Today CXXXIII - Happy Birthday, Theodore

Today is Theodore's birthday! I love you, Theodore!

Birthdays:

• Amilcare Ponchielli, composer, mainly of operas, and educator, among whose students were Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni; the only one of his operas regularly performed today is La Gioconda, August 31, 1834 – January 17, 1886


• DuBose Heyward, author of the 1924 novel Porgy and, with his wife, co-author of the non-musical play adapted from the novel, August 31, 1885 – June 16, 1940


• Ernest Frederick McIntyre Bickel, aka Fredric March, actor, won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice; in 1932, for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in 1946, for The Best Years of Our Lives, August 31, 1897 – April 14, 1975


• Arthur Morton Godfrey, broadcaster, entertainer, and radio and TV host, August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983


• William Shawn, magazine editor, edited The New Yorker from 1952 until 1987, August 31, 1907 – December 8, 1992


• William Saroyan, author, playwright, and songwriter, August 31, 1908 - May 18, 1981


• Sir Alfred Charles Bernard Lovell, radio astronomer, until 1981, director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, 1913


• Richard Basehart, actor, starred in TV's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, August 31, 1914 - September 17, 1984


• Daniel Schorr, journalist and author, now a senior news analyst for National Public Radio, won Emmy Awards in 1972, 1973 and 1974, and, in 2002, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Broadcasting, 1916


• Alan Jay Lerner, Broadway lyricist and librettist, and author, famous for his collaboration with composer Frederic Loewe, August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986


• Leonard Hacker, aka Buddy Hackett, comedian and actor; in 1978, he gave a dramatic performance as Lou Costello in the TV movie Bud And Lou, with Harvey Korman as Bud Abbott, August 31, 1924 – June 30, 2003


• James Coburn, movie actor, co-starred with in The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape; in 1966, starred in Our Man Flint and its sequel; won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Affliction, August 31, 1928, Laurel, Nebraska – November 18, 2002


• Jean Arthur Béliveau, CC , CQ , D.h.c., former NHL ice hockey player, 1931


• Frank Robinson, former MLB outfielder during a 21-season career, and current manager of the Washington Nationals, the first player to win League MVP honors in both the National and American Leagues; became the first permanent black manager in Major League history in 1975; named Rookie of the Year in 1956; on June 26, 1970, hit back-to-back grand slams in the fifth and sixth innings; World Series Most Valuable Player in 1966, the same year that he won the AL Triple Crown; All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in 1971; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982; awarded the American League Manager of the Year Award in 1989; in 2005, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1935


• Eldridge Cleaver, civil rights leader and activist, member of the Black Panther Party, August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998


• Jerry Allison, musician, the drummer for The Crickets; Buddy Holly's song Peggy Sue was named after his then girlfriend and eventual wife, 1939


• Roger Dean, artist and album cover designer, a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, designed his first album cover for Yes [Fragile) in 1971, and the classic Yes logo, 1944


• George Ivan VAN Morrison, musician, singer, and songwriter, plays several instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, and saxophone, 1945


• Itzhak Perlman, virtuoso violinist and teacher, made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1963, has won several Grammy Awards, 1945


• Richard Tiffany Gere, actor; as a Buddhist and an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. he has been a persistent advocate for human rights in Tibet, 1949


• Hugh David Politzer Ph.D., theoretical physicist and educator, shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics with David Gross and Frank Wilczek for their discovery of asymptotic freedom in quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong nuclear interaction, 1949


• Regina Ann GINA Schock, drummer for The Go-Go's, 1957


• Glenn Martin Tilbrook, lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for Squeeze, 1957


• Richard Earl REB Beach, Jr., guitarist, formerly with Winger and Dokken, and currently a member of Whitesnake, 1963


• Hideo Nomo, MLB right-handed pitcher, not currently on a major legaue roster; was on the silver medal winning Japanese baseball team at the 1988 Olympics; the Kintetsu Buffaloes drafted him in 1989; made his MLB debut with the L.A. Dodgers in 1995, starting the All-Star Game, striking out 3 of the 6 batters he faced, and winning the National League Rookie of the Year, 1968


• Deborah Ann DEBBIE Gibson, singer-songwriter, 1970


• Christopher CHRIS Tucker, actor and comedian, 1972


• Clayton Allen CLAY Hensley, MLB relief pitcher for the San Diego Padres, 1979

RIP:

• Ole Worm, aka Olaus Wormius, was a Danish physician and antiquary, May 13, 1588 – August 31, 1654


• John Bunyan, writer and preacher, author of The Pilgrim's Progress, November 28, 1628 – August 31, 1688


• Gottfried or Godfrey Finger, Baroque composer, mainly for the viol and opera, 1660? - August 31, 1730


• François-André Danican Philidor, chess player and composer, regarded as the best chess player of his age; the book he wrote on the subject was viewed as a standard manual for at least a century; the Philidor Defense is named for him, September 7, 1726 - August 31, 1795


• Charles Pierre Baudelaire, poet, critic, and translator, April 9, 1821 – August 31, 1867


• Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt, physiologist and psychologist, generally acknowledged as a founder of experimental psychology and cognitive psychology; also a pioneer in social psychology, August 16, 1832–August 31, 1920


• Georges Braque, painter and sculptor, and one of the inventors of Cubism, May 13, 1882 – August 31, 1963


• Rocco Francis Marchegiano, aka Rocky Marciano, boxer, the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion from September 23, 1952 to November 30, 1956; had a professional record of 49 - 0 with forty-three knockouts, September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969


• John Ford, film director, famous for such westerns as Stagecoach and The Searchers, and for adaptations of such classic American novels as The Grapes of Wrath; won a record four Academy Awards for Best Director [1935, 1940, 1941, and 1952]; opponent of McCarthyism, February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973


• Harriet Helen Gould Beck, aka Billy Beck, aka Sally Rand, exotic dancer and actress, January 2, 1904 – August 31, 1979


• Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet, M/D., Ph.D., virologist, known for his contributions to immunology; shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Peter Medawar for their research on acquired immune tolerance, providing the experimental basis for inducing immune tolerance, thereby allowing the transplantation of organs, September 3, 1899 - August 31, 1985


• Henry Spencer Moore OM CH, artist and sculptor, best known for his large, abstract bronzes which can be seen in many places around the world as public works of art, July 30, 1898 – August 31, 1986


• Lady Diana Frances Spencer Mountbatten-Windsor, Princess of Wales, July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997


• Lionel Leo Hampton, bandleader, jazz percussionist, piano player, and vibraphone virtuoso, began his career as a drummer; ranks among the greatest names in jazz history; worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman to Charlie Parker to Quincy Jones; credited with popularizing the vibraphone as a jazz instrument; the University of Idaho's music college was renamed the Lionel Hampton School of Music, the first and only university music college to be named after a jazz musician, April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002


• George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham, OM, FRS, chemist, shared the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; President of the Royal Society from 1985 to 1990; Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain from 1966 to 1986; Chancellor of the University of Leicester from 1984 to 1995, December 6, 1920 – August 31, 2002


• Colin David Tooley, aka Carl Wayne, singer and actor, the lead vocalist of The Move, August 18, 1943 - August 31, 2004


• Józef Rotblat, aka Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat KCMG FRS, physicist, received the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize; knighted in 1998; a Fellow of the Royal Society; winner of the Albert Einstein Peace Prize in 1992, November 4, 1908 – August 31, 2005


• Michael Sheard, film and television actor, made appearances in six stories in the Doctor Who TV series, with the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh Doctors, June 18, 1938 – August 31, 2005

Today CXXXII - Happy Birthday, Alberto

Today is Alberto's birthday - cumpleaños felices, amigo!


Birthdays:

• Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, novelist, the author of Frankenstein, married to Percy Bysshe Shelley, 30 August 30, 1797 – February 1, 1851


• Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, physical and organic chemist, winner of the inaugural Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1901; helped to found the discipline of physical chemistry as we know it today, August 30, 1852 - March 1, 1911


• Carle David Tolmé Runge Ph.D., mathematician, physicist, and spectroscopist; Runge crater on the Moon is named after him, August 30, 1856 – January 3, 1927


• Isaac Ilyich Levitan, landscape art painter who advanced the genre of the mood landscape, August 30, 1860 - August 4, 1900


• Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, PC, FRS, nuclear physicist, known as the "father" of nuclear physics, pioneered the orbital theory of the atom; awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, August 30, 1871 – October 19, 1937


• Theodor Svedberg, chemist, whose work with colloids supported the theories of Brownian motion put forward by Einstein and Smoluchowski; developed the technique of analytical ultracentrifugation, and demonstrated its utility in distinguishing pure proteins one from another; awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, August 30, 1884 – February 25, 1971


• Raymond Hart Massey, actor, famous for his quintessential American roles, especially that of Abraham Lincoln, August 30, 1896 – July 29, 1983


• Marjory Ford, aka Shirley Booth, stage, film, and television actress, received her first Tony Award, for Best Supporting or Featured Actress in 1948 as Grace Woods in Goodbye, My Fancy; her second Tony was for Best Actress in a Play, in 1950 as Lola Delaney in Come Back, Little Sheba; in 1953, she received the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role as Lola Delaney in the movie version of Come Back, Little Sheba, the first actress ever to win both a Tony and an Oscar for the same role; her third Tony was for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Time of the Cuckoo; in 1957, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work on the stage in Chicago; in 1961, she began starring as housemaid, Hazel Burke in the TV sitcom Hazel, for which won two Emmys, in 1962 and 1963, August 30, 1898 – October 16, 1992


• Roy Wilkins, civil rights activist, active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), assistant NAACP secretary between 1931 and 1934; became editor of Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP, in 1934, August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981


• Rose JOAN Blondell, actress, appeared in more than 100 movies and television productions, August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979


• Fred MacMurray, actor, appeared in over one hundred movies; his most famous role was that Steve Douglas on My Three Sons, which ran from 1960 until 1972, August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991


