Roots on ABC
• The Conversation: Have you seen Star Wars? Did you hear about Elvis?

Top Ten Baby Names of 1977

Girls: Jennifer, Melissa, Amy, Jessica, Heather Boys: Michael, Jason, Christopher, David, James

Jennifer retained the top spot for girls, extending what was becoming one of the longest runs of any name at the top of the American charts. Michael remained at number one for boys. Jason had climbed steadily throughout the decade and was now solidly in the top five.

Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols of 1977

Barbara Bach, Adrienne Barbeau, Valerie Bertinelli, Jacqueline Bisset, Lynda Carter, Charo, Farrah Fawcett, Carrie Fisher, Kate Jackson, Cheryl Ladd, Dolly Parton, Bernadette Peters, Diana Ross, Jane Seymour, Jaclyn Smith, Suzanne Somers, Donna Summer, Lindsay Wagner, Mary Woronov

Carrie Fisher had been Princess Leia for approximately six months. Farrah Fawcett’s poster — the red bathing suit, the smile, the hair — had sold 12 million copies by the end of 1977. Charlie’s Angels was in its second season and defining a specific late-1970s visual vocabulary.

Leading Men and Hollywood Heartthrobs of 1977

Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds, Sean Connery, Richard Roundtree

Harrison Ford had played Han Solo for exactly one summer and was in the process of becoming one of the most recognizable faces in cinema history. Burt Reynolds was coming off Smokey and the Bandit and was the biggest box office draw in America. Sean Connery was appearing in a variety of films in this period, none of which matched the Bond years commercially but several of which demonstrated his range.

The Quotes

“May the Force be with you.” — Star Wars, a phrase that entered the cultural vocabulary immediately and has been used as a farewell, a blessing, a joke, and a genuine expression of goodwill ever since

“Well, excuuuuse me!” — Steve Martin, in a catchphrase that translated from stand-up comedy to national television to everyday use with unusual speed

“We are two wild and crazy guys.” — Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd as the Festrunk Brothers on Saturday Night Live, characters whose combination of enthusiasm and complete social miscalibration resonated with audiences who had met people exactly like this

“La-dee-da, la-dee-da.” — Diane Keaton as Annie Hall, a character whose nervous verbal habits became a cultural touchstone for a certain kind of New York intellectual awkwardness

“I love New York.” — New York State Department of Economic Development, in a campaign created by advertising executive Mary Wells Lawrence that became one of the most recognized tourism slogans in history and helped rehabilitate the image of a city that had nearly gone bankrupt in 1975

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year

Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt, for his historic visit to Israel in November 1977 — the first visit by an Arab head of state to the Jewish state — and for his speech before the Israeli Knesset in which he declared Egypt’s readiness to live in permanent peace with Israel. The visit required extraordinary political courage, as it was opposed by virtually every Arab government. It led directly to the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty in 1979. Sadat was assassinated in 1981.

Miss America and Miss USA

Miss America: Dorothy Benham, Edina, Minnesota Miss USA: Kimberly Tomes, Texas

We Lost in 1977

Elvis Presley, whose recordings had defined the birth of rock and roll in the 1950s and whose career had encompassed more cultural change than almost any other performer in American history, was found unresponsive at his Graceland home in Memphis on August 16, 1977, at age 42. The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, though the contributing role of prescription drug dependency was widely reported and eventually confirmed. He had given his last concert in Indianapolis on June 26. The response to his death was unlike anything since the assassination of John F. Kennedy — radio stations played his music continuously, fans gathered by the thousands at Graceland, and sales of his recordings immediately made him one of the best-selling artists in the world all over again, a position he has never entirely relinquished. His estate has generated more revenue after his death than during his life.

Ronnie Van Zant, the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Steve Gaines, the band’s guitarist, died October 20, 1977, when their chartered plane ran out of fuel and crashed in a swamp near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Three others aboard also died. The band had recorded Street Survivors three days before the crash; the album’s original cover, featuring the band surrounded by flames, was immediately recalled and replaced. Van Zant was 29 years old.

