Sunday, November 12, 2006

Today CCVI

Birthdays:

  • Mírzá Husayn-Alí, aka Bahá'u'lláh, founder and prophet of the Bahá'í Faith, November 12, 1817 - May 29, 1892

  • Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin, composer, who made his living as a chemist, particularly noted for his work on aldehydes; he was a member of the group of composers called The Five, who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music; he wrote symphonies, the opera Prince Igor, which contains the Polovetsian Dances, often performed as a stand-alone concert work, the symphonic poem In the Steppes of Central Asia, string quartets, several art songs, piano pieces, and chamber music, November 12, 1833 – February 27, 1887

  • François-Auguste-René AUGUSTE Rodin, sculptor, known for such works as Le Penseur - The Thinker, originally titled The Poet, representing the poet Dante, November 12, 1840 - November 17, 1917

  • John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, physicist, received the 1904 Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of argon, November 12, 1842 – June 30, 1919

  • Mikhail Chigorin, chess player, who served as a major source of inspiration for the Soviet school of chess; he started serious chess late in life - his first international tournament was Berlin, 1881, November 12, 1850 – January 25, 1908

  • Sun Yat-sen, revolutionary and political leader, often referred to as the "father of modern China;" he played a leadership role in the eventual overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911; he was the first provisional president when the Republic of China was founded in 1912; later co-founding the Kuomintang (KMT), and serving as its first leader; he remains unique among 20th-century Chinese politicians for being widely revered in both mainland China and Taiwan, November 12, 1866 – March 12, 1925

  • Lewis Delaney Offield, aka Jack Oakie, actor, largely starring in films, although he branched into radio, and had his own radio show between 1936 and 1938; he is remembered for for his portrayal of Benzino Napaloni in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978

  • Wilbur Dorsey BUCK Clayton, jazz trumpet player, remembered for being a leading member of Count Basie’s orchestra; his principal influence was Louis Armstrong, November 12, 1911 - December 8, 1991

  • Jean Papineau-Couture, composer and academic, Companion of the Order of Canada and Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec, November 12, 1916 – August 11, 2000

  • Jo Elizabeth Stafford, pop singer, whose career spanned the late 1930's through the early 1960's; she is also considered a pioneer of modern musical parody, having won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1961, with husband Paul Weston, 1917

  • Richard Quine, stage, film, and radio actor, and film director, who began his acting career at age eleven on Broadway, November 12, 1920 – June 10, 1989

  • Janet Cole, aka Kim Hunter, film and stage actress, performed in the original 1947 Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire, playing the role of Stella Kowalski; appeared in the 1951 film, for which she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress; was blacklisted from film and television during the Hollywood communism paranoia created by McCarthyism; other major film roles include David Niven's fiancee in A Matter of Life and Death and Zira in the first three of the Planet of the Apes series, November 12, 1922 – September 11, 2002

  • Grace Patricia Kelly, Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, actress and Princess of Monaco; became a fashion model and appeared in her first film, Fourteen Hours, when she was 22; appeared in High Noon and Mogambo, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress; made three films with Alfred Hitchcock: Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief; in 1955, she was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Country Girl; married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, on April 19, 1956, November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982

  • Bob Crewe, songwriter and music producer, known for co-writing a number of Top 10 singles for The Four Seasons; in the early 1960's, he began writing with Bob Gaudio; their first collaboration, Sherry, became a #1 hit single for The Four Seasons in 1962; they wrote many other songs for the band, including Big Girls Don't Cry, Rag Doll, Ronnie, Walk Like a Man, Bye Bye Baby, and Connie 0; they also wrote Frankie Valli's solo hit Can't Take My Eyes Off of You; in 1985, he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, 1931

  • Mort Shuman, singer, pianist, and songwriter, November 12, 1936 - November 2, 1991

  • Ruby Nash Curtis, singer, leader of the rhythm and blues group Ruby & The Romantics, who were given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1997; as of 2001, she had received no royalties for her records, 1939

  • Brian Hyland, pop recording artist, who was successful during the early 1960's, with such songs as Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and Sealed With a Kiss, 1943

  • Wallace Shawn, actor, usually cast in comic roles, and playwright, whose work is often dark, politically charged, and controversial; his involvement with theater began in 1970, when he met Andre Gregory, who has directed several of his plays; as a stage actor, he has appeared mostly in his own plays, as well as several other projects with Gregory; he made his film debut playing Diane Keaton's ex-husband in Woody Allen's Manhattan in 1979; he appeared as Vizzini in The Princess Bride; non-comic film roles include two collaborations with Andre Gregory, filmed by Louis Malle: the semi-autobiographical dialogue My Dinner with Andre, and a production of Uncle Vanya titled Vanya on 42nd Street; he is a widely-used character actor on television, where he has appeared in many genres and series, including recurring roles on series such as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [as the Grand Nagus Zek], Jordan, and Desperate Housewives, 1943

  • Booker T. Jones, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer, and arranger, best known for fronting the band, Booker T. and the M.G.'s; he became an accomplished musician while still a child, playing the oboe, saxophone, trombone, and piano at school, and serving as organist at his church, 1944

