Today CXCIX

Birthdays:

• Paul Sabatier, chemist and educator, shared the 1912 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Victor Grignard, November 5, 1854 – August 14, 1941


• Gabriel-Alphonse Desjardins, co-founder of the Caisses Populaires Desjardins, a forerunner of North American credit unions, November 5, 1854 - October 31, 1920


• Ida Minerva Tarbell, author and journalist, known as one of the leading muckrakers; her famous exposé of the business practices of the Standard Oil Company established her as a pioneer of investigative journalism; she wtote The History of the Standard Oil Company; she was the daughter of an oilman, and accused Standard Oil of using unfair tactics to put her father and many small oil companies out of business, November 5, 1857 – January 6, 1944


• William James WILL Durant, philosopher, historian, and writer; he and his wife, Ariel Durant, co-wrote The Story of Civilization, November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981


• John Burdon Sanderson [J. B. S.] Haldane, geneticist and evolutionary biologist; he was one of the founders, with Ronald Fisher and Sewall Wright of population genetics, November 5, 1892 – December 1, 1964


• Walter Wilhelm Gieseking, pianist and composer, November 5, 1895 – October 26, 1956


• Natalie Schafer, actress, known for the role of millionaire's wife Lovey Howell, on Gilligan's Island, which she reprised in the made-for-TV Gilligan's Island movies, November 5, 1900 – April 10, 1991


• Joel Albert McCrea, film actor, November 5, 1905 - October 20, 1990


• Fred Lawrence Whipple, astronomer, known for writing a paper in Astrophysical Journal in 1950, in which he proposed the icy conglomerate hypothesis of comet composition, later called the dirty snowball hypothesis, the basic features of which were later confirmed, November 5, 1906 – August 30, 2004


• Leonard Franklin Slye, aka Roy Rogers, singer and cowboy actor, "King of the Cowboys", November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998


• Vivian Mary Hartley, aka Vivien Leigh, stage and film actress, won Academy Awards for her roles as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind and as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire; was married to Laurence Olivier, November 5, 1913 – July 8, 1967


• Myron Floren, musician, accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show, November 5, 1919 – July 23, 2005


• Douglass Cecil North Ph.D., economist, shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Economics with Robert William Fogel, 1920


• Georges [György] Cziffra, pianist, November 5, 1921 – January 17, 1994


• Ike Wister Turner, musician, piano player and guitarist, bandleader, talent scout, and record producer, known for his work with his former wife Tina Turner; he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1931


• Joseph Ira Dassin, musician, son of actor and director Jules Dassin, November 5, 1938 - August 20, 1980


• Elke Schletz, aka Elke Sommer, actress, entertainer, singer, and artist, 1940


• Arthur Ira ART Garfunkel, singer-songwriter and actor, formerly half of the duo Simon and Garfunkel, 1941


• Samuel Shepard Rogers, aka Sam Shepard, playwright, writer, and actor, 1943


• Cecil Ingram Connor, III, aka Gram Parsons, singer, songwriter, guitarist, a solo artist as well as a member of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, November 5, 1946 – September 19, 1973


• Peter Blair Dennis Bernard Noone, singer and actor; at age fifteen, he became Herman, lead singer, spokesperson, and frontman of Herman's Hermits, 1947


• Peter Joseph Andrew Hammill, musician, singer-songwriter, and a founding member of Van der Graaf Generator; his main instruments are guitar and piano, and he also acts as a record producer for his own recordings, and occasionally for other artists, 1948


• William Daniel Phillips Ph.D., physicist, who shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and Steven Chu for his contributions to laser cooling, a technique to slow the movement of gaseous atoms in order to better study them, 1948


• Armin Shimerman, actor and voice actor, one of only six actors to play the same character on three different Star Trek series - he played Quark on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager; is also known as Principal Snyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and as one of the Nox on Stargate SG-1 , 1949


• Bernard Chazelle Ph.D.,professor of computer science at Princeton University, known for his invention of the soft heap data structure; most of his work is in computational geometry, 1955


• Robert Patrick, actor, achieved fame in 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, playing the T-1000; he appeared in the role of Agent John Doggett in the final two seasons of The X-Files; he was Colonel Marshall Sumner in Stargate Atlantis, 1958


• Bryan Adams, OC, OBC, rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter, 1959


• Katherine Mathilda TILDA Swinton, actress; in 2005, she appeared as the White Witch Jadis, in the film version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, 1960


• Gina Mastrogiacomo, film and TV actress, played Janice Rossi in Goodfellas, November 5, 1961 - May 2, 2001


• Andrea McArdle, singer and actress, 1963


• Tatum Beatrice O'Neal, actress, best known for her film work as a child actress in the 1970's; she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in 1973's Paper Moon, the youngest person ever to win the Oscar; she is the daughter of Ryan O'Neal, 1963


• Famke Janssen, actress and former model, whose first film role was with Jeff Goldblum in Fathers & Sons; she appeared in the James Bond film, GoldenEye, the first one starring Pierce Brosnan; she played Jean Grey/Phoenix in the X-Men films, 1965


• Johnny David Damon, MLB centre fielder for the New York Yankees, 1973


• Brandie Rae Rothwell, aka Brittney Skye, actress, 1977

R.I.P.:

• James Clerk Maxwell, mathematical physicist, developed a set of equations expressing the basic laws of electricity and magnetism, demonstrated that electric and magnetic forces are two complementary aspects of electromagnetism, and that electric and magnetic fields travel through space at a constant velocity, June 13, 1831 – November 5, 1879


