Today CCVIII

Birthdays:

• Johann Georg LEOPOLD Mozart, composer, music teacher and violinist, father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787


• Robert Fulton, engineer and inventor, credited with developing the first commercially successful steam-powered ship, November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815


• Marie François Xavier Bichat, anatomist and physiologist, remembered as the father of modern histology and pathology; he was the first to introduce the notion of tissues as distinct entities, maintaining that diseases attacked tissues rather than whole organs, November 14, 1771 - July 22, 1802


• René Joachim Henri Dutrochet, physician, botanist, and physiologist, who investigated and described osmosis, respiration, embryology, and the effect of light on plants; he is credited with discovering cell biology and cells in plants, and with the discovery of the process of osmosis, November 14, 1776 - February 4, 1847


• Johann Nepomuk Hummel, composer and virtuoso pianist, whose music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era, November 14, 1778 – October 17, 1837


• Fanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn, pianist and composer, November 14, 1805 – May 14, 1847


• Claude Monet, Impressionist painter; the term Impressionism is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise, November 14, 1840 – December 5, 1926


• Frederick C. FRED Quimby, producer of the MGM animated cartoon division, which included the team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera; he was a repeated recipient of the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for the Tom and Jerry cartoons, July 31, 1886 - September 16, 1965


• Jawaharlal "Pandit" Nehru, politician, November 14, 1889 – May 27, 1964


• Sir Frederick Grant Banting, KBE , MC , MD , FRSC, medical scientist and doctor, one of the co-discovers of insulin; in October, 1920, he wrote down an idea for a method to isolate the internal secretion of the pancreas, the crucial step needed for effective treatment for diabetes; in May, 1921, he began his research at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of professor John Macleod; he was assigned a single assistant to help him, the young graduate student Charles Best; the efforts of the team culminated in developing the ability to obtain a useful extract, named insulin; Banting and Macleod received the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine; Banting shared the award money with Best,
  November 14, 1891 – February 21, 1941


• Benjamin Wechsler, aka Benjamin Fondane, poet, playwright, literary critic, film director, and translator; in March, 1944, he was arrested by Vichy France policemen, and deported to Auschwitz in May 30; he was killed in the gas chamber, November 14, 1898 - October 2 or 3, 1944


• Aaron Copland, composer of concert and film music, teacher, and lecturer, who also wrote books and articles, and served as a conductor, most frequently for his own works; he was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition; his music achieved a balance between modern music and American folk styles; he incorporated percussive orchestration, changing meter, polyrhythms, polychords, and tone rows in his compositions, November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990


• Richard Ewing DICK Powell, singer, actor, producer, and director; he starred as a boyish crooner in movie musicals such as 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, Flirtation Walk, and On the Avenue; from 1949 until 1953, he played the lead role in the NBC radio theatre production Richard Diamond, Private Detective; in the 1950's, he produced and directed several B-movies, and was one of the founders of Four Star Television, appearing in and supervising several shows for that company; he died from lymphoma at the age of 58, one of many of the cast and crew of the 1956 movie The Conqueror who died from the same disease; The Conqueror had been filmed in Utah near an atomic test site, and it's been rumored, but never proven, that the film's shooting location may have been the cause of the cancers with which the crew were inflicted, November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963


• John Henry Barbee, blues singer and guitarist, a part of the Chicago Blues scene, November 14, 1905 – November 3, 1964


• Mary LOUISE Brooks, actress, known for her roles in silent films, November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985


• William Steig, cartoonist, sculptor, and author of popular children's literature, November 14, 1907 – October 3, 2003


• Tung-Yen Lin, structural engineer, best known as the pioneer of standardizing the use of prestressed concrete; his master's thesis was the first student thesis published by the American Society of Civil Engineers; he received the National Medal of Science from president Ronald Reagan in 1986, November 14, 1912 – November 15, 2003


• Martha Tilton, popular singer, known for her 1939 recording of And the Angels Sing with Benny Goodman; she had major success from 1942 to 1949 as one of the first artists to record for Capitol Records; she also appeared in films, and her singing voice was used in many films dubbed over other actresses including Barbara Stanwyck, 1915


• Sherwood Charles Schwartz, writer and television producer, best known as the producer of Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch; he was the writer of radio's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, and TV's The Red Skelton Show, for which he won an Emmy Award in 1961, Harper Valley PTA, and I Married Joan; he created It's About Time, and was the script consultant for My Favorite Martian; he wrote the theme song for Gilligan's Island, It's About Time, and The Brady Bunch, 1916


• Constance Frances Marie Ockleman, aka Veronica Lake, film actress and pin-up model, November 14, 1919 - July 7, 1973


• Lisa Otto, operatic soprano, known for her roles in Mozart’s operas, of which she has made numerous recordings, 1919


• Giovanni Alfredo De Simone, aka Johnny Desmond, singer, formed his own singing group in 1939, which became the Bob-O-Links after being hired to sing with Bob Crosby's big band; in 1941, he left the Bob-O-Links to go solo; became the featured vocalist for Gene Krupa's band; was a member of Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces Orchestra, November 14, 1919 - September 6, 1985


• Robert Keith Richey, Jr., aka Brian Keith, stage, film and television actor, November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997


• Boutros Boutros-Ghali Ph.D. CC, diplomat, who was the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations from January, 1992, to December, 1996, 1922


• Leonid Borisovitch Kogan, virtuoso violinist, November 14, 1924 - November 17, 1982


