Today CCXV

Birthdays:

• François-Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire, writer, essayist, deist, and philosopher, November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778


• Sir Samuel Cunard, 1st Baronet, shipping magnate; he set up a joint venture with several other businessmen to bid on the rights to run a transatlantic shipping company between the UK and North America; the company later became the Cunard Steamship Limited, November 21, 1787– April 28, 1865


• Henrietta HETTY Howland Robinson Green, businesswoman, the first American woman to make a substantial impact on Wall Street, November 21, 1834 – July 3, 1916


• Tom Horn, Old West lawman, scout, soldier, hired gunman, detective, outlaw, and assassin, November 21, 1860 – November 20, 1903


• Foster William Hewitt, OC, radio pioneer, who started as a sportswriter for the Toronto Daily Star newspaper, but soon turned to radio; in February, 1923, using a telephone, he made one of the earliest hockey broadcasts in the world, from Toronto's Arena Gardens on the newspaper's radio station CFCA; for the next sixty years, he was Canada's premier hockey play-by-play broadcaster, coining the phrase "he shoots, he scores!"; in 1951, he started his own radio station in Toronto, CKFH, at AM 1400 kHz, moving to 1430 in 1959, November 21, 1902 – April 21, 1985


• Coleman Randolph Hawkins, jazz tenor saxophonist, November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969


• Eleanor Torrey Powell, film actress and dancer of the 1930's and 1940's, known for her tap dancing, November 21, 1912 – February 11, 1982


• John Boulting, film-maker, who became known for the popular series of satirical comedies, that he made with his twin brother, Roy, November 21, 1913 - June 17, 1985


• Roy Boulting, film-maker, who became known for the popular series of satirical comedies, that he made with his twin brother, John, November 21, 1913 - November 5, 2001


• Stanley Frank "Stan the Man" Musial, former MLB outfielder and first baseman, who played 22 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1941 to 1963; he was the NL Most Valuable Player in 1943, 1946, and 1948, the NL Batting Champion in 1943, 1946, 1948, 1950 to 1952, and 1957, and the St. Louis Cardinals General Manager in 1967; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1969; following his retirement, he has been a successful businessman and restaurateur, 1920


• Joonas Kokkonen, composer, whose opera, The Last Temptations, has received over 500 performances worldwide, November 21, 1921 – October 1 or 2, 1996


• Laurier L. LaPierre, OC , Ph.D , LL.D, retired Canadian Senator, and former broadcaster, journalist, and author, 1929


• Revaz Dogonadze, scientist, one of the founders of quantum electrochemistry, November 21, 1931 - May 13, 1985


• Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson CBE, AO, composer, November 21, 1931 – March 2, 2003


• Dr. Victor Peter Chang Yam Him, AC, heart surgeon, one of the pioneers of modern heart transplantation, November 21, 1936 – July 4, 1991


• Margaret Julia MARLO Thomas, actress, who first achieved fame on the TV series That Girl; she is the daughter of the late Danny Thomas, and sister of TV and film producer, Tony Thomas, 1937


• Malcolm John MAC Rebennack, Jr. aka Dr. John, pianist, singer, guitarist, bassist, and songwriter, at one time he was billed as Doctor John, The Night Tripper, whose music spans, and often combines, blues, boogie woogie, and rock and roll, 1940


• Idil Biret, concert pianist, renowned for her outstanding interpretations of the Romantic repertoire, 1941


• Juliet Maryon Mills, character actress, the daughter of the late actor Sir John Mills, and the older sister of actress Hayley Mills, 1941


• Viktor Sidjak, Gold Medal-winning fencer [sabre], 1943


• Harold Ramis, actor, director, and writer, who appeared in Ghostbusters and Stripes, and was one of three screenwriters of Animal House, 1944


• Goldie Jeanne Hawn, TV and film actress, director, and producer, who began taking ballet and tap dance lessons at the age of three, and danced in the chorus of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo production of The Nutcracker in 1955; she made her stage debut in 1961, playing Juliet in a Virginia Stage Company production of Romeo and Juliet; she was one of the regular cast members on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In; she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1969 for her role in Cactus Flower, her first film role, 1945


• Nicollette Sheridan, actress, known for her roles on Knots Landing and Desperate Housewives, 1963


• Björk Guðmundsdóttir, singer/songwriter and composer, formerly the lead singer of The Sugarcubes, 1965


• Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi, aka Siddig El Fadil, aka Alexander Siddig, actor, known for playing Dr. Julian Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Prince Nasir Al-Subaai in Syriana; he is the nephew of Malcolm McDowell and of the former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq al Mahdi, 1965


• Roy Bunyan TRIPP Cromer III, former MLB utility player, who plyaed from 1993 to 2003, 1967


