Today LXXII

Birthdays:

• Jan Václav Stamic, aka Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz, composer and violinist, June 19, 1717 – March 27, 1757


• Frank Simmons Leavitt, aka Man Mountain Dean, professional wrestler, June 30, 1891 – May 29, 1953


• Harry Shields, jazz clarinetist, June 30, 1899 – January 19, 1971


• Czesław Miłosz, poet and essayist, winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature, June 30, 1911 – August 14, 2004


• Ludwig Bölkow, aeronautical pioneer, lead engineer at the Messerschmitt AG, building the first jet plane, the Me 262, June 30, 1912 - July 25, 2003


• Edythe Marrenner, aka Susan Hayward, Academy Award-winning actress, June 30, 1917 – March 14, 1975


• Lena Mary Calhoun Horne, popular singer, 1917


• Paul Berg, biochemist, shared half of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger for their contributions to basic research in nucleic acids, 1926


• Harry Blackstone, Jr., stage musician, author, and television performer, June 30, 1934 – May 14, 1997


• Nancy Dussault, singer and actress, 1936


• Florence Glenda Ballard Chapman, singer, best known as the founder and original lead singer of The Supremes, June 30, 1943 – February 22, 1976


• Stanley Clarke, musician, known for his work on double bass and bass guitar, the first influential bassist to use piccolo bass prominently, 1951


• David Garrison, stage and TV actor, 1952


• Hal Lindes, guitarist and composer, once part of Dire Straits, 1953


• David Alan Grier, comedian, 1955


• Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor and composer, 1958


• Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio, actor and producer, 1959


• Octavio Antonio TONY Fernández Castro, former MLB shortstop, awarded four Gold Glove Awards from 1986 to 1989, five-time All-Star, 1962


• Lars Johann Yngve Lannerbäck, aka Yngwie Johann Malmsteen, guitarist, 1963


• Monica Louise Brokaw Potter, actress, 1971


• Chan Ho Park, MLB pitcher, currently with the San Diego Padres, had 3 saves playing for Korea in the World Baseball Classic, 1973


• Matthew Paul Miller, aka Matisyahu, Hasidic Jewish reggae singer, 1979

RIP:

• William Oughtred, mathematician, credited as the inventor of the slide rule in 1622, introduced the "x" symbol for multiplication as well as the abbreviations "sin" and "cos" for the sine and cosine functions, March 5, 1575 – June 30, 1660


• Samuel Parkman Tuckerman, composer, February 11, 1819 – June 30, 1890


• John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, physicist, received the 1904 Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of argon, November 12, 1842 – June 30, 1919


• Lee De Forest, inventor with over 300 patents to his credit, invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that amplifies weak electrical signals, August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961


• Herbert J. Biberman, screenwriter and film director, March 4, 1900 - June 30, 1971


• Frederick FIRPO Marberry, MLB starting and relief pitcher from 1923 to 1936, November 30, 1898 - June 30, 1976


• Lillian Florence Hellman, playwright, June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984


• George Robert Phillips SPANKY McFarland, actor, most famous for his childhood role as Spanky in the movie series Our Gang, aka The Little Rascals, October 2, 1928 - June 30, 1993


• Charles T. Aldrich, Jr., aka Gale Gordon, radio and TV character actor, Lucille Ball's longtime television foil in several sitcoms, February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995


• Chester Burton CHET Atkins, guitar legend and record producer, June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001


• Leonard Hacker, aka Buddy Hackett, comedian and actor; in 1978, he gave a dramatic performance as Lou Costello in the TV movie Bud And Lou, with Harvey Korman as Bud Abbott, August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003


• Robert McCloskey, author and illustrator of children's books, September 14, 1914 – June 30, 2003