Today CXCIV

Birthdays:

• Philippe de Vitry, composer, music theorist, and poet, the defining music theorist of the early Ars Nova, and an accomplished, innovative, and influential composer, October 31, 1291 – June 9, 1361


• Johannes [or Jan] Vermeer, painter, who specialized in domestic interior scenes of ordinary bourgeois life, baptized October 31, 1632 - December 15, 1675


• John Keats, poet of the English Romantic movement, October 31, 1795 – February 23, 1821


• Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass, mathematician, who is often called the "father of modern analysis," October 31, 1815 – February 19, 1897


• Paolo Mantegazza, neurologist, physiologist, anthropologist, and writer of fiction, known for the isolation of cocaine from coca leaves and his experimental investigation into its effects on the human psyche, October 31, 1831 - 1910


• Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer, chemist, who synthesized indigo, awarded the 1905 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, October 31, 1835 - August 20, 1917


• Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon Low, youth leader and, in 1912, the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA, October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927


• Chiang Kai-shek, military and political leader, who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the 1925 death of Sun Yat-sen; he commmanded the Northern Expedition to unify China against the warlords and emerged victorious in 1928 as the overall leader of the Republic of China; during the Chinese Civil War, he attempted to eradicate the Chinese Communists, but ultimately failed, forcing his government to retreat to Taiwan, where he continued serving as the President of the Republic of China and Director-General of the KMT for the remainder of his life, October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975


• Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine, chess Grandmaster, the fourth World Chess Champion, October 31, 1892 – March 24, 1946


• Ethel Waters, blues vocalist, performed jazz, big band, gospel, and popular music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts; played Jeanne Crain's worldly-wise grandmother in the 1949 film Pinky, a performance that earned her an Academy Award nomination, making her only the second black actress, after Hattie McDaniel, to be thus nominated, October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977


• Lucille Wood Smith, aka Frances Octavia Smith, aka Dale Evans, writer, movie star, and singer-songwriter, the wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers, October 31, 1912 – February 7, 2001


• Thomas Hill film and television actor, 1917


• Ian Stevenson, psychiatrist, the founder of scientific research on reincarnation, 1918


• Helmut Neustädter, aka Helmut Newton, fashion photographer, noted for his nude studies of women, October 31, 1920 – January 23, 2004


• Barbara Bel Geddes, actress, October 31, 1922 – August 8, 2005


• Jean-Baptiste ILLINOIS Jacquet, jazz tenor saxophonist, October 31, 1922 - July 22, 2004


• Sir John Anthony Pople Ph.D., theoretical chemist, who received his doctorate degrees in mathematics from Cambridge University; he shared the 1998 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Walter Kohn; he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1961, and knighted in 2003, October 31, 1925 – March 15, 2004


• Lyova Haskell Rosenthal, aka Lee Grant, theatre, film, and television actress, and film director who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950's; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1975 for Shampoo; she guest starred on Empty Nest, a TV series in which her daughter, Dinah Manoff, was a regular, 1927


• Cleouna CLEO Moore, actress, October 31, 1928 - October 25, 1973


• Eddie Charlton AM, professional snooker and billiards player, October 31, 1929 - November 7, 2004


• Michael Collins, former astronaut and test pilot; selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space on two missions: Gemini 10 and Apollo 11, 1930


• Daniel Irvin Rather, Jr., former longtime anchor for the CBS Evening News, and contributor to 60 Minutes; he is now under contract and scheduled to serve as managing editor and anchor of a new television newsmagazine, Dan Rather Reports, on the new cable channel HDNet, starting in October, 2006, 1931


• Michael Landon, actor, producer, and director, October 31, 1936 - July 1, 1991


• Thomas R. TOM Paxton, folk singer and singer-songwriter, 1937


• Ron Rifkin, film, stage, and television actor and director, who won a 1998 Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in the Broadway revival of Cabaret; he recently starred as Arvin Sloane on Alias from 2001 to 2006, 1939


• David Arthur DAVE McNally, MLB left-handed starting pitcher from 1962 until 1975; he is famous as the only pitcher to have hit a grand slam home run, and thereby win his own game in a world series; he is also known for his role in the historic 1975 Seitz decision which led to the downfall of major league baseball's reserve clause, and ushered in the current era of free agency; McNally and Andy Messersmith were the only two players in 1975 playing on the one year reserve clause in effect at the time - neither had signed a contract at the time, but both were held with their team under the rule; the two challenged the rule, and won their free agency, October 31, 1942 – December 1, 2002


• Paul H. Frampton, theoretical physicist, 1943


• Richard S. KINKY Friedman, singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician, and former columnist for Texas Monthly, 1944


• Brian Doyle-Murray, comedian, screenwriter, actor, and voice actor, the oldest brother of Bill Murray, 1945


• Russ Ballard, singer/songwriter and musician, who played for Unit 4 + 2 in the early 1960's, before becoming the lead singer and guitarist of Argent, which he left in 1973 pursuing a solo and songwriting career,
  1945