• Edward Mills Purcell, physicist, shared the 1952 Nobel Prize for Physics for his independent discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance in liquids and in solids, with Felix Bloch, August 30, 1912 - March 7, 1997


• Sir John Richard Nicholas Stone, economist, received the 1984 Nobel Prize in Economics for developing an accounting model that could be used to track economic activities on a national and, later, an international scale, August 30, 1913 – December 6, 1991


• Theodore Samuel TED Williams, nicknamed the "Splendid Splinter", MLB left fielder, played 19 seasons with the Boston Red Sox; partial list of baseball accomplishments: 1946 and 1949 AL MVP, led the league in batting six times, and won the 1942 and 1947 Triple Crown, career batting average of .344, with 521 home runs, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, the last player in MLB history to bat over .400 in a single season, August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002


• William Russell BILLY Johnson, MLB third baseman, 1947 All-Star, August 30, 1918-June 20, 2006


• Muriel Deason, aka Kitty Wells, country musician and singer, 1919


• Warren Edward Buffett, stock investor, businessman and philanthropist; in June, 2006, made the commitment to give away 85% of his $42 billion fortune, most of it to the Gates Foundation, 1930


• John Edmund Andrew Phillips, singer, guitarist, and songwriter, leader of The Mamas & the Papas, August 30, 1935 – March 18, 2001


• Robert Dennis Crumb, artist and illustrator, known for the distinctive style of his drawings and his critical, satirical, subversive view of the American mainstream, a founder of the underground comics movement and its most prominent figure, 1943


• Peggy Lipton, actress and philanthropist, best known as detective Julie Barnes in The Mod Squad and waitress Norma Jennings on Twin Peaks, 1947


• Timothy Bottoms, actor, 1951


• Marlon Jerrard Byrd, MLB centre fielder for the Washington Nationals, 1977

RIP:

• Wilhelm Carl Werner Otto Fritz Franz Wien, physicist who, in 1893, used theories about heat and electromagnetism to compose Wien's displacement law, which relates the maximum emission of a blackbody to its temperature; awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize for Physics; a crater on Mars is named in his honor, January 13, 1864 – August 30, 1928


• Sir Joseph John [J. J.] Thomson, OM, FRS, physicist, the discoverer of the electron, warded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics, December 18, 1856 – 30 August 30, 1940


• Peder Oluf Pedersen, engineer and physicist, notable for his work on electrotechnology, June 19, 1874 – August 30, 1941


• Charles Douville Coburn, film and theater actor, June 19, 1877 – August 30, 1961


• Vera-Ellen Westmeier Rohe, aka Vera-Ellen, actress and stage and film dancer, known for her filmed dance partnerships with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor; excelled in tap, ballet, acrobatic, and modern dance, February 16, 1921 - August 30, 1981


• Janet Miriam Holland TAYLOR Caldwell, novelist, author of popular fiction, including Dynasty of Death, This Very Earth, and The Eagles Gather, among many others, September 7, 1900–August 30, 1985


• Lindsay Gordon Anderson, film and documentary director whose early short film, Thursday's Child, won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 1954; best remembered for his trilogy of feature films, starring Malcolm McDowell: If..., O Lucky Man! and Britannia Hospital, April 17, 1923 - August 30, 1994


• Holmes STERLING Morrison, Jr., one of the founding members of The Velvet Underground, playing lead, rhythm, and bass guitar, and singing backing vocals, August 28, 1942 – August 30, 1995


• Raymond Poïvet, cartoonist and comics artist, 1910 - August 30, 1999


• Charles Dennis Buchinsky, aka Charles Bronson, actor, starred in the TV detective series Man With A Camera from 1958 to 1960; most famous films include The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, The Magnificent Seven, and Once Upon a Time in the West; also starred in Death Wish and its sequels, November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003

Today CXXXI

Birthdays:

• John Locke, philosopher, contributor to liberal theory, often classified as a British Empiricist, and a social contract theorist; developed an alternative to the Hobbesian state of nature and argued a government could only be legitimate if it received the consent of the governed through a social contract and protected the natural rights of life, liberty, and estate, August 29, 1632 – October 28, 1704


• Count Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck, poet, playwright, and essayist, the main themes in whose work are death and the meaning of life, awarded the 1911 Nobel Prize in Literature, August 29, 1862 - May 6, 1949


• Charles Franklin Kettering, farmer, school teacher, mechanic, engineer, scientist, inventor, and social philosopher, held more than 300 U.S. patents; invented the all-electric starting, ignition, and lighting system for automobiles; patents included a portable lighting system, Freon, a World War I "aerial torpedo," a treatment for venereal disease, an incubator for premature infants, and an engine-driven generator called the "Delco;" developed the idea of Duco paint, ethyl gasoline, diesel engines, and ways to harness solar energy; a pioneer in the application of magnetism to medical diagnostic techniques, August 29, 1876 – November 24 or November 25, 1958


• Edmund Preston Biden, aka Preston Sturges, playwright, screenwriter, and director, won the first Academy Award ever given for Writing Original Screenplay for The Great McGinty in 1940; received two screenwriting Oscar nominations in 1944 , August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959


• Werner Forssmann, physician, credited with the first catheterization of a human heart, for which he was awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, August 29, 1904 – June 1, 1979


• Ingrid Bergman, actress, won Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for Gaslight and in 1956 for Anastasia, and Best Supporting Actress in 1974
  for Murder on the Orient Express, August 29, 1915 – August 29, 1982


• George Montgomery Letz, aka George Montgomery, actor, painter, sculptor, furniture craftsman, and stuntman, best known as an actor in Westerns, August 29, 1916 - December 12, 2000


• Luther Davis, playwright and screenwriter , received two Tony Awards in 1954 for Kismet, two Mystery Writers of America Edgar Awards, 1916


• Isabel Sanford, actress, most famous for her role as Louise Jefferson in All in the Family and The Jeffersons; first black woman to win a Best Actress Emmy, August 29, 1917 – July 9, 2004


• Charles "Bird" Parker, Jr., jazz saxophonist and composer, considered one of the greatest jazz musicians ever; a founding figure of bebop; the nightclub Birdland was named after him, as were the songs Lullaby of Birdland and Birdland, August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955


• Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, CBE, film actor, director and producer, 1923


• Ruth Jones, aka Dinah Washington, blues, jazz, and gospel singer, August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963


• William Friedkin, movie and television director, producer, and writer, best known for directing The Exorcist and The French Connection, winning an Academy Award for Best Director in 1971 for the latter, 1935


• Elliott Goldstein, aka Elliott Gould, actor, 1938


• Lenworth George LENNY Henry, CBE, entertainer, a very funny and talented performer, 1958


• Ernesto Rodrigues, composer, violinist, violist, and electronic musician, 1959


• Rebecca George, aka Rebecca De Mornay, actress, credited as a producer and arranger on Leonard Cohen's album The Future, 1961


• Michelle Johnson, aka Meshell Ndegeocello, singer, bassist, and multi-instrumentalist, 1968


• Joe Swail, professional snooker player, 1969


• Carla Gugino, actress, 1971


• Roy Edward Oswalt, MLB starting pitcher for the Houston Astros; 2000 Olympic gold medalist; 2005 and 2006 All-Star; 2005 NL Championship Series MVP; had back to back 20-win seasons [2004-05], 1977


• Lanny Barbie, actress and model, 1981

RIP:

• Gregory King, genealogist, civil servant, and economic statistician, December 15, 1648 - August 29, 1712


• Edmond Hoyle, teacher and writer best, known for his works providing detailed descriptions of games; the phrase "according to Hoyle" is a reflection of his generally-perceived authority on the subject, 1672 - August 29, 1769


• Mary Anne Galton Schimmelpenninck, writer in the anti-slavery movement, great name!, November 25, 1778 - August 29, 1856


• Pierre Lallement, inventor of the bicycle, 1843 - August 29, 1891


• Lowell Jackson Thomas, writer, broadcaster, and traveller, inventor of the travelogue, April 6, 1892 – August 29, 1981


• Ingrid Bergman, actress, August 29, 1915 – August 29, 1982


• Lee Marvin, film actor, won an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1965 for Cat Ballou, February 19, 1924 – August 29, 1987


• Hans Vonk, conductor and champion of Dutch composers, Principal Conductor, Het Residentie Orkest from 1980 to 1991; Principal Conductor, Dresden Staatskapelle from 1985 to 1990; Principal Conductor, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne from 1990 to 1997;
  Music Director, St Louis Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 2002, June 18, 1942 - August 29, 2004

Today CXXX

Birthdays:

• Johann Wolfgang Goethe, polymath: poet, novelist, dramatist, humanist, scientist, philosopher, and painter, whose influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a primary source of inspiration in music, drama, poetry, and philosophy; his poetic work served as a model for an entire movement in German poetry; his words inspired a number of compositions by, among others, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, and Wolf; author of the drama Faust, August 28, 1749 – 22 March 22, 1832


• Benjamin Louis Paul Godard, composer, best known as a writer of salon music; also composed other symphonic work, ballets, concertos, and overtures, August 18, 1849 – January 10, 1895


• Vladimir Grigorievich Shukhov, engineer, renowned for his pioneering works on new methods of analysis for civil engineering that led to breakthroughs in industrial design of oil reservoirs, pipelines, boilers, ships, and barges; known for his original designs of hyperboloid towers, August 28, 1853 - February 2, 1939


• Umberto Giordano, composer, mainly of opera, August 28, 1867 - November 12, 1948


• George Hoyt Whipple, physician, biomedical researcher, and medical school educator and administrator, the 1934 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine George Richards Minot and William Parry Murphy for their discoveries concerning liver therapy in cases of anemia, August 28, 1878 – February 1, 1976


• Karl Böhm, conductor, Principal Conductor, Dresden Staatskapelle, from 1934 to 1943, and Director, Vienna State Opera from 1943 to 1945 and 1954 to 1956, August 28, 1894 – August 14, 1981


• Charles John CHARLIE Grimm, MLB first baseman and manager, August 28, 1898 - November 15, 1983