Freddie Prinze, the comedian and star of the sitcom Chico and the Man, whose rapid rise had made him one of the most talked-about young entertainers in television, died January 29, 1977, at age 22, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He had been struggling with drug dependency and depression. His son, Freddie Prinze Jr., became an actor in the 1990s.

Groucho Marx, the comedian whose razor-sharp wit and distinctive persona — the painted mustache, the stooping walk, the cigar — had defined the Marx Brothers’ films and influenced American comedy for decades, died August 19, 1977, at age 86, three days after Elvis. The coincidence of timing meant that his death received less coverage than it would have in any other week.

Maria Callas, the operatic soprano widely considered one of the finest singers of the 20th century, whose extraordinary voice and dramatic presence had made her one of the most celebrated and most controversial performers of her era, died September 16, 1977, at age 53, of a heart attack in Paris.

America in 1977 — The Context

Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as the 39th President of the United States on January 20, 1977, the first president from the Deep South since Woodrow Wilson. Carter walked the entire inaugural parade route rather than riding in a limousine, a gesture intended to signal a break from the imperial presidency. He wore a plain business suit rather than formal dress to the ceremony. He carried his own garment bag off Air Force One.

Carter’s presidency faced immediate challenges: a severe winter energy crisis in early 1977, persistent inflation, and the management of American foreign policy in the post-Vietnam era. His human rights foreign policy — conditioning American support on countries’ treatment of their citizens — was a departure from Kissinger-era realpolitik and generated both admiration and criticism.

Roots, Alex Haley’s dramatization of his family’s history from African capture through slavery to freedom, aired on ABC on eight consecutive nights beginning January 23, 1977. The finale on January 30 drew 80 million viewers, the largest audience in American television history at that time. The series prompted a national conversation about slavery and its legacy that was broader and more sustained than any previous television event had generated.

The New York City blackout of July 13-14, 1977, left the city without power for 25 hours and was accompanied by widespread looting and arson in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Approximately 1,600 stores were looted, and 1,037 fires were set. The contrast with the 1965 blackout, during which crime had not significantly increased, was widely noted and attributed to the economic deterioration of the intervening decade.

Star Wars

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, directed by George Lucas and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher, opened on May 25, 1977, in 32 theaters — a limited release that George Lucas had not expected to perform well. He was in Hawaii on the opening weekend, having left the United States because he was so convinced the film would fail that he did not want to be there. It performed so well that the studio immediately expanded its release. By the end of its initial run it had earned $461 million in the United States — the highest-grossing film in history at that time, surpassing Jaws (1975).

The film introduced lightsabers, the Force, Darth Vader, R2-D2, C-3PO, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, and the concept that a space opera could be taken seriously by adults and adored by children simultaneously. The merchandising revenue from Star Wars eventually dwarfed the film’s theatrical earnings. Lucas had negotiated the merchandising rights himself, as the studio considered them valueless.

The novelization of Star Wars, published six months before the film, was the first appearance of the Emperor’s name (Palpatine) in any Star Wars material. The film itself does not name the character; he is referred to only obliquely. Whether Han Solo or Greedo shot first in the Mos Eisley cantina scene was definitively answered in the original theatrical release — Han shot first — and has been the subject of revisionist editing and decades of fan argument since.

On August 15, 1977, the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University detected an anomalous signal lasting 72 seconds from the direction of the Sagittarius constellation — a strong, narrowband radio signal that matched the expected characteristics of a transmission from an extraterrestrial technological civilization. Astronomer Jerry Ehman circled it on the printout and wrote “Wow!” in the margin. The Wow! Signal, as it has been known since, has never been detected again. No confirmed explanation has been established.

Pop Culture Facts and History

Saturday Night Fever, released December 14, 1977, and starring John Travolta as a Brooklyn paint store worker whose life centers on dancing, grossed $237 million on a $3.5 million budget and launched the Bee Gees to the peak of their commercial career. The film’s soundtrack became one of the best-selling albums in history and dominated the charts through 1977 and most of 1978. Travolta’s performance earned him an Academy Award nomination and established him as one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood. The film depicted Brooklyn’s disco scene with a specificity and authenticity that audiences who had never been to Brooklyn found completely convincing.

