Saturday, September 30, 2006

Today CLXIII

Birthdays:

  • Michael Maestlin, astronomer and mathematician, a professor at the University of Tübingen for 47 years; among his students was Johannes Kepler; although he taught the Ptolemaic view of the solar system, he was one of the first to accept and teach the Copernican view; in 1582, he wrote a popular introduction to astronomy, September 30, 1550 - October 20, 1631

  • William Wrigley, Jr., industrialist, founder of the Wm. Wrigley, Jr. [chewing gum] Company; he was the owner of the Chicago Cubs - Wrigley Field, the Cubs' ballpark in Chicago, is named for him, September 30, 1861–January 26, 1932

  • Jean Baptiste Perrin D.Sc., physical chemist, awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the discontinuous structure of matter, September 30, 1870 - April 17, 1942

  • Johannes HANS Wilhelm Geiger, physicist, co-inventor of the Geiger counter, September 30, 1882 – September 24, 1945

  • Lev Milstein, aka Lewis Milestone, motion picture director, known for directing Two Arabian Knights, All Quiet on the Western Front, Of Mice and Men, Ocean's Eleven, and Mutiny on the Bounty; won Academy Awards for Best Director for Two Arabian Knights [1927 - 1928] and All Quiet on the Western Front [1929 - 1930], September 30, 1895 - September 25, 1980

  • Sir Nevill Francis Mott, FRS, CH, physicist, shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physics with Philip W. Anderson and J. H. Van Vleck, September 30, 1905 – August 8, 1996

  • David Fiodorovich Oistrakh, violinist; the violin concerto of Aram Khachaturian and the two violin concerti by Dmitri Shostakovichs are dedicated to him, September 30, 1908 – October 24, 1974

  • Kenneth Laurence KENNY Baker, singer and actor, who first gained notice as the featured singer on Jack Benny's radio shows during the 1930's, after which he appeared in a dozen or so film musicals, September 30, 1912 – August 10, 1985

  • Bill Walsh, movie producer and writer, worked on live-action films for Walt Disney Productions, September 30, 1913 - January 27, 1975

  • Bernard BUDDY Rich, jazz drummer and bandleader, who began playing drums in vaudeville when he was 18 months old, billed as Traps the Drum Wonder; at 11, he was performing as a bandleader; in 1937, he started playing jazz with Joe Marsala's group, then played with Bunny Berigan, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Carter, Harry James, Les Brown, Charlie Ventura, and Jazz at the Philharmonic, as well as leading his own band and performing with all-star groups; for most of the period from 1966 until his death, he led a successful big band, September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987

  • Deborah Jane Kerr-Trimmer, aka Deborah Kerr, CBE, originally trained as a ballet dancer, famous as an actress, 1921

  • 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

  • Robin Evan Roberts, former MLB starting pitcher, who played from 1948 to 1966; between 1950 and 1955, he won 20 games each season, leading the NL in victories from 1952-55; he led the league in games started six times and in complete games and innings pitched five times; he once pitched 28 complete games in a row and never walked more than 77 batters in any regular season; he was a seven-time All-Star from 1950 to 1956; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976, 1926

  • Eliezer ELIE Wiesel, novelist, philosopher, humanitarian, political activist, and Holocaust survivor, the author of over 40 books, the most famous of which, Night, is a memoir that describes his experiences during the Holocaust; he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, 1928

  • Angeline Brown, aka Angie Dickinson, television and film actress, known for her role as Sgt. Leanne "Pepper" Anderson on Police Woman; she co-starred in Rio Bravo with John Wayne, and in Point Blank with Lee Marvin, and she appeared in both the 1960 and 2001 versions of Ocean's Eleven; she won the Saturn Award in 1981 for her role as Kate Miller in Dressed to Kill, 1931

  • John Joseph JOHNNY Podres, former MLB left-handed starting pitcher, who played from 1953 to 1969; in 15-season career, he compiled a 148-116 record with 1435 strikeouts, a 3.68 ERA, and 24 shutouts in 440 games; he won the first ever World Series MVP Award in 1955; he was a three-time All-Star, in 1958, 1960, and 1962, 1932

  • John Royce JOHNNY Mathis, popular music singer; when I was a teenager, some people referred to him as Johnny Makeout because of his slow music, which they played at their parties, 1935

  • Valentin Silvestrov, composer of classical music, 1937

  • Jean-Marie Lehn, chemist, shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Donald Cram and Charles Pedersen, 1939

  • Franklin FRANKIE Lymon, singer, the leader of the early rock and roll group The Teenagers; in 1965, the group released their debut single Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, to great success; a Top 40 success at age 13, he was perhaps the first black teen idol; Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000, September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968

  • Johann Deisenhofer, biochemist, shared the 1988 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Hartmut Michel and Robert Huber, 1943

  • Marilyn McCoo, singer, one of the original members of The Fifth Dimension, part of a successful duo with her husband and ex-Fifth Dimension member Billy Davis, Jr.; she hosted TV's Solid Gold from 1981 to 1984 and from 1986 to 1988, 1943

  • Mark Feld, aka Marc Bolan, singer and songwriter for Tyrannosaurus Rex [T. Rex], from 1967 until his death in a car crash, September 30, 1947 – September 16, 1977

  • Barry James Marshall, FRS FAA, physician and Professor of Clinical Microbiology, well-known for proving that the bacteria Helicobacter pylori is the cause of most stomach ulcers, reversing decades of medical doctrine which held that ulcers were caused by stress, spicy foods, and too much acid; the H. pylori theory was ridiculed by establishment scientists and doctors, who did not believe that any bacteria could live in the acidic stomach - to force people to pay attention to this theory, Marshall drank a petri-dish of the bacteria and soon developed gastritishe; he shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with his long-time collaborator Dr. Robin Warren, 1951

  • Jack Wild, actor, who achieved fame for his roles on both stage and screen productions of the musical Oliver!; for his movie performance as the Artful Dodger, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 16, September 30, 1952 – March 2, 2006

  • Stephen Michael [S.M.] Stirling, science fiction and fantasy author, 1953

  • Barry William Blenkhorn, aka Barry Williams, actor, known for his role as Greg Brady on TV's The Brady Bunch, 1954

  • Francine Joy FRAN Drescher, film and television actress, whose first break was a bit part in the movie Saturday Night Fever; she is best known as Fran Fine on the sitcom The Nanny from 1993 to 1999, 1957

  • Eric Stoltz, actor, 1961

  • Crystal Bernard, actress and singer, 1961

  • Ernesto Giuseppe TREY Anastasio III, guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist for Phish, 1964

  • Monica Bellucci, actress and former model, 1964

  • Martina Hingis, tennis player, 1980

  • Brandon Watson, MLB centre fielder for the Cincinnati Reds, 1981

  • Kieran Kyle Culkin, actor, 1982

  • Michelle Marsh, model, 1982


RIP:

  • Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel, inventor, invented the Diesel engine, March 18, 1858 – September 30, 1913

  • James Byron Dean, actor, February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955

  • Iris Colleen Summers, aka Mary Ford, singer, one-half of the duo Les Paul and Mary Ford; she teamed up with Les Paul in 1946, and they married in 1949; in 1964, they broke up both personally and professionally, and she went into retirement, July 7, 1924 - September 30, 1977
  • .
  • Edgar John Bergen, ventriloquist, father of Candace Bergen, February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978

  • Simone-Henriette-Charlotte Kaminker, aka Simone Signoret, actress, won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1959 for Room at the Top, and BAFTA Awards for Best Foreign Actress for Casque d'or in 1953, Les Sorcières de Salem in 1958, and for Room at the Top in 1959, March 25, 1921 - September 30, 1985

  • Charles Francis Richter, seismologist, amous as the creator of the Richter magnitude scale, which quantifies the size of earthquakes, April 26, 1900 – April 20, 1985

  • Virgil Thomson, composer and music critic for the New York Herald-Tribune from 1940 through 1954, studied with Nadia Boulanger; in the 1930s, he worked as a theatre and film composer; he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1949 with his film score for Louisiana Story, November 25, 1896 - September 30, 1989

  • Patrick White, author, whose writings make great use of the stream of consciousness technique; his first book, The Ploughman and Other Poems, was published in 1935; his mature works include twelve novels, two short story collections, plays, and non-fiction; he was awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature, May 28, 1912 – September 30, 1990

  • Andre Michael Lwoff, microbiologist, shared the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with François Jacob and Jacques Monod, May 8, 1902 – September 30, 1994

  • Daniel Raymond DAN Quisenberry, MLB right-handed relief pitcher, and poet; he played primarily for the Kansas City Royals; he led the American League in saves a record five times, in 1980 and from 1982 to 1985; from 1980 to 1985, he was the AL's dominant closer, winning the Rolaids Relief Man Award in all but the strike-shortened 1981 season; he was the first pitcher to record 40 saves in a season, doing so with 45 in 1983, and following with 44 saves in 1984; he retired in 1990 with 244 saves, February 7, 1953 – September 30, 1998

  • Michael Relph, film director and producer, February 16, 1915 - September 30, 2004

Friday, September 29, 2006

Today CLXII - Happy Birthday, Hersh

Birthdays:

  • Adriaan van Roomen, aka Adrianus Romanus, mathematician, who worked in algebra, trigonometry, and geometry, and on the decimal expansion of π, September 29, 1561 - May 4, 1615

  • Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, KB, naval officer, famous for his participation in the Napoleonic Wars, most notably in the Battle of Trafalgar, September 29, 1758 – 21 October 21, 1805

  • Enrico Fermi, physicist most noted for his work on beta decay, the development of the first nuclear reactor, and for the development of quantum theory; he was awarded the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on induced radioactivity - the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, September 29, 1901–November 28, 1954