• Charles Boyer, actor, starred in Gaslight, Algiers, in which he did NOT say "Come with me to the casbah," and in a musical version of Lost Horizon, August 28, 1899 – August 26, 1978


• Bruno Bettelheim, writer and child psychologist, known for his theories on autism, which were later discredited, August 28, 1903 - March 13, 1990


• Secondo Campini, engineer and one of the pioneers of the jet engine, August 28, 1904 - February 7, 1980


• Roger Tory Peterson, naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator, one of the founding inspirations for the 20th century environmental movement; in 1934, published his seminal Guide to the Birds, the first modern field guide; received every major American award for natural science, ornithology, and conservation, as well as numerous honorary medals, diplomas, and citations, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, August 28, 1908 – July 28, 1996


• Tjalling Charles Koopmans, economist, shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Economics with Leonid Kantorovich, August 28, 1910 – February 26, 1985


• William ROBERTSON Davies, CC, FRSC, FRSL, novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor, one of Canada's best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most distinguished "men of letters;" the founding Master of Massey College, a graduate college at the University of Toronto; participated in theatrical productions as a child, where he developed a lifelong interest in drama; during his tenure as editor of the Examiner, from 1942 to 1955, and when he was publisher from 1955 to 1965, published 18 books, produced several of his own plays, and wrote articles for various journals, August 28, 1913 - December 2, 1995


• Ruvn RICHARD Tucker, tenor singer, whose first job was as a boy alto at the Lower East Side Manhattan Synagogue; sang for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs and eventually became a cantor; his Met debut was as Enzo in La Gioconda in 1945, which led to a long and illustrious career with the Met, where he performed over 30 roles, August 28, 1913 – January 8, 1975


• John Holbrook JACK Vance, fantasy and science fiction author, most of whose work has been published under the name Jack Vance; has written 11 mysteries as John Holbrook Vance and three as Ellery Queen; among his awards are: Hugo Awards in 1963 for The Dragon Masters and in 1967 for The Last Castle, a Nebula Award in 1966 for The Last Castle, the Jupiter Award in 1975; the World Fantasy Award in 1984 for life achievement and in 1990 for Lyonesse: Madouc, and an Edgar for the best first mystery novel in 1961 for The Man in the Cage; in 1990, he was named an SFWA Grand Master; a prolific author - read his books!, 1916


• Jacob Kurtzberg, aka Jack Kirby, comic book artist, writer, and editor; with cartoonist and editor Joe Simon, created Captain America, produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel, and created The Challengers of the Unknown; created and co-created many of the original characters and titles for Marvel Comics; created the Fourth World characters and titles for DC; returned to Marvel and created The Eternals; the awards that he has won and the influence he has had on generations of comic book artists and writers are impossible to enumerate, August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994


• Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield, electrical engineer, shared the 1979 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Allan McLeod Cormack for his part in developing the diagnostic technique of Computerized Axial Tomography; the Hounsfield scale, a quantitative measure of radiodensity used in evaluating CAT scans, is named after him, August 28, 1919 – August 12, 2004


• Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor, singer, dancer, and actor, appeared in a series of movies in which he co-starred with Francis the Talking Mule; best known for his performance in the movie musical Singin' in the Rain, had a separate Hollywood career in the late 1930's, in which he played such roles as Beau Geste; during World War II, he was re-invented as a star of musical films, August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003


• István Kertész, orchestral and operatic conductor, August 28, 1929 – April 16, 1973


• Biagio Anthony BEN Gazzara, actor and director, starred in various Broadway productions in the 1950's; his most formidable appearances were as characters he portrayed for his friend, director John Cassavetes, in the 1970's; in the 1990's, he appeared in 38 films, among these many TV productions, 1930


• John Shirley-Quirk CBE, bass-baritone singer and educator, appears regularly with major orchestras and opera companies throughout the world, and has a large recording catalgue, 1931


• Andrew James ANDY Bathgate, former NHL centre, played for 17 seasons, 1932


• Donald Anton DON Denkinger, former MLB umpire, worked in the American League from 1968 to 1998, 1936


• The Rt. Hon. Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC, MP, BA, LLB, the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, 1938


• Holmes STERLING Morrison, Jr., one of the founding members of The Velvet Underground, playing lead, rhythm, and bass guitar, and singing backing vocals, August 28, 1942 – August 30, 1995


• David Richard Solberg, aka David Soul, actor and singer, Hutch in Starsky and Hutch, 1943


• Louis Victor LOU Piniella, former MLB left fielder and manager, most recently the manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays from 2003 to 2005; the American League Rookie of the Year in 1969; AL Manager of the Year in 1995 and 2001; recently become a color commentator for Fox Sports, calling postseason baseball games; on October 17, 2006, he signed a 3-year contract as manager of the Chicago Cubs, 1943


• Daniel DANNY Seraphine, drummer and producer, played with a band named The Big Thing, which became Chicago; co-wrote some of Chicago's songs; left the band in 1991; alhough he still played and never left the music business, managing acts and producing, The California Transit Authority, which debuted in 2006, is his first band since Chicago, and this is the first time in 15 years that he has played live with a band, 1948


• Daniel Stern, television and film actor and director, was in the City Slickers movies and the first two Home Alone movies; was the voice of the narrator on The Wonder Years, and the title character of the animated series Dilbert, 1957


• Emma Samuelson, aka Emma Samms, actress, 1960


• Amanda Tapping, actress, has performed in several stage productions, appeared in several TV commercials, and played a variety of roles in television series, such as The Outer Limits and The X-Files; known as Samantha Carter on Stargate SG-1, 1965


• Billy Boyd, actor, known for playing Peregrin Took in the Lord of the Rings films, 1968


• Mary Anna McCartney Donald, photographer, first child born of Paul and Linda McCartney, 1969


• Linda Miles, aka Shaniqua, professional wrestler and wrestling manager, 1978


• Theodore Lester [T.J.] Beam, MLB relief pitcher for the New York Yankees, made his major league debut on June 17, 2006, 1980


• Margaret LeAnn Rimes, country music singer, has won an American Music Award, two Grammy Awards, three Academy of Country Music Awards, and four Billboard Music Awards, 1982


• Gilad Shalit, corporal in the Israel Defense Forces, the first Israeli soldier captured by Palestinians since 1994, 1986

RIP:

• Ruth Gordon Jones, aka Ruth Gordon, actress and screenwriter, known for her role as the neighbor in Roman Polanski's film of Rosemary's Baby, for which she won the 1968 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, October 30, 1896 – August 28, 1985


• John Marcellus Huston, film director, actor, and painter, August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987


• Willy Vandersteen, comic book artist, whose most famous creation is the Spike and Suzy series, February 15, 1913 - August 28, 1990


• Lawrence Curtis LARRY Jackson, MLB right-handed pitcher from 1955 to 1968, an NL All-Star in 1957, 1958, 1960, and 1963; had the most total chances among pitchers with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 1957, 1964, 1965, and 1968, June 2, 1931 - August 28, 1990


• Michael Ende, writer of fantasy novels and children's books, known for The Neverending Story, whose works have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 20 million copies, November 12, 1929 - August 29, 1995


• Esther Klein Szekeres, mathematician, February 20, 1910 – 28 August 2005


• George Szekeres, mathematician, May 29, 1911 — August 28, 2005

Today CXXIX

Birthdays:

• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, philosopher, introduced for the first time in philosophy the idea that History and the concrete are important in getting out of the circle of the perennial problems of philosophy, August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831


• Giuseppe Peano, mathematician, educator, and author of over 200 books and papers, a founder of mathematical logic and set theory, to which he contributed much notation, August 27, 1858 – April 20, 1932


• Carl Bosch, chemist, engineer, and amateur astronomer, shared the 1931 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Friedrich Bergius for the introduction of high pressure chemistry, August 27, 1874 – April 26, 1940


• Katharine Dexter McCormick, biologist, suffragette, and philanthropist, remembered today for funding most of the research necessary to develop the birth control pill, August 27, 1875 – December 28, 1967


• Rebecca Helferich Clarke Friskin, classical composer and violist, known for her chamber music featuring the viola, August 27, 1886 – October 13, 1979


• Eric Coates, composer and violist, August 27, 1886 – December 21, 1957


• Emmanuel Radnitzky, aka Man Ray, artist, best described as a modernist, a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements; known in the art world for his avant-garde photography, he produced major works in a variety of media, but considered himself a painter, August 27, 1890–November 18, 1976


• Cecil Louis Troughton Smith, aka Cecil Scott [C. S.] Forester, novelist, famous for his tales of adventure with military themes; wrote 11-book Horatio Hornblower series, and The African Queen, later filmed by John Huston, August 27, 1899 – April 2, 1966


• Lester Willis PREZ Young, jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist; in the film 'Round Midnigh, the fictional main character, played by Dexter Gordon, was partly based on him, August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959


• Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr., Ph.D., physicist and educator, shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of the separated oscillatory field method, which had important applications in the construction of atomic clocks, with Hans G. Dehmelt and Wolfgang Paul, 1915


• Margaret Teresa Yvonne Reed, aka Martha Raye, film and television comic actress and singer, best known for the size of her mouth, which appeared enormous in proportion to the rest of her face, which relegated her motion picture work to largely supporting comic parts; had her own TV programme, The Martha Raye Show, from 1954 - 1956; because of her work with the USO during World War II and subsequent wars, she was buried with full military honors in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994


• Harry Lee PEANUTS Lowrey, MLB outfielder in a 13-season career, August 27, 1917 - July 2, 1986


• Leo Penn, actor and director, blacklisted after he attended a pro-union meeting in which support for the Hollywood Ten was voiced; returned to Broadway, where Actors' Equity had refused to go along with the ban; won the Theatre World Award in 1954 for his performance in the play The Girl on the Via Flaminia; worked as a television director; won an Emmy Award in 1973 for an episode of Columbo; father of singer Michael Penn, and actors Sean Penn and the late Chris Penn, August 27, 1921 – September 5, 1998


