Today XV

Birthdays:

• Sir Thomas Beecham, conductor, April 29, 1879 – March 8, 1961


• Edward Kennedy Ellington, aka DUKE Ellington, jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader, April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974


• Hirohito, 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1926 to 1989; his childhood title was Prince Michi; became heir apparent upon the death of his grandfather, Emperor Meiji, on July 30, 1912; formal investiture as Crown Prince took place on November 2, 1916, April 29, 1901 – January 7, 1989


• Samuel Yewell Tompkins, aka Tom Ewell, actor, April 29, 1909 – September 12, 1994


• Celeste Holm, actress, 1917


• Lonnie Donegan MBE, skiffle musician, April 29, 1931 – November 3, 2002


• Rodney Marvin ROD McKuen, poet, composer, and singer, 1933


• Luis Aparicio, MLB shortstop, 1934


• Otis Rush, musician, 1934


• Zubin Mehta, conductor, 1936


• April Stevens, singer, 1936


• Walter Lane Smith, actor, April 29, 1936 - June 13, 2005


• Klaus Voormann, illustrator and musician, 1942


• Thomasina Montgomery, aka Tammi Terrell, singer, April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970


• Tommy James, musician, 1947


• Kate Mulgrew, actress, 1955


• Robert J. Sawyer, author, 1960


• Uma Thurman, actress, 1970

RIP:

• Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, philosopher, April 26, 1889 – April 29, 1951


• Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE, film director and producer, August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980


• Michael MICK Ronson, guitarist, arranger and producer, May 26, 1946 – April 29, 1993


• John Kenneth Galbraith, OC , Ph.D , LL.D, economist, one of the few two-time recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, receiving one from President Truman in 1946 and a second from President Clinton in 2000, October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006

Also:

• The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops, 1945


• Roger Clemens sets a major league baseball record with 20 strikeouts in nine innings against the Seattle Mariners, 1986


• Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation, 2005