Today CC

Birthdays:

• Jean-Baptiste Breval, cellist and composer, who wrote a great many instrumental pieces, including symphonies, at least two cello concertos, 2 cello sonatas, various chamber music, and a comic opera; he also wrote Traité du Violoncelle, a cello method, November 6, 1753 - March 18, 1823


• Antoine-Joseph [Adolphe] Sax, musical instrument designer, who invented the saxophone, November 6, 1814 – February 4, 1894


• John Philip Sousa, known as "The March King," composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known particularly for American military marches, November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932


• Ignacy Jan Paderewski, pianist, composer, diplomat, and politician, the third Prime Minister of Poland, November 6, 1860 – June 29, 1941


• James Naismith, M.A., M.D., D.D, physical education teacher and coach, the inventor of basketball, and the first to introduce the use of a helmet in American football, November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939


• Walter Perry Johnson, MLB right-handed pitcher, the premier power pitcher of his era, believed to have thrown as high as 99 miles per hour from a sidearm angle; in a 21-year career, he had twelve 20-win seasons, including ten in a row; twice he topped thirty wins - 33 in 1912 and 36 in 1913; his record includes 110 shutouts, the most in baseball history; he won the triple crown for pitchers in 1913, 1918, and 1924; he was the AL Most Valuable Player in 1913 and 1924; his 3,508 career strikeout record stood for 56 years; , until Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, and Gaylord Perry (in that order) broke it in 1983; his ERA of 1.14 in 1913 is one of the lowest of all; he compiled a career batting average of .235, including a record .433 average in 1925; his career record is 417 wins and 279 losses (.599), in 802 games played, 666 started, with 531 complete games, and a career ERA of 2.17; he was one of the first five electees to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, November 6, 1887 - December 10, 1946


• Harold Wallace Ross, journalist and founder of The New Yorker magazine, which he edited from the magazine's inception in 1925 until his death, November 6, 1892 - December 6, 1951


• Edsel Bryant Ford, son of Henry Ford, president of Ford Motor Company from 1919 to 1943, November 6, 1893 – May 26, 1943


• Jonathan Charasuchin, aka Jonathan Harris, stage and character actor, best known for his TV work as Bradford Webster on The Third Man, and Dr. Zachary Smith on Lost in Space; he portrayed Charles Dickens in a 1963 episode of Bonanza; he appeared in two 1961 episodes of The Twilight Zone, November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002


• Joseph Raymond RAY Conniff, musician, trombonist, arranger, and bandleader, November 6, 1916 - October 12, 2002


• Michael Igor Peschkowsky, aka Mike Nichols, film and stage director, known for directing The Graduate and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; he was part of a comedy team with Elaine May; he won the Academy Award for Best Director in 1967 for The Graduate; he has also won several Emmy Awards and nine Tony Awards, 1931


• Stonewall Jackson, country musician, named after his ancestor, General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson; his most popular song was 1959's Waterloo, 1932


• Mack Jones, MLB left fielder; in an 11-year career, he was a .252 hitter with 133 home runs, 415 RBI, 485 runs, 132 doubles, 31 triples, and 65 stolen bases in 1002 games, November 6, 1938 – June 8, 2004


• James Marcus Smith, aka P. J. Proby, singer, songwriter, and actor, 1938


• Jim Pike, vocalist, original member of The Lettermen, who sang the signature high falsetto for the group, 1938


• Michael MICKEY Schwerner, civil rights worker, murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, November 6, 1939 – June 21, 1964


• Sally Margaret Field Mahoney, actress, who achieved fame at age 20 as Sister Bertrille in the sitcom The Flying Nun; in the 1976 TV film Sybil, she portrayed the title character, a young woman afflicted with multiple personality syndrome, winning an Emmy Award in 1977; she won an Emmy in 2001 for her recurring role on ER as Dr. Abby Lockhart's bipolar mother; she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1979 for Norma Rae and in 1984 for Places in the Heart, 1946


• Glenn Lewis Frey, musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, one of the founding members of the Eagles, 1948


• Robert Creel BRAD Davis, actor, known for his role in the 1978 film Midnight Express; he was a descendant of Jefferson Davis, November 6, 1949 - September 8, 1991