• Kristen Nygaard, mathematician, computer programming language pioneer, and politician, co-inventor of object-oriented programming and the programming language Simula with Ole-Johan Dahl; together, they developed SIMULA I and SIMULA 67, the first object-oriented programming languages, introducing the concepts upon which all later OOP languages are built, August 27, 1926 - August 10, 2002


• Ira Levin, novelist, playwright, and songwriter, his first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, earned him the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel; his best known novel is Rosemary's Baby, which was made into a film, as were A Kiss Before Dying, The Boys from Brazil, The Stepford Wives, and Sliver, 1929


• Joseph Robert JOE Cunninhgam, former MLB first baseman over a 12-year career, 1931


• Frank Yablans, film producer and screenwriter, executive producer of such films as Congo and Silver Streak, and wrote and produced Mommie Dearest, 1935


• Ernest Gilbert Broglio, former MLB righthanded pitcher from 1959 to 1966, remembered as the other player in the trade that Lou Brock from the Chicago Cubs to the St. Louis Cardinals in June, 1964, 1935


• Thomas Adrian TOMMY Sands, pop music singer, actor, and teen idol, 1937


• Warren Harding SONNY Sharrock, jazz guitarist, August 27, 1940 – May 25, 1994


• Daryl Frank Dragon, keyboardist, known as The Captain of the pop duo The Captain & Tennille, with his wife Toni Tennille; was a keyboard player with The Beach Boys in the early 1970's; son of conductor, composer, and arranger Carmen Dragon, 1942


• Susan Ker TUESDAY Weld, child model and actress, made her feature film debut at age thirteen in a bit role in The Wrong Man; played the lead in the film Rock, Rock, Rock, featuring Alan Freed, Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, and Johnny Burnette; in 1959, given a role in TV's The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, 1943


• Barbara Goldbach, aka Barbara Bach, model and actress, best known as Anya Amasova from the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me, is married to Ringo Starr, whom she met on the set of the film Caveman, 1947


• Herbert Streicher, aka Harry Reems, theater and adult film actor, 1947


• Charles Fleischer, actor, comedian and voice actor, known as the voices of Roger Rabbit and Benny The Cab in Who Framed Roger Rabbit; had a recurring role on Welcome Back, Kotter [Carvelli] and Laverne & Shirley [Chuck], 1947


• David Gus BUDDY Bell, former MLB third baseman and current manager for the Kansas City Royals, won six Gold Gloves, and made five All-Star Game appearances; son of former player Gus Bell and the father of players David and Mike, 1951


• Paul Rubenfeld, aka Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman, actor, writer, and comedian, started a stage show with the Pee-wee character; his big hit was the Pee-wee's Playhouse TV show; appeared in two movies, Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Big Top Pee-wee; continues to appear in film and on television, but not as Pee-wee, 1952


• Alexander Zivojinovich OC, aka Alex Lifeson, musician, the guitarist for Rush, plays guitar and bass pedals and composes; solo album, Victor, was released in 1996; is a gourmet chef and part owner of the Toronto restaurant The Orbit Room; is a licensed pilot, 1953


• Peter Ebdon, professional snooker player, won the 2002 World Championship after an 18-17 victory against Stephen Hendry, 1970


• James Howard JIM Thome, MLB player, currently the DH for the Chicago White Sox, 1970


• José Vidro, MLB switch-hitting second baseman for the Washington Nationals, 2000, 2002, and 2002 All-Star, 1974


• Sarah Cassandra Chalke, television and movie actress, 1976

RIP:

• Josquin Des Prez, Renaissance composer, c. 1450 to 1455 – August 27, 1521


• Tiziano Vecelli, aka Titian, painter, leader of the 16th-century Venetian school of the Italian Renaissance, c. 1488-90 – August 27, 1576


• Emil Christian Hansen, fermentation physiologist, May 8, 1842 - August 27, 1909


• Herman Potočnik, aka Hermann Noordung, rocket engineer and pioneer of cosmonautics [astronautics], chiefly remembered for his work addressing the long-term habitation of space, December 22, 1892 - August 27, 1929


• Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Ph.D., physicist, known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation in the Manhattan Project, awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the cyclotron and its applications; chemical element number 103 is named Lawrencium in his honor, August 8, 1901 – August 27, 1958


• Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie GRACIE Allen, comedian, famous as the zany partner of husband George Burns in a career spanning vaudeville through television; a gifted dancer, she began performing with her three sisters as The Four Colleens; became a vaudeville performer with her sister Bessie in 1909; teamed up with George Burns in 1922, and married him in 1926; Burns always said, "One day, the audience realised I had a terrific talent. They were right. I did have a terrific talent. And I was married to her for 38 years;" when she died, he missed her terribly, and I miss them both, July 26, 1895 1 - August 27, 1964


• Brian Samuel Epstein, businessman, best known as the manager of The Beatles; in a meeting in December, 1961, it was decided that Epstein would manage them; also managed Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, The Fourmost, The Cyrkle, Cilla Black, and many other artists; socialized with producer George Martin and his future wife, and hosted their 1966 bridal dinner, September 19, 1934 – August 27, 1967


• Bennett Alfred Cerf, publisher and co-founder of Random House, also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, and for his television appearances on What's My Line?, May 25, 1898 - August 27, 1971


• Stephen STEVIE Ray Vaughan, blues guitarist, credited with reviving interest in blues in the 1980's, died in a helicopter crash, October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990


• Brandon Tartikoff, TV and film executive, January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997


• Willie Murphy Crawford, MLB outfielder, played from 1964 to 1977, September 7, 1946 – August 27, 2004

Today CXXVIII

Birthdays:

• Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, stated the first version of the Law of conservation of matter; recognized and named oxygen and hydrogen; introduced the Metric system; invented the first periodic table including 33 elements; helped to reform chemical nomenclature; because of his prominence in the pre-revolutionary government in France, he was beheaded at the height of the French Revolution: be proud, France - be very proud, August 26, 1743 – May 8, 1794


• Charles Robert Richet, physiologist, awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on anaphylaxis, whose research helped to elucidate problems of hay fever, asthma, and other allergic reactions to foreign substances, August 26, 1850 – December 4, 1935


• Lee De Forest, inventor with over 300 patents to his credit, invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that amplifies weak electrical signals, August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961


• James Franck, physicist, shared the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Ludwig Hertz, for work which included the Franck-Hertz experiment, an important confirmation of the Bohr model of the atom, August 26, 1882 - May 21, 1964


• Earl John SPARKY Adams, MLB second baseman and third baseman, August 26, 1894 – February 24, 1989


• Albert Bruce Sabin, medical researcher, known for having developed the oral vaccine for polio, August 26, 1906 - March 3, 1993


• Eugene GENE Moore, Jr., MLB right fielder from 1931 to 1945, 1937 NL All-Star, whose father, Gene Sr., was an MLB pitcher from 1910 to 1912, August 26, 1909 - March 12, 1978


• Benjamin Crowninshield Bradlee, vice president of the Washington Post; as executive editor of the Post from 1965 to 1991, he challenged the federal government over the right to publish the Pentagon Papers, and oversaw the publication of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's stories documenting the Watergate Scandal, 1921


• Wolfgang Sawallisch, conductor and pianist, Principal Conductor, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, 1960–1970; General Music Director, Bavarian State Opera, 1971–1992; Principal Conductor, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, 1972–1980; and Music Director, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1993–2003, 1923


• Alexander Raymond ALEX Kellner, MLB starting pitcher over a 12-season career, American League All-Star in 1949, when he had 20 wins, started 37 games, threw 19 complete games over 245 innings, August 26, 1924 - May 3, 1996


• Peter Appleyard OC, jazz vibraphonist, whose first instrument was drums; the leading percussionist with the CBC on both radio and television since 1960; played with the Benny Goodman Sextet for eight years; after the death of Benny Goodman, he formed the Benny Goodman Tribute Band which is compromised of a number of Goodman alumni and some Toronto musicians, 1928


• Geraldine Anne Ferraro, lawyer and politician, served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985; received the Democratic Party nomination to run for U.S. Vice President in 1984, the first and only woman to be so nominated on a major party ticket; she and running mate Walter Mondale were defeated by the re-election of president Ronald Reagan and vice-president George H. W. Bush, 1935


• Don LaFontaine, voice-over actor, who has been n over 4000 movie trailers, television commercials, network promos, and video game trailers, 1940


• Akiko Wakabayashi, actress, known in English-speaking countries for her role as Bond girl Aki in the 1967 James Bond movie You Only Live Twice, 1941


• Christopher Crummey, aka Chris Curtis, musician, drummer and singer for The Searchers, formed the band Roundabout, which became Deep Purple, August 26, 1941 – February 28, 2005


• Maureen Ann "MOE Tucker, was the drummer for The Velvet Underground, 1944


• Valerie Simpson, singer, songwriter, and producer, 1946


• Martin Fulterman, aka Mark Snow, film and television composer, wrote the theme music for The X-Files; composes for TV's Smallville; has won 18 ASCAP awards, 1946


• Will Shortz, puzzle creator and editor, 1952


• Efren Reyes, professional pool player, 1954


• Rick Hansen CC, OBC, athlete, paralyzed at the age of 15; became the first student with a physical disability to graduate in Physical Education from the University of British Columbia; world class champion wheelchair marathoner and 1984 Olympic athlete; in 1983, shared the Canadian Athlete of the Year Award with Wayne Gretzky; started the Man in Motion world tour in March, 1985, in Vancouver, and returned to Vancouver in May 22, 1987, after raising $10 million for spinal cord research, 1957


• Branford Marsalis, jazz saxophonist and bandleader, began his professional career in the early 1980's playing with Art Blakey's Big Band, Clark Terry, and Blakey's Jazz Messengers; from 1982 to 1985, he played with his brother Wynton's group; was musical director of the Tonight Show Band from 1992 to 1995; son of jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis, 1960

RIP:

• Johann Franz Encke, astronomer, September 23, 1791 – August 26, 1865


• John Bunny, the first comic star of the American silent film era, September 21, 1863 - April 26, 1915


