Today LXXVIII

Birthdays:

• Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen, chess master; famous for his 1851 "Immortal Game" against Lionel Kieseritzky, and his 1852 "Evergreen Game" against Jean Dufresne, July 6, 1818 - March 13, 1879


• Verner von Heidenstam, poet, recipient of the 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature, July 6, 1859 – May 20, 1940


• Hanns Eisler, composer, July 6, 1898 - September 6, 1962


• Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell, M.D. and scientist, received the 1955 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the oxidation enzyme and its effects, July 6, 1903 – August 15, 1982


• Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón, aka Frida Kahlo, painter, July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954


• Sebastian Cabot, film and television actor, narrator, and voice actor, July 6, 1918 – August 22, 1977


• Ernst Haefliger, tenor and music teacher, 1919


• Mervyn MERV Edward Griffin, Jr., talk show host, singer, television personality and executive, 1925


• William John Clifton BILL Haley, one of the rock and roll musicians, credited by many with first popularizing rock 'n' roll with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and the song Rock Around the Clock, July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981


• Johannes Hendrikus "Jan Hein" Donner, chess grandmaster and writer, July 6, 1927 – November 27, 1988


• Jeanette Helen Morrison, aka Janet Leigh, actress, July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004


• Patrick Layton 'Pat' Paulsen, comedian, July 6, 1927 – April 24, 1997


• Delloreese Patricia Early, aka Della Reese, actress and singer, 1931


• Tenzin Gyatso, fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, recipient of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, 1935


• David Tynan O'Mahoney, aka Dave Allen, comedian, July 6, 1936 – March 10, 2005


• Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy, conductor and pianist, 1937


• Ned Thomas Beatty, character actor, 1937


• Eugene Dixon, aka Gene Chandler, the "Duke of Earl", soul and r & b singer , 1937


• Nanci Caroline Griffith, Grammy award-winning singer, guitarist and songwriter, 1953


• Jennifer Saunders, comedian, actress, and comedy writer, 1958


• Tia Dashon Mowry and Tamera Darvette Mowry, identical twin actresses, 1978

RIP:

• Johannes Müller von Königsberg, aka Regiomontanus, mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, June 6, 1436 – July 6, 1476


• Antonio Squarcialupi, organist and composer, March 27, 1416 – July 6, 1480


• Saint Thomas More, lawyer, author, and statesman, and Catholic martyr, coined the word utopia, protagonist of the play A Man for All Seasons, executed by King Henry VIII, February 7, 1478 — July 6, 1535


• Georg Simon Ohm, physicist; Ohm's Law defines the proportionality of current and voltage in a resistor; the ohm is the SI unit of resistance, March 16, 1789 - July 6, 1854


• Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant, writer, one of the fathers of the modern short story, August 5, 1850 – July 6, 1893


• Kenneth Grahame, novelist, author of The Wind in the Willows, March 8, 1859 – July 6, 1932


• Rocco Scott LaFaro, musician, played piano, bass clarinet, and tenor saxophone, one of the most influential jazz bassists of the 20th century; died much too young, April 3, 1936 – July 6, 1961


• William Falkner, aka William Cuthbert Faulkner, novelist and screenwriter, recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature, September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962


• Samuel Pond "Sad Sam" Jones, MLB starting pitcher from 1914 to 1935; in 1923, he pitched a no-hitter, and finished 21-8 with a 3.63 ERA,,July 26, 1892 - July 6, 1966


• Louis Daniel "Satchmo" Armstrong, jazz trumpeter and singer; What more can I say?, August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971


• Brandon de Wilde, actor, April 9, 1942 – July 6, 1972


• Otto Klemperer, conductor and composer, May 14, 1885 – July 6, 1973


• Robert Lee 'Bob' Johnson, Jr., MLB left fielder, 7-time All-Star; in 1934, tied an AL record with six hits in a game; in 1937, set an AL record with 6 RBI in the same inning; hit for the cycle on July 6, 1944, November 26, 1905 - July 6, 1982


• Leonard Franklin Slye, aka Roy Rogers, singer and cowboy actor, "King of the Cowboys", November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998


• Joaquín Rodrigo, composer and virtuoso pianist, November 22, 1901 – July 6, 1999


• John Michael Frankenheimer, film director, February 19, 1930 – July 6, 2002


• Christian Rudolph "Buddy" Ebsen, Jr., actor and dancer, April 2, 1908 – July 6, 2003


• Claude Simon, writer, recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Literature, October 10, 1913 – July 6, 2005


• Richard Verreau, tenor, January 1, 1926 - July 7, 2005