  • Eileen Evelyn GREER Garson, actress, September 29, 1904 – April 6, 1996

  • Orvon GENE Autry, performer, famous as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies, and on television, former owner of the Los Angeles Angels, September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998

  • Michelangelo Antonioni, modernist film director, 1912

  • Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith, aka Trevor Howard, CBE, movie and television actor, September 29, 1913 – January 7, 1988

  • Stanley Kramer, film director and producer, September 29, 1913 – February 19, 2001

  • Harry HERSH Fine, breadwinner, soldier, collector, husband, and father, survived by wife Sylvia, children Richard Avram, Mark Stephen, and Joy Josephine, and their children, September 29, 1915 - March 14, 2003

  • Peter Dennis Mitchell, biochemist, awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his discovery of the chemiosmotic mechanism of ATP synthesis, September 29, 1920 – April 10, 1992

  • Norman COLIN Dexter, OBE, author of the Inspector Morse novels, 1930

  • Kerstin ANITA Marianne Ekberg, former model and actress, 1931

  • James Watson Cronin, nuclear physicist; he and Val Logsdon Fitch were awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for an experiment that proved that certain subatomic reactions do not adhere to fundamental symmetry principles, 1931

  • Robert Benton, screenwriter and film director, won Academy Awards for Writing Original Screenplay for Bonnie and Clyde in 1968 and for The Late Show in 1978; won Academy Awards for Best Director for Kramer vs. Kramer in 1979 and Places in the Heart in 1985; in 1995, won an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay for Nobody's Fool, 1932

  • Jerry Lee Lewis, rock and roll and country music singer, songwriter, and pianist, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986; his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, 1935

  • Sidney Thomas TOMMY Boyce, songwriter, famous as part of Boyce and Hart songwriting team, September 29, 1939 - November 23, 1994

  • Larry Linville, actor, best known for his portrayal of Major Frank Burns on the television series M*A*S*H, September 29, 1939 – April 10, 2000

  • Madeline Kahn, movie, television, and theatre actress, her last role was her recurring role on the sitcom Cosby, September 29, 1942 – December 3, 1999

  • Ian McShane, actor, recently played the role of Al Swearengen on the HBO series Deadwood, 1942

  • Jean-Luc Ponty, violinist and jazz composer, who formed the acoustic fusion group TRIO! with bassist Stanley Clarke and banjo stylist Béla Fleck in 2005, 1942

  • Leland Michael Postil, aka Mike Post, Grammy and Emmy award-winning composer of music and theme songs for television, 1944

  • Mark Farner, singer, guitarist, and songwriter, known as the lead singer and guitarist for Grand Funk Railroad, 1948

  • Warren Livingston Cromartie, former MLB player, played for the Montreal Expos; in December, 1983, he signed with the Yomiuri Giants of Tokyo, with whom he spent seven seasons; in 1989, he had a .378 batting average and became MVP of the Central League; in 1991, he returned to Major League Baseball, playing with the Kansas City Royals from April until September, 1953

  • Leslie Edward LES Claypool, bassist and lead singer, known for his work with Primus, 1963

  • Erika Maya Eleniak, modela and actress, 1969

  • Natasha Gregson Wagner, actress, 1970

  • Laura David , aka Ariana Jollee, actess and director, 1982


RIP:

  • Émile Zola, novelist, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, April 2, 1840 – September 29, 1902

  • Léon Victor Auguste Bourgeois, statesman; following World War I, he became President of the Council of the League of Nations and won the 1920 Nobel Peace Prize, May 21, 1851 – September 29, 1925

  • Willem Einthoven, doctor and physiologist; he invented the first practical electrocardiogram in 1903, and received the 1924 Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine for it, May 21, 1860 – September 29, 1927

  • Edward Everett Horton, character actor, whose long career included motion pictures, theatre, radio, television, and voice work for animated cartoons, March 18, 1886 – September 29, 1970

  • Wystan Hugh [W. H.] Auden, poet, February 21, 1907 – September 29, 1973

  • Charles Dillon CASEY Stengel, MLB outfielder and manager, played from 1912 to 1925; the only person to manage a team - the New York Yankees - to five consecutive World Series championships; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966, July 30, 1890 - September 29, 1975

  • Monty Franklin Pierce Stratton, 6'5" MLB pitcher, played five years with the Chicago White Sox, 1934 to 1938,), compiling a career 36-23 record with 196 strikeouts and a 3.71 ERA in 487.1 innings; he worked with the White Sox for the next two years as a coach and batting practice pitcher, May 21, 1912 - September 29, 1982

  • Charles Samuel Addams, cartoonist, known for his particularly black humor and macabre characters, whose cartoons regularly appeared in The New Yorker from 1938 until his death; he created a syndicated comic strip called Out of This World - some of the recurring characters, who became known as The Addams Family, became the basis for two live action television series, two cartoon series, and three motion pictures, January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988

  • Roy Lichtenstein, pop artist, whose work borrowed heavily from popular advertising and comic book styles, October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Today CLXI

Birthdays:

  • Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, artist, September 28, 1571 – July 18, 1610

  • Johann Mattheson, composer, writer, lexicographer, diplomat, and music theorist, September 28, 1681 – April 17, 1764

  • Ferdinand Frederick Henri Moissan, chemist, awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds, September 28, 1852 – February 20, 1907

  • Kate Douglas Wiggin, children's author and educator, who wrote Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm , September 28, 1856 - August 24, 1923

  • John Frank JACK Fournier, MLB first baseman; in 14 seasons, he hit .313 with a .393 on-base percentage, September 28, 1889 – September 5, 1973

  • William S. Paley, radio and TV executive,, who built CBS from a small radio network to the dominant radio and television network operation in America, September 28, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois – October 26, 1990

  • Edward Vincent ED Sullivan, entertainment writer and television host; he was originally a newspaper sportswriter and theatre columnist for the New York Daily News, where his column concentrated on Broadway shows and gossip; he also did show business news broadcasts on radio; in 1948, CBS hired him to do a weekly Sunday night TV variety show, Toast of the Town, which later became The Ed Sullivan Show; he had a knack for identifying and promoting top talent and paid a great deal of money to secure that talent for his show; he paid for the funeral of dancer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson out of his own pocket; he also defied pressure to exclude black musicians from appearing on his show, September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974

  • Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried MAX Schmeling, () was a German boxer, September 28, 1905 – February 2, 2005

  • Alfred Gerald Caplin, aka Al Capp, cartoonist, best known for the comic strip Li'l Abner; he also wrote the comic strips Abbie and Slats and Long Sam, September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979

  • Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg, American citizen and Communist Party member, tried, convicted, and executed for spying for the Soviet Union; she and her husband were charged with conspiracy to commit espionage and of passing nuclear weapons secrets to Russian agents; the accuracy of these charges remains controversial, September 28, 1915 – June 19, 1953

  • Frederick George Peter Ingle-Finch, aka Peter Finch, actor, September 28, 1912 – January 14, 1977

  • Audree Neva Korthof Wilson, the mother of Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, September 28, 1917 - December 1, 1997

  • William Windom, actor, 1923

  • Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, film actor, September 28, 1924 – December 19, 1996

  • Seymour Roger Cray, electrical engineer and supercomputer architect, who founded Cray Research in 1972, September 28, 1925 – October 5, 1996

  • Arnold Stang, comic actor in radio, movies, cartoons [Top Cat], and commercials, 1925

  • Brigitte Bardot, actress, former fashion model, singer, and activist, considered the embodiment of the 1950s "sex kitten," 1934

  • Robert Ray ROD Roddy, radio and television announcer, the long-time announcer on The Price is Right, September 28, 1937 – October 27, 2003

  • Benjamin Earl Nelson, aka Ben E. King, soul and pop singer, best known as the singer and co-composer of Stand by Me, 1938

  • Stuart Alan Kauffman M.D., theoretical biologist and complex systems researcher, 1939

  • Klaus Karl Kassbaum, aka Nick St. Nicholas, musician, played bass for Steppenwolf from 1968 to 1971, 1943

  • Helen Shapiro, singer, 1947

  • Jeffrey Duncan Jones, character actor, who appeared in Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Mom and Dad Save The World, among other films, 1946

  • John Thomas Sayles, independent film director and writer, who frequently takes a small part in his own and other indie films; he got his start in film working with Roger Corman, 1950

  • Laurie Lewis, bluegrass musician, 1950

  • George Lynch, heavy metal guitarist, 1954

  • Janeane Garofalo, stand-up comedian, actress, political activist, and writer, 1964

  • Mira Katherine Sorvino, actress and political activist, daughter of Paul Sorvino, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1995 for Mighty Aphrodite, 1967

  • Moon Unit Zappa, aka Moon Zappa, stand-up comic, magazine writer, actress, and author, 1967

  • Naomi Watts, actress, whose father was a sound engineer with Pink Floyd - it is his laugh that kicks off Dark Side of the Moon, 1968

  • Michel Dwain DeJean, MLB right-handed relief pitcher for the Colorado Rockies, 1970

  • Heather Renée Sweet, aka Dita von Teese, burlesque artist, 1972

  • Se Ri Pak, professional golfer, 1977

  • Ryan Wallace Zimmerman, MLB third baseman with the Washington Nationals, 1984

  • Hilary Erhard Duff, actress and singer, 1987


RIP:

  • Herman Melville, novelist, essayist and poet, author of Moby-Dick and Billy Budd, August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891

  • Louis Pasteur, microbiologist and chemist, best known for demonstrating how to prevent milk and wine from going sour, a process now called pasteurization; his experiments confirmed the germ theory of disease, and he created the first vaccine for rabies; he became one of the founders of bacteriology, December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895

