Today XCVII

Birthdays:

• John Field, composer and pianist, first composer to write nocturnes, July 26, 1782 – January 23, 1837


• Auguste Marie François Beernaert, statesman, shared the 1909 Nobel Peace Prize with Paul d'Estournelles de Constant, July 26, 1829 – October 6, 1912


• George Bernard Shaw, playwright, winner of the 1925 Nobel Prize in Literature and the Academy Award in 1938 for Pygmalion, July 26, 1856 – November 2, 1950


• Dr. Sergei Aleksandrovich Koussevitzky, conductor, Musical Director, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra from 1917 to 1920, and Music Director, Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924 to 1949, July 26, 1874 – June 4, 1951


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


• 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


• Aldous Leonard Huxley, writer, known for his novels and wide-ranging output of essays; also published short stories, poetry, travel writing, and film stories and scripts, July 26, 1894 – November 22, 1963


• Vivian Roberta Jones, aka Vivian Vance, actress and singer, known for her role as Ethel Mertz in I Love Lucy, and other second banana roles on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy; first person to win the Best Supporting Actress Emmy, July 26, 1909 – August 17, 1979


• William Blake McEdwards, aka Blake Edwards, actor, script-writer, film director, and producer, 1922


• Jason Nelson Robards, Jr., theatre, film, and television actor; won the 1959 Tony Award for Best Actor for The Disenchanted, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for All the President's Men in 1976 and Julia in 1977, and the Emmy for Inherit the Wind in 1988, July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000


• James HOYT Wilhelm, MLB relief pitcher, threw a no-hitter in 1958; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985, July 26, 1922 - August 23, 2002


• Stanley Kubrick, Academy Award-winning film director and producer, July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999


• Robert Von BOBBY Hebb, singer and songwriter, known for his 1966 recording of Sunny, July 26, 1938 - November 23, 1963


• Alfred Jesse Smith, aka Brenton Wood, singer-songwriter, known for his two 1967 hits: The Oogum Boogum Song and Gimme Little Sign, 1941


• Sir Michael Philip MICK Jagger, rock musician, actor, songwriter, and record and film producer, lead singer and co-founder of The Rolling Stones, 1943


• Ilyena Lydia Mironova, aka Dame Helen Mirren, DBE, stage, television, and movie actress, 1945


• Roger Meddows-Taylor, aka Roger Taylor, drummer and backing vocalist for Queen, 1949


• Nana Tucker, aka Nana Visitor, actress, Kira Nerys on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. 1957


• Rick Bragg, writer, won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at the New York Times, 1959


• Kevin Spacey Fowler, aka Kevin Spacey, film and stage actor, and theatre director; won 1995 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Usual Suspects, and 1999 Academy Award for Best Actor for American Beauty, 1959


• Sandra Annette Bullock, film actress, 1964


• Kate Beckinsale, actress, 1973

RIP:

• Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege, mathematician, logician, and philosopher, helped found modern mathematical logic and analytic philosophy, November 8, 1848 – July 26, 1925


• Winsor McCay, artist and pioneer in the art of comic strips and animation; known for the newspaper comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, and the animated cartoon Gertie the Dinosaur, September 26, 1867 – July 26, 1934


• Frank Henry Loesser, composer and lyricist, June 29, 1910 - July 26, 1969


• Diane Nemerov Arbus, photographer, March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971


• William AVERELL Harriman, politician, businessman and diplomat, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, November 15, 1891 – July 26, 1986


• Mary Esther Wells, soul, R&B, and pop singer, one of the signature voices of the Motown sound, most famous for My Guy, May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992