Today CXXXVII - Labour Day

Birthdays:

• Constantijn Huygens, poet and composer, September 4, 1596 - March 28, 1687


• Anton Bruckner, organist and composer, whose mature music was written at the end of the Romantic era, famous for his [nine] symphonies, masses, and motets, September 4, 1824 – October 11, 1896


• Darius Milhaud, composer and teacher, a member of Les Six - aka the Groupe des Six - and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century; in 1922, he discovered jazz, which left a great impact on his musical outlook; his students include: Morton Subotnick, Dave Brubeck, Burt Bacharach, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, September 4, 1892 – June 22, 1974


• Max Delbrück Ph.D., biophysicist; he and Salvador Luria demonstrated that bacterial resistance to virus infection is caused by random mutation and not adaptive change, and shared the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alfred Hershey, September 4, 1906 – March 9, 1981


• Edward Dmytryk, film director, served time in prison for being in contempt of Congress during the McCarthy era red scare, September 4, 1908 - July 1, 1999


• Richard Nathaniel Wright, author of novels, short stories, and non-fiction, wrote a collection of short stories, Uncle Tom's Children in 1937, followed by the novel Native Son in 1940; also wrote Black Boy and American Hunger, amomg others; in the last years of his life, he wrote over 4,000 haiku, of which 817 were published in Haiku: This Other World, September 4, 1908 – November 28, 1960


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


• John McCarthy Ph.D., computer scientist, received the Turing Award in 1971 for his major contributions to the field of Artificial Intelligence, a term he coined in 1955; invented the Lisp programming language in 1960; in 2003, won the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science, 1927


• Richard Allen DICK York, radio, stage, and television actor, played the role of Bertram Cates, the young teacher charged with teaching the theory of evolution, in the 1960 film Inherit the Wind, starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly; best known as the first actor to play Darrin Stephens in the sitcom Bewitched, September 4, 1928 – February 20, 1992


• Francesca Marlene de Czanyi [or de Charney] von Gerber, aka Mitzi Gaynor, actress, singer, and dancer, whose biggest success was her starring role in the film version of South Pacific, 1931


• Dinsdale Landen, actor, known mainly for his television appearances; in 1989, he appeared in Doctor Who as Dr. Judson in the serial The Curse of Fenric, September 4, 1932 - December 29, 2003


• Professor Sir Clive William John Granger, economist and educator, shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics with Robert Engle, 1934


• Danny Gatton, guitarist, whose playing combined musical styles such as jazz, blues and rockabilly in an innovative fashion, known by some as "the telemaster" or "the world's greatest unknown guitarist," September 4, 1945 – October 4, 1994


• Gary Grubb, aka Gary Duncan, musician, guitarist for Quicksilver Messenger Service, 1946


• Greg Elmore, musician, drummer for Quicksilver Messenger Service, 1946


• Martin Chambers, musician, drummer for The Pretenders, 1951


• Khandi Alexander, dancer, choreographer, and film and television actress, played Catherine Duke on NewsRadio and Jackie Robbins on ER; currently portrays Alexx Woods on CSI: Miami, 1957


• Patricia Tallman, actress and stunt performer, worked on the soap opera Generations; had guest-starring roles on Tales from the Dark Side, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Babylon 5 as Lyta Alexander, 1957


• Michael Joseph MIKE Piazza, MLB catcher, currently playing for the San Diego Padres, generally considered the top-hitting catcher of all time; 12-time All-Star; on May 5, 2004, Piazza passed Carlton Fisk for most home runs by a catcher with his 352nd; won the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1993; represented Italy in the 2006 World Baseball Classic; won 10 consecutive Silver Slugger Awards; hit more than 30 home runs in eight consecutive seasons from 1995 to 2002; has nine career 30-homer seasons; hit .300 in nine consecutive seasons from 1993 to 2001; 1996 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, 1968

RIP:

• Edvard Hagerup Grieg, composer and pianist, best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor and his incidental music to Peer Gynt, June 15, 1843 – September 4, 1907


• José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, mathematician, statesman, and dramatist, shared the 1904 Nobel Prize for Literature with Frédéric Mistral, April 19, 1832 – September 4, 1916


