Today CLXXXVI

Birthdays:

• Samuel Morey, inventor, who invented an internal combustion engine and was a pioneer in steamships; he accumulated a total of 20 patents, October 23, 1762 - April 17, 1843


• Gustav ALBERT Lortzing, composer, October 23, 1801 - January 21, 1851


• Adlai Ewing Stevenson I, congressman, the twenty-third vice-president of the United States, whose grandson Adlai Ewing Stevenson II was the Democratic candidate for president of the United States in 1952 and 1956, October 23, 1835 – June 14, 1914


• Henriette Rosine Bernard, aka Sarah Bernhardt, stage and silent film actress, October 23, 1844 – March 26, 1923


• Gilbert Newton Lewis, physical chemist, best known for the 1902 valence bond theory, which he developed in coordination with Irving Langmuir; his 1923 textbook Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances, written with Merle Randall is one of the founding books in chemical thermodynamics; in 1926, he coined the term photon for the smallest unit of radiant energy, October 23, 1875 - March 23, 1946


• Agnes Teresa McGlade, aka Una O'Connor, theatre actress and film character actress, October 23, 1880 – February 4, 1959


• Lawren Stewart Harris, CC, painter, a member of the Group of Seven; at some point, he stopped signing and dating his paintings so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted, October 23, 1885 – January 29, 1970


• Milton Marx, aka Gummo Marx, actor, October 23, 1892 - April 21, 1977


• Raymond Bloom RUBE Bressler, MLB left-handed pitcher from 1914 to 1920, before being converted to an outfielder and first baseman from 1918 to 1931, October 23, 1894 - November 7, 1966


• Felix Bloch, physicist; he and Edward Mills Purcell were awarded the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics for their development of new methods for nuclear magnetic precision measurements, October 23, 1905 – September 10, 1983


• Ilya Mikhailovich Frank, physicist, shared the 1958 Nobel Prize for Physics with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Igor Y. Tamm for his work in explaining the phenomenon of Cherenkov radiation, October 23, 1908 – June 22, 1990


• Zellig Sabbetai Harris, linguist, mathematical syntactician, and methodologist of science, October 23, 1909 - May 22, 1992


• Doris Jensen, aka Coleen Gray, movie and television actress, 1922


• Ned Rorem, composer and diarist, 1923


• Frank Sutton, actor, known for his role as drill sergeant Vince Carter on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., October 23, 1923 - June 28, 1974


• John William JOHNNY Carson, actor, comedian, and writer, best known as the host of The Tonight Show, October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005


• James Paul David JIM Bunning, politician and former MLB pitcher from 1955 to 1971, elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame via Veterans Committee in 1996; he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999; he has served in the U. S. Senate since 1999, 1931


• Diana Mary Fluck, aka Diana Dors, actress, October 23, 1931 – May 4, 1984


• Juan Antonio CHI-CHI Rodríguez, former professional golfer, 1935


• Philip Kaufman, film director and screenwriter, 1936


• John MICHAEL Crichton, M.D., author, film producer, film director, and television producer, 1942


• Ang Lee, film director, who won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Director for Brokeback Mountain; directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 1954


• Dwight David Yoakam, musician, songwriter, and actor, 1956


• Nancy Grace, talk show host and former prosecutor, who frequently discusses issues from a victims' rights perspective, 1958


• Samuel Marshall Raimi, film director, producer, and writer, producer of TV's Xena: Warrior Princess, featuring his younger brother Ted Raimi, and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and director of the Spider-Man films, 1959


• Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic, musician, satirist, parodist, accordionist, and television producer, known for his humorous songs which make light of popular culture, parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts, or both, 1959


• Douglas Richard DOUG Flutie, former CFL and NFL football player, 1962


• Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz, aka Robert Trujillo, bassist, currently playing for Metallica, since 2003, 1964


• Alois Terry AL Leiter, former MLB left-handed starting pitcher, who played from 1987 to 2005, and broadcaster; All-Star in 1996 and 2000; Branch Rickey Award winner in 1999; Roberto Clemente Award in 2000; he pitched a no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies on May 11, 1996; on April 30, 2002, he became the first pitcher to have defeated all 30 MLB teams, 1965


• Rhea Alexandria Devlugt, aka Jasmin St. Claire, actress, 1970


• Odalys García, actress, model, singer, and show host, 1975


• Pedro Antonio Liriano, minor league relief pitcher, 1980

RIP:

• John Boyd Dunlop, inventor, who developed the first practical pneumatic tire in 1887, and founded Dunlop Tyres, February 5, 1840 – October 23, 1921


• Pearl Zane Gray, aka Zane Grey, author of popular adventure novels and pulp fiction that presented an idealized image of the rugged Old West, January 31, 1872 - October 23, 1939


• Ralph Reichenthal, aka Ralph Rainger, composer of popular music, principally for films, October 7, 1901 – October 23, 1942


• Charles Glover Barkla, physicist, who evolved the laws of X-ray scattering, and the laws governing the transmission of X rays through matter and excitation of secondary rays; for his discovery of the characteristic X-rays of elements, he received the 1917 Nobel Prize in Physics, and was awarded the Royal Society's Hughes Medal that same year, June 7, 1877 – October 23, 1944


• Asa Yoelson, aka Al Jolson, singer and actor, May 26, 1885 or 1886 - October 23, 1950


• "Mother" Maybelle Carter, nee Addington, country music musician, who was the guitarist, and also played autoharp and banjo, for the Carter Family, May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978


• Dr. Edward Adelbert Doisy, biochemist, who shared the 1943 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Henrik Dam for their discovery of vitamin K and its chemical structure, November 3, 1893 – October 23, 1986


• Robert Anton BOB Grim, MLB pitcher, 1954 Al Rookie of the Year, and 1957 All-Star, March 8, 1930 - October 23, 1996


• Bert Haanstra, film and documentary director; in 1958, his documentary Glas, about the production of glass, won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject, May 31, 1916 - October 23, 1997


• Barnett Slepian, physician, murdered in his home by an anti-abortion activist, the fourth doctor and seventh person in the USA to be killed because of their involvement with performing abortions; not fucking acceptable!, October 21, 1946 – October 23, 1998


• Ronald William JOSH Kirby, commercial artist, who painted film-posters and magazine and book covers; creating a total of over 400 cover paintings, his personal preference was for science fiction covers, November 27, 1928 – October 23, 2001


• Adolph Green, lyricist and playwright, who wrote most of his songs, plays, and movies with Betty Comden, December 2, 1914 – October 23, 2002


• Morris (Moishe) Miller, aka Robert Merrill, operatic baritone, June 4, 1919 – October 23, 2004