• Leonidas Frank Chaney, aka Lon Chaney, Sr., "The Man of a Thousand Faces", actor during the age of silent films, remembered as a pioneer in such [silent] horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930


• Ralph Vaughan Williams, OM, composer, whose mother, Margaret Susan Wedgwood, was the great-granddaughter of the potter Josiah Wedgwood; wrote nine symphonies, as well as numerous other works including chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores; a collector of British folk music; listen to his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis!, October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958


• Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., known as "Lucky Lindy," a pioneering aviator famous for piloting the first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974


• Lotte Lehmann, soprano opera singer, associated with German repertory, February 27, 1888 – August 26, 1976


• Charles Boyer, actor, starred in Gaslight, Algiers, in which he did NOT say "Come with me to the casbah," and in a musical version of Lost Horizon, August 28, 1899 – August 26, 1978


• Frederick Bean TEX Avery, animator, cartoonist, and director, began his animation career at the Walter Lantz studios in the early 1930's, working on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons; did his most significant work for the Warner Bros. and MGM studios, creating the characters of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Droopy, February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980


• Roger Nash Baldwin, civil libertarian, pacifist, and social activist, one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and its executive director until 1950, January 21, 1884 – August 26, 1981


• Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konopka, aka Ted Knight, actor, famous as Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore, for which he won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Comedy in 1973 and 1976; played the lead role in Too Close For Comfort from 1980 to 1986, December 7, 1923–August 26, 1986


• Georg Wittig, chemist, shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Herbert Charles Brown, June 16, 1897 - August 26, 1987


• Irving Stone, writer, known for his biographical novels of famous historical personalities, July 14, 1903 – August 26, 1989


• Minoru Honda, astronomer, discovered twelve comets between 1940 and 1968, February 26, 1913 – August 26, 1990


• Frederick Reines, physicist, awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-detection of the neutrino with Clyde Cowan, March 16, 1918 – August 26, 1998


• Laura Branigan, singer/actress, known for the song Gloria, July 3, 1957 – August 26, 2004

Today CXXVII

Birthdays:

• Allan Pinkerton, detective and spy, founder of the Pinkerton Agency, August 25, 1819 – July 1, 1884


• Emil Theodor Kocher, awarded the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiology, pathology and surgery of the thyroid gland, August 25, 1841 – July 27, 1917


• Joshua Lionel Cohen, aka Joshua Lionel Cowen, inventor, the cofounder of Lionel Corporation, a manufacturer of model railroads and toy trains, August 25, 1877 - September 8, 1965


• Henry Trendley Dean, first director of the U.S. National Institute of Dental Research and a pioneer investigator of fluorine in the prevention of tooth decay, August 25, 1893 – May 13, 1962


• Helmut Hasse, mathematician, worked in algebraic number theory, August 25, 1898 – December 26, 1979


• Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, medical doctor and biochemist, best known for his development of the citric acid cycle; awarded the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for its discovery, August 25, 1900 – November 22, 1981


• Stefan Wolpe, composer, wrote atonal music between 1929 and 1933, using Arnold Schoenberg's twelve tone technique, after which he wrote a number of pieces for worker's unions and communist theatre groups, in a more accessible style, incorporating elements of jazz and popular music, August 25, 1902 – April 4, 1972


• Árpád Emrick Élő, professor of physics and chess player, creator of the Elo rating system for rating chess players, August 25, 1903 – November 5, 1992


• Ethel Hilda RUBY Keeler, actress, singer, and dancer, the first tap dancing star of motion pictures, August 25, 1909 – February 28, 1993


• Eric Alexander MICHAEL Rennie, actor, well known for his role as Harry Lime in The Third Man TV series, and as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still, August 25, 1909 – June 10, 1971


• Walter Crawford WALT Kelly, Jr, cartoonist, known for his comic strip Pogo, August 25, 1913 - October 18, 1973


• Bob Crosby, bandleader and singer, started singing with Anson Weeks, 1931 to 1934, and the Dorsey Brothers, 1934 to 1935; led his first band in 1935; his most famous band was the Bobcats, who were a Dixieland jazz group from within the Bob Crosby Orchestra; had his own radio show, Club 15, from 1946 through 1952, and a half-hour daytime show, The Bob Crosby Show from 1953 through 1957; was the Jack Benny Show's bandleader from 1952 to 1955; Bing Crosby's brother, August 25, 1913 - March 9, 1993


• Charles VAN Johnson, film and television actor, 1916


• Frederick Chapman Robbins, pediatrician and virologist, shared the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with John Franklin Enders and homas Huckle Weller for breakthrough work in the isolation and growth of the polio virus, paving the way for vaccines developed by Salk, Sabin, and others, August 25, 1916 – August 4, 2003


• Melchior Gaston MEL Ferrer, actor, film director, and film producer, 1917


• Leonard Bernstein, composer, pianist, conductor, and educator, known for his conducting of the New York Philharmonic, including the acclaimed Young People's Concerts series, and his multiple compositions, including West Side Story, Candide, and On The Town; wrote three symphonies, two operas, five musicals, and numerous other pieces; on November 13, 1943, having recently been appointed assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, he made his conducting debut when Bruno Walter fell ill; Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1958 until 1969; in the late 1950's, became well-known figure for his series of fifty-three televised Young People's Concerts; in 1970, began conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he recorded many pieces, including sets of the complete symphonies of Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms, and Schumann; on PBS in the 1980's , he was the conductor and commentator for a special series on Beethoven's music, which featured the Vienna Philharmonic playing all nine Beethoven symphonies, several of his overtures, and the Missa Solemni; won multiple Grammy and Tony Awards, August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990


• Richard Greene, movie and television actor, best known for the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, August 25, 1918 - June 1, 1985


• Maurice Halprin, aka Monty Hall, O.C., B.Sc., LL.D, actor, singer, and sportscaster, best known as the host of TV game shows, 1925


• Althea Gibson, professional tennis player, the first black woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour, won five Singles, five Doubles, and one Mixed Doubles Grand Slam Titles, August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003


• Herbert Kroemer, Ph.D., theoretical physicist, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of California, Santa Barbara; he and Zhores I. Alferov were each awarded a quarter of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work, 1928


• Darrell Dean Johnson, MLB catcher and manager, played in six major league seasons; managed the Boston Red Sox, the Seattle Mariners, and the Texas Rangers, August 25, 1928 - May 3, 2004


• Sir Thomas SEAN Connery, film and stage actor, best known as the original cinematic James Bond, won the
  Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1987 for his performance in The Untouchables; received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award on June 8, 2006; has long supported the Scottish National Party, a political party campaigning for Scottish independence, 1930


• Regis Francis Xavier Philbin, television personality, comedian, talk show host, game show host, and presenter, 1931


• Hal Fishman, news anchor, currently the longest-running news anchor in the history of television, 1931


• Wayne Shorter, jazz composer and saxophonist, has recorded dozens of albums as a leader, and appeared on dozens more with others; many of his compositions have become standards; early in his career, played briefly with Horace Silver, and with Maynard Ferguson; in 1959, joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, eventually becoming musical director for the group; in 1964, joined the Miles Davis Quintet; in 1970, formed Weather Report with Joe Zawinul; formed his current band in 2000, 1933


• Thomas Alderton TOM Skerritt, actor, made his film debut in War Hunt in 1962; was in M*A*S*H, Harold and Maude, Alien, Contact, Poison Ivy, and The Dead Zone; appeared as Evan Drake in Cheers and starred in Picket Fences as Sheriff Jimmy Brock, 1933


• Frederick Forsyth, author, known for thrillers, such as The Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War, The Odessa File, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, and The Afghan, 1938


• Baron José van Dam, bass-baritone opera, concert, oratorio, and Lieder singer, 1940


• Roland Glen ROLLIE Fingers, former MLB relief pitcher from 1968 to 1985, won the 1974 World Series MVP Award; in 1981, won both the American League MVP and Cy Young Award; won the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award in 1977, 1978, 1980, and 1981; in 1992, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 1946
.

• Martin Amis, novelist, whose best known novels include Money, London Fields, and Time's Arrow; son of Kingsley Amis, 1949


• John Youngs, aka John Savage, film actor, producer, production manager, and composer, played Steven in The Deer Hunter and Claude Bukowski in the movie Hair, 1949


• Chaim Witz, aka Gene Simmons, performer and entertainment mogul, plays bass guitar and sings for KISS, 1949


• Geoffrey Downes, keyboard player, known as the keyboardist for Asia, and for his time with Yes, 1952


• Billy Ray Cyrus, country singer, 1961


• David Packer, actor, whose first starring role was in the mini-series V as Daniel Bernstein, a role he reprised in V: The Final Battle, 1962


• Maxim Kontsevich, Ph.D., mathematician and educator, whose work concentrates on the geometrical aspects of mathematical physics, most notably on knot theory, quantization, and mirror symmetry; in 1998, received a Fields Medal, 1964


• Albert Jojuan Belle, former MLB outfielder, the first player to hit 50 doubles and 50 home runs in a single season; won Silver Slugger Award in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1998; All-Star in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997; ended his career in 2004 at age 34 as a result of degenerative osteoarthritis in his hip, 1966


• Rachel Sarah Bilson, actress, 1981

RIP:

• José António Carlos de Seixas, composer, organist, and teacher, June 11, 1704 - August 25, 1742


• Niccolò Jommelli, composer, wrote cantatas, oratorios, and other sacred works, but the most important part of his output were his operas, particularly his opere serie of which he composed around sixty, September 10, 1714 – August 25, 1774


• David Hume, philosopher, economist, and historian, an important figure of Western philosophy and of the Scottish Enlightenment, heavily influenced by empiricists John Locke and George Berkeley, April 26, 1711 – August 25, 1776


• Michael Faraday, FRS, English chemist and physicist, contributed significantly to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry; established that magnetism could affect rays of light and that there was an underlying relationship between the two phenomena, September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867


• Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, philologist and philosopher, produced critiques of religion, morality, contemporary culture, and philosophy, centered around what he viewed as a fundamental question regarding the life-affirming and life-denying qualities of different attitudes and belief, October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900


• Antoine Henri Becquerel, physicist, one of the discoverers of radioactivity; shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre and Marie Curie "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity;" the SI unit for radioactivity, the becquerel (Bq) is named after him, and also there are Becquerel craters on the Moon and Mars, December 15, 1852 – August 25, 1908


• John Morrison Birch, Military Intelligence Officer and Baptist Missionary in World War II, shot by armed supporters of the Communist Party of China; the John Birch Society is named in his honour, May 8, 1918 – August 25, 1945


• Dr. Alfred Charles Kinsey, biologist and professor of entomology and zoology, who in 1947 founded what would become the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956


• Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund, aka Paul Muni, actor, won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1939 for The Story of Louis Pasteur, his fourth Oscar nomination of five that he received; nominated for a Tony Award in 1955 for the role of Henry Drummond in the play Inherit the Wind, September 22, 1895 – August 25, 1967


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


• Eyvind Johnson, author, shared the 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature with Harry Martinson, July 29, 1900 – August 25, 1976


• Stanley Newcomb STAN Kenton, musician, bandleader, educator, led some very large jazz orchestras, December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979


• Gower Champion, Tony Award-winning theatre director, choreographer, and dancer, June 22, 1919 - August 25, 1980


• Truman García Capote, writer, whose non-fiction, stories, novels, and plays are recognized literary classics; best known for In Cold Blood and the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's; at least 20 films and TV dramas have been produced from his novels, stories, and screenplays, September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984


• Waite Charles Hoyt, MLB right-handed pitcher, finished his career with a win-loss record of 237–182 and an ERA of 3.59 over 21 seasons; went into broadcasting, working as a broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds for 24 years; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969, September 9, 1899 – August 25, 1984


• Edward Morley Callaghan, CC , LL.B , LL.D , FRSC, novelist, short story writer, playwright, and TV and radio personality, September 22, 1903 – August 25, 1990


• Carl Barks, Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck, Gladstone Gander, the Beagle Boys and Gyro Gearloose, won the Shazam Award for Best Writer in 1970, the Academy of Comic Book Arts Hall of Fame Award in 1973, an Inkpot in 1977 from the San Diego Comic Con, and the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Writer in 1996; the Walt Disney Company bestowed a duckster statute in 1971 and their Disney Legends award in 1991, March 27, 1901 – August 25, 2000


• Bernard Alfred (JACK Nitzsche, musician, songwriter, arranger, conductor, and film score composer/orchestrator, April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000


• Aaliyah Dana Haughton, R&B singer, dancer, fashion model, and actress, died in a plane crash, January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001


• Carl Thomas Brewer, former NHL defenseman, October 21, 1938 - August 25, 2001

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Today CXXVI

Birthdays:

• Alessandro Marcello, nobleman and dilettante, dabbled in various areas, including poetry, philosophy, mathematics and, most notably, music; composed and published several sets of concertos, cantatas, arias, canzonets, and violin sonatas, August 24, 1669 – June 19, 1747


• William Wilberforce, parliamentarian and leader of the campaign against the slave trade in the British Empire, August 24, 1759 - July 29, 1833


• François Clément Théodore Dubois, composer, organist, and music teacher, August 24, 1837 – June 11, 1924


• Sir Henry Maximilian MAX Beerbohm, parodist and caricaturist, August 24, 1872 – May 20, 1956


• Harry Bartholomew Hooper, MLB right fielder, played from 1909 to 1925; a career .281 hitter with 75 home runs, 817 RBI, 1429 runs, 2466 hits, 389 doubles, 160 triples, and 375 stolen bases in 2309 games; on May 30, 1913, became the first player to hit a home run to leadoff both games of a doubleheader, a mark only matched by Rickey Henderson 80 years later; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, August 24, 1887 – December 18, 1974


• Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku, aka "The Big Kahuna", considered the inventor of the sport of surfing; won three gold and two silver medals in Olympics swimming, August 24, 1890 – January 22, 1968


• Gaylord McIlvaine DuBois, comic book writer, wrote well over 3000 comic book stories, comic strips, Big Little Books, and adventure novels; wrote Tarzan, Westerns including Roy Rogers, Red Ryder, Gene Autry, Bonanza, and others, cartoons including Raggedy Ann, Our Gang, Tom and Jerry, and Uncle Wiggily, and Turok, Lassie, Space Family Robinson, King of the Royal Mounted, and Brothers of the Spear, August 24, 1899 - October 20, 1993


• JORGE Francisco Isidoro LUIS BORGES Acevedo, writer, poet, and critic, known for his short stories and fictive essays, August 24, 1899 - June 14, 1986


• Preston Foster, stage and film actor, August 24, 1901 - July 14, 1970


• Alice Sheldon, [pen name: James Tiptree, Jr.], science fiction author, won two Hugo Awards: in 1974, for Best Novella, The Girl Who Was Plugged In and 1977, for Best Novella, Houston, Houston, Do You Read?; won three Nebula Awards: in 1973, for Short Story, Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death, in 1976 for Novella, Houston, Houston, Do You Read?", and in 1977, for Novelette, The Screwfly Solution, August 24, 1915 – May 19, 1987


• Harold John HAL Smith, character actor and voice actor, played Otis Campbell on The Andy Griffith Show; was the voice of Goofy after the original actor died; was the voice of Owl in many of the Winnie the Pooh shorts and features; in 1983, was Owl and Winnie The Pooh in Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore; worked in Hanna-Barbera cartoons in the 1970's; in DuckTales, was the voice of Flintheart Glomgold and Gyro Gearloose, August 24, 1916 - January 28, 1994


• Léo Ferré, poet, composer, and musician, August 24, 1916 - July 14, 1993


• René Lévesque, reporter, founder of the Parti Québécois, and 23rd Premier of Quebec, August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987


• Harry Max Markowitz, economist, known for his pioneering work in modern portfolio theory; awarded the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economics, 1927


• Kenny Baker, actor and former circus and cabaret performer, known as the man inside R2-D2 in the Star Wars films, 1934


• David Freiberg, musician, bass guitar player with Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship, 1938


• Mason Williams, guitarist, composer, comedy writer, poet, and lyricist, known for his Grammy Award(s)-winning instrumental hit Classical Gas; won an Emmy Award for his work as a comedy writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, 1938


• John Cipollina, musician, lead guitarist for Quicksilver Messenger Service, August 24, 1943 – May 29, 1989


• Kenneth KEN Hensley, keyboard player, organist, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and producer, known for his work with Uriah Heep, 1945


• Jean Michel Jarre, composer and music producer, one of the pioneers in new age and electronic music, an innovator who stages spectacular outdoor concerts, which feature laser displays and fireworks, linking music with architecture and environment, the son of film music composer Maurice Jarre, 1948


• Orson Scott Card, author, working in science fiction and other genres, 1951


• Oscar Hijuelos, novelist, won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1990 for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, the basis for the 1992 film The Mambo Kings, 1951


• Stephen John Fry, comedian, author, actor, and filmmaker, 1957


• Steve Guttenberg, movie and stage actor, 1958


• Calvin CAL Edwin Ripken, Jr., former MLB player, played his entire career for the Baltimore Orioles from 1981 to 2001 at shortstop and third base, baseball's Iron Man, playing in 2,632 straight games, breaking Lou Gehrig's 56-year-old record of 2130 consecutive games on September 6, 1995; 19-time All-Star; 1982 AL Rookie of the Year; 1983 and 1991 AL MVP; 1991 and 1992 AL Gold Glove winner; 1991 and 2001 All-Star MVP; eight-time AL Silver Slugger; his first appearance on the ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame will be in January, 2007, and I presume he will be elected on the first ballot, 1960


• Craig Kilborn, comedian, former talk show host, and actor, 1962


• Marlee Beth Matlin, actress and author, won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1986 film debut, Children of a Lesser God; played the lead female role in TV's Reasonable Doubts; won an Emmy Award for an appearance in Picket Fences; is almost completely deaf, 1965


• David DAVE Chappelle, comedian, satirist, writer, and actor, 1973


• Jennifer Ann Lien, actress and voice actor, known for her role as Kes on Star Trek: Voyager, 1974


• Rafael Antoni Furcal, MLB shortstop with the Los Angeles Dodgers; the 2000 National League Rookie of the Year, 1977


• Rupert Alexander Grint, actor, known for his role as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, 1988

RIP:

• Eustace the Monk, mercenary and pirate, c. 1170 – August 24, 1217


• Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, physicist, mathematician and engineer, gave the first successful theoretical account of heat engines, and laid the foundations of the second law of thermodynamics, June 1, 1796 - August 24, 1832


• Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius, physicist and mathematician, one of the founders of thermodynamics, restated Carnot's principle; his paper on the mechanical theory of heat first stated the basic ideas of the second law of thermodynamics; in 1865, he introduced the concept of entropy, January 2, 1822 – August 24, 1888


• Louis Prima, entertainer, singer, actor, trumpeter, and voice actor, started with a seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then led a Swing combo in the 1930s, a Big Band in the 1940s, a hot Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-Rock go-go band in the 1960s; his hoarse voice and scat singing showed many of the same influences as his fellow New Orleans musician, Louis Armstrong; appeared in several Hollywood movies; his act with his fourth wife, Keely Smith, was possibly the model for Sonny and Cher; in 1967, was the voice of the orangutan King Louie in the Disney film The Jungle Book, and made two albums with Phil Harris: The Jungle Book and More Jungle Book, December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978


• Giuseppe Guttoveggio, aka Paul Creston, self-taught composer of classical music, author, October 10, 1906 – August 24, 1985


• Bernard Castro, inventor of the convertible couch, 1904 - August 24, 1991


• Alfred Eisenstaedt, photographer and photojournalist, remembered for his photograph of a sailor and a woman kissing, capturing the celebration of V-J Day, December 6, 1898 - August 24, 1995