• Christiaan Eijkman, physician and pathologist, whose demonstration that beriberi is caused by poor diet led to the discovery of vitamins; shared the 1929 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with Sir Frederick Hopkins, August 11, 1858 – November 5, 1930


• Mary Louise Cecilia TEXAS Guinan, saloon keeper, actress, and entrepreneur; the Enterprise's bartender Guinan was named after her, January 12, 1884 – November 5, 1933


• Arndt Juho Pekurinen, pacifist and conscientious objector, August 29, 1905 - November 5, 1941


• George Michael Cohan, entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, director, and producer, July 4, 1878 – November 5, 1942


• Arthur Tatum, Jr., jazz pianist, known for his virtuosic playing and creative improvisation, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956


• Wardell E. WARD Bond,actor, who made his film debut in 1929, and played over 200 roles; he starred in the TV series Wagon Train from 1957 until his death, April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960


• Johnny Horton, country music singer, April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960


• Michael Sinnott, aka Mack Sennett, singer, dancer, clown, actor, set designer, and director; in 1912, he founded Keystone Studios; many important actors started their careers at Keystone, including Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Griffith, Gloria Swanson, George O'Hara, Ford Sterling, and the Keystone Kops; his slapstick comedies were noted for their wild car chases and custard pie warfare, January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960


• Edwin LeMar BUDDY Cole, jazz pianist and orchestra leader, who played behind a number of pop singers, including Rosemary Clooney, Jill Corey, and The Four Lads, December 15, 1916 – November 5, 1964


• Samuel SAM Jones, MLB pitcher, who played from 1951 to 1964; he was an NL All-Star in 1955 and 1959, December 14, 1925–November 5, 1971


• Stafford Alois Repp, character actor, best known for his role as Chief O'Hara on the Batman TV series, April 26, 1918 - November 5, 1974


• Edward Lawrie Tatum Ph.D., geneticist, who shared half of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George Wells Beadle for showing that genes control individual steps in metabolism - the other half was awarded to Joshua Lederberg, December 14, 1909 – November 5, 1975


• René Goscinny, author, editor and humorist, best known for the comic strip Astérix, which he created with illustrator Albert Uderzo, and the comic strip Lucky Luke, August 14, 1926 – November 5, 1977


• Gaetano Alberto GUY Lombardo, bandleader and violinist; with his three brothers and other musicians from his hometown of London, Ontario, he formed the big band The Royal Canadians in 1924, June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977


• Alfred Gerald Caplin, aka Al Capp, cartoonist, best known for the comic strip Li'l Abner; he also wrote the comic strips Abbie and Slats and Long Sam, September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979


• Jacques Tatischeff, aka Jacques Tati, fimmaker, October 9, 1908 – November 5, 1982


• Claude Jutra, actor, film director, and writer; the Prix Jutra are named in his honor because of his importance in Quebec cinema history, March 11, 1930 - November 5, 1986


• Vladimir Samoylovych Horowitz, classical pianist, who made many recordings, starting in 1928 upon his arrival in the United States - his first recordings in the US were made for RCA Victor; his first European recording was his 1930 recording of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Albert Coates and the London Symphony Orchestra, the first recording of that piece; through 1936, he made many more recordings of solo piano repertoire for HMV in London, including his famous 1932 account of Liszt's Sonata in B minor; from 1940 to 1959, he again recorded for RCA Victor, making his first recording of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, under Toscanini; in 1953, when he went into retirement, he made a number of acclaimed recordings at home, including discs of Alexander Scriabin and Muzio Clementi; in 1962, he began recording for Columbia Records, and it is these recordings which are among the most highly regarded, the most famous being his 1965 return concert at Carnegie Hall, and his 1968 performance from his television special, Horowitz on Television, the first piano recital ever to be broadcast on prime-time television; in 1975, he returned to RCA Victor, and made a series of live recordings until 1982; he won over a dozen Grammy Awards, including a ifetime Achievement Award in 1990; he was married to Wanda Toscanini, the daughter of Arturo, October 1, 1903 – November 5, 1989


• Meir David Kahane, rabbi, author, and political activist, founded the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in the United States, August 1, 1932 – November 5, 1990


• Fred MacMurray, actor, appeared in over one hundred movies; his most famous role was that Steve Douglas on My Three Sons, which ran from 1960 until 1972, August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991


• Árpád Emrick Élo, professor of physics and chess player, creator of the Elo rating system for rating chess players, August 25, 1903 – November 5, 1992


• Eddie Harris, jazz tenor saxophonist, October 20, 1934 – November 5, 1996


• James Houston JIMMIE Davis, singer of both sacred and popular songs; wrote You Are My Sunshine; elected governor of Louisiana in 1944 and 1960, September 11, 1899 - November 5, 2000


• Roy Boulting, film-maker; he and his twin brother, John, were known for their popular series of satirical comedies in the 1950's and 1960's, such as Private's Progress, Lucky Jim, and I'm All Right Jack, which starred Peter Sellers, November 21, 1913 - November 5, 2001


• Robert Lee BOBBY Hatfield, singer, one of The Righteous Brothers, August 10, 1940 – November 5, 2003


• John Robert Fowles, novelist and essayist, author of such books as The Collector, The Magus, and The French Lieutenant's Woman; his best-known non-fiction work is The Aristos, a collection of philosophical reflections; many critics now consider him a forefather of British postmodernism, March 31, 1926 – November 5, 2005