Annie Hall, directed by Woody Allen and starring Allen and Diane Keaton, opened April 20, 1977. It was a departure from Allen’s earlier comedies — more personal, more fragmented, more willing to break conventions of narrative and fourth-wall separation. Diane Keaton’s khaki-and-vest Annie Hall look was immediately influential on women’s fashion. The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, at the ceremony held in 1978.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, directed by Steven Spielberg and released November 16, 1977, offered a vision of alien contact that was curious and ultimately benign — a significant departure from the invasion narratives that had dominated science fiction cinema. Richard Dreyfuss’s obsessive mashed-potato construction became one of the year’s more unexpected images. The film’s five-tone communication sequence became a cultural touchpoint.

Smokey and the Bandit, directed by Hal Needham and starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, and Jerry Reed, opened May 27, 1977, and grossed $300 million worldwide on a $4.3 million budget. It was the second-highest-grossing film of the year behind Star Wars. The film required Burt Reynolds to drive a black Pontiac Trans Am across the South while being chased by a sheriff who was pursuing him for betting that he could bring bootleg Coors beer from Texas to Georgia. This premise was sufficient. Reynolds’s charisma carried it entirely.

The Atari 2600, released September 11, 1977, at $199, brought programmable home video games into American living rooms for the first time at scale. The console could play different games through cartridges, making it expandable in a way no previous home game system had been. It became the best-selling consumer electronics product of the late 1970s and early 1980s, introducing an entire generation to video gaming.

David Berkowitz, known as the Son of Sam, was arrested on August 10, 1977, in Yonkers, New York, ending a killing spree that had terrorized New York City for over a year. He had shot 13 people, killing 6, primarily targeting young women with long dark hair. The letter he had sent to the police and newspapers, in which he described himself as a monster, had been one of the most-discussed crime documents in years. Berkowitz claimed the neighbor’s dog — a black Labrador named Harvey — had given him orders from Satan. The neighbor’s name was Sam Carr; hence “Son of Sam.” He is currently serving six consecutive 25-to-life sentences and has never been eligible for parole.

Annie, the musical based on the comic strip and set during the Great Depression, opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre on April 21, 1977, and ran until January 2, 1983, completing 2,377 performances. It won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The title role was originated by Andrea McArdle, who was 13 years old. Tomorrow, the show’s signature song became one of the most recognized in the American musical theater canon.

Roots, Alex Haley’s television adaptation of his book tracing his family’s African origins through slavery, aired on ABC from January 23-30, 1977. Eight episodes over eight consecutive nights. The finale drew 80 million viewers — 51 percent of the American population at the time — and held the record as the most-watched television event in history until the M*A*S*H finale in 1983. The series prompted discussion of American slavery at a depth and breadth that no previous television event had produced.

Fleetwood Mac released Rumours on February 4, 1977, an album recorded while four of the five band members were in the process of divorcing or separating from each other. The personal entanglements that generated the album’s emotional raw material were, by most accounts, spectacular even by rock band standards. The album spent 31 weeks at number one, sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and remains one of the best-selling albums in history.

The Clash released their debut album, The Clash, in April 1977. The Sex Pistols released Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols in October. Punk rock arrived in Britain with a speed and volume that prompted the music press to develop an entirely new vocabulary within six months.

Nobel Prize Winners in 1977

Physics was awarded to Philip Anderson, Nevill Mott, and John Van Vleck for their fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems — work that underpins the physics of semiconductors and magnetic materials, with direct applications in computer memory and electronic components.

Chemistry went to Ilya Prigogine of Belgium for his contributions to non-equilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures — work explaining how order can emerge from chaos under the right conditions, with implications across physics, chemistry, and biology.

Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Roger Guillemin and Andrew Schally for their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain and to Rosalyn Yalow for the development of radioimmunoassay — a technique for measuring minute quantities of substances in the blood that transformed diagnostic medicine and won Yalow the distinction of being the second woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Literature went to Vicente Aleixandre of Spain for creative poetic writing that illuminates man’s condition in the cosmos and in present-day society. Aleixandre had been associated with the Generation of ’27, the group of Spanish poets whose careers were disrupted by the Spanish Civil War. He had been largely unknown outside Spain before the prize.

