Today CXCVII

Birthdays:

• Samuel Scheidt, composer, organist, and teacher of the early Baroque era, baptized November 3, 1587 – March 24, 1653


• Bernardino Ramazzini, physician, an early proponent of the use of cinchona bark, from which quinine is derived, in the treatment of malaria; his most important contribution to medicine was his work on occupational diseases called De Morbis Artificum Diatriba (Diseases of Workers), which outlined the health hazards of chemicals, dust, metals, and other agents encountered by workers in 52 occupations, November 3, 1633 - November 5, 1714


• John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, November 3, 1718 – April 30, 1792


• Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini, composer of Bel canto opera, November 3, 1801 – September 23, 1835


• James JIM McCormick, MLB right-handed pitcher, who played from 1878 to 1887, November 3, 1856 - March 10, 1918


• Dr. Edward Adelbert Doisy, biochemist, who shared the 1943 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Henrik Dam for their discovery of vitamin K and its chemical structure, November 3, 1893 – October 23, 1986


• Adolf ADI Dassler, founder of the adidas sportswear company, November 3, 1900 - September 6, 1978


• Bronislau BRONKO Nagurski, professional football player, November 3, 1908 - January 7, 1990


• Richard Gibbon Hurndall, stage, radio, film, and television actor; in 1983, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Doctor Who, producer John Nathan-Turner planned a special event, The Five Doctors, an episode to feature all of the actors to play the role of the Doctor up to and including Peter Davison; the First Doctor, William Hartnell, had died in 1975, and Hurndall was cast in the role, November 3, 1910 – April 13, 1984


• Robert William Andrew BOB Feller, former MLB pitcher, who played for the Cleveland Indians for his entire 18-year career, retiring with 266 victories, the most wins by a Cleveland Indians pitcher, and 2,581 strikeouts; he led the American League in strikeouts seven times [1938 to 1941 and 1946 to 1948] and wins six times [1939 to 1941, 1946, 1947, and 1951], pitched three no-hit games, and shares the major league record with 12 one-hitters; he was the first pitcher to win 20 or more games before the age of 21; he was an eight-time All-Star [1938 to 1941, 1946 to 1948, and 1950]; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962, his first year of eligibility, 1918


• Dean Riesner, film and television writer; his first job was as a co-author for the 1939 film Code of the Secret Service; throughout the 1950's and 60's, he worked primarily in television, including writing for Rawhide; in 1968, he worked on the Clint Eastwood film Coogan's Bluff, which lead to his writing several other Eastwood features throughout the 70's, including Play Misty for Me and Dirty Harry; in 1973, he provided an uncredited rewrite for High Plains Drifter, and in 1976, he was one of the writers to draft The Enforcer, November 3, 1918 - August 18, 2002


• Jesús Blasco, comic book writer, November 3, 1919 - October 21, 1995


• Charles Dennis Buchinsky, aka Charles Bronson, actor, starred in the TV detective series Man With A Camera from 1958 to 1960; most famous films include The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, The Magnificent Seven, and Once Upon a Time in the West; also starred in Death Wish and its sequels, November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003


• Maria Luisa Ceciarelli, aka Monica Vitti, actress, noted for her starring roles in films by Michelangelo Antonioni; her only Hollywood movie was Modesty Blaise, a mod James Bond spoof with Terence Stamp, 1931


• Kenneth Ronald KEN Berry, actor, comedian, and dancer, who got his TV break on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show; he became known for portraying the TV characters of Captain Wilton Parmenter on F Troop, Sam Jones on Mayberry R.F.D., and Vinton Harper on Mama's Family, 1933


• Peter Jeremy William Huggins, aka Jeremy Brett, actor, appeared in many films and television series during his 40-year career; best remembered for portraying Sherlock Holmes in a decade-long, 1984 to 1994, series television films, adapted by John Hawkesworth and other writers from the original Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, November 3, 1933 – September 12, 1995


• Michael Stanley Dukakis, Democratic party politician, the former Governor of Massachusetts [the longest serving governor in Massachusetts' history], and the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, 1933


• Amartya Kumar Sen, economist, awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize for Economics for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, the underlying mechanisms of poverty, and political liberalism, 1933


• John Barry, OBE, film composer, the winner of five Academy Awards and four Grammys, composer of scores written for the James Bond films, The Lion in Winter, Midnight Cowboy, Out of Africa, and Dances with Wolves, among others, 1933


• Professor Martin J. Dunwoody, professor of mathematics at the University of Southampton, working on geometric group theory and low dimensional topology, 1938


