1959 Jean Smart - Actress (Designing Women, Scarlett, The Odd Couple II, Guinevere)

I've always liked her in whatever I saw her in. She was in the first Hawaii 5-0. She played the Govenor or Mayor or something like that. The next year I think she was gone, and I don't remember if I watched any more after that. Not that she was no longer on the show, but I was just used to Jack Lord and James McArthur. Just couldn't get used to the new version.

1998 George Wallace, age 79 - One of the most controversial politicians in US history, died in Montgomery, Alabama. He was elected governor of Alabama in 1962 under an ultra-segregationist platform, promising his white followers, "Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!" In 1972, he was shot while campaigning during an outdoor rally in Laurel, Maryland. Three others were wounded, and Wallace was permanently paralysed from the waist down. During the 1980s, Wallace's politics shifted dramatically, especially in regard to race. In 1983, he was elected Alabama governor for the last time with the overwhelming support of African-American voters. Over the next four years, the man who had promised segregation forever made more African-American political appointments than any other figure in Alabama history

I remember the before and after George Wallace so vividly. Talk about a switch-a-roo!
He must have had a come-to-Jesus moment the change was so dramatic.