  • Richard Warren Sears, manager, businessman, and the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company with his partner Alvah C. Roebuck, December 7, 1863 – September 28, 1914

  • William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, inventor, invented the motion picture camera while working for Thomas Edison, August 3, 1860 – September 28, 1935

  • Edwin Powell Hubble, astronomer, noted for his discovery of galaxies beyond the Milky Way, and of the cosmological redshift, November 20, 1889 – September 28, 1953

  • Adolph Arthur HARPO Marx, actor and comedian, one of the Marx Brothers; in 1955, he made an appearance on I Love Lucy, in which he and Lucille Ball re-enacted the famous mirror scene from the movie Duck Soup, November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964

  • John Herbert Chapman Ph.D., space researcher, who started his career with his work on radio propagation and the ionosphere; one of the later projects that he directed was the Canadian satellite Alouette, August 8, 1921 - September 28, 1979

  • Mabel Albertson, actress, the older sister of actor Jack Albertson and mother-in-law of actress Cloris Leachman, best known as Phyllis Stephens, Darrin's mother on the sitcom Bewitched, July 24, 1901 - September 28, 1982

  • Miles Dewey Davis III, jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer, May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991

  • Joseph Philippe PIERRE Yves Elliott Trudeau PC, CC, CH, QC, MA, LLD, FRSC, the fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada, October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000

  • Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink, politician and civil rights leader, a Democratic who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for a total of 12 terms, representing Hawaii's second congressional district, noted for authoring the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act;
    she also was the Assistant United States Secretary of State, December 6, 1927 – September 28, 2002

  • 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

  • Elias Kazanjoglou, aka Elia Kazan, film and theatre director and producer, whose theatre credits included directing Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Arthur Miller's All My Sons and Death of a Salesman; as a film director, he won two Academy Awards for Best Director for Gentleman's Agreement and On the Waterfront; as a result of his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the postwar Red Scare, in which he "named names," he found himself hated by the left, and mistrusted by many on the right; in 1999, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement - the audience displayed mixed reactions to his receiving the award, September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Today CLX

Birthdays:

  • Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, mathematician, known mostly for writing textbooks and compiling encyclopedias rather than for original research; Kästner crater on the Moon is named after him, September 27, 1719 – June 20, 1800

  • Samuel Adams, politican and revolutionary, the chief Massachusetts leader of the Patriot cause leading to the American Revolution, September 27, 1722 – October 2, 1803

  • Thomas Nast, caricaturist and editorial cartoonist, the father of American political cartooning, September 27, 1840 – December 7, 1902

  • Grazia Deledda, writer, awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize for Literature, September 27, 1871 – August 15, 1936

  • Hans Hahn, mathematician, who made contributions to functional analysis, topology, set theory, the calculus of variations, real analysis, and order theory, September 27, 1879 - July 24, 1934

  • Cyril Meir Scott, composer, writer, and poet, September 27, 1879 – December 31, 1970

  • Harry Bouton, aka Harry Blackstone, Sr., magician, often billed as The Great Blackstone; he began his career in his teens and was popular during World War II as a USO entertainer, September 27, 1885 - November 16, 1965

  • Vincent Youmans, composer and Broadway producer, September 27, 1898 - April 5, 1946

  • Albert Ellis, cognitive-behavioral therapist who developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy in 1955, 1913

  • Sir Martin Ryle, radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems, and used them for accurate location and imaging of weak radio sources; he shared the 1974 Nobel Prize for Physics with Antony Hewish, September 27, 1918 – October 14, 1984

  • James Hardy Wilkinson, mathematician, a prominent figure in the field of numerical analysis; he worked with Alan Turing on the ACE computer project; he received the Turing Award in 1970, September 27, 1919 – October 5, 1986

  • William Cann, aka William Conrad, actor and narrator in radio, film and television, known for his signature baritone voice; he started working in radio in the late 1930's, returning after the war, playing over 7,000 roles in radio by his own estimate; he originated the role of Marshal Matt Dillon on the radio program Gunsmoke from 1952 to 1961; on TV, he starred in Cannon, Nero Wolfe, and Jake and the Fatman, September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994

  • Jayne Cotter, aka Jayne Meadows, movie and stage actress, and author, a regular panelist on the original version of I've Got a Secret and an occasional panelist on What's My Line?; she was married to Steve Allen from 1954 until his death in 2000, 1920

  • Carl Ballantine, actor, magician, and comedian, 1922

  • Arthur Penn, film director and producer, directed Alice's Restaurant, among many other films, 1922

  • Siegfried Frederick Singer Ph.D., atmospheric physicist, who was involved in designing one of the first instruments used in a satellite to measure ozone, 1924

  • Earl Rudolph BUD Powell, jazz pianist; along with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, he was a pioneer in the development of bebop, September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966

  • Roger Charles Carmel, character actor, best remembered for playing Harry Mudd on Star Trek, September 27, 1932–November 11, 1986

  • Will Sampson, actor and painter, portrayed Chief Bromden in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, September 27, 1933 - June 3, 1987

  • Francis Gregory Alan GREG Morris, television and movie actor, known for his role as Barney Collier in the Mission: Impossible TV series; he and co-star Peter Lupus were the only actors to appear on the series for its entire run, September 27, 1933 - August 27, 1996

  • Allen WILFORD Brimley, character actor, appeared in Cocoon and Cocoon: The Return, 1934

  • Randolph Charles RANDY Bachman, OM, D.Mus (hon.), lead guitarist and songwriter of The Guess Who, and founder of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, 1943

  • Tom Braidwood, actor, known for the role of Melvin Frohike, one of the conspiracy theorists known as the Lone Gunmen on The X-Files, and its spin-off series The Lone Gunmen, 1948

  • Michael Jack MIKE Schmidt, former MLB third baseman, playing his entire career for the Philadelphia Phillies; he is widely regarded as being one of the greatest third basemen in the history of baseball; 14-time All Star; NL MVP in 1980, 1981, and 1986; won 10 Gold Gloves; his 404 assists in 1974 remain a record for third basemen; hit four home runs in one game on April 17, 1976; was World Series MVP in 1980; he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995, 1949

  • Jim Shooter, comic book writer, fill-in artist, editor, and publisher, 1951

  • Gwyneth Katherine Paltrow, actress and singer, 1972

  • Jon Erich Rauch, MLB pitcher with the Washington Nationals, at 6'11", the tallest player in the history of the major leagues, 1978

  • Avril Ramona Lavigne, pop singer-songwriter, 1984


RIP:

  • Edgar Degas, painter, sculptor, and draughtsman, one of the fathers of Impressionism, July 19, 1834 – September 27, 1917

  • Engelbert Humperdinck, composer, best known for his opera Hänsel und Gretel, September 1, 1854 – September 27, 1921

  • Julius Wagner-Jauregg, physician, awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, March 7, 1857 – September 27, 1940

  • Gerald Raphael Finzi, composer, July 14, 1901 – September 27, 1956

  • Mildred Ella "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, Olympic athlete and golfer, June 26, 1911 – September 27, 1956

  • Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst, activist in the suffragette movement in the United Kingdom, and author, May 5, 1882 - September 27, 1960

  • Clara Bow, actress, best known for her silent film work in the 1920's; referred to as the original "It girl," July 29, 1905 - September 27, 1965

  • Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov, nobleman, best known for murdering Grigori Rasputin, March 23, 1887 – September 27, 1967

  • Grace Stansfield, aka Dame Gracie Fields, DBE, singer and comedian, January 9, 1898– September 27 1979

  • Henry Montgomery, Jr., aka Robert Montgomery, actor and director, father of Elizabeth Montgomery, May 21, 1904 – September 27, 1981

  • Lloyd Nolan, film and television actor, August 11, 1902 – September 27, 1985

  • Oona O'Neill, Lady Chaplin, the daughter of Eugene O'Neill, and the fourth wife of Charlie Chaplin, May 13, 1926 – September 27, 1991

  • Walter Trampler, performer and teacher of the viola and viola d'amore, August 25, 1915 - September 27, 1997

  • 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

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Today CLIX

Birthdays:

  • John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, nurseryman and missionary, introduced the apple to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois by planting small nurseries, September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845

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

  • Edmund Kellaway, aka Edmund Gwenn, theatre and film actor, appeared in more than eighty films during his career, including the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice; he is remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, September 26, 1875 – September 6 1959

  • Alfred Denis Cortot, pianist and conductor, September 26, 1877 – June 15, 1962

  • Archibald Vivian Hill CH CBE FRS, physiologist, one of the founders of biophysics and operations research; with Otto Meyerhof, he shared the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his explanation of the production of mechanical work in muscles, September 26, 1886 – June 3, 1977

  • Thomas Stearns [T.S.] Eliot, OM, poet, dramatist, and literary critic, author of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste Land, among other works of twentieth century Modernist poetry; awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize for Literature, September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965

  • Martin Heidegger, philosopher, September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976

  • Charles Münch, conductor and violinist, September 26, 1891 – November 6, 1968

  • George Ranft, aka George Raft, film actor, known for his portrayals of gangsters in crime dramas in the 1930's and 1940's, September 26, 1895 – November 24, 1980

  • Jacob Gershowitz, aka George Gershwin, classical, jazz, and Broadway composer, September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937

  • Emilio "Millito" Navarro, the first Puerto Rican to play baseball in the Negro Leagues, playing for two years with the Cuban Stars, with a career batting average of .337; after playing with the Negro Leagues, Navarro traveled and played for teams in the Dominican Republic and in Venezuela; he was one of the founders of the Puerto Rican baseball team Leones de Ponce (Ponce Lions), with whom he played, coached, and did a little bit of everything - he dedicated 20 years to the team, 1905