• Jean Michel Rollin Le Gentil, filmmaker, actor, and author, best known for his films in the fantastique genre, 1938


• Brian Poole, musician, vocalist and founder of Brian Poole and the Tremoloes; he left the band in 1966 to pursue a solo career, 1941


• John David [J. D.] Souther singer-songwriter and actor; who co-wrote some of the biggest hits for The Eagles, including Best of My Love, Heartache Tonight, and New Kid in Town, 1945


• Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, OBE, aka Lulu, singer, songwriter, actor, model, and television personality; in 1967, she made her debut as a film actress in To Sir, with Love, and had a major hit with the title song, which shot to number one in the U. S., 1948


• Roseanne Cherrie Barr, actress, writer, talk-show host, and comedienne, 1952


• James Jonah JIM Cummings, voice actor, 1952


• David Da-i Ho, AIDS researcher, 1952


• Kathleen Sue Nail, aka Kate Capshaw, actress, 1953


• Dennis Miller, comedian, political and social commentator, and television personality, 1953


• Larry Darnell Herndon, former MLB outfielder, 1953


• Stuart Leslie Goddard, aka Adam Ant, lead singer of Adam and the Ants and later a solo artist, and film actor, 1954


• Kevin Wagner Murphy, actor and puppeteer; for eleven years he was a writer for Mystery Science Theater 3000, for nine of which years he voiced and operated Tom Servo, one of the show's puppet characters, 1956


• Gary Ross, writer, director, and actor, who directed Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, 1956


• Hans DOLPH Lundgren, actor, 1957


• Hal Hartley, film director and writer, and a pioneer of the independent film movement, 1959


• Cindy Renee Volk, aka Aria Giovanni, model and actress, 1977

R.I.P.:

• John Bainbridge, astronomer, 1582 – November 3, 1643


• Louis Lucien Bonaparte, linguist, the third son of Napoleon's second surviving brother, Lucien Bonaparte, noted for his scholarly work with regard to the Basque language, his dialectical classification of which is still used today, January 4, 1813 – November 3, 1891


• Phoebe Ann Mosey, aka Annie Oakley, sharpshooter, exhibition shooter, and philanthropist, starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, August 13, 1860 - November 3, 1926


• Pierre Paul Emile Roux, physician, bacteriologist and immunologist, who was one of the closest collaborators of Louis Pasteur, a co-founder of the Pasteur Institute, and discoverer of the anti-diphtheria serum, December 17, 1853 - November 3, 1933


• Charles Tournemire, composer and organist, most famous for his improvisations, January 22, 1870 – November 3, 1939


• Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse, artist - painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor - noted for his use of color and his fluid, brilliant, and original draftsmanship, December 31, 1869 – November 3, 1954


• Wilhelm Reich, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, and a member of Sigmund Freud's inner circle; a respected analyst in his time, he became best known for what he said was the discovery of a physical energy that permeated the atmosphere and all living matter; he called the energy "orgone," and built "orgone accumulators" to detect and harness it for its health benefits; his views on orgone were not accepted by the mainstream scientific community, but his contributions to the history of psychotherapy and personality theory continue to exert influence, March 24, 1897 – November 3, 1957


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


• Mary Virginia Martin, actress, star of musicals, established the roles of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, and Maria in The Sound of Music; she received the Donaldson Award and the New York Film Critics Circle Award in 1943 for One Touch of Venus; in 1955 and 1956, she received a Tony Award for Peter Pan and an Emmy in the same role on television; she also received Tony Awards for South Pacific and The Sound of Music; mother of Larry Hagman, December 1, 1913 – November 3, 1990


• Lev Sergeyevich Termen, aka Léon Theremin, inventor, famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments; his mentors were society's foremost scientists, composers, and musical theorists, including composer Joseph Schillinger and physicist/amateur violinist Albert Einstein; he also invented the first motion detector for automated doors and worked on an early burglar alarm, August 15, 1896 – November 3, 1993


• Robert Kahn, aka Bob Kane, comic book artist and writer, the creator of Batman, October 24, 1915 – November 3, 1998


• Anthony James LONNIE Donegan MBE, skiffle musician, April 29, 1931 – November 3, 2002


• Jonathan Charasuchin, aka Jonathan Harris, stage and character actor, best known for his TV work as Bradford Webster on The Third Man, and Dr. Zachary Smith on Lost in Space; he portrayed Charles Dickens in a 1963 episode of Bonanza; he appeared in two 1961 episodes of The Twilight Zone, November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002