Today CCV - Rememberance Day

Birthdays:

• Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, author, whose works often feature characters living in poor conditions with disparate and extreme states of mind, and exhibit both an uncanny grasp of human psychology as well as penetrating analyses of the political, social, and spiritual states of Russia of his time; he is sometimes considered to be a founder of existentialism, most frequently for Notes from Underground; he also wrote Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed, and The Brothers Karamazov, among other works, November 11, 1821 – February 9, 1881


• Alfred Hermann Fried, pacifist, publicist, journalist, and co-founder of the German peace movement, who shared the 1911 Nobel Peace Prize with Tobias Asser; he was one of the first to conceive the idea of an organization to assure world-wide peace, November 11, 1864 - May 5, 1921


• Ernest Alexandre Ansermet, conductor, the Principal Conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande from 1918 to 1967, November 11, 1883 – February 20, 1969


• George Smith Patton, Jr., soldier, a leading U.S. Army general in World War II; in his 36-year Army career, he was an advocate of armored warfare and commanded major units of North Africa, Sicily, and the European Theater of Operations, November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945


• Roland Young, actor, who made his Hollywood debut in the 1922 silent film Sherlock Holmes, in which he played Doctor Watson opposite John Barrymore; he is best known for creating the title role in the comedy film Topper and its sequels, November 11, 1887, London - June 5, 1953


• Walter James Vincent RABBIT Maranville, MLB shortstop, who played for 23 seasons, compiling a .258 batting average, 1255 runs, 28 home runs, 884 RBI, and 291 stolen bases; as a shortstop, he finished his career with 5,139 putouts; he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954, November 11, 1891 - January 5, 1954


• René Clair, filmmaker; the prize for film awarded by the Académie Française is named after him, November 11, 1898 – March 15, 1981


• William Joseph Patrick PAT O'Brien, movie actor with over 100 screen credits, who began appearing in movies, many times playing Irish cops or priests, in the 1930's, starting with the role of reporter Hildy Johnson in the original version of The Front Page in 1931; he appeared with James Cagney in eight movies, including Angels with Dirty Faces in 1938, and Cagney's last film, Ragtime, in 1981, November 11, 1899 – October 15, 1983


• Samuel P. SAM Spiegel, independent film producer, who immigrated to the United States in 1935; between 1935 and 1954, he billed himself as S.P. Eagle; he won the Academy Award for Best Picture for Elia Kazan's On The Waterfront, 1954, and twice more for his collaborations with director David Lean - Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957, and Lawrence of Arabia, 1962; in 1963, he was awarded the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award for his many contributions to cinema, November 11, 1901 – December 31, 1985


• John HENRY Constantine Whitehead Ph.D., mathematician, who was one of the founders of homotopy theory; during the Second World War, he worked on operations research for submarine warfare; he founded the journal Topology; he was the nephew of Alfred North Whitehead, November 11, 1904 – May 8, 1960


• Robert Bushnell Ryan, actor, who played hardened cops and ruthless villains throughout his career; he attempted to make a career in show business as a playwright, but had to turn to acting to support himself; he appeared in many movies, including Crossfire, Bad Day at Black Rock, Odds Against Tomorrow, The Longest Day, Battle of the Bulge, The Dirty Dozen, The Professionals, and The Wild Bunch, November 11, 1909 - July 11, 1973


• Bernard Kotzin, aka Stubby Kaye, comic actor, known for the role of Nicely-Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls and Marryin' Sam in Li'l Abner, both of which roles he played on stage and screen; his last featured role was as Marvin Acme in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?; he also made a guest appearance on the Doctor Who serial Delta and the Bannermen, November 11, 1918 – December 14, 1997


• Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., novelist, known for blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction in such works as Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions, 1922


• Jonathan Harshman Winters III comedian and comedic actor; beginning as a stand-up comic with a madcap wildness, he recorded many classic comedy albums; he has appeared in nearly 50 movies, and several television shows, including roles in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and in the film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One; on TV, he appeared in his own show The Wacky World of Jonathan Winters from 1972 to 1974, and as Mork's infant son Mirth on Mork & Mindy; he has also done dramatic work, such as the Twilight Zone episode A Game of Pool; in 1999, he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor; currently, he paints, and has been presented in one-man shows of his art; in 1997, he published Winters' Tales: Stories and Observations for the Unusual, 1925


• Harry Lumley, NHL goaltender, November 11, 1926 – September 13, 1998


• Delores Baker, aka LaVern Baker, Rhythm & Blues singer; by 1953, she had signed with Atlantic Records, and immediately began releasing hits, such as Soul on Fire, Play It Fair, and Tweedlee Dee; in the late 1960s, she fell ill, and stayed in semi-retirement until 1988, when she performed at Madison Square Garden for Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary; she worked on the soundtrack to Dick Tracy, appeared in Black & Blue on Broadway, and released a comeback disc that sold moderately well; in 1991, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, November 11, 1929 – March 10, 1997


