Today CLXXXIII

Birthdays:

• Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Gurus of the Sikhs, October 20, 1469 – September 22, 1539


• Carl Mikuli, pianist, composer, conductor, and teacher, known as an editor of works by his teacher, Frédéric Chopin, October 20, 1819 – May 21, 1897


• Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud, poet, October 20, 1854 – November 10, 1891


• Charles Edward Ives, composer, October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954


• Béla Ferenc Dezső Blaskó, aka Béla Lugosi, actor, best known for his portrayal of Dracula in the Broadway stage production, and subsequent film, of Bram Stoker's novel , October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956


• Daisy Juliette Baker, aka Margaret Dumont, comedic actress, remembered for being the comic foil to Groucho Marx in seven of the Marx Brothers movies, October 20, 1882 – March 6, 1965


• Ferdinand JELLY ROLL Morton, virtuoso pianist, bandleader, and jazz composer, October 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941


• Sir James Chadwick, physicist; for his discovery of the neutron, he was awarded the Hughes Medal of the Royal Society in 1932, and the 1935 Nobel Prize for Physics, October 20, 1891 – July 24, 1974


• Charles Joseph Parrott, Jr., aka Charley Chase, comedian, screenwriter, and film director, known for his work in Hal Roach short film comedies, October 20, 1893 - June 20, 1940


• Oliveretta Elaine Duffy, aka Olive Thomas, silent film actress, October 20, 1894 – September 10, 1920


• Florence Marjorie Robertson, aka Dame Anna Neagle DBE, actress and singer, October 20, 1904 – June 3, 1986


• Thomas Clement Douglas, PC, CC, SOM, MA, LL.D, Baptist minister and prominent Canadian social democratic politician; as leader of the Saskatchewan Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1942 and the seventh Premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961, he led the first socialist government in North America, and introduced universal public medicare to Canada; when the CCF united with the Canadian Labour Congress to form the New Democratic Party, he was elected as its first federal leader and served in that post from 1961 to 1971; he was grandfather of Kiefer Sutherland, October 20, 1904 – February 24, 1986


• Arline Francis Kazanjian, aka Arlene Francis, actress and TV personality, known for her long-standing role as a panelist on the television game show What's My Line?, October 20, 1907 - May 31, 2001


• Louis Marshall GRANDPA Jones, banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer, October 20, 1913 – February 19, 1998


• John Anderson, 6' 5.5" actor and director, known for several roles, including his recurring role in MacGyver as Harry Jackson, MacGyver's grandfather; earlier work included appearances in many Western series, October 20, 1922 – August 7, 1992


• Arthur ART Buchwald, humorist, best known for his long-running column in The Washington Post, which concentrates on political satire and commentary; in 1982, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary; in 1986, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1925


• Mickey Charles Mantle, MLB right fielder, played his entire 18-year major-league professional career for the New York Yankees; sixteen-time All-Star; he was the American League MVP in 1956, 1957, and 1962; in 1956, he won the Triple Crown, leading the majors with a .353 batting average, 52 HR, and 130 RBI; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974, October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995


• William Christopher, actor, best known for playing Father Mulcahy on TV's M*A*S*H, 1932


• Eddie Harris, jazz tenor saxophonist, October 20, 1934 – November 5, 1996


• Jerome Bernard JERRY Orbach, actor, known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order, and for his musical theatre roles, October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004


• Juan Antonio Marichal Sánchez, former MLB starting pitcher, elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983, 1937


• Wanda Jean Jackson, the first female rock and roll singer in the United States, releasing her debut record in 1956, often hailed as the Queen Of Rockabilly, 1937


• Iain MacMillan, photographer, best known for taking the cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road album, October 20, 1938 – May 8, 2006


• Earl John Hindman, actor, best known as Wilson W. Wilson, Jr. on the sitcom Home Improvement, October 20, 1942 – December 29, 2003


• Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, biologist, who won the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1991, and shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis for their research on the genetic control of embryonic development, 1942


• Elfriede Jelinek, feminist playwright and novelist, awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1946


• Thomas Earl TOM Petty, rock 'n' roll musician and producer, leader of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and solo artist, 1950


• Keith Hernandez, former MLB first baseman, who played from 1974 to 1990; five-time All-Star in 1979, 1980, 1984, 1986, and 1987; NL Most Valuable Player and Batting Champion in 1979; Gold Glove Award winner from 1978 to 1988; Silver Slugger Award winner in 1980 and 1984, 1953


• Steve Orich, composer, orchestrator and musical director, 1954


• Lynn Elizabeth Beaulieu, aka Lynn Flewelling, fantasy author, 1958


• Viggo Peter Mortensen, Jr., theatre and movie actor, poet, musician, photographer, and painter, best known for his role as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, 1958


• Ivo Pogorelic, pianist, 1958


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


• Julie Payette, astronaut, 1963


• William BILLY Zabka, actor, best known for his role as Johnny Lawrence in The Karate Kid and The Karate Kid, Part II, 1965


• Juan Alberto González Vázquez [Juan González], MLB right fielder, three-time All-Star, in 1993, 1998, and 2001, and AL MVP, in 1996 and 1998, 1969

RIP:

• Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer, and diplomat, known for his travels and explorations within Asia and Africa, as well as his extraordinary knowledge of languages and cultures, March 19, 1821 – October 20, 1890


• Max Christian Friedrich Bruch, composer and conductor, who wrote over 200 works, January 6, 1838 – October 20, 1920


• Arthur Henderson, politician and union leader, chaired the Geneva Disarmament Conference and was awarded the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize, September 13, 1863 – October 20, 1935


• Anne Sullivan, teacher, April 14, 1866 – October 20, 1936


• Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st President of the United States, August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964


• Carl Ferdinand Cori, biochemist, who shared the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with his wife Gerty Cori and physiologist Bernardo Houssay, for their discovery of how glycogen is broken down and resynthesized in the body, December 5, 1896 – October 20, 1984


• Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM FRS, theoretical physicist, and a founder of the field of quantum physics, shared the 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics with Erwin Schrödinger; held the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics at Cambridge, where he discovered the Dirac equation; Adric [an anagram of Dirac], on Doctor Who, was named after him, August 8, 1902 – October 20, 1984


• Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, mathematician, who made major advances in the fields of probability theory and topology, April 25, 1903 - October 20, 1987


• Sir John ANTHONY Quayle, actor and director; joined the Old Vic in 1932, after appearing in music hall; directed at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre from 1948 to 1956, and appeared in Shakespearian and contemporary plays; film roles included parts in Tarzan's Greatest Adventure, The Guns of Navarone, Lawrence of Arabia, and Anne of the Thousand Days, September 7, 1913 – October 20, 1989


• Joel Albert McCrea, film actor, November 5, 1905 - October 20, 1990


• Burton Stephen BURT Lancaster, film actor, November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994


• Jack Elam, film actor, who appeared mostly in westerns, November 13, 1918 — October 20, 2003


• Anthony Evan Hecht, poet, January 16, 1923 – October 20, 2004


• Charles Joseph Hiller, MLB second baseman who, in his eight seasons, hit .243 with 20 home runs in 2121 games; he hit the National League's first grand slam in World Series history in 1962; he was later a coach and advisor for the New York Mets, beginning in 1979, October 1, 1934 - October 20, 2004


• Shirley Valerie Horn, jazz singer and pianist, May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005