  • Neil Percival Young OM, singer-songwriter and guitarist, who reached his commercial peak during the early 1970's, with the albums After the Gold Rush and Harvest, and with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; he has been associated with The Mynah Birds, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crazy Horse, and The Stills-Young Band; his greatest hobby is collecting model trains, and he is a part owner of the Lionel Train company; he has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1945

  • Ronald Raymond RON Bryant, former MLB pitcher, from 1967 to 1975; his career record was 57 - 56, with a 4.02 ERA, and 590 strikeouts, 1947

  • Patrice Leconte, film director and screenwriter, 1947

  • Megan Mullally, actress, talk show host, and comedienne; in 1998, she landed the role of Karen Walker on the sitcom Will & Grace; in 2000 and 2006, she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series - she was also nominated in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005; she has won three Screen Actors Guild Awards; she is currently hosting her own talk show, The Megan Mullally Show, which debuted in September, 2006, 1958

  • Nadia Elena Comaneci, gymnast, winner of five Olympic Gold Medals, and the first to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event, 1961

  • David Ellefson, bass guitar player, a former member of Megadeth, 1964

  • Samuel SAMMY Sosa Peralta, MLB right fielder, currently a free agent, 1968

  • Donna Adamo, aka Elektra, professional wrestler and manager, 1970

  • Angela Christine Watson, model and actress; in 2000, she started Child Actors Supporting Themselves (CAST), an organization to help child actors and athletes handle their finances, 1975

  • Tevin Jermod Campbell, R&B singer, 1976

  • Anne Jacqueline Hathaway, film and stage actress, who made her debut in the comedy The Princess Diaries opposite Julie Andrews, 1982


R.I.P.:

  • Friedrich Hoffmann, physician, who studied and wrote on topics such as pediatrics, mineral waters, and meteorology, introduced many drugs into practice, and was among the first to describe several diseases, including appendicitis and German measles, and to recognize the regulatory role of the nervous system, February 19, 1660 – November 12, 1742

  • Percival Lowell, author, mathematician, and astronomer, who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, founded the Lowell Observatory, and formed the beginning of the work and theories that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death, March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916

  • Henry NORMANBethune, MD, physician, medical innovator, and humanitarian; as a doctor in Montreal, he frequently sought out the poor, and gave them free medical care; as a thoracic surgeon, he travelled to Spain and China to perform battlefield surgical operations on war casualties; heroic statues of Bethune have been erected throughout China; he invented several surgical instruments that still bear his name; he died of blood poisoning from a cut he received when performing surgery, while with the Communist Party of China's Eighth Route Army in the midst of the second Sino-Japanese War, March 3, 1890 – November 12, 1939

  • Umberto Giordano, composer, mainly of opera, August 28, 1867 - November 12, 1948

  • Rudolf Friml, pianist and composer of operettas, musicals, and songs, December 7, 1879 - November 12, 1972

  • Walter Hamor Piston, Jr., composer and theorist, January 20, 1894 – November 12, 1976

  • William Franklin Beedle Jr, aka William Holden, film actor, whose first starring role was in 1939's Golden Boy, in which he played a boxer who wants to be a violinist; he received nominations for Academy Award for Best Actor for Sunset Boulevard, 1951, and Network, 1977, and won the Best Actor Oscar in 1953 for Stalag 17, April 17, 1918 - November 12, 1981

  • Eunice Quedens, aka Eve Arden, actress, with a lengthy career as a supporting and character actor; her Broadway debut came in 1934, when she was cast in the stage play Ziegfeld Follies; her film career began in earnest in 1937 when she appeared in the films Oh Doctor and Stage Door; her many screen roles include a supporting role as Joan Crawford's wise-cracking pal in 1945's Mildred Pierce, for which she received nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and James Stewart's secretary in 1959's murder mystery Anatomy of a Murder; she also appeared in the Marx Brothers film At the Circus; the role for which she is best known is Connie Brooks in Our Miss Brooks - she portrayed the character on radio from 1948 to 1957, on television from 1952 to 1956, and in a feature film, April 30, 1908 – November 12, 1990

  • Wilma Glodean Rudolph, athlete and three-time Olympic champion, June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994

  • Carlos Surinach, composer and conductor, who emigrated to the United States in 1951, where he became a successful composer for the dance; he composed three ballet scores for Martha Graham, March 4, 1915 - November 12, 1997

  • Anthony John TONY Miles, chess player; in 1976, he became the first Grandmaster born in the UK, April 23, 1955 - November 12, 2001

  • Jonathan Gregory Brandis, film and television actor, most famous for his role as Lucas Wolenczak on seaQuest DSV, April 13, 1976 – November 12, 2003

  • Marianna Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty, aka Penny Singleton, actress, best known for her role in the series of motion pictures, and subsequent radio comedy, based on the comic strip Blondie, September 15, 1908 – November 12, 2003

  • Tony Thompson, session drummer, known for his studio work, and his work with CHIC, November 15, 1954 – November 12, 2003

  • Kay Edwin Emmert [Kay E.] Kuter, character actor, best known for his role on the 1960's television series Green Acres and Petticoat Junction as Newt Kiley; he made guest appearances on many television shows, including Bonanza and Perry Mason, and on Star Trek: The Next Generation, as a Cytherian, and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Bajoran Sirah, April 25, 1925 - November 12, 2003

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