• Stephen Henry Lewis, CC, politician, broadcaster, and diplomat; in 1970, he was elected leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, a position he kept until 1978; in 1984, he was appointed Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations, and served at the post until 1988; from 1995 to 1999, he was Deputy Director of UNICEF; he currently works for the United Nations as the Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, in which role it has been his job to draw attention to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and to convince leaders and the public that they have a responsibility to respond; in May, 2006, he joined the Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University as a Scholar-in-Residence; this year, an online petition asking the Nobel committee to recognize Lewis for his work, and consider him for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was signed by over 12,000 people; he heads the Stephen Lewis Foundation, a charitable organization that helps people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS in Africa, 1937


• José DANIEL Ortega Saavedra, the current president-elect of Nicaragua; after a popular rebellion resulted in the defeat and exile of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979, he became a member of the ruling junta, and was later elected president, serving from 1985 to 1990; his period in office was characterized by socialist policies, hostility from the United States towards his government, and armed rebellion by U.S.-backed Contras; he was defeated by Violeta Barrios de Chamorro in the 1990 presidential election, but he remained an important figure in Nicaraguan politics, 1945


• Chris Dreja, musician and photographer, the former rhythm guitarist, and later bassist, for The Yardbirds; after the breakup of The Yardbirds, Jimmy Page offered him the position of bassist in a new band he was forming, which would later become Led Zeppelin; Dreja declined in order to pursue a career in photography, eventually photographing Led Zeppelin for the back cover of their debut album, 1945


• Vince Martell, musician, lead guitarist for Vanilla Fudge, 1945


• Marshall Crenshaw, singer, songwriter, and guitarist, who he portrayed Buddy Holly in the 1987 film La Bamba, 1953


• Stanley Tucci, actor, writer, producer, and film director, who made his Broadway debut in The Queen and the Rebels in September, 1982, and his film debut in 1985's Prizzi's Honor, 1960


• James Morrison AM, jazz musician, best known for his trumpet playing, who also plays the trombone, euphonium, flugelhorn, tuba, saxophones, and piano, 1962


• Judith Edelman, bluegrass/folk musician, who began her musical career in the mid-1990's; she is currently scoring documentaries, several of which have been aired on PBS and BBC Channel Four, 1964


• Alison Doody, actress, known for her portrayal of Dr. Elsa Schneider in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Jenny Flex in A View to a Kill, 1966

R.I.P.:

• Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, 19th century philosopher and theologian, generally recognized as the first existentialist philosopher, who bridged the gap that existed between Hegelian philosophy and what was to become Existentialism, May 5, 1813 – November 11, 1855


• Edward NED Kelly, Australia's most famous bushranger and, to many, a folk hero for his defiance of the colonial authorities, c. 1855 – 11 November 1880


• Lucretia Coffin Mott, Quaker, abolitionist, social reformer, and proponent of women's rights, often credited as the first American feminist in the early 1800's, but was, more accurately, the initiator of women's political advocacy, January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880


• Lydia Kamaka'eha, aka Queen Lili'uokalani of Hawaii, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, September 2, 1838 – November 11, 1917


• Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary, the first identified healthy carrier of typhoid in the United States, September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938


• Jerome David Kern, composer of popular music, who wrote around 700 songs and more than 100 complete scores for shows and films, in a career lasting from 1902 until his death, January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945


• Raymond BERRY Oakley III, bassist, one of the founding members of The Allman Brothers Band, April 4, 1948 – November 11, 1972


• David STRINGBEAN Akeman, country music banjo player, comedy musician, and actor, best known for his role on Hee Haw, June 17, 1915 – November 11, 1973


• Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, chemist, awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; the asteroid 1449 Virtanen was named after him, January 15, 1895 – November 11, 1973


• Alfonso Leng, composer of classical music, February 11, 1894 – November 11, 1974


• Margaretha Keller, aka Greta Keller-Bacon, cabaret singer and Hollywood actress, whose début was in Pavillon in Vienna; she also appeared on stage with Marlene Dietrich in Broadway, in which she sang and danced; a few years before her death, her voice appeared in the movie Cabaret, singing the song Heirat (Married), February 8, 1903 – November 11, 1977


• Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin, film composer and conductor, May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979


• William Ifor Jones, conductor and organist, January 23, 1900 - November 11, 1988


• Erskine Hawkins, trumpet player and big band leader, remembered as the composer of the jazz standard Tuxedo Junction, July 26, 1914 — November 11, 1993


• Mary Kay Bergman, voice actress, with numerous roles and bit parts in television, movies, direct-to-video animation, and advertising; she is best known for voicing most of the female characters on South Park and in the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut, June 5, 1961 – November 11, 1999


• Richard Dembo, director and screenwriter, May 24, 1948 - November 11, 2004