• E. G. Marshall, film and television actor, starred in the movie 12 Angry Men; starred as Lawrence Preston in TV's The Defenders, from 1961 to 1965, for which won Emmy Awards in 1962 and 1963, June 18, 1914 - August 24, 1998

Today CXXV - RIP Maynard Ferguson

Birthdays:

• Charles Martel [Charles the Hammer], duke of the Franks. grandfather of Charlemagne, August 23, 686 – October 22, 741


• Moritz Benedikt Cantor, Ph.D., historian of mathematics, August 23, 1829 – April 10, 1920


• Arnold Toynbee, economic historian, August 23, 1852 – March 9, 1883


• Moritz Moszkowski, composer and pianist, August 23, 1854 - March 4, 1925


• William Henry Eccles, physicist and a pioneer in the development of radio communication, August 23, 1875 - April 29, 1966


• William Jacob WILL Cuppy, humorist and journalist known for his satirical books about nature and historical figures, August 23, 1884 – September 19, 1949


• Ernst Krenek, composer and author, explored atonality and other modern styles, and wrote a number of books on music, August 23, 1900 – December 22, 1991


• William Primrose, violist and teacher, August 23, 1904 - May 1, 1982


• Leonard Constant Lambert, composer and conductor, August 23, 1905 – August 21, 1951


• Eugene Curran GENE Kelly, dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer, starred in many motion pictures, including An American in Paris and Singin' in the Rain; first American to choreograph and stage a ballet in the Paris Opera; awarded a special Academy Award in 1951, the Légion d'honneur by the French government in 1960, the Life Achievement Award from American Film Institute in 1985, and the National Medal of Arts in 1994, August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996


• Tex Williams, country musician, helped move rural and acoustic country music to dance-oriented Western swing, August 23, 1917 - October 11, 1985


• Kenneth Joseph Arrow, economist, winner of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Economics; one of the founders of post World War II neo-classical economics, whose most significant works are his contributions to social choice theory, and his work on general equilibrium analysis, 1921


• George Clyde Kell, former MLB third baseman, who played from 1943 to 1957; batted over .300 nine times and topped the league's third basemen in assists and total chances four times and in fielding percentage seven times; AL Batting Champion 1949, hitting .343, with the fewest strikeouts for a batting champion [13]; 10-time All-Star, from 1947 to 1954, and 1956 to 1957; hit for the cycle on June 2, 1950; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983, 1922


• Edgar Frank TED Codd, computer scientist who made seminal contributions to the theory of relational databases, creating the relational model for database management while working for IBM; coined the term OLAP, and wrote the twelve laws of online analytical processing; contributed to the area of cellular automata; received a Turing Award in 1981, August 23, 1923 – April 18, 2003


• Ferenc Hoffmann, aka Ephraim Kishon, satirist, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director; studied sculpture and painting, and published humorous essays and wrote for the stage, August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005


• Robert Merton Solow, economist and educator, known for his work on the theory of economic growth; awarded the American Economic Association's John Bates Clark Medal in 1961, the 1987 Nobel Prize in Economics, and, in 1999, the National Medal of Science, 1924


• Dick Bruna, writer, artist, and graphic designer, whose best known creation is Miffy; wrote and drew other series of children's books; illustrated and designed the covers of the books of many well-known authors, such as Simenon's Maigret, 1927


• Vera Ralston, aka Vera Miles, actress, 1929


• Dr. Hamilton Othanel Smith, M.D., microbiologist, awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1978 for discovering type II restriction enzymes with Werner Arber and Daniel Nathans as co-recipients, 1931


• Mark Russell, comedian, pianist, singer, and political commentator, 1932


• Robert Floyd Curl, Jr., Ph.D., chemist and educator, awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of fullerene, with the late Richard Smalley and Harold Kroto, 1933


• Barbara Jean Moorhead, aka Barbara Eden, film and television actress and singer, best known for her starring role in I Dream of Jeannie, 1934


• Keith John Moon, drummer for The Who, August 23, 1946 – September 7, 1978


• Shelley Lee Long, actress, known for her role as Diane Chambers on Cheers, for which she won an Emmy Award; in my opinion, the show became boring after she left, and I stopped watching it, 1949


• Julio César Robles Franco, MLB player, currently with the New York Mets, made his debut on April 23, 1982 as a shortstop; three-time All-Star from 1989 to 1991; 1990 All-Star Game MVP; 1991 AL Batting Champion; all-time hits leader among Dominican-born players; has a career batting average of .300; the oldest regular position player in Major League history, 1958


• River Jude Phoenix, film actor, died of a drug overdose at age 23, August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993

RIP:

• Charles Augustin Coulomb, physicist, discovered an inverse relationship of the force between charges and the square of its distance, later named Coulomb's Law; the unit of charge, the coulomb, is named after him, June 14, 1736 – August 23, 1806


• Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Piero Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antoguolla, aka Rudolph Valentino, actor, May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926


• Albert Roussel, composer, whose interest in music was secondary to his interest in mathematics, early in life, and in addition he prepared for a career in the navy; in 1894, he began to study music seriously, continuing his studies until 1907 - one of his teachers was Vincent D'Indy; while studying, he taught - his students included Erik Satie and Edgard Varèse; after World War I, he devoted most of his time to composition; he was also interested in jazz, and wrote a piano-vocal composition entitled Jazz dans la nuit; his works include numerous ballets, four symphonies, orchestral suites, a piano concerto, a concertino for cello and orchestra, incidental music for the theatre, and much chamber music, solo piano music, and songs, April 5, 1869 - August 23, 1937


• Reginald Tate, film and television actor, the original Professor Bernard Quatermass in 1953's The Quatermass Experiment, December 13, 1896 – August 23, 1955


• Oscar Hammerstein II, writer/lyricist, producer, and director of musicals, teamed with Richard Rodgers in 1943, a partnership which produced Broadway musicals such as Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, Me & Juliet, Pipe Dream, Flower Drum Song, and The Sound of Music; he also produced the book and lyrics for Carmen Jones, an adaptation of the opera Carmen with an all-black cast, July 12, 1895 – August 23, 1960


• Edmund Richard HOOT Gibson, rodeo champion, and a pioneer cowboy film actor, film director, and producer, August 6, 1892 – August 23, 1962


• Glen Gray Knoblaugh, aka Glen Gray, jazz saxophonist and band leader, June 7, 1906 - August 23, 1963


• Francis Xavier Bushman, actor, the first major male movie star, debbuting in 1911 in the silent film His Friend's Wife; played Messala in the 1925 film Ben-Hur, January 10, 1883 – August 23, 1966


• Stanford Moore, biochemist, shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Christian Boehmer Anfinsen, Jr. and William Howard Stein, for their work on ribonuclease, September 4, 1913 – August 23, 1982


• David Rose, songwriter, composer, arranger, and orchestra leader, whose most famous compositions were The Stripper, Holiday for Strings, and Calypso Melody; wrote music for Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie; was musical director for the Red Skelton Show during its 21-year-run [Red Skelton once recited the poem "David Rose sat on a tack; David Rose"]; won four Emmy Awards, June 15, 1910 – August 23, 1990


• John Cowdery Kendrew, biochemist and crystallographer, shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz for determining the first atomic structures of proteins using X-ray crystallography, March 24, 1917 – August 23, 1997


• James White, author of science fiction novellas, short stories. and novels, April 7, 1928 - August 23, 1999


• Peter Maas, journalist and author, the biographer of Frank Serpico, and author of Underboss, The Valachi Papers, Manhunt, and In a Child's Name, June 27, 1929 – August 23, 2001


• 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


• Bobby Lee Bonds, MLB right fielder from 1968 to 1981; the first player to have more than two seasons [he had five] of 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases, and the first to accomplish the feat in both leagues; the second player to hit 300 career home runs and steal 300 bases, after Willie Mays; three-time Gold Glove Award winner in 1971, 1973, and 1974; three-time All-Star in 1971, 1973 [MVP], and 1975; named the 1973 NL Player of the Year by The Sporting News; hitting instructor for the Cleveland Indians from 1984 to 1987; Giants' coach in 1993; as a player, coach, scout, and front-office employee, he was with the Giants franchise for 23 seasons, father of Barry Bonds, March 15, 1946 – August 23, 2003


• George Fisher, aka Brock Peters, actor, best known for the role in To Kill a Mockingbird of Tom Robinson, the black man unjustly convicted of raping a white girl; other roles include Sergeant Brown in the film Carmen Jones, Crown in the film Porgy and Bess, Stephen Kumalo in the stage and film versions of Lost in the Stars, Fleet Admiral Cartwright in Star Trek IV and Star Trek VI, and Joseph Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, July 2, 1927 – August 23, 2005


• Maynard Ferguson, trumpet player and bandleader, came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957; known for being able to play accurately in a remarkably high register, and for his bands, which act as stepping stones for up-and-coming talent, May 4, 1928 - August 23, 2006

Today CXXIV

Birthdays:

• Denis Papin, physicist, mathematician and inventor, best known for his pioneering work with steam power, August 22, 1647 - c. 1712


• Achille-Claude Debussy, composer, worked within the style now known as Impressionist music, whose music represents the transition from late-romantic music to 20th century modernist music, August 22, 1862 – March 25, 1918


• George Joseph Herriman, cartoonist, best known for his comic strip Krazy Kat, August 22, 1880 – April 25, 1944


• Dorothy Rothschild, aka Dorothy Parker, writer and poet, best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for 20th century Urban foibles, August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967


• Helene Bertha Amalie LENI Riefenstahl, dancer, actor, and film director widely noted for her aesthetics and advances in film technique, whose most famous works are documentary propaganda films for the Nazi Party, August 22, 1902 – September 8, 2003


• Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer, considered to be the father of modern photojournalism, one of the first serious photographers to shoot in the 35mm format, August 22, 1908 – August 3, 2004


• Julius J. Epstein, screenwriter, best known for the adaptation - in partnership with his twin brother, Philip, and others —- of the unproduced play Everybody Comes to Rick's that became the screenplay for the Casablanca, for which its team of writers won an Academy Award; great-uncle of Boston Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein, August 22, 1909 - December 30, 2000