• James Anthony Piersall, former MLB centre fielder; he was an AL All-Star in 1954 and 1956; in 1956, he hit a league-leading 40 doubles with 91 runs, 87 RBI, and a .293 batting average; in 1957, he hit 19 home runs and scored 103 runs; he won Gold Glove Awards in 1958 and 1961; in 1961, he hit .322; in a 17-season career, he was a .272 hitter with 104 home runs and 591 RBI in 1734 games; he had a broadcasting job with the Chicago White Sox from 1977 to 1981,
  1929


• Edward Higgins White, II (Lt.Col , USAF), astronaut, November 14, 1930 – January 27, 1967


• Monique Mercure, CC, actress, who won a 1992 Genie Award for her role as Fadela in The Naked Lunch; in 2006, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 1930


• Fred Wallace Haise, Jr., former NASA astronaut, 1933


• The Honourable Mrs Justice Catherine McGuinness, President of the Law Reform Commission and a former justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland, 1934


• Freddie Garrity, lead singer of Freddie and the Dreamers, November 14, 1937 - May 19, 2006


• Wendy Carlos, born Walter Carlos, composer and electronic musician, one of the first famous performers of electronic music using synthesizers; her Switched-On Bach was the one of the first albums to demonstrate the use of synthesizers as a genuine musical instrument; as an early user of Robert Moog's first commercially available synthesizer, she helped pioneer the technology, which was significantly more difficult to use than it is today; multitrack recording techniques played a critical role in the time-consuming process of creating the album; Switched-On Bach eventually became the first classical album to go platinum; a sequel of more synthesized baroque music, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer, followed in 1969; in 1972, Carlos composed and recorded music for the soundtrack of the film A Clockwork Orange; in 1982, she scored the theatrical film Tron for Disney, incorporating orchestra, chorus, organ, and analog and digital synthesizers, 1939


• Edgar McLean Stevenson, Jr., aka McLean Stevenson, actor, known for his role as Lt. Colonel Henry Blake on the TV series M*A*S*H, November 14, 1927 – February 15, 1996


• Peter Norton, software publisher, author, and philanthropist, creator of the Norton Utilities, 1943


• Patrick Jake [P. J.] O'Rourke, political satirist, journalist, and writer, 1947


• Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor, aka Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, heir-apparent to the respective thrones of the United Kingdom and the other 15 Commonwealth Realms, 1948


• James [J.Y.] Young, musician; guitarist and member of Styx, who began playing keyboard and piano at the age of five; he also plays clarinet and guitar; he is currently the sole remaining original member of Styx, 1949


• Stephen Bishop, singer and guitarist, 1951


• Yiannis Chrysomallis, aka Yanni, keyboardist and composer, 1954


• Paul McGann, actor, known for his role in Withnail and I, and as the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie , 1959


• Laura San Giacomo, television and film, actress known for the role of Maya Gallo on Just Shoot Me!, 1962


• Curtis Montague CURT Schilling, MLB right-handed starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox; he was an All-Star in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2004; he was the NL League Championship Series MVP in 1993; he shared the 2001 World Series MVP Award with Randy Johnson, 1966


• Nina Rachel Shapiro Gordon, rock singer, 1967


• Dana Snyder, voice actor, 1973


• Xavier Clifford Nady, MLB first baseman/right fielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1978

R.I.P.:

• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, polymath, invented calculus independently of Newton, his notation being the one in general use; his philosophy anticipates logic and analysis; made major contributions to physics and technology, and anticipated notions that surfaced much later in biology, medicine, geology, psychology, knowledge engineering, and information science; also wrote on politics, law, ethics, theology, history, and philology, July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716


• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, philosopher, introduced for the first time in philosophy the idea that History and the concrete are important in getting out of the circle of the perennial problems of philosophy, August 27, 1770 – November 14, 1831


• Booker Taliaferro [Booker T.] Washington, political leader, educator, and author, one of the dominant figures in black history in the United States from 1890 to 1915, April 5, 1856 – November 14, 1915


• John Joseph JACK O'Connor, MLB utility player in the American Association, the National League, and the American League; he began his career as a left fielder and catcher, and moved his way around the infield; he played 21 seasons in professional baseball, hitting .263, with 1478 hits and 738 RBI; in 1910, he was the player-manager of the ST. Louis Browns, finishing 47-107, June 2, 1869 - November 14, 1937


• Carl Flesch, violinist and teacher, October 9, 1873 - November 14, 1944


• Manuel de Falla y Matheu, composer of classical music, November 23, 1876 – November 14, 1946


• Cecil Antonio TONY Richardson, theatre and film director and producer, who won the Academy Award for Best Director and for Best Picture in 1963 for Tom Jones; he is the father of actresses Natasha Richardson and Joely Richardson, June 5, 1928 - November 14, 1991


• George Edward EDDIE Arcaro, thoroughbred horse-racing jockey, the only jockey to win two Triple Crowns - in 1941 on Whirlaway and in 1948 on Citation, February 19, 1916 – November 4, 1997


• Edward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken, comic film actor, February 7, 1915 - November 14, 2002


• Gene Anthony Ray, actor and dancer, known for his portrayal of dancer Leroy in the 1980 movie Fame and its television spin-off, May 24, 1962 – November 14, 2003


• Margaret Fitzsimmon Hassan, aid worker, who worked in Iraq for many years, and was kidnapped and murdered there by Islamic militants; and her crime was ... ?, April 18, 1945 – November 16, 2004


• Michel Colombier, composer, songwriter, arranger, and conductor, May 23, 1939 — November 14, 2004