• George Kenneth KEN Griffey, Jr, MLB centre fielder; before injuries cut into his production, he was a top run producer and one of the best center fielder in the big leagues; he was the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player in 1992; he hit home runs in eight consecutive games from July 20 - July 28, 1993; he was the Home Run Derby Champion and AL Home Run Champion in 1994; he was the AL Most Valuable Player in 1997, and the AL Home Run Champion from 1997 to 1999; he was the Home Run Derby Champion in 1998 and 1999; in 2005, he was the NL Comeback Player of the Year, 1969


• Dagmar Kozelková, aka Dascha [Dasha], actress, 1976


• Hank Joe Blalock, MLB third baseman, who currently plays for the Texas Rangers, 1980


• Jena Malone, actress, who had her first starring role in the 2004 film Saved!; in 2006, she made her professional stage debut in the Broadway production of the Tony Award-winning play Doubt, 1984

R.I.P.:

• Jan Brozek, aka Joannes Broscius, mathematician, physician, and astronomer, November 1, 1585 - November 21, 1652


• Henry Purcell, Baroque composer, incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements, but devised a peculiarly English style of Baroque music, September 10, 1659 – November 21, 1695


• Lawrence James LARRY Shields, early jazz clarinetist, started playing clarinet when he was 14; played with Papa Jack Laine's bands; was one of the early New Orleans musicians to go to Chicago, heading north in 1915 to join Bert Kelly's band; joined the Original Dixieland Jass Band in late 1916; the following year, the band made the first jazz phonograph records, propelling Shield's playing to national prominence, September 13, 1893 - November 21, 1953


• Melvin Thomas MEL Ott, MLB right fielder, who played his entire career for the New York Giants - 1926 to 1947; he was the first NL player ever to surpass 500 homeruns; in his 22-season career, he batted .304, with 511 home runs, 1,860 RBIs, 1,859 runs, 2,876 hits, 488 doubles, 72 triples, 89 stolen bases, a .414 on base percentage, and a .533 slugging average; he was a 12-time All-Star, 1934 to 1945; he was the NL home run leader six times - 1932, 1934, 1936 to 1938, and 1942; he hit for the cycle on May 16, 1929; he was the first NL player to post eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons; he managed the New York Giants for seven seasons, 1942 to 1948; he was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951 with 87% of the vote; after his playing career was over, he broadcast baseball on radio and television, March 2, 1909 – November 21, 1958


• Maximilian Adelbert Baer Cussen, aka Max Baer, boxer and actor, the Heavyweight Champion of the World from 1934 to 1935, February 11, 1909 – November 21, 1959


• Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, CBE, physicist, who was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light, and for the discovery of the Raman effect, which is named after him: Raman scattering - or the Raman effect - is the inelastic scattering of a photon, November 7, 1888 – November 21, 1970


• Frank Martin, composer, September 15, 1890 – November 21, 1974


• Carl Owen Hubbell, MLB left-handed screwball pitcher, played with the New York Giants from 1928 to 1943, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947, June 22, 1903 - November 21, 1988


• Bill Bixby, film and television actor, and director, whose career spanned over three decades, starring in five TV series; he was Tim O'Hara on My Favorite Martian, Tom Corbett on The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and Dr. David Banner on The Incredible Hulk; he also starred in The Magician and Goodnight Beantown, January 22, 1934 – November 21, 1993


• Peter Grant, actor, manager for The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company, and a record executive for Swan Song Records, April 5, 1935 – November 21, 1995


• Dr. Abdus Salam, theoretical physicist, who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Lee Glashow and Steven Weinberg, for their work in electroweak theory, January 29, 1926 – November 21, 1996


• Denis Charles Pratt, aka Quentin Crisp, writer, artist's model, actor, and raconteur, who became a gay icon in the 1970's after publication of his memoir The Naked Civil Servant, December 25, 1908 – November 21, 1999


• Hadda Hopgood, aka Hadda Brooks, pianist, vocalist, and composer, a versatile performer, whose career spanned almost six decades, and whose repertoire included boogiefied classics, blues, ballads, and torch songs; she became known as the Queen of Boogie Woogie after the 1945 release of her first single, Swingin' the Boogie, October 29, 1916 - November 21, 2002


• Pierre Amine Gemayel, aka Pierre Gemayel, Jr.,, a Christian-Lebanese politician in the Kataeb Party of Lebanon, better known as the Phalange; he was the Minister of Industry, well known for his opposition to Syrian occupation and influence in Lebanon, and an opponent of the mandate ruling of President Emile Lahoud; on November 21, 2006, the day before Lebanon's Independence Day, gunmen opened fire on Gemayel after ramming his car in the Jdeideh suburb of Beirut; he was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead; Saad Hariri, the majority leader of the Lebanese Parliament and the head of the Current for the Future political movement, has accused Syria of ordering the killing; the Syrian government has denied any involvement, and condemned the killing; Dr Samir Geagea, the leader of The Lebanese Forces, one of the major Christian parties, has asked President Lahoud to resign, and also accused Syria of ordering the killing, September 24, 1972 – November 21, 2006