Today CVII

Birthdays:

• Guillaume Du Fay, composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance, August 5, 1397 – November 27, 1474


• Antonio Cesti, composer, tenor, and organist, baptised August 5, 1623 – October 14, 1669


• Lionardo Oronzo Salvatore de Leo, aka Leonardo Leo, composer, August 5, 1694 – October 31, 1744


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


• Thomas John 'Tom' Thomson, graphic designer and artist, August 5, 1877 – July 8, 1917


• Conrad Potter Aiken, author of poetry, short stories and novels, awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his Selected Poems in 1930, August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973


• Erich Kleiber, conductor, August 5, 1890 – January 27, 1956


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


• Wassily Leontief, Ph.D., economist, awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize in Economics, August 5, 1906 – February 5, 1999


• Joan Hickson OBE, theatre, film, and television actress, achieved fame in her later years playing Miss Marple, August 5, 1906 – October 17, 1998


• Spangler Arlington Brough, aka Robert Taylor, actor, August 5, 1911, Filley, Nebraska - June 8, 1969


• Nancy Elizabeth 'Betty' Oliphant, CC, O,Ont, LL.D, dancer, co-founder of the National Ballet School of Canada, August 5, 1918 – July 12, 2004


• Neil Alden Armstrong, astronaut, test pilot, and Naval Aviator, the first person ever to set foot on the Moon, 1930


• Carmine Orrico, aka John Saxon, actor, studied acting with Stella Adler; received top billing in Enter the Dragon, 1935


• Nelson Kelley 'Nellie' Briles, MLB starting pitcher from 1965 to 1978, August 5, 1943 – February 13, 2005


• Loni Kaye Anderson, actress, known for her role as Jennifer Marlowe on WKRP in Cincinnati, 1945


• Richard Zehringer, aka Rick Derringer, guitarist, vocalist, and entertainer, played and recorded with The McCoys, the Johnny Winter Band, and The Edgar Winter Group, as well as having a successful solo career, 1947


• Bernardo 'Bernie' Carbo, MLB right fielder/DH, played from 1969 to 1980; chosen Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News, 1947


• Richard Keith 'Rick' Mahler, MLB starting pitcher from 1979 to 1991, minor league pitching coach, and roving instructor, August 5, 1953 – March 2, 2005


• Maureen Denise McCormick, actress, Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch, 1956


• Mark O'Connor, fiddler, guitarist, and mandolin player, Grammy winner, named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association from 1991 to 1996; has crossed musical genres, composing, arranging, and recording not only bluegrass music but also classical and jazz; worked and recorded with a wide variety of artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, James Taylor, Stéphane Grappelli, and Wynton Marsalis, 1961


• John Garrett Olerud, former MLB first baseman, played from 1989 to 2005, All-Star in 1993 and 2001; AL Gold Glove Award winner in 2000, 2002, and 2003; hit for the cycle in 1997 and 2001, 1993 American League Batting Champion with a .363 average, 1968


• Eric Scott Hinske, MLB third baseman, first baseman, and right fielder, has played his entire major league career with the Toronto Blue Jays; in 2002, won both the MLB Rookie of the Year and The Sporting News Rookie of the Year, 1977


• Mark Alan Mulder, MLB starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, 1977


• Carl Demonte Crawford, MLB left fielder for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, American League 2003 and 2004 Stolen Base Champion, 1981

RIP:

• Friedrich Engels, political philosopher, developed communist theory alongside Karl Marx, co-authoring The Communist Manifesto and editing several volumes of Das Kapital after Marx's death, November 28, 1820 – August 5, 1895


• Robert Lee Caruthers, MLB right-handed pitcher and right fielder, played for ten years, January 5, 1864 - August 5, 1911


• Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha, aka Carmen Miranda, samba singer and motion picture star, made 14 Hollywood, and she sold more than 10 million records worldwide, February 9, 1909 – August 5, 1955


• Heinrich Otto Wieland, chemist, awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the bile acids, June 4, 1877 – August 5, 1957


• Norma Jeane Baker, aka Marilyn Monroe, actress, singer, and model, June 1, 1926 – August 5, 1962


• Jesse Joseph Haines, MLB right-handed [knuckleball] pitcher, played briefly in 1918 and then from 1920 to 1937; threw a no-hitter on July 17, 1924; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1970, July 22, 1893 - August 5, 1978


• Richard Walter Jenkins, Jr., aka Richard Burton CBE, actor, nominated seven times for an Academy Award, but never won, November 10, 1925 – August 5, 1984


• Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro, musician, session drummer, and a founding member of Toto, April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992


• Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE, actor, spoke the first lines of the first play produced by the Stratford Festival of Canada; won the 1957 Academy Award for Best Actor for The Bridge on the River Kwai; Obi-Wan Kenobi in the first Star Wars trilogy, April 2, 1914 – August 5, 2000