  • Jack LaLanne, fitness, exercise and nutritional expert, celebrity, lecturer, and motivational speaker, 1914

  • David Réal Caouette, Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada, September 26, 1917 - December 16, 1976

  • Martin David Robinson, aka Marty Robbins, country & western singer, songwriter, and guitarist, September 26, 1925, Glendale, Arizona - December 8, 1982

  • Gayle Peck, aka Julie London, singer and actress, September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000

  • Patrick O'Neal, television, stage, and film actor, and restaurateur; during World War II, he directed short training films while in the Air Force; after the war, he moved to New York and studied at the Actor's Studio and Neighborhood Playhouse; in the 1960's, he received critical praise for his leading role on Broadway in Night of the Iguana, September 26, 1927 – September 9, 1994

  • Fritz Wunderlich, tenor, September 26, 1930 - September 17, 1966

  • Richard Herd, character actor in television and film, known for his role as John, the Visitors' Supreme Commander, in the mini-series V and its sequel V: The Final Battle, and as Admiral Owen Paris, the father of Tom Paris, on Star Trek: Voyager, among other roles, 1932

  • Dorothy Smith, aka Donna Douglas, actress, chosen over 500 other actresses to play Elly May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies, on which she starred for all nine seasons, 1933

  • Salvatore Accardo, violinist and conductor, 1941

  • Bryan Ferry, singer, musician and songwriter, known as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter with Roxy Music, and for his solo career, 1945

  • Lynn Rene Anderson, country musician, best known for her Grammy-winning hit I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, 1947

  • Olivia Newton-John AO OBE, singer and actress, the granddaughter of Max Born, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, and daughter of Brin Newton-John, an MI5 officer attached to the Enigma machine project at Bletchley Park, and the officer who took Rudolf Hess into custody when Hess parachuted into Scotland in 1941, 1948

  • Stuart MacIntosh, aka Stuart Tosh, drummer, songwriter, and vocalist, who recorded and toured with a number of well-known bands during the 1970's and 1980's, including the Alan Parsons Project [1975 to 1977], 1951

  • Kevin Curtis Kennedy, former minor league catcher who played in the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers farm systems, and former MLB manager with the Texas Rangers, 1993 and 1994, and Boston Red Sox, 1995 and 1996; currently, a television host for Fox Sports' baseball coverage, 1954

  • Linda Carroll Hamilton, movie and television actress, known for her performances as Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator films, and her starring role in the TV series Beauty and the Beast, 1956

  • Richard Leo RICH Gedman, former MLB catcher from 1980 to 1992; The Sporting News' AL Rookie of the Year in 1981; two-time All-Star in 1985 and 1986; on September 18, 1985, he hit for the cycle and drove in seven runs, becoming the 16th Red Sox player and only the sixth catcher since 1900 to hit for the cycle; he set two AL records for putouts in a game, 20, and in consecutive games, 36, on April 29th and 30th, 1959

  • Melissa Sue Anderson, actress, known for her role as Mary Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie, from 1974 until 1982; she won an Emmy Award for her performance in 1979 in Which Mother Is Mine?, 1962

  • Jillian Warry, aka Jillian Barberie, actress and television hostess, 1966

  • Richard SHANNON Hoon, former lead singer for Blind Melon, September 26, 1967 – October 21, 1995

  • Chris Small, former professional snooker player, winner of the 2002 LG Cup, 1973

  • Kaylynn, stripper and actress, 1977

  • Serena Jameka Williams, professional tennis player, 1981

  • Ashley Margaret Anne Leggat, actress, 1986


RIP:

  • August Ferdinand Möbius, mathematician and theoretical astronomer, best known for his discovery of the Möbius strip, November 17, 1790 - September 26, 1868

  • Hermann Günther Grassmann, polymath: linguist, mathematician, physicist, neohumanist, scholar, and publisher, April 15, 1809, Stettin – September 26, 1877

  • Levi Strauss, clothing manufacturer, February 26, 1829–September 26, 1902

  • Bessie Smith, blues singer, April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937

  • Béla Viktor János Bartók, composer, pianist, and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music, one of the founders of the field of ethnomusicology, March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945

  • Charles James Correll, radio comedian, best known for his work on the Amos 'n' Andy show, February 2, 1890 – September 26, 1972

  • Anna Magnani, actress, won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1955 for The Rose Tattoo, one of several awards that she won for the role, March 7, 1908 - September 26, 1973

  • Lavoslav (Leopold) Ružička, chemist, shared the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Adolf Butenandt, September 13, 1887 – September 26, 1976

  • Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn, physicist, awarded the 1924 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy, December 3, 1886 - September 26, 1978

  • Billy Vaughn, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and orchestra leader, April 12, 1919 - September 26, 1991

  • Lillie Mae Jones, aka Betty Carter, jazz singer, May 16, 1930 – September 26, 1998

  • Richard Mulligan, television and film actor, whose career spanned 34 years, known for his role as Burt Campbell on the sitcom Soap, for which he won an Emmy Award for Best Actor, and in the role of Dr. Harry Weston on Empty Nest, for which he won a second Emmy, November 13, 1932 - September 26, 2000

  • Baden Powell de Aquino, bossa nova guitarist, August 6, 1937 - September 26, 2000

  • Robert Allen Palmer, singer, January 19, 1949 – September 26, 2003

  • Shawn Lane, guitarist and composer, joined Black Oak Arkansas when he was just fourteen, March 21, 1963 – September 26, 2003

Monday, September 25, 2006

Today CLVIII

Birthdays:

  • Jean-Philippe Rameau, composer and music theorist of the Baroque era, replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera, September 25, 1683 - September 12, 1764

  • Fletcher Christian, a Master's Mate, who seized command of the Bounty from Captain Bligh in 1789, September 25, 1764 – October 3, 1793

  • Thomas Hunt Morgan, geneticist and embryologist, whose discoveries formed the basis of the modern science of genetics; he was awarded the 1933 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first Nobel Prize given for genetics, for demonstrating hereditary transmission mechanisms in fruit flies, September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945

  • William Falkner, aka William Cuthbert Faulkner, novelist and screenwriter, recipient of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature, September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962

  • Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich, composer, whose greatest works are generally considered to be his symphonies and string quartets, fifteen of each; other works include operas, six concertos, and a substantial quantity of film music, September 25 – August 9, 1975

  • Fiero Francis Rizzuto, aka Philip Francis Rizzuto, nicknamed The Scooter, former MLB shortstop and radio/television sports announcer, played his first major-league game on April 14, 1941; he played for the New York Yankees for his entire 13-year career; was the 1950 AL Most Valuable Player; five-time All-Star in 1942 and from 1950 to 1953; starting in 1957, he broadcast Yankee games on radio and television for the next 40 years; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994, 1916

  • John Franklin Sain, former MLB pitcher and one of the top pitching coaches in the majors; he pitched for 11 years, winning 136 and losing 116 games in his career, and compiled an earned-run average of 3.49; was an All-Star in 1947, 1948, and 1953; after retiring as a player, he spent many years as a pitching coach, 1917

  • Aldo DaRe, aka Aldo Ray, actor, September 25, 1926 - March 27, 1991

  • Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE, clarinetist and conductor, Chief Conductor, BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1967 to 1971; Music Director, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden from 1971 to 1987; Chief Conductor, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1983 to 1993; Principal Conductor, London Symphony Orchestra from 1995 to 2006, 1927

  • Ronald William George RONNIE Barker, OBE, comic actor and writer, best-known for his work alongside his long-time comedy partner, Ronnie Corbett, in the TV variety show The Two Ronnies, September 25, 1929 – October 3, 2005

  • Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein, aka "Uncle Shelby," poet, songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter, and author of children's books, September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999

  • Glenn Herbert Gould, pianist, noted especially for his recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard music, who gave up live performance in 1964, dedicating himself to the recording studio for the rest of his career, September 25, 1932 – October 4, 1982

  • Juliet Prowse, dancer and actress, played the part of Claudine in the 1960 film Can-Can; appeared in G.I. Blues; was the first guest on The Muppet Show; had her own sitcom, 1965's Mona McCluskey, for one season, September 25, 1936 – September 14, 1996

  • Michael Kirk Douglas, actor and producer, son of Kirk Douglas, 1944

  • Mark Richard Hamill, actor and voice actor, best known as Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars films, and as the voice of The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, 1951

  • Christopher Reeve, actor, director, producer, who portrayed Superman in four films between 1978 and 1987; he was rendered a quadriplegic during an equestrian competition and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life; he became a spokesman for disabled people and a vocal supporter of stem cell research; There's more to say, but it's too painful, September 25, 1952 – October 10, 2004

  • Anson William Heimlich, aka Anson Williams, actor and director, known for his role as Potsie on Happy Days, the nephew of Dr. Henry Heimlich, 1949

  • Steven John Bailey, aka Steven Severin, bassist and founding member of Siouxsie & the Banshees, 1955

  • Michael Joe Madsen, actor, has appeared in over one hundred films; known for his roles as Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs and Budd in Kill Bill, 1958

  • Heather Deen Locklear, model and actress, 1961

  • Jason Bergmann, MLB pitcher for the Washington Nationals, 1981


RIP:

  • Johann Strauss I, aka Johann Strauss, Sr., composer, known especially for his waltzes; his most famous piece is the Radetzky March, March 14, 1804 – September 25, 1849

  • Miller James Huggins, MLB second baseman and manager; over a 13-year career, he led the league in walks four times and regularly posted an on base percentage near .400; he scored 100 or more runs three times, and regularly stole 30 or more bases, for a career total of 324 steals; he finished his managerial career with a 1413-1134 record; he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964; on May 30, 1932, the New York Yankees, whose manager he was from 1918 to 1929, dedicated a monument to Huggins, and placed it in front of the flagpole in centre field at Yankee Stadium - this was the first such honour granted by the team, the beginning of what would become the monuments and later Monument Park, March 27, 1879 – September 25, 1929