Peace was awarded to Amnesty International in recognition of its contribution to securing the ground for freedom, justice, and thereby also for peace in the world. Amnesty had been founded in 1961 and had documented human rights abuses in countries across the political spectrum for 16 years.

Economics went to Bertil Ohlin of Sweden and James Meade for their pathbreaking contribution to the theory of international trade and international capital movements — the Heckscher-Ohlin model, which predicts the direction of trade between countries based on their relative factor endowments.

1977 Toys and Christmas Gifts

The Atari 2600, Star Wars toys (which Kenner had licensed before the film opened and had to issue “Early Bird” certificates because the actual toys were not yet manufactured), Chia Pets, Slime (the green goop in the plastic trash can, introduced by Mattel), and skateboards dominated the 1977 holiday season. The Star Wars Early Bird Certificate Package — an empty box with a certificate promising four action figures to be mailed in early 1978 — is one of the more unusual products in toy history. It sold extremely well.

Broadway in 1977

Annie opened on April 21, 1977, and ran for nearly six years. It was a musical set in the Depression that became a phenomenon in the aftermath of Watergate and the Vietnam War, offering a message of optimism and resilience that audiences found either deeply comforting or slightly calculated, depending on their disposition. The sun’ll come out tomorrow is either the most hopeful line in American musical theater or the most relentlessly cheerful, and both interpretations have their adherents.

Beatlemania, a tribute show recreating the Beatles’ music and staging, opened on May 31, 1977, and ran until October 17, 1979. The show demonstrated that audiences were willing to pay to see performances by people who were not the Beatles performing music by the Beatles, a commercial reality that has supported an entire entertainment industry ever since.

Best Film Oscar Winner

Rocky, directed by John G. Avildsen and starring and written by Sylvester Stallone, won Best Picture at the 49th Academy Awards on March 28, 1977, for the 1976 film year. Stallone was nominated for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. The film had been made for $1 million and grossed $225 million. Stallone’s decision to write the script himself and insist on playing the lead despite the studio’s preference for a more established actor was vindicated comprehensively. John G. Avildsen won Best Director.

Top Movies of 1977

1. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
2. Smokey and the Bandit
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
4. Saturday Night Fever
5. The Goodbye Girl
6. Oh, God!
7. Annie Hall
8. Pete’s Dragon
9. The Spy Who Loved Me
10. A Bridge Too Far

Star Wars earned more than twice the gross of the second-highest-performing film of the year. Saturday Night Fever was released in December and its full commercial impact extended into 1978. The Goodbye Girl, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason, was the most critically praised romantic comedy of the year and gave Dreyfuss the Academy Award for Best Actor. Annie Hall won Best Picture while finishing seventh at the box office, establishing a precedent for the disconnect between critical consensus and commercial performance that continues to define awards season.

Most Popular TV Shows of 1977

1. Laverne and Shirley (ABC)
2. Happy Days (ABC)
3. Three’s Company (ABC)
4. 60 Minutes (CBS)
5. Charlie’s Angels (ABC)
6. All in the Family (CBS)
7. Little House on the Prairie (NBC)
8. Alice (CBS)
9. M*A*S*H (CBS)
10. One Day at a Time (CBS)

Laverne and Shirley and Happy Days led the ratings, both produced by Garry Marshall and set in the 1950s, offering nostalgia for an era that was becoming distant enough to be romanticized. Charlie’s Angels, in its second season, was a ratings phenomenon and a cultural conversation about whether it was feminist or its opposite, a debate the show itself seemed uninterested in settling. M*A*S*H was in its fifth season and had settled into its long middle period. Larry Linville, who had played the pompous Major Frank Burns since the beginning, left the show in 1977, saying he felt the character had been taken as far as it could go.