• Albert Schweitzer, M.D., OM, theologian, musician [organist], philosopher, and physician, whose worldview was based on his idea of reverence for life, awarded the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon, west central Africa, January 14, 1875 – September 4, 1965


• Jean Rostand, biologist and philosopher, famous for his work as a science writer, as well as philosopher and activist, October 30, 1894 - September 4, 1977


• Henry Benjamin HANK Greenberg, MLB first baseman and outfielder, AL Most Valuable Player, 1935 and 1940; AL All-Star team, 1937 to 1940, and 1945; elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956; in 1948, became the Cleveland Indians' farm system director and, two years later, their general manager and part-owner along with Bill Veeck; followed Veeck to the Chicago White Sox as part-owner, selling his share of the White Sox in 1961, January 1, 1911 – September 4, 1986


• Irene Marie Dunn, aka Irene Dunne, film actress, one of the most famous screwball comediennes of her time, remembered for performance in The Awful Truth, and as Martha Hanson in I Remember Mama; introduced the song Smoke Gets in Your Eyes in the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film Roberta; other roles included Anna Owens in Anna and the King of Siam and Vinnie in Life with Father; received five Oscar nominations for Best Actress, December 20, 1898 - September 4, 1990


• Thomas TOM Tryon, film and television actor, and author of science fiction, horror, and mystery novels, whose early film roles were mostly in B-horror and science fiction films, and in westerns; starred in the Texas John Slaughter series on The Wonderful World of Disney in the 1950's; nominated for a Golden Globe in 1963 for his role in The Cardinal; in 1969, began writing horror and mystery novels, including The Other and Harvest Home; the son of silent screen actor Glen Tryon, January 14, 1926 – September 4, 1991


• Dorothy Marie Marsh, aka Dottie West, country music singer, one of country music's most popular female vocalists for more than three decades, October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991


• Charles Daly Barnet, jazz saxophonist and bandleader, one of the first leaders to integrate his band [in the mid-1930's]; in 1947 he started to switch from swing to bop, October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991


• Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize, actor, painter, and activist, who achieved fame for his role as Tattoo on Fantasy Island; also well known for playing Nick Nack in The Man with the Golden Gun, April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993


• William Moses Kunstler, lawyer, civil rights activist, and educator, a director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1964 to 1972, when he became a member of the ACLU National Council; in 1969, cofounded the Center for Constitutional Rights; defended many controversial clients, including Lenny Bruce, H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Jack Ruby, Abbie Hoffman, Angela Davis, Jerry Rubin, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and the Chicago Seven, July 7, 1919 - September 4, 1995


• Vlado Perlemuter, pianist and educator, whose international career spanned over seventy years; recorded the complete Mozart sonatas, the entire piano works of Ravel, as well as works by Chopin, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt and Fauré; gave his final concerts at the age of 89, May 26, 1904 - September 4, 2002


• Tibor Varga, violinist, conductor, and recording artist, made his first public appearance at the age of 6, performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto at 10, and began touring Europe when he was 14, July 4, 1921 – September 4, 2003


• Lola Bobesco, violinist and educator, gave her first recital at the age of 6; in 1958, founded the chamber orchestra of Wallonia; recorded sonatas of Beethoven, Fauré, Brahms, Franck, and Debussy, as well as baroque music, August 9, 1921 – September 4, 2003


• Murray Irwin MOE Norman, professional golfer, July 10, 1929 - September 4, 2004


• Stephen Robert STEVE Irwin, naturalist and television personality, best known for his TV programme The Crocodile Hunter; owned and operated the Australia Zoo at Beerwah in Queensland and fronted several conservation efforts; shortly after 11:00 AM local time today, he was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while diving off Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, February 22, 1962 – September 4, 2006


• Colin Thiele, author and educator, known for his award-winning children's fiction, most notably the novel Storm Boy; served with the RAAF during World War II; taught in high schools and colleges; published almost 80 books, which often described life in rural Australia, several of which have been made into movies, including Sun on the Stubble, The Fire in the Stone, Blue Fin, and Storm Boy, November 16, 1920 – September 4, 2006