  • Ringgold Wilmer RING Lardner, sports columnist and short story writer, known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre, March 6, 1885 - September 25, 1933

  • Emily Price Post, author, who promoted proper etiquette; she wrote in various styles, including humorous travel books, early in her career; in 1922, her book Etiquette was a best seller, and updated versions continued to be popular for decades, October 27, 1873 - September 25, 1960

  • Erich Paul Remark, aka Erich Maria Remarque, author, known for his All Quiet on the Western Front, June 22, 1898 – September 25, 1970

  • John Henry BONZO Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin, May 31, 1948 – September 25, 1980

  • Walter Davis Pidgeon, actor, a classicaly trained baritone, studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston; he made his Broadway debut in 1925, and made several silent movies in the 1920's; remembered for How Green Was My Valley, Mrs. Miniver, Madame Curie, Forbidden Planet, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Advise and Consent, September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984

  • Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, physicist and chemist, shared the 1956 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, for his work on the mechanism of chemical transformation, April 15, 1896 – September 25, 1986

  • Mary Astor, actress, May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987

  • Dr. Annie Elizabeth BESSIE Delany, dentist and author, September 3, 1891 - September 25, 1995

  • Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley, fantasy author, June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999

  • Herb Gardner, commercial artist, cartoonist, playwright, and screenwriter, December 28, 1934 - September 25, 2003

  • Franco Modigliani Ph.D., economist at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and winner of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Economics, June 18, 1918 – September 25, 2003

  • George Ames Plimpton, journalist, writer, editor, and actor, March 18, 1927 – September 25, 2003

  • Donald James Yarmy, aka Don Adams, actor, writer, and director, known for his role as Maxwell Smart on the TV sitcom Get Smart, for which he also directed and wrote, and for which he won three Emmy Awards from 1967 to 1969, April 13, 1923 – September 25, 2005

  • Morgan Scott [M. Scott] Peck, M.D., psychiatrist and author, May 22, 1936 – September 25, 2005

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Today CLVII

Birthdays:

  • Gerolamo Cardano, aka Hieronymus Cardanus, Renaissance mathematician, physician, astrologer, and gambler, September 24, 1501 - September 21, 1576

  • Sir Arthur Guinness, brewer and the founder of Guinness Breweries, September 24, 1725 – January 23, 1803

  • Georges Claude, engineer, chemist, and inventor, the first to apply an electrical discharge to a sealed tube of neon gas to create a lamp, September 24, 1870 – May 23, 1960

  • Miguel Angel MIKE Gonzalez Cordero, MLB catcher, coach, and manager, September 24, 1890 - February 19, 1977

  • Thomas Dickson TOMMY Armour, professional golfer, September 24, 1894 – September 12, 1968

  • Dr. André Frédéric Cournand, physician and physiologist, awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Werner Forssmann and Dickinson W. Richards for the development of cardiac catheterization, September 24, 1895 – February 19, 1988

  • Francis Scott Key [F. Scott] Fitzgerald, novelist and short story writer, who finished four novels, left a fifth unfinished, and wrote dozens of short stories that treat themes of youth, despair, and age, September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940

  • Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey of Adelaide and Marston, OM, FRS, pharmacologist, who shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Alexander Fleming for his role in the extraction of penicillin, September 24, 1898 – February 21, 1968

  • Hammond Edward HAM Fisher, comic strip writer, creator of Joe Palooka, September 24, 1900 - September 7, 1955

  • Severo Ochoa de Albornoz M.D., biochemist, awarded the 1959 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synthesis of RNA, September 24, 1905 – November 1, 1993

  • Don Porter, film and television actor, who appeared in a number of films in the 1940's, including Top Sergeant and Eagle Squadron; played Gidget's in the mid-1960's; on TV, played Ann Sothern's boss on Private Secretary and The Ann Sothern Show, September 24, 1912 — February 11, 1997

  • Audra Lindley, actress; on Broadway, she appeared in On Golden Pond, Playhouse 90, Long Day's Journey into Night, and Horse Heavens, among other plays; played Helen Roper on TV's Three's Company and The Ropers, September 24, 1918 – October 16, 1997

  • Dayton Allen Bolke, aka Dayton Allen, comedian and voice actor, appeared on Steve Allen's Tonight Show, where he developed his catch phrase, "Why not?"; he began his career on radio as a disc jockey; he was the voice of various New York-based children's television show characters, playing Flub-a-Dub on Howdy Doody for four years; he was the voice of Deputy Dawg, Heckle and Jeckle, and many early Terrytoons cartoon characters; he worked as a voiceover performer through the 1990's, September 24, 1919 - November 11, 2004

  • Theresa Merritt Hines, stage actress and singer, appeared in many theatrical productions, gaining fame later in life when she starred in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and The Wiz, and the TV series That's My Mama, September 24, 1924 - June 12, 1998

  • Theodore FATS Navarro, jazz trumpet player, a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940's, began playing piano at age six, not becoming serious about music until he began playing trumpet at age thirteen, September 24, 1923 – July 6, 1950

  • Sheila Margaret Stephens MacRae, film and television actress, and author widow of the late Gordon MacRae, 1924

  • John Watts Young, former NASA astronaut who walked on the Moon in April, 1972, the first person to fly into space six times; has twice journeyed to the Moon and piloted four different classes of spacecraft, 1930

  • George Anthony Newley, actor, singer, and songwriter, who won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for What Kind of Fool Am I; was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989, September 24, 1931 - April 14, 1999

  • James Maury JIM Henson, puppeteer, filmmaker, television producer, and the founder of The Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Foundation, and Jim Henson's Creature Shop; the creator of The Muppets, September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990

  • Linda Louise Eastman, aka Linda Louise, Lady McCartney, photographer, musician, animal rights activist, and vegetarian, the wife of Paul McCartney, whom she introduced to vegetarianism in 1975; popularized a meatless diet through her best-selling cookbooks and line of frozen vegetarian meals, September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998

  • Gerard GERRY Marsden, musician, the guitarist and leader of Gerry & the Pacemakers, the second group signed by Brian Epstein; their first single was How Do You Do It; others included It's All Right, I'm the One, Don't Let the Sun Catch You Cryin', and Ferry Cross the Mersey; after the band broke up, he maintained a low-key career on television, and starred in the West End musical, Charlie Girl, 1942

  • Louis Earl LOU Dobbs, anchor and managing editor of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, editorial columnist, and host of a syndicated radio show, 1945

  • Phil Hartman, writer, actor, voice artist, comedian, and graphic artist, September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998

  • Hubert HUBIE Brooks, Jr., former MLB third baseman, shortstop, and right fielder, from 1980 to 1994, 1956

  • Kevin Sorbo, actor, known for the lead role on Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and as Dylan Hunt on Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda; he starred in the movie Kull the Conqueror, 1958

  • Steve Whitmire, puppeteer with the Jim Henson Company, working on Kermit the Frog and Ernie since Henson's death in 1990; since joining the company in 1978, he has performed in every major Henson company project, including non-Muppet projects such as The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and the TV series Dinosaurs, 1959

  • Antonia Eugenia NIA Vardalos, actress, screenwriter and producer, who gained almost overnight success with her movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, 1962

  • Rafael Palmeiro Corrales, MLB player, with a career spanning 20 years, from 1986 to 2005; he has not officially retired, but has not played since the 2005 season, when he was suspended for testing positive for steroids, 1964

  • Otis BERNARD Gilkey, former MLB outfielder and designated hitter, 1966

  • Wietse van Alten, archer, 1978

  • Sabrine Maui, model and actress, 1980


RIP:

  • Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, aka Paracelsus, alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist, November 11 or December 17, 1493 - 24 September 24, 1541

  • Manuel Mendes, composer and teacher of the Renaissance, teacher of several of the composers of the golden age of Portuguese polyphony, including Duarte Lobo and Manuel Cardoso, c. 1547 – September 24, 1605

  • Duarte Lobo, composer of the late Renaissance and early Baroque, c. 1565 – September 24, 1646

  • Niels Ryberg Finsen, physician and scientist, the first Danish Nobel laureate, awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contribution to the treatment of diseases with concentrated light radiation, December 15, 1860 – September 24, 1904

  • Michael Joseph MIKE Donlin, MLB outfielder from 1899 to 1912, May 30, 1878 – September 24, 1933

  • Lev Genrikhovich Schnirelmann, mathematician, who proved that any natural number greater than 1 can be written as the sum of not more than 300,000 primes, January 2, 1905 - September 24

  • Johannes HANS Wilhelm Geiger, physicist, co-inventor of the Geiger counter, September 30, 1882 – September 24, 1945

  • John Henry BONZO Bonham, drummer for Led Zeppelin, May 31, 1948 – September 25, 1980

  • James NEIL Hamilton, actor, got his big break from D.W. Griffith in The White Rose in 1923; famous for his role as Commissioner Gordon on the Batman TV series, September 9, 1899 – September 24, 1984

  • Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, writer and cartoonist known for his children's books, March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991

  • 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

  • Thomas Ross TOMMY Bond, actor, known for his work as a child actor in the Our Gang (Little Rascals) comedies, and for being the first actor to portray the role of Jimmy Olsen on-screen - in two film serials, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), September 16, 1926 - September 24, 2005

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Today CLVI - Shona Tova, Happy New Year

Birthdays:

  • Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, aka Augustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor, September 23, 63 BC – August 19, 14 AD

  • Kublai Khan, military leader, the founder and the first Emperor of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty, September 23, 1215 - February 18, 1294

  • Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau, physicist, whose earliest work was concerned with improvements in photographic processes; in association with J. B. L. Foucault, he engaged in investigations on the interference of light and heat; in 1848, he discovered the Doppler effect for electromagnetic waves; in 1849, he published the first results obtained by his method for determining the speed of light; in 1850, with E. Gounelle, he measured the speed of electricity; in 1853, he described the use of the capacitor in increasing the efficiency of the induction coil, September 23, 1819 - 1896

  • Mary Church Terrell, writer and civil rights activist, who majored in classics at Oberlin College, where she received her bachelor's degree in 1884, one of the first black women awarded a college degree; she was president of the National Association of Colored Women; in 1908, she became a founder of the NAACP's Executive Committee, member of a committee investigating alleged police mistreatment of black Americans, and the first black woman in the United States to earn an appointment to a school board, September 23, 1863 - July 24, 1954

  • Emma Magdalena Rosalia Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy, Baroness Orczy, novelist, playwright, and artist, known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel; some of her paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, September 23, 1865 – November 12, 1947)

  • Sir John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, doctor, biologist, and politician, received the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize for his scientific research into nutrition, September 23, 1880 – June 25, 1971

  • Walter Lippmann, writer, journalist, and political commentator, September 23, 1889 - December 14, 1974

  • John Leo JOHNNY Mokan, MLB outfielder, who spent seven seasons in the National League, from 1921 to 1927; he was a .291 career hitter with 32 home runs and 273 RBI in 582 games, September 23, 1895 - February 10, 1985

  • Walter Davis Pidgeon, actor, a classicaly trained baritone, studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston; he made his Broadway debut in 1925, and made several silent movies in the 1920's; remembered for How Green Was My Valley, Mrs. Miniver, Madame Curie, Forbidden Planet, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Advise and Consent, September 23, 1897 – September 25, 1984

  • Jaroslav Seifert, writer, poet, and journalist, won the 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature, September 23, 1901 – January 10, 1986

  • Clifford Glenwood Shull, physicist, shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics with Bertram Brockhouse for developing neutron scattering techniques for studying condensed matter, September 23, 1915 – March 31, 2001

  • Joseph Yule, Jr., aka Mickey Rooney, actor, 1920

  • John William Coltrane, jazz saxophonist and composer, his accomplishments are too numerous and his legacy too large to record here, listen to his music!, September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967

  • Ray Charles Robinson, aka Ray Charles, pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues, and brought a soulful sound to everything from country music to pop standards, listen to his music!, September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004

  • Rosemarie Magdalena Albach-Retty, aka Romy Schneider-Albach, aka Romy Schneider, actress, September 23, 1938 - May 29, 1982

  • Roy Buchanan, blues musician and guitar player, who made his recording debut in 1957, playing the solo on Dale Hawkins' My Babe for Chess Records; after, moving to Canada, he played guitar in Ronnie Hawkins' band, whose bass player, Robbie Robertson, studied guitar with him, and took over the lead guitar spot when Buchanan left the group; in the early 60's, he worked as a sideman with rock bands, and as a session guitarist with musicians such as Freddy Cannon; he spent many years playing dance halls and bars, and played Carnegie Hall several times; his career took him from underground club gigs in the sixties and seventies to national television, gold record sales, and worldwide tours in the eighties, September 23, 1939 - August 14, 1988

  • William PAUL Petersen, movie actor, singer, novelist, and activist for child stars, 1945

  • Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen, singer, songwriter, and guitarist, 1949

  • Chao Jyalin, aka Rosalind Chao, actress, played Keiko O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; she appeared in TV series M*A*S*H and AfterMASH; she played one of the main characters in The Joy Luck Club, and Lalu in A Thousand Pieces of Gold, 1957

  • Emilio Antonio TONY Fossas Morejon, former MLB setup pitcher from 1988 to 1997, had only one at-bat in his career, 1957

  • Jason Scott Greenspan, aka Jason Alexander, television, cinema, and musical theatre actor, 1959

  • Elizabeth Peña, actress, 1959

  • Jason Brian Carter, actor, known for his role as Marcus Cole on Babylon 5, 1960

  • William Cameron WILLIE McCool, Navy Commander and astronaut, the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107, killed when the craft disintegrated after re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, September 23, 1961 – February 1, 2003

  • Michelle Thomas, actress, known for her role as Myra Monkhouse on Family Matters, September 23, 1969 – December 23, 1998

  • Angela Marie ANI DiFranco, singer, guitarist, and songwriter, 1970

  • Harumi Inoue, actress and model, 1974

  • Jaime Bergman, model and actress, wife of David Boreanaz, 1975


RIP:

  • Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini, composer of Bel canto opera, November 3, 1801 – September 23, 1835

  • Urbain Jean Joseph Le Verrier, mathematician, specializing in celestial mechanics, March 11, 1811 – September 23, 1877

  • Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, chemist, who studied colloids; awarded the 1925 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; the Zsigmondy crater on the moon is named after him , April 1, 1865 - September 23, 1929

  • Sigmund Freud, neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939

  • James Waddell [J. W.] Alexander II, topologist, a pioneer in algebraic topology, September 19, 1888 – September 23, 1971

  • Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto, aka Pablo Neruda, poet and writer, received the 1971 Nobel Prize for Literature, July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973

  • Clifford Arquette, actor and comedian, famous for his role as Charley Weaver, December 28, 1905 – September 23, 1974

  • Lyman Wesley Bostock, Jr., MLB outfielder, played for four seasons, and was murdered, November 22, 1950 - September 23, 1978

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

  • Robert Louis BOB Fosse, musical theater dancer, choreographer, and director, winner of the 1972 Academy Award for Best Director for Cabaret, June 23, 1927 – September 23, 1987

  • Mary Frances Luecke, aka Mary Frann, actress, best remembered for her role as Joanna Loudon on Newhart, February 27, 1943 – September 23, 1998

  • Aurelio Rodríguez Ituarte, Jr., MLB third baseman, December 28, 1947 – September 23, 2000

  • Roger Brierley, actor, appeared in many television productions over a forty year period; he appeared twice in Doctor Who, as Trevor in The Daleks' Master Plan and as the voice of Drathro in The Mysterious Planet, June 2, 1935 - September 23, 2005

  • Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold, KBE, musician and composer, began his career as a professional trumpeter, but was composing full-time by the time he was thirty; he was a composer of light music in works such as his sets of Welsh, English, Scottish, Irish, and Cornish Dances, and the scores to the St Trinian's films, and Hobson's Choice, October 21, 1921 - September 23, 2006

Friday, September 22, 2006

Today CLV

Birthdays:

  • 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

  • Dame Christabel Harriette Pankhurst DBE, suffragette, the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, with whom she and others co-founded the Women's Social and Political Union (WPSU) in 1903, September 22, 1880 – February 13, 1958

  • Erich von Stroheim, filmmaker and actor, September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957

  • 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

  • Katherine Alexander, film actress and Broadway performer, September 22, 1898 - January 10, 1981

  • Dr. Charles Brenton Huggins M.D., physician, physiologist, and cancer researcher, specializing in prostate cancer; he and Peyton Rous were awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering that hormones could be used to control the spread of some cancers, September 22, 1901 – January 12, 1997

  • Jacques Haussmann, aka John Houseman, actor and film producer; among the more than two dozen films he produced was the 1946 film noir, The Blue Dahlia; he co-produced the 1938 radio broadcast The War of the Worlds, and cofounded the Mercury Theatre with Orson Welles; he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1973 for The Paper Chase, September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988

  • Joseph "Joe Cargo" Valachi, the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the existence of the Mafia, when he testified before Arkansas Senator John L. McClellan's congressional committee on organized crime that the Mafia did exist, September 22, 1903 – April 3, 1971

  • Henryk Szeryng, violinist and teacher, made his solo debut in 1933 playing Brahms' Violin Concerto; from 1933 to 1939, he studied composition in Paris with Nadia Boulanger; during World War II, he worked as an interpreter for the Polish government in exile, and gave concerts for Allied troops all over the world, September 22, 1918 – March 8, 1988

  • Chen Ning Franklin Yang Ph.D., physicist, who worked on statistical mechanics and symmetry principles; he and Tsung-Dao Lee received the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics for their theory that weak force interactions between elementary particles did not have parity symmetry, 1922

  • Thomas Charles TOMMY Lasorda, former MLB pitcher and manager, was NL Manager of the Year in 1983 and 1988; in 1997, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as a manager, 1927

  • Reverend James Lawson, activist and advocate of nonviolence within the American Civil Rights Movement, 1928

  • Serge Garant OC, composer, pianist, and conductor, September 22, 1929 – November 1, 1986

  • Ingemar Johansson, heavyweight boxer; in 1959, he defeated Floyd Patterson to win the World Heavyweight Championship, 1932

  • Antonia Christina Basilotta, aka Toni Basil, musician, video artist, actress, and choreographer, 1943

  • Sunday Adeniyi, aka King Sunny Adé, guitarist and singer, 1946

  • Lawrence Edward LARRY Dierker, former MLB pitcher and manager, who had a 14-year playing career from 1964 to 1977 and a 5-year career managing the Houston Astros from 1997 to 2001; in 1969, he became the Astros' first 20-game winner, with a 2.33 ERA and 20 complete games over 305 innings; he was an NL All-Star in 1969 and 1971, and NL Manager of the Year in 1998; from 1979 to 1996, he was a color commentator on the Astros' radio and television broadcasts, a position he returned to in 2004, 1946

  • James Thomas JIM Byrnes, blues musician, guitarist, and actor, who appeared in the TV series Highlander as Joe Dawson, a Watcher, a role that he reprised in the films Highlander: Endgame and Highlander: The Source; he starred in his own short-lived TV show, The Jim Byrnes Show, 1948

