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