Today XCV

Birthdays:

• Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Ponte Palacios y Blanco, known as "El Libertador," South American independentist leader, credited with leading the fight for independence in what are now the countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia, President of Bolivia from 1825 to 1826, July 24, 1783 - December 17, 1830


• Joseph Nicolas Nicollet, aka Jean-Nicolas Nicollet, geographer and mathematician, known for mapping the Upper Mississippi River basin during the 1830's, July 24, 1786 – September 11, 1843


• Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, aka Alexandre Dumas, père, writer, best known for his numerous historical novels, such as The Count of Monte Cristo; also wrote plays and magazine articles, and was a prolific correspondent, July 24, 1802 – December 5, 1870


• Adolphe Charles Adam, composer and music critic, July 24, 1803 – May 3, 1856


• Friedrich Hermann Schottky, mathematician, worked on elliptic, abelian, and theta functions, and invented Schottky groups, July 24, 1851 - August 12, 1935


• Henrik Pontoppidan, realist writer, who shared the 1917 Nobel Prize for Literature with Karl Gjellerup, July 24, 1857 – August 21, 1943


• Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, aka Lord Dunsany, writer and dramatist, known for his work in fantasy and horror, July 24, 1878 – October 25, 1957


• Ernest Bloch, teacher and composer, the first Musical Director of the Cleveland Institute of Music, July 24, 1880 – July 15, 1959


• Amelia Mary Earhart, aviator and early female pilot who mysteriously disappeared in 1937, over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigational flight, July 24, 1897 – missing as of July 2, 1937


• Geswanouth Slahoot aka Dan Slaholt aka Chief Dan George, chief of the Tsleil-Waututh, a Salish First Nations people, and actor; at age 71, won several awards for his role in Little Big Man, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, continued to act in movies, television, and stage, July 24, 1899 – September 23, 1981


• Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams, jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter, rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra, July 24, 1910 - 1985


• John Dann [John D.] MacDonald, writer, known for his series of detective novels featuring Travis McGee; named a grand master of the Mystery Writers of America in 1972; won the American Book Award in 1980, July 24, 1916 – December 28, 1986


• Robert Joseph Farnon, composer, conductor, musical arranger, and trumpet player, July 24, 1917 – April 22, 2005


• Ruggiero Ricci, violin virtuoso, famous for his performances and recordings of Paganini, 1918


• Bella Savitsky Abzug, political figure, attorney, and a leader of the women's movement, member of the House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977, July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998


• Oriana Fallaci, journalist, author, and political interviewer, 1929


• Patrick 'Pat' Oliphant, syndicated political cartoonist, 1935


• Ruth Buzzi, actor and comedian of theatre, film, and television, known for her performances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, 1936


• Charles Goddard, aka Mark Goddard, actor, known as Major Don West in the Lost in Space TV series, and special education teacher, 1936


• Chris Sarandon, actor; in his teens, he played drums and sang back-up with The Teen Tones, 1942


• Robert Hays, actor, 1947


• Peter Serkin, pianist, son of pianist Rudolf Serkin, 1947


• Michael Richards, actor, comedian, writer, and producer, 1949


• Linda Jean Córdoba Carter, aka Lynda Carter, actress and voice actor, known for her title role in Wonder Woman, 1951


• Gus Van Sant, Jr., film director, photographer, musician, and author, 1952


• Pam Tillis, country music singer and actress, daughter of singer Mel Tillis, 1957


• Kadeem Hardison, actor, 1965


• Stephanie Adams, model, the first Playboy Playmate to come out as a lesbian; advocate on LGBT issues and a spirituality author, 1970


• Nathan Louis 'Nate' Bump, MLB relief pitcher for the Florida Marlins, 1976


• José Rafael Valverde, MLB relief pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks, 1979


• Gauge, actress and exotic dancer, 1980


• Summer Glau, dancer, classically trained as a ballerina, and actress, known for her role as River Tam in Firefly and Serenity, 1981


• Anna Helene Paquin, actress, won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Piano; plays Rogue in the X-Men movies, 1982


• Teagan Presley, actress, 1985

RIP:

• Benedetto Marcello, composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher, July 31 or August 1, 1686 - July 24, 1739


• Constance Campbell Bennett, actress, October 22, 1904 - July 24, 1965


• Sir James Chadwick, physicist; for his discovery of the neutron, was awarded the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society in 1932, and the 1935 Nobel Prize for Physics, October 20, 1891 – July 24, 1974


• Richard Henry "Peter" Sellers, CBE, comedian, actor, and performer, September 8, 1925 – July 24, 1980


• Fritz Albert Lipmann, biochemist, a co-discoverer in 1945 of coenzyme A; awarded half the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; professor of biological chemistry at Harvard Medical School; awarded the National Medal of Science in 1966, June 12, 1899 – July 24, 1986


• Icek-Hersz Zynger, aka Isaac Bashevis Singer, writer of both short stories and novels, awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature, November 21, 1902 or July 14, 1904 - July 24, 1991


• George Rodger, photojournalist, noted for his work in Africa, and for taking the first photographs of the death camps at Bergen-Belsen at the end of the Second World War, 1908 - July 24, 1995


• Sir William Richard Shaboe Doll CH OBE FRS, epidemiologist, physiologist, and a pioneer in the research linking smoking to health problems; with Ernst Wynder, Bradford Hill and Evarts Graham, he was the first in the modern world to prove that smoking caused lung cancer and increased the risk of heart disease, October 28, 1912 – July 24, 2005