Today XLVIII - RIP Billy Preston

Birthdays:

• Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain, [baptized] June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660


• Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, author, whom many consider the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature, June 6, 1799 – February 10, 1837


• Karl Ferdinand Braun, physicist, June 6, 1850 – April 20, 1918


• Paul Thomas Mann, novelist, social critic, philanthropist, and essayist, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929, principally in recognition of his 1901 epic Buddenbrooks, June 6, 1875 – August 12, 1955


• Theodore Leopold Friedman, aka Ted Lewis, entertainer, bandleader, singer, and musician, whose catch-phrase was "Is Everybody Happy?", June 6, 1890 – August 25, 1971


• James Melvin 'Jimmie' Lunceford, jazz alto saxophonist and swing era bandleader, June 6, 1902 – July 12, 1947


• Aram Ilich Khachaturian, composer, June 6, 1903 – May 1, 1978


• Max August Zorn, mathematician - algebraist, group theorist, and numerical analyst - famous for Zorn's lemma, a powerful tool in set theory, June 6, 1906 - March 9, 1993


• William Malcolm 'Bill Dickey, MLB catcher, scout, and manager, who played his entire career with the New York Yankees and, in 1954, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, June 6, 1907 – November 12, 1993


• Cleo Virginia Andrews, aka V. C. Andrews, author, June 6, 1923 – December 19, 1986


• Klaus Tennstedt, conductor, June 6, 1926 – January 11, 1998


• Colonel David Randolph Scott, one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963, one of only twelve men who have walked on the moon, 1932


• Heinrich Rohrer, Ph.D., Swiss physicist who, with Gerd Binnig, received half of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Physics for their joint invention of the scanning tunneling microscope, 1933


• Roy Emile Alfredo Innis, current National Chairman [since 1968] of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), 1934


• Levi Stubbles, aka Levi Stubbs, lead singer, from 1953 until 2000, of The Four Tops, 1936


• Gary Anderson, aka Gary "U.S." Bonds, rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll singer, and songwriter, 1939


• David Dukes, character actor, June 6, 1945 – October 9, 2000


• Tony Levin, bass player, has played with Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Yes, and many other groups and solo artists; is partly responsible for popularizing the Chapman Stick and the NS upright bass; and created funk fingers, a device for mimicking the sound of hitting the strings with drumsticks, 1946


• Robert Barton Englund, actor, best known as Willie in V and its sequels, and Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare On Elm Street and its seven sequels, 1947


• Gary Graham, actor, best known as Detective Matt Sikes in the television series Alien Nation, and its subsequent TV movies, and as Ambassador Soval on Star Trek: Enterprise, 1950


• Harvey Forbes Fierstein, actor, author, and singer, 1954


• Sandra Bernhard, actress and comedian, 1955


• Steven Siro Vai, guitarist, composer, and record producer, 1960


• Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti, Academy Award-nominated actor, son of the late A. Bartlett Giamatti, a Yale University professor who later became president of the university and commissioner of Major League Baseball, 1967


• Anastasia Sagorsky, aka Staci Keanan, actress, best known as Nicole Bradford in My Two Dads, 1975

RIP:

• Jeremy Bentham, jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer, a political radical and a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, best known as an early advocate of utilitarianism, February 15, 1748 – June 6, 1832


• William Clarke Quantrill, pro-Confederate guerrilla fighter during the American Civil War, leader of the independent guerrilla band known as Quantrill's Raiders; MLB relief pitcher Paul Quantrill is a distant relative, July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865


• The Reverend Dr Robert Stirling, clergyman, and coinventor of a highly efficient heat engine. All closed-cycle regenerative gas engines are now known as Stirling engines, October 25, 1790 – June 6, 1878


• Henri François Joseph Vieuxtemps, composer and violinist, February 17, 1820 – June 6, 1881


• Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, QC, DCL, LL.D, first Prime Minister of Canada, January 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891


• Helen Louise Leonard, aka Lillian Russell, actress and singer, December 4, 1860 - June 6, 1922


• Louis-Joseph Chevrolet, racing driver and founder of the Chevrolet Motor Car Company, December 25, 1878 - June 6, 1941


• Gerhart Hauptmann, dramatist, winner of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Literature, November 15, 1862 - June 6, 1946


• Louis Jean Lumière, one of the earliest filmmakers. On December 28, 1895, he and his brother held their first public screening of movies at which admission was charged, October 5, 1864 – June 6, 1948


• Carl Gustav Jung, psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology, July 26, 1875 – June 6, 1961


• Robert Francis 'Bobby' Kennedy, aka RFK, senator and Attorney General of the U.S., November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968


• Jack Haley, film actor, best known for his portrayal of "The Tin Man" in The Wizard of Oz, August 10, 1898 – June 6, 1979


• Arthur Bertram Chandler, science fiction author, who also wrote under the pseudonym George Whitley, March 28, 1912 – June 6, 1984


• Stanley Gayetzky, aka Stan Getz, jazz tenor saxophone player, February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991


• Anna Maria Louisa Italiano, aka Anne Bancroft, Tony and [1962] Academy Award-winning actress, best known as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate; from 1964 to her death, she was married to Mel Brooks, September 17, 1931 – June 6, 2005


• Ibson Dana Elcar, television and movie character actor, best known as Peter Thornton on MacGyver, October 10, 1927 – June 6, 2005


• Billy Preston, soul musician, played piano and organ; he and Nicky Hopkins were the only non-Beatle to receive a credit on a Beatles single, playing the electric piano on Get Back as part of the rooftop concert, one of several people sometimes credited as the "Fifth Beatle," September 9, 1946 – June 6, 2006