Today XLII

Birthdays:

• Walter WALT Whitman, poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist, May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892


• John Florence Sullivan, aka Fred Allen, comedian, May 31, 1894 - March 17, 1956


• Dominic Felix DON Ameche, actor, May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993


• Denholm Mitchell Elliott CBE, stage, film, and television actor, May 31, 1922 – October 6, 1992


• Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi, aka Rainier III, prince of Monaco, May 31, 1923 – April 6, 2005


• Clinton Eastwood, Jr., actor, film producer, composer, and film director, 1930


• Jay Glenn Miner, integrated circuit designer, known for his work with Atari and Amiga, May 31, 1932 - June 20, 1994


• Peter Yarrow, singer, Peter, Paul, and Mary, 1938


• Terry Waite CBE, humanitarian, author, and hostage negotiator, 1939


• Sharon Gless, actress, 1943


• Rainer Werner Fassbinder, movie director and actor, May 31, 1945 – June 10, 1982


• John Henry BONZO Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin, May 31, 1948 – September 25, 1980


• Thomas Michael Moore, aka Tom Berenger, actor, 1949


• Gregory Harrison, actor, 1950


• Chris Elliott, comedian, 1960


• Lea Thompson, actress, 1961


• Brooke Christa Camille Shields, actress and former model, 1965


• Kenneth KENNY Lofton, centre fielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1967

RIP:

• Franz Joseph "Papa" Haydn, Classical composer, often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet", March 31 or April 1, 1732 – May 31, 1809


• Évariste Galois, mathematician, whose work laid the fundamental foundations for Galois Theory, a major branch of abstract algebra, and the subfield of Galois connections; he was the first to use the word group as a technical term in mathematics to represent a group of permutations, October 25, 1811 – May 31, 1832


• Terrance Gordon TERRY Sawchuk, NHL goaltender, December 28, 1929 – May 31, 1970


• William Schloss, aka William Castle, film director, producer, and actor, April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977


• William Harrison JACK Dempsey, World Heavyweight Championship boxer, June 24, 1895 - May 31, 1983


• Timothy Francis Leary, Ph.D., writer, psychologist, campaigner for psychedelic drug research and use, 1960's counterculture icon and computer software designer, most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of LSD, October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996


• Ernesto Antonio TITO Puente, Jr., Latin jazz and mambo musician and composer, often called "The Mambo King" and "The King of Latin Music," April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000