1977 Billboard Number One Hits

November 13, 1976 – January 7, 1977: Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright) — Rod Stewart (carryover from late 1976)
January 8 – January 14: You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show) — Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.
January 15 – January 21: You Make Me Feel Like Dancing — Leo Sayer
January 22 – January 28: I Wish — Stevie Wonder
January 29 – February 4: Car Wash — Rose Royce
February 5 – February 18: Torn Between Two Lovers — Mary MacGregor
February 19 – February 25: Blinded by the Light — Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
February 26 – March 4: New Kid in Town — The Eagles
March 5 – March 25: Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born) — Barbra Streisand
March 26 – April 8: Rich Girl — Daryl Hall and John Oates
April 9 – April 15: Dancing Queen — ABBA
April 16 – April 22: Don’t Give Up on Us — David Soul
April 23 – April 29: Don’t Leave Me This Way — Thelma Houston
April 30 – May 6: Southern Nights — Glen Campbell
May 7 – May 13: Hotel California — The Eagles
May 14 – May 20: When I Need You — Leo Sayer
May 21 – June 10: Sir Duke — Stevie Wonder
June 11 – June 17: I’m Your Boogie Man — KC and the Sunshine Band
June 18 – June 24: Dreams — Fleetwood Mac
June 25 – July 1: Got to Give It Up (Pt. I) — Marvin Gaye
July 2 – July 8: Gonna Fly Now — Bill Conti
July 9 – July 15: Undercover Angel — Alan O’Day
July 16 – July 22: Da Doo Ron Ron — Shaun Cassidy
July 23 – July 29: Looks Like We Made It — Barry Manilow
July 30 – August 19: I Just Want to Be Your Everything — Andy Gibb (3 weeks)
August 20 – September 30: Best of My Love — The Emotions (6 weeks)
October 1 – October 14: Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band — Meco (2 weeks)
October 15 – December 23: You Light Up My Life — Debby Boone (10 weeks)
December 24, 1977 – January 13, 1978: How Deep Is Your Love — Bee Gees (carrying into 1978)

You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone spent 10 consecutive weeks at number one, the longest run of the decade. The song was from a film of the same name and was the most commercially successful single of the year by a wide margin. Stevie Wonder had two separate number ones — I Wish and Sir Duke, both from his masterwork Songs in the Key of Life. The Eagles had New Kid in Town and Hotel California in the same year. Hotel California spent one week at number one in May, a figure that does not capture its eventual cultural footprint. Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band by Meco — a disco arrangement of John Williams’s score — reached number one in October, demonstrating that the film’s commercial energy extended beyond theaters into every available format. Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams from Rumours spent one week at number one in June; the album it came from was more consequential than any single week’s chart position could indicate.

Sports Champions of 1977

World Series: The New York Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers four games to two, winning their first championship since 1962. Reggie Jackson hit three consecutive home runs on three consecutive pitches in Game 6, the most celebrated individual performance in World Series history. He was named Series MVP. Jackson had been acquired from Oakland before the season, and his presence had been accompanied by significant controversy; his performance in October settled most of the arguments.

Super Bowl XI: The Oakland Raiders defeated the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 on January 9, 1977, in Pasadena. The Vikings appeared in their fourth Super Bowl and lost for the fourth time. Fred Biletnikoff was named MVP. The Raiders, coached by John Madden, were completing one of the more celebrated single-season runs in NFL history.

NBA Champions: The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers four games to two, winning the franchise’s only championship. Bill Walton was named Finals MVP. The Blazers had been a mediocre franchise for most of their existence; their 1976-77 championship was one of the more unexpected in league history and has not been matched.

Stanley Cup: The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Boston Bruins four games to none, beginning a run of four consecutive championships. Ken Dryden, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, and Bob Gainey formed one of the most complete teams in the history of the sport.

U.S. Open Golf: Hubert Green won at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Green played the final round despite receiving a death threat on the 14th hole; officials informed him of the threat and offered to suspend play. He chose to continue. He made the putt.

U.S. Open Tennis: Guillermo Vilas of Argentina won the men’s title, and Chris Evert won the women’s. Vilas had arrived in the United States relatively unknown and won the tournament convincingly, beginning a period of prominence in men’s tennis that would extend through the late 1970s.

Wimbledon: Bjorn Borg won his second consecutive Wimbledon title, and Virginia Wade won the women’s title, in the centenary year of the championship, before Queen Elizabeth II, to a crowd that treated the result as an appropriate national celebration. Wade was 31, and it was the only Grand Slam title of her career.