  • David Coverdale, rock vocalist, known for his work with Deep Purple and Whitesnake, 1951

  • Shari Belafonte, actress, model, writer, photographer, and singer, daughter of Harry Belafonte, known for her role as Julie Gilette on the TV series Hotel, 1954

  • Deborah Ann DEBBY Boone, singer and theatre actress, the daughter of Pat Boone, known for her 1977 cover of You Light Up My Life, 1956

  • Nicholas Edward NICK Cave, rock musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and actor, known for his work in the band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 1957

  • Joan Marie Jett, rock and roll guitarist, singer, and actress, 1958

  • Tai Reina Babilonia, figure skater, 1959

  • Scott Vincent Baio, actor, 1961

  • Vincent Maurice VINCE Coleman, former MLB switch-hitting outfielder, who played from 1985 to 1997, and set a number of stolen base records; 1985 NL Rookie of the Year; led the Major Leagues in stolen bases from 1985 to 1987, and in 1990; 1988 and 1989 All-Star, 1961

  • Catherine Oxenberg, actress, 1961

  • Tony Drago, professional snooker and pool player from Malta, who won the 2003 World Pool Masters Championship, 1965

  • Michael Scott MIKE Matheny, MLB catcher for the San Francisco Giants, who won Gold Glove Awards in 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2005, 1970

  • Leian BILLIE Paul Piper, actress, who began her career as a pop singer in her teens, but is now best known for portraying Rose Tyler, companion to The Doctor in the TV series Doctor Who until mid-2006, 1982


RIP:

  • Frederick Soddy, radiochemist; in 1903, with Sir William Ramsay, verified that the decay of radium produced helium; awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in radioactive decay, and particularly for his formulation of the theory of isotopes, September 2, 1877 – September 22, 1956

  • Salvatore Anthony Guaragna, aka Harry Warren, composer and lyricist, composed music with Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Billy Rose, and Al Dubin, December 24, 1893 – September 22, 1981

  • Daniel Hale DAN Rowan, comedian, featured in the TV show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, where he played straight man to Dick Martin, with whom he had teamed after WWII, in a night-club comedy act; they had appeared on television before and, after success in a summer special in 1967, they found fame on Laugh-In, July 22, 1922 – September 22, 1987

  • Israel Isidore Beilin, aka Irving Berlin, composer and lyricist, one of the most prodigious and famous American songwriters ever; his G-d Bless America proved so popular that, during the 1930's, it was considered for the American National Anthem, but was rejected by the press in part because it written by a Jewish composer, May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989

  • Aurelio Alejandro Rios Lopez, nicknamed Señor Smoke, MLB relief pitcher in an 11-year career in 1974, and from 1978 to 1987; 1983 AL All-Star, September 21, 1948 – September 22, 1992

  • Maurice Abravanel, conductor, January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993

  • Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton, aka Dorothy Lamour, singer and motion picture actress, December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996

  • Ludmilla Chiriaeff, ballet dancer, choreographer, and director, January 10, 1924 - September 22, 1996

  • George Campbell [George C.] Scott, film and stage actor, director, and producer, known for his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the movie Patton, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1970; after declining an Academy Award nomination for his appearance in the The Hustler, he returned his Oscar for Patton, October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999

  • Isaac Stern, violin virtuoso, July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001

  • Gordon Jump, actor, known for his role as Arthur Carlson in the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati and as the Maytag Repairman in commercials, April 1, 1932 – September 22, 2003

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Today CLIV

Birthdays:

  • Louis Jolliet [or Joilet], explorer; he and missionary Jacques Marquette were the first white men to map the Mississippi River, baptised September 21, 1645 – 1700

  • John Loudon McAdam, engineer and road-builder, who invented a new process, for building roads with a smooth hard surface that would be more durable and less muddy than soil-based tracks; this construction method became known as macadamization or macadam; the most significant later improvement was the introduction of tar to bind the road surface's stones together, producing tarmac (Tar Macadam), September 21, 1756 - November 26, 1836

  • Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blyth, aka Maurice Barrymore, actor, patriarch of the Barrymore acting family, father of Lionel, Ethel, and John, September 21, 1849 - March 26, 1905

  • Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, physicist, who explored extremely cold refrigeration techniques and the associated phenomena; awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led to the production of liquid helium, September 21, 1853 – February 21, 1926

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

  • Herbert George [H. G.] Wells, writer, best known for his science fiction novels, wrote works in nearly every genre, including short stories and nonfiction; outspoken socialist, most of whose works contain some political or social commentary, September 21, 1866 – August 13, 1946

  • Dr. Charles Jules Henry Nicolle, bacteriologist, awarded the 1928 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his identification of lice as the transmitter of epidemic typhus, September 21, 1866 – February 28, 1936

  • George Vital PAPA JACK Laine aka Papa Jack, drummer and band leader in New Orleans, noted for his skills at arranging and booking bands; many of the New Orleans musicians who first spread jazz around the USA in the 1910's and 1920's got their start in the Laine bands; he hired well over 100 musicians to play in these bands; even after segregation laws started demanding "whites" and "colored" be kept separate, he continued to hire light- and medium-light-skinned black musicians, claiming that they were "Cuban" or "Mexican" , September 21, 1873 - June 1, 1966

  • Gustavus Theodor von Holst, aka Gustav Theodor Holst, composer, known for his orchestral suite The Planets, whose music was influenced by Indian spiritualism and English folk tunes, September 21, 1874 – May 25, 1934

  • Charles Martin CHUCK Jones, animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for Warner Brothers, directing many of the classic short animated cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Pepé Le Pew, and the other Warners characters, September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002

  • György Sándor, pianist, a friend of Béla Bartók, and champion of his music, September 21, 1912 – December 9, 2005

  • Donald Arthur Glaser, physicist and neurobiologist, awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of the bubble chamber, 1926

  • Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams FBA, moral philosopher, September 21, 1929 – June 10, 2003

  • Larry Martin Hageman, aka Larry Hagman, actor, famous for his roles as Major Tony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie, and J.R. Ewing on Dallas, the son of actress Mary Martin, 1931

  • Leonard Norman Cohen, CC, poet, novelist, and singer-songwriter, who began his career in literature, publishing his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956, and his first novel in 1963; after his breakthrough in the music industry in the late 1960's, he was recognized as a songwriter, 1934

  • Henry Gibson Bateman, aka Henry Gibson, actor, known as a member of the cast of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, 1935

  • Patricia Neal [not the one in Hud], aka Fannie Flagg, author and actress, 1944

  • Jerome Bruckheimer, film and television producer, 1945

  • Stephen Edwin King, author, best known for his horror novels, and guitar player, 1947

  • Marsha Norman, playwright, won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play 'night, Mother, 1947

  • Donald DON Felder, rock musician, best known as guitarist for The Eagles, 1947

  • William James BILL Murray, comedian and actor, best known as an SNL alumnus, and for movies such as Ghostbusters, 1950

  • Richard James Hieb, astronaut, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, 1955

  • Ethan Coen, film writer and director, 1957

  • David DAVE Lee Coulier, television and voice actor, known for his role as Joey Gladstone on Full House, 1959

  • Danny Bradford Cox, former MLB pitcher, played for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Pittsburgh Pirates; he pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1993 to 1995, and then retired; in an eleven-year career, he posted a career 74 wins, 75 losses, 3.64 ERA, 21 complete games, 5 shutouts, and 8 saves, 1959

  • David William Smith, aka David James Elliott, the star of the JAG series from 1995 to 2005, 1960

  • Húbert Nói Jóhannesson, contemporary artist working in painting, installation, movies, sculpture, photography, and music, 1961

  • Cecil Grant Fielder, former MLB first baseman, who played with the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers, among others; in 1990, he became the first player to hit 50 home runs in a season since George Foster hit 52 in 1977 - Fielder had 132 RBI that year; in his six-year stay with Detroit, he had four consecutive 30-homer and 100-RBI seasons, and became the only Tiger ever to hit at least 25 homers in six consecutive seasons; he was an All-Star in 1990, 1991, and 1993, and won a Silver Slugger Award in 1990 and 1991; in his career, he batted .255, with 319 HRs, 1008 RBI, and a .482 slugging average, drawing 693 walks for a .345 on base percentage, stealing one base; his son, Prince, is the Milwaukee Brewers' starting first baseman, 1963

  • Cheryl Hines, actress, 1965

  • Audrey Faith Perry McGraw, aka Faith Hill, country singer, 1967

  • Tyler Joseph Stewart, musician, drummer for the Barenaked Ladies, 1967

  • Jason Samuel Christiansen, MLB left-handed pitcher, 1969

  • Alfonso Ribeiro, actor and singer, 1971

  • William John Paul LIAM Gallagher, lead vocalist for Oasis, 1972

  • Douglas P. DOUG Davis, MLB starting pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers, 1975

  • Margaret Grace Denig, aka Maggie Grace, actress, 1983


RIP:

  • Gerolamo Cardano, aka Hieronymus Cardanus, Renaissance mathematician, physician, astrologer, and gambler, September 24, 1501 - September 21, 1576

  • Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher, known for his work The World as Will and Representation, February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860

  • Kokichi Mikimoto, inventor of the cultured pearl, March 10, 1858 – September 21, 1954

  • Bernardo Alberto Houssay M.D., physiologist, shared the 1947 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Carl and Gerty Corifor his discovery of the role played by pituitary hormones in regulating the amount of blood sugar in animals, April 10, 1887 – September 21, 1971

  • Walter Brennan, character actor, the first actor to win three Academy Awards, and the only person to have won three Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor; starred in the TV series The Real McCoys, July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974

