Today XCIV

Birthdays:

• Etienne-Louis Malus, officer, engineer, physicist, and mathematician, whose mathematical work was concerned almost entirely with the study of light, July 23, 1775 – February 24, 1812


• Franz Adolf Berwald, Romantic composer, July 23, 1796 - April 3, 1868


• Edouard Judas Colonne, violinist, July 23, 1838 – March 28, 1910


• Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, aka Emil Jannings, actor, winner of the first Academy Award for Best Actor, July 23, 1884 - January 3, 1950


• Walter Hermann Schottky, physicist, invented the screen-grid vacuum tube and the tetrode, July 23, 1886 – March 4, 1976


• Raymond Thornton Chandler, author of crime stories and novels, and creator of Philip Marlowe, July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959


• Arthur Veary Treacher, actor, played a butler in several films; Merv Griffin's announcer and sidekick on the The Merv Griffin Show, July 23, 1894 - December 14, 1975


• Vladimir Prelog, chemist, awarded the 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, July 23, 1906 – January 7, 1998


• Michael Wilding, commercial artist and actor, July 23, 1912 – July 8, 1979


• Harold Henry PEE WEE Reese, MLB shortstop for the Dodgers from 1940 to 1958; ten-time All Star In; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984; TV play-by-play announcer, July 23, 1918 - August 14, 1999


• Luis Aloma WITTO Barba, MLB relief pitcher, July 23, 1923 - April 7, 1996


• Hubert Selby, Jr., writer, author of Last Exit to Brooklyn, July 23, 1928 – April 26, 2004


• Bernard Whalen BERT Convy, game show host and panelist, actor, and singer, July 23, 1933 – July 15, 1991


• Donald Scott DON Drysdale, MLB right-handed pitcher; in 1962, won 25 games and the Cy Young Award; set a record with 58 consecutive scoreless innings in 1968; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, July 23, 1936 – July 3, 1993


• Judith Carr, aka Juliet Anderson, aka Aunt Peg, actress, 1938


• John Donald DON Imus, Jr., radio talk show host, 1940


• Tony Joe White, singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for Polk Salad Annie and Rainy Night in Georgia, 1943


• Gardner Dozois, science fiction author and editor; editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004; has won a record 15 Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor; writing mostly in shorter forms, he has won the Nebula Award for best short story twice, 1947


• David Albert Cook, aka David Essex, actor and singer, 1947


• Edie McClurg, character and voice actress, 1951


• Theo van Gogh, film director, television producer, publicist, and actor, whose great-grandfather was art dealer Theo van Gogh, brother of Vincent van Gogh; working from a script written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, created the 10-minute movie Submission, dealing with the topic of violence against women in Islamic societies; after the movie was released in 2004, both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali received death threats; an alleged terrorist murdered van Gogh in the early morning of Tuesday November 2, 2004, July 23, 1957 – November 2, 2004


• Woodrow Tracy WOODY Harrelson, actor and outspoken supporter for the legalization of marijuana and hemp in the U.S., 1961


• Robert Edward ED Forchion, Jr., marijuana activist, political activist, and civil rights activist, 1964


• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Academy Award-winning actor, 1967


• Charisma Lee Carpenter, actress, best known as Cordelia Chase in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, 1970


• Alison Krauss, bluegrass/country singer and fiddle player, has won 20 Grammy Awards, 1971


• Anthony NOMAR Garciaparra, MLB first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers; previously played shortstop and third base; AL Rookie of the Year in 1997; AL Batting Champion in 1999 and 2000; six-time All-Star, 1973


• Monica Samille Lewinsky, former White House intern, 1973


• Judit Polgár, chess player, easily the strongest female player in history; in 1991, earned the title of Grandmaster, 1976


• Daniel Jacob Radcliffe, actor, known for his role as Harry Potter, 1989

RIP:

• Domenico Scarlatti, Baroque composer, October 26, 1685 – July 23, 1757


• Sir William Ramsay, chemist who discovered the noble gases; received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, October 2, 1852 – July 23, 1916


• José Doroteo Arango Arámbula, aka Francisco PANCHO Villa, one of the foremost leaders and best known generals of the Mexican Revolution, June 5, 1878 – July 20, 1923


• David Llewelyn Wark [D. W.] Griffith, film director, January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948


• Robert Joseph Flaherty, filmmaker, directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film, Nanook of the North in 1922, February 16, 1884 - July 23, 1951


• Cordell Hull, U.S. Secretary of State from 1933-1944, awarded the 1945 Nobel Peace Prize, October 2, 1871 – July 23, 1955


• Edward MONTGOMERY Clift, actor, October 17, 1920 - July 23, 1966


• Sir Henry Hallett Dale OM GBE FRS, neuroscientist, shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Otto Loewi, for his study of acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve impulses, June 9, 1875 – July 23, 1968


• Emmett Evan VAN Heflin, Jr., film and theater actor, won the 1942 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, December 13, 1910 – July 23, 1971


• Edward Vernon EDDIE Rickenbacker, race car driver, automotive designer, and World War I hero/fighter pilot, October 8, 1890 – July 27, 1973


• Keith Godchaux, musician, former pianist for the Grateful Dead, July 19, 1948 – 23 July 1980


• Victor VIC Morrow, actor, February 14, 1929 - July 23, 1982


• Georges Auric, composer, February 15, 1899 – July 23, 1983


• Reginald LEO McKern, AO, stage, film, and television, made several appearances as Number Two on The Prisoner; was the murderous holy man in The Beatles' movie Help!, March 16, 1920 – July 23, 2002


• Rabbi Dr. Chaim Tzvi Potok, author and rabbi, February 17, 1929 - July 23, 2002