Today LIII

Birthdays:

• Richard Strauss, composer and conductor, known for his tone poems and operas, June 11, 1864 – September 8, 1949


• Charles Fabry, physicist, discovered the ozone layer, June 11, 1867 - December 11, 1945


• Maximillian 'Max' Schreck, actor, best known today for his lead role in Nosferatu, September 6, 1879 – February 19, 1936


• Jacques-Yves Cousteau, naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, photographer, and researcher, who studied the sea and all forms of life in water, co-developed the aqualung, and pioneered marine conservation, June 11, 1910 – June 25, 1997


• Carmine Coppola, composer, editor, musical director, songwriter, and flute player, June 11, 1910 - April 26, 1991


• Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd, aka Richard Todd, actor; during WWII, he served as an officer and paratrooper, and later appeared in the films D-Day, the Sixth of June (1956), and The Longest Day (1962); in 1982, he had a role in the Doctor Who story Kinda, 1919


• Hazel Dorothy Scott, jazz and classical pianist and singer, the first black woman to have her own television show, The Hazel Scott Show; however, she publicly opposed McCarthyism and racial segregation, and the show was cancelled in 1950 when she was accused of being a Communist sympathizer, June 11, 1920 – October 2, 1981


• Jerome Silberman, aka Gene Wilder, actor, 1933


• Raymond Lee Cramton, aka Chad Everett, actor, 1936


• Dr. J. Robin Warren, pathologist and researcher who is credited with the 1979 discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori; with his colleague Barry Marshall, Warren proved that the bacterium is the cause of stomach ulcers and, in 2005, Drs Warren and Marshall were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1937


• Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart, MBE race car driver, 1939


• Adrienne Jo Barbeau, television, film, and musical theater actress, 1945


• Dave Cash, former MLB second baseman; in 2006, he became the first base coach for the Baltimore Orioles, 1948


• Frank Beard, drummer for ZZ Top, 1949


• Peter Bergman, soap opera actor, 1953


• Rudy McDaniel, aka Jamaaladeen Tacuma, jazz bass guitarist, 1956


• James Hugh Calum Laurie, actor, comedian and writer, 1959


• José Bernabé Reyes, shortstop for the New York Mets, 1983

RIP:

• Robert Ervin Howard, writer of fantasy, horror, pulp, and historical adventure stories, creator of Conan the Barbarian, King Kull, Solomon Kane, Bran Mak Morn, and the female warriors Dark Agnes de la Fere and Red Sonya, January 22, 1906 – June 11, 1936


• Reginald Joseph Mitchell, CBE, aeronautical engineer, May 20, 1895 - June 11, 1937


• Marion Robert Morrison, aka John Wayne, aka "The Duke", actor, May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979


• Ray Sharkey< actor, November 14, 1952 – June 11, 1993


• Brigitte Eva Gisela Schittenhelm, aka Brigitte Helm, actress, whose most famous role was as Maria in Fritz Lang's 1927 film, Metropolis, March 17, 1908 – June 11, 1996


• Kate McMullen, aka Dame Catherine Ann Cookson, DBE, OBE, author, who also wrote under the pseudonyms Catherine Marchant and Katie McMullen, June 27, 1906 – June 11, 1998


• Jackson DeForest Kelley, actor, best known as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy on the Star Trek series, and six of its subsequent movies, and a cameo role in the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation; his first major role in a big film was as Morgan Earp in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, January 20, 1920 – June 11, 1999


• David McClure Brinkley, television newscaster and news anchor, half of the Huntley–Brinkley Report team, with Chet Huntley, July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003