• Bruno Pontecorvo, atomic physicist, an early assistant of Enrico Fermi, and the author of numerous studies in high energy physics, especially on neutrinos, August 22, 1913 - September 24, 1993


• John Lee Hooker, blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001


• Ray Douglas Bradbury, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer, author of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, among many others; awarded the National Medal of Arts, the World Fantasy Award life achievement, Stoker Award life achievement, SFWA Grand Master, SF Hall of Fame Living Inductee, and First Fandom Award, 1920


• Karlheinz Stockhausen, composer, 1928


• Edna Annie Proulx, journalist and author, won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her first novel, Postcards; her second novel, The Shipping News, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for fiction in 1994; her short story Brokeback Mountain was adapted as a BAFTA and Academy Award-winning motion picture, 1935


• Carl Michael Yastrzemski, former MLB left fielder, first baseman and DH played for 23 years with the Boston Red Sox, and is currently a roving instructor with the Red Sox; won the American League Batting Championship in 1963, 1967 [as part of the AL Triple Crown], and 1968; was the AL MVP in 1967 and the All-Star Game MVP in 1970; 18-time All-Star; won seven Gold Glove Awards; inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989; 1939


• Valerie Harper, actress, best known as Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and on Rhoda, 1940


• Cindy Williams, actress, played Shirley Feeney on Laverne & Shirley; starred in American Graffiti, 1947


• Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux Mackay, singer, former vocalist for The Grateful Dead, 1947


• Charles Douglas DOUG Bair, former MLB pitcher, currently the pitching coach of the Billings Mustangs, theCincinnati Reds' rookie-level minor league team , 1949


• Bertram RAY Burris, former MLB pitcher from 1973 to 1987, 1950


• Paul Leo Molitor, former MLB infielder and DH, played for 21 seasons, with the Milwaukee Brewers, Toronto Blue Jays, and Minnesota Twins; the first only player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame [in 2004] as a designated hitter; 1993 World Series MVP Award, batting 12-24 (.500) in the series; seven-time All-Star; one of only four players in MLB history with at least 3,000 hits, a .300 lifetime batting average, and 500 stolen bases, 1956


• Steve Davis OBE, professional snooker and nine-ball player, has won more professional snooker titles than any other player, a record 73 professional titles, 28 of them in ranking events, including six World Championships and six UK championships, 1957


• Colm Feore, actor, spent 14 seasons at the Stratford Festival of Canada, won a Gemini Award for his portrayal of Pierre Trudeau in the mini-series mini-series Trudeau, 1958


• Vernon Reid, musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter of Living Colour, 1958


• Myra Ellen TORI Amos, pianist, singer-songwriter, and producer, in June 1994, co-founded RAINN, The Rape Abuse and Incest National Network, 1963


• Giada De Laurentiis, chef and host of the Food Network program Everyday Italian; studied at Le Cordon Bleu; the granddaughter of Dino De Laurentiis and Silvana Mangano, 1970


• Steve Kline, MLB relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, 1972

RIP:

• Luca Marenzio [or Marentio], composer of the late Renaissance, one of the most famous composers of madrigals, October 18, 1553 – August 22, 1599


• Franz Joseph Gall, neuroanatomist and physiologist, a pioneer in the study of the localization of mental functions in the brain, March 9, 1758 - August 22, 1828


• Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, physicist and writer, involved in the development of the wireless telegraph, June 12, 1851 - August 22, 1940


• Mikhail Mikhailovich Fokin, aka Michel Fokine, choreographer and dancer, April 23, 1880 – August 22, 1942


• James Reubin JIM Tabor, MLB third baseman from 1938 to 1944 and 1946 to 1947, November 5, 1916 - August 22, 1953


• Roger Martin du Gard, author, trained as a paleographer and archivist, awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize for Literature, March 23, 1881 – August 22, 1958


• Gregory Goodwin Pincus, physician, biologist, and researcher, studied hormonal biology and steroidal hormones early in his career; co-inventor of the contraceptive pill, April 9, 1903 - August 22, 1967


• Jacob Bronowski, Ph.D., mathematician [wrote his doctoral dissertation in algebraic geometry], poet, and host of the documentary series The Ascent of Man, January 18, 1908 - August 22, 1974


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


• James Smith McDonnell, aviation pioneer, founder of McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, April 9, 1899 - August 22, 1980


• Huey Percy Newton, activist, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989


• Colleen Dewhurst, actress whose career lasted 45 years, won the 1974 Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre, two Tony Awards, two Obies and two Gemini Awards; nominated for twelve Emmy Awards, winning four, two for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for Murphy Brown [1989 and 1991], and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for Between Two Women in 1986 and Those She Left Behind in 1989, June 3, 1924 - August 22, 1991


• Konstantin Aseev, chess Grandmaster and trainer, October 20, 1960 – August 22, 2004


• Luc Ferrari, composer and filmmamker, particularly noted for his tape music; studied piano under Alfred Cortot, musical analysis under Olivier Messiaen, and composition under Arthur Honegger; first works were freely atonal; made a number of documentary films on contemporary composers in rehearsal, February 5, 1929 – August 22, 2005

Today CXXIII

Birthdays:

• Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, illustrator, author, caricaturist, and political cartoonist, the most controversial artist of the Art Nouveau era, renowned for his dark and perverse images and the grotesque erotica, which themes he explored in his later work; his most famous erotic illustrations were on themes of history and mythology, including his illustrations for Lysistrata and Salomé, August 21, 1872 – March 16, 1898


• William COUNT Basie, piano player and bandleader, August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984


• Isadore FRIZ Freleng, animator, cartoonist, director, and producer, best known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons from Warner Bros., introducing and/or developing several of the studio's biggest stars, including Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the cat, Yosemite Sam, and Speedy Gonzales; won four Academy Awards, August 21, 1906 – May 26, 1995


• Mary Margaret [M. M.] Kaye, writer and illustrator, whose most famous book was The Far Pavilions, August 21, 1908 - January 29, 2004


• Hector TOE Blake, OC, NHL hockey player and coach, August 21, 1912 - May 17, 1995


• John Francis JACK Buck, sportscaster, best known for his work announcing the St. Louis Cardinals' games, August 21, 1924 – June 18, 2002


• Jack Weinstein, aka Jack Weinstein, movie and television actor, usually played comic roles; appeared in Wait Until Dark and The Cincinnati Kid, August 21, 1924 – May 3, 1996


• Arthur Stewart ART Farmer, jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player, and bandleader, August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999


• Margaret Rose Windsor Armstrong-Jones, The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, CI, GCVO, younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and sister of Queen Elizabeth II, August 21, 1930 – 9 February 9, 2002


• Melvin Van Peebles, actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, and composer, the father of actor and director Mario Van Peebles, 1932


• Dame Janet Baker CH DBE, mezzo-soprano opera, concert, and lieder singer, 1933


• Wilton Norman WILT Chamberlain, NBA basketball player, August 21, 1936 – October 12, 1999


• Kenneth Donald KENNY Rogers, country music singer, photographer, producer, songwriter, actor, and businessman; I remember him in The First Edition, singing Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), 1938


• James Burton, guitarist, played on Dale Hawkins 1957 hit Suzie Q; played lead guitar for most of Rick Nelson's major hits between 1958 and 1965; played on TV's Shindig; guitarist and the band leader of Elvis Presley's band from 1969 until Presley's death in 1977; in 2001, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1939


• Clarence Williams III, actor, grandson of jazz pianist and composer, Clarence Williams, 1939


• Sharon Lee Myers, aka Jackie DeShannon, singer/songwriter; in February, 1964, was a supporting act for The Beatles on their first US tour, and formed a touring band with guitarist Ry Cooder; two of her songs were covered by The Searchers, 1944


• Peter Lindsay Weir, film director, 1944


• Frank Gerald JERRY DaVanon, MLB infielder, from 1969 to 1977, father of MLB outfielder Jeff DaVanon, 1945


• Eric Antonio Goles Chacc, mathematician, computer scientist, and educator, known for his work on cellular automata, 1951


• John Graham Mellor, aka Joe Strummer, co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist, and lead singer of The Clash, August 21, 1952 – December 22, 2002


• August 21, 1952, Glenn Hughes, bassist and vocalist, fronted Finders Keepers and Trapeze before joining Deep Purple; also has a successful solo career, 1952


• Kim Victoria Cattrall, actress, 1956


• Joyce Evelyn McPherson, aka Trinity Loren, actress, model, and stripper, August 21, 1964 - October 24, 1998


• John Karl Wetteland, former MLB closing pitcher, 1996, 1998, and 1999 AL All-Star; 1996 World Series MVP and AL Rolaids Relief Man Award, 1966


• Carrie-Anne Moss, actress, known for The Matrix trilogy, 1967


• Jason Scott Marquis, MLB pitcher, currently with the St. Louis Cardinals; his career record is 42-36 with a 4.15 ERA; in 2005, he had 27 hits, posting a .310 batting average, 1978

RIP:

• Jacques Mauduit, composer of the late Renaissance, September 16, 1557 – August 21, 1627


• Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, physicist and inventor whose work was part of the 19th century revolution in thermodynamics, March 26, 1753 - August 21, 1814


• Lev Davidovich Bronstein, aka Leon Davidovich Trotsky, Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist, assassinated with an ice axe to the skull by a Stalinist agent, November 7, 1879 – August 21, 1940


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


• Leonard Constant Lambert, composer and conductor, August 23, 1905 – August 21, 1951


• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, aka Chandra, physicist, astrophysicist and mathematician, shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics with William Alfred Fowler for his studies on the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars, October 19, 1910 – August 21, 1995


• Marcus Schmuck, mountaineer, April 18, 1925 - August 21, 2005


• Robert Arthur Moog, Ph.D., pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005


• Martin Dillon, musician, operatic tenor, and professor of music, June 17, 1957 - August 21, 2005