  • John Francis JACO Pastorius III, jazz bassist and innovator, and composer, known for his virtuoso technique and fretless bass playing style, in a solo and seesion career, and with Weather Report, December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987

  • Robert Lull [Robert L.] Forward, physicist and science fiction writer, inventor of the Forward Mass Detector, author of Dragon's Egg, Starquake, and Rocheworld.mong others, August 15, 1932 - September 21, 2002

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Today CLIII

Birthdays:

  • Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, pacifist, shared the 1907 Nobel Peace Prize with Louis Renault, September 20, 1833 – February 10, 1918

  • Sir James Dewar, chemist and physicist, developed a chemical formula for benzene; he performed extensive work in spectroscopy for more than 25 years; in 1891, he discovered a process to produce liquid oxygen in industrial quantities; he developed an insulating bottle, still called the Dewar flask, to study low temperature gas phenomena; he is credited as the inventor of the vacuum flask; with Sir Frederick Augustus Abel, he developed the explosive known as cordite, September 20, 1842 – March 27, 1923

  • Herbert Putnam, Litt.D., LL.D., Librarian of Congress from 1899–1939, September 20, 1861 – August 14, 1955

  • John SIDNEY Olcott, film producer, director, actor, and screenwriter, September 20, 1873 - December 16, 1949

  • Upton Beall Sinclair, author, who wrote over 90 books in many genres, often advocating socialist views; he gained particular fame for his novel, The Jungle, which dealt with conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906; he ran for governor of California in 1934 - Robert A. Heinlein was deeply involved in Sinclair's campaign - losing to Frank F. Merriam, after which he returned to writing, September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968

  • Fernando Casado D'Arambillet, aka Fernando Rey, film actor, whose work with Luis Buñuel during the 1960's and 1970's made him internationally famous, September 20, 1917 - March 9, 1994

  • J Troplong JAY Ward, creator and producer of animated television cartoons, known for producing animated series based on characters such as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Peabody and Sherman, Hoppity Hooper, George of the Jungle, Tom Slick and Super Chicken; two words: "Moose and Squirrel," September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989

  • William Kapell, pianist, September 20, 1922 – October 29, 1953

  • Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg, aka Gogi Grant, singer, whose 1956 hit The Wayward Wind reached Billboard magazine's number one spot; that year, she was voted most popular female vocalist by Billboard magazine, 1924

  • Sir John Dankworth, CBE, jazz composer, orchestrator, and performer, had violin and piano lessons before settling on the clarinet at the age of 16, and later adding the alto saxophone to his repertoire; he still performs today, including appearances and recordings with his wife, singer Dame Cleo Laine, 1927

  • Joyce Brothers, Ph.D., family psychologist and advice columnist, having published a daily syndicated newspaper column since 1960; she gained fame in 1955 by winning on The $64,000 Question, in the subject area of boxing, 1928

  • Anne Meara, comedienne and actress; she and husband Jerry Stiller were members of the The Compass Players, which later became Second City; as Stiller and Meara, they became regulars on The Ed Sullivan Show and other TV programs; she co-starred on Archie Bunker's Place as Veronica Rooney for the show's first three seasons, from 1979 to 1982; she apperaed as the grandmother on ALF and as Veronica on The King of Queens, 1929

  • Sofia Villani Scicolone, aka Sophia Loren, model and beauty queen, and film and stage actress, began her film career at age 16 with bit parts in mostly minor Italian films; in the 1950's, she became an international film star with a five-picture contract with Paramount Studios; among her films at this time were Desire Under the Elms, Houseboat, and Heller in Pink Tights; in 1960, her performance in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women earned many awards including the Cannes, Venice, and Berlin Film Festivals' prizes, and an Academy Award for Best Actress; other notable film roles were: Jimena in El Cid, Lucilla in The Fall of the Roman Empire, and Aldonza/Dulcinea in Man of La Mancha; in 1991, she received an honorary Academy Award for her contribution to world cinema, 1934

  • Dale Chihuly, glass sculptor, 1941

  • George Raymond Richard Martin, writer of science fiction and fantasy, journalism teacher, and chess tournament director, wrote short fiction in the early 1970's, winning several awards before he began writing novels late in the decade; a number of his earlier works are science fiction occurring in a loosely-defined future history; in the 1980's, he began working in television and as an editor; on TV, he worked on the new Twilight Zone; as an editor, he oversaw the lengthy Wild Cards cycle; in 1996, he returned to writing novel-length stories, beginning his lengthy cycle A Song of Ice and Fire, the fourth book of which A Feast for Crows, became The New York Times #1 Bestseller in November, 2005, and was nominated for both a Quill Award, and the British Fantasy Award; awards include: the 1975 Hugo Award for Best Novella for A Song for Lya, the 1980 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and Nebula Award for Best Novelette for Sandkings, the 1980 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for The Way of Cross and Dragon, the 1986 Nebula Award for Best Novelette for Portraits of His Children, the 1988 Bram Stoker Award for Long Fiction for The Pear-Shaped Man, the 1989 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella for The Skin Trade, and the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Novella for Blood of the Dragon, 1948

  • Charles Salvatore CHUCK Panozzo, bass player, and co-founder of Styx, 1948

  • John Anthony Panozzo, drummer and co-founder of Styx, September 20, 1948 - July 16, 1996

  • Guy Damien Lafleur, OC, CQ, former NHL hockey player, 1951

  • Gary Cole, actor, 1956

  • Charles Stuart Kaufman, screenwriter, 1958

  • Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, actress, 1964

  • Robert Rusler, film and television actor, whose first film was Weird Science, 1965

  • Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt, rock guitarist, 1966

  • Kristen Johnston, stage, film, and television actress, famous for her Emmy Award-winning role in the TV series 3rd Rock from the Sun, 1967

  • Gunnar Eric Nelson, musician, the son of the late Ricky Nelson, a member of the metal band Nelson since 1990, 1967
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  • Matthew Gray Nelson, musician, the son of the late Ricky Nelson, a member of the metal band Nelson since 1990, 1967

  • Leah Pinsent, television and film actress, 1968

  • Asia Anna Maria Argento, television and film actress and director, 1975

  • Namie Amuro, pop singer, 1977

  • Jason Raymond Bay, MLB left field for the Pittsburgh Pirates, NL Rookie of the Year and The Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year in 2004; NL All-Star in 2005 and 2006; represented Canada at the 2006 World Baseball Classic, 1978

  • Sara Hodedtov, aka Sarit Hadad, singer, plays piano, organ, guitar, accordion, and darbuka, 1978

  • Thomas John [T. J.] Tucker, MLB relief pitcher, 1978

  • Spencer Locke, actress, 1991


RIP:

  • Gilles de Binchois, composer, one of the earliest members of the Burgundian School, c. 1400 – September 20, 1460

  • Lodovico Agostini, composer, singer, priest, and scholar of the late Renaissance, 1534 – September 20, 1590

  • Claudio Saracini, composer, lutenist and singer of the early Baroque era, famous composer of monody, July 1, 1586 – September 20, 1630

  • Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, philologist, jurist, and mythologist, one of the Brothers Grimm, is best known as a recorder of fairy tales, January 4, 1785 — Berlin, September 20, 1863

  • Wovoka, aka Jack Wilson, was the Northern Paiute religious leader who founded the Ghost Dance movement, c. 1856 - September 20, 1932

  • Fiorello Enrico [Henry] LaGuardia, mayor of New York from 1934 to 1945l; LaGuardia Airport was named after him; the Laguardia Commission was the first in-depth study into the effects of smoking marijuana - it systematically debunked claims made by the U.S. Treasury Department that smoking marijuana would result in insanity - the report was prepared by the New York Academy of Medicine, on behalf of a commission appointed in 1939 by Mayor LaGuardia, December 11, 1882 – September 20, 1947

  • Jean Sibelius, composer of classical music, December 8, 1865 – September 20, 1957

  • Giorgos Seferiadis, aka Seferis, poet and diplomat, pursued a career in the Greek foreign service, culminating in his appointment as Ambassador to the UK, a post which he held from 1957 to 1962; awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize for Literature, February 19, 1900 – September 20, 1971

  • James Joseph JIM Croce, singer-songwriter, January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973

  • Alexis Léger, aka Saint-John Perse, poet and diplomat, awarded the 1960 Nobel Prize for Literature, May 31, 1887 – September 20, 1975

  • Jule Styne, songwriter; Mike Todd commissioned him to write a song for a musical act which he was creating, the first of over 1,500 published songs Styne would compose in his career; he began a collaboration with lyricist Sammy Cahn, with whom he wrote many songs for the movies, including It's Been a Long, Long Time, Five Minutes More, and the Oscar-winning Three Coins in the Fountain; in 1947, he wrote his first score for a Broadway musical, High Button Shoes, with Cahn, and over the next several decades wrote the scores for many Broadway shows; his collaborators included Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Stephen Sondheim, and Bob Merrill; he was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972 and the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1981; in 1990, he was a recipient of the Kennedy Centre Honours, December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994

  • Paul Erdös Ph.D., mathematician who worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, classical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory, March 26, 1913 – September 20, 1996

  • Gherman Stepanovich Titov, cosmonaut, the second person to orbit the Earth, September 11, 1935 – September 20, 2000

  • Szymon Wiesenthal, aka Simon Wiesenthal, KBE, architectural engineer who became a Nazi hunter after surviving the Holocaust; following four and a half years in the concentration camps of Janowska, Plaszow, and Mauthausen during World War II, he dedicated most of his life to tracking down, hunting, and gathering information on fugitive Nazis, so that they could be brought to justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity; the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Los Angeles is named in his honour, December 31, 1908 – Vienna, September 20, 2005