NCAA Football: Notre Dame, under coach Dan Devine, won the national championship, defeating Texas 38-10 in the Cotton Bowl. The game was the culmination of the Hollywood narrative the season had created: a program with a storied history, a first-year coach who had been publicly doubted, and a quarterback named Joe Montana who had begun the season third on the depth chart.

NCAA Basketball: Marquette defeated North Carolina 67-59 in the national championship game in Atlanta. It was coach Al McGuire’s last game before his announced retirement; he cried on the bench when the final buzzer sounded, having won the only national championship of his career in his last game.

Kentucky Derby: Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby and went on to win the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, becoming the 10th Triple Crown winner in history and the only undefeated Triple Crown winner — he had never lost a race before the Derby and never lost one during the Triple Crown. He was trained by Billy Turner and ridden by Jean Cruguet.

Frequently Asked Questions About 1977

Q: What was the impact of Star Wars on American pop culture?
A: Star Wars opened May 25, 1977, became the highest-grossing film in history, launched a franchise that has generated over $60 billion in revenue, transformed the film industry’s approach to summer blockbusters and merchandising, and introduced characters and concepts that have been part of American popular culture ever since. George Lucas negotiated the merchandising rights himself; the studio considered them nearly worthless. He did not.

Q: Who was the Son of Sam?
A: David Berkowitz shot 13 people in New York City between 1976 and 1977, killing 6, primarily targeting young women with long dark hair. He was arrested on August 10, 1977, in Yonkers. He claimed a neighbor’s black Labrador named Harvey had transmitted orders from Satan — the neighbor’s name was Sam Carr, hence “Son of Sam.” He is serving six consecutive 25-to-life sentences. He has never been considered for parole.

Q: What was the Wow! Signal?
A: On August 15, 1977, the Big Ear radio telescope at Ohio State University detected a 72-second narrowband radio signal from the direction of Sagittarius that matched the expected characteristics of a transmission from an extraterrestrial technological source. Astronomer Jerry Ehman circled it on the printout and wrote “Wow!” in the margin. The signal has never been detected again. No confirmed explanation has been established. It remains the most compelling candidate in the history of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Q: What happened when Elvis Presley died?
A: Elvis Presley was found unresponsive at Graceland on August 16, 1977, at age 42. The immediate cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia; prescription drug dependency was a contributing factor. The response was immediate and enormous — radio stations played his music continuously, fans gathered at Graceland by the thousands, and record sales surged. He had given his last concert seven weeks earlier. His estate has generated more revenue after his death than during his life.

Q: What was Roots, and why was it significant?
A: Roots was an eight-episode dramatization of Alex Haley’s family history from African capture through American slavery to freedom, broadcast on eight consecutive nights in January 1977. The finale drew 80 million viewers — 51 percent of the American population — the largest audience in television history at that time. The series generated the most sustained national conversation about slavery and its legacy of any previous television event.

Q: Who was Seattle Slew?
A: Seattle Slew was a thoroughbred racehorse who won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes in 1977, completing the Triple Crown. He was undefeated in all his races before the Triple Crown and remained undefeated through all three legs — the only Triple Crown winner to complete the feat without a loss on his record. He was retired to stud and sired many successful offspring.

In a year when Star Wars arrived, Elvis departed, the Son of Sam was caught, the Wow! Signal came from somewhere we have never identified, and Debby Boone spent ten weeks at number one with a song about a light that does not specify its source. 1977 felt simultaneously triumphant and elegiac. The Atari 2600 launched in September. Roots aired in January. The Force was with us. Whether it still is depends on what year you are reading this.

More 1977 Facts & History Resources:

Most Popular Baby Names (BabyCenter.com)
Popular and Notable Books (popculture.us)
Broadway Shows that Opened in 1977X
1977 Calendar, courtesy of Time and Date.com
Fact Monster
1970s, Infoplease.com World History
1977 in Movies (according to IMDB)
President Jimmy Carter
Retrowaste Vintage Culture
1970s Slang
The 77 Most ’70s Things About 1977
Weird Facts About 1977
Wikipedia 1977