• Norman Lovett, stand-up comedian and actor, known for the role of Holly on Red Dwarf during the first, second, seventh, and eighth series, 1946


• John Franklin Candy,comedian and actor, who rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City; he appeared in such films as Stripes, The Blues Brothers, Uncle Buck, and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994


• Margaret JANE Pauley, television news anchor and journalist, 1950


• Bernard Edwards, bass player and record producer, both as a member of CHIC and on his own, October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996


• Michael J. Anderson, actor, known for his role as the Man from another place on Twin Peaks and its film prequel, Fire Walk With Me, 1953


• Neal Town Stephenson, writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk genre, with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science; he also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine, 1959


• Michael Anthony Gallego, former MLB infielder, who played from 1985 to 1997; he became the Colorado Rockies' third base and infield coach in December 2004, 1960


• Peter Jackson CNZM, filmmaker, known as the director of The Lord of the Rings, and the remake of King Kong, 1961


• Kate Campbell, folk singer/songwriter, 1961


• Frederick Stanley FRED "Crime Dog" McGriff, former MLB left-handed first baseman, who led the majors in home runs in 1989 and 1992; he as an All-Star in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2000, and the 1994 All-Star Game MVP, 1963


• John Martin Maher, aka Johnny Marr, guitarist, keyboardist, harmonica player, and singer, best known as the man behind the music of The Smiths, 1963


• Dermot Mulroney, actor, 1963


• Myint Myint Aye , aka Annabella Lwin, singer, the former lead singer of Bow Wow Wow, who created some controversy by posing nude - at the age of fifteen - for the cover of the group's first full-length album; she left the group in 1983 to embark on a solo career, 1965


• Piper Lisa Perabo, movie actress, one of the lead characters in the 2000 film The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, 1976

RIP:

• Lionardo Oronzo Salvatore de Leo, aka Leonardo Leo, composer, August 5, 1694 – October 31, 1744


• Francesco Maria Veracini, composer and violinist, known for his violin sonatas and violin concertos, February 1, 1690 – October 31, 1768


• Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle, aka Max Linder, pioneer of silent film, December 16, 1883 – October 31, 1925


• Ehrich Weiss [Weisz], aka Harry Houdini, magician, escapologist, stunt performer, and investigator of spiritualists, March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926


• Otto Rosenfeld, aka Otto Rank, psychologist, a prolific writer on psychoanalytic themes, an editor of the two most important analytic journals, managing director of Freud's publishing house, and a creative theorist, April 22, 1884 – October 31, 1939


• Maximilian Goldmann, aka Max Reinhardt, director and actor, September 9, 1873 - October 31, 1943


• Jean Cabannes, physicist, specialising in optics; the lunar crater Cabannes is named after him, August 12, 1885 - October 31, 1959


• Indira Priyadarsins Gandhi, Prime Minister of India from January 19, 1966 to March 24, 1977, and again from January 14, 1980 until her assassination on October 31, 1984; she was the daughter of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and mother of another, Rajiv Gandhi, November 19, 1917 – October 31, 1984


• Eduardo De Filippo, actor, playwright, screenwriter, author and poet, May 24, 1900 - October 31, 1984


• Robert Sanderson Mulliken, physicist and chemist, primarily responsible for the elaboration of the molecular orbital method of computing the structure of molecules; awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, June 7, 1896 – October 31, 1986


• Joseph John Campbell, professor, writer, and orator, best known for his work in the fields of comparative mythology and comparative religion; his widest popular recognition came from his collaboration with Bill Moyers on the PBS series The Power of Myth, which was first broadcast in 1988, a series which presented his ideas on archetypes to millions and remains a staple on PBS; a companion book, The Power of Myth, containing expanded transcripts of their conversations, was released shortly afterward, March 26, 1904 – October 31, 1987


• 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 Papp, theatrical producer and director, June 22, 1921 - October 31, 1991


• Federico Fellini, film-maker, whose films typically combine memory, dreams, fantasy, and desire, January 20, 1920 – October 31, 1993


• River Jude Phoenix, film actor, died of a drug overdose at age 23, August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993


• Rosalind Cash, actress, whose career endured on stage, screen, and television, despite her staunch refusal to portray stereotyped "black" roles, December 31, 1938 – October 31, 1995


• Marcel Carné, film director, August 18, 1906 - October 31, 1996


• Ringgold W. RING Lardner, Jr., journalist and screenwriter, blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studios the era of McCarthyism; worked as a publicist and "script doctor" before writing his own material; won an Academy Award for Original Screenplay in 1942 for Woman of the Year and an Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay in 1970 for M*A*S*H, August 19, 1915 – October 31, 2000


• Richard Elliott Neustadt, political historian, specializing in the United States presidency, and advisor to several presidents, June 26, 1919 - October 31, 2003