• Arturo Sandoval, jazz trumpeter and pianist, 1949


• Lori Jacqueline Singer, actress, who appeared in the 1984 film Footloose and, on TV, in Fame and VR 5; her brothers are actor Marc Singer and violinist and rare instrument dealer Gregory Singer, and her cousin is director Bryan Singer, 1957


• Kerry Scott Conran, filmmaker; he is the screenwriter and director of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and invented the design technology behind it, 1964


• Paul Brandon Gilbert, guitarist, known for his work with Racer X and Mr. Big; after his departure from Mr. Big in 1996, he pursued a solo career, 1966


• Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer, actress, who co-starred with Pam Dawber on the sitcom My Sister Sam from 1986 to 1988; she was shot and killed by an obsessive fan who stalked her for three years through letters and attempted entry to the My Sister Sam set, November 6, 1967 - July 18, 1989


• Ethan Green Hawke, actor, writer, and film director, 1970


• Thandie [Thandiwe] Newton, actress, 1972


• Rebecca Romijn, actress and former model, 1972


• Deivi Cruz Garcia, former MLB shortstop, currently playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League; he played in the majors for nine seasons, from 1997 to 2005; in 1,234 career games, he has a .269 batting average with 70 home runs; he was released by the St. Louis Cardinals on March 30, 2006, and signed with the Bluefish on June 10th, 2006, 1972

R.I.P.:

• Antoine Busnois, composer and poet of the early Renaissance Burgundian School, composing both sacred music, such as motets, and secular chansons, c. 1430 – November 6, 1492


• Jean-Baptiste Morin, mathematician, astrologer, and astronomer, a firm believer of the idea that the Earth remained fixed in space, February 23, 1583 — November 6, 1656


• John Bevis, doctor and astronomer, best known for discovering the Crab Nebula in 1731, October 31, 1693 – November 6, 1771


• Claude Louis Berthollet, chemist; along with Antoine Lavoisier and others, he devised a chemical nomenclature, which serves as the basis of the modern system of naming chemical compounds; he also carried out research into dyes and bleaches, introducing the use of chlorine as a bleach, and determined the composition of ammonia, December 9, 1748 – November 6, 1822


• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer, whose music has come to be known and loved for its distinctly Russian character as well as its rich harmonies and stirring melodies; his works, however, were much more western than those of his Russian contemporaries as he effectively used international elements in addition to national folk melodies; is well known for his ballets, although it was only in his last years, with his last two ballets, that his contemporaries came to really appreciate his finer qualities as a ballet music composer; completed ten operas, May 7, 1840 – November 6, 1893


• Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin, biochemist, who shared the 1929 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Arthur Harden for their investigations on the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes, February 15, 1873 – November 6, 1964


• Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, composer, whose music features an emphasis on timbre and rhythm; he was the inventor of the term "organized sound," a phrase meaning that certain timbres and rhythms can be grouped together, sublimating into a whole new definition of sound; his use of new instruments and electronic resources led to his being known as the "Father of Electronic Music," December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965


• Clarence Williams, jazz pianist, composer, promoter, and vocalist, theatrical producer, and publisher, October 8, 1898 – November 6, 1965


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


• Elisabeth Grümmer, operatic soprano, March 31, 1911 – November 6, 1986


• Zohar Orkabi, aka Zohar Argov, Israeli oriental Mizrahi style singer, July 16, 1955 - November 6, 1987


• Gene Eliza Tierney, actress and former model, remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura in 1944, November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991


• Marcel Gauthier, aka Sky Low Low, midget wrestler, 1928 - November 6, 1998


• David Ross Brower, environmentalist and founder of many environmentalist organizations, July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000


• Lyon Sprague de Camp, science fiction and fantasy author; in a writing career spanning fifty years, he wrote over one hundred novels, as well as works of nonfiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors; he won the Nebula Award as a Grandmaster in 1978, and the Hugo Award in 1997 for his autobiography Time and Chance; in 1976, he received the World Science Fiction Society's Gandalf Grand Master award; in 1995, he won the first Sidewise Award for Alternate History Lifetime Achievement Award, November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000