Today CCXLII

Birthdays:

• Augusta Mary Anne Holmès, aka Hermann Zenta, pianist and composer, who wrote the lyrics to almost all her songs, oratorios, choral symphonies, and the opera La Montagne Noire, December 18, 1847 - January 28, 1903


• Sir Joseph John [J. J.] Thomson, OM, FRS, physicist, the discoverer of the electron and of isotopes, and the inventor of the mass spectrometer, awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics, December 18, 1856 – 30 August 30, 1940


• Edward Alexander MacDowell, pianist and composer, known for his second piano concerto, and his piano suites Woodland Sketches, Sea Pieces, and New England Idyls, December 18, 1860 - January 23, 1908


• Paul Klee, painter, variously associated with expressionism, cubism and surrealism, and teacher at the Bauhaus school of art and architecture, December 18, 1879 - June 29, 1940


• Tyrus Raymond TY Cobb, MLB centre fielder; when he retired in 1928, he was the holder of ninety major league records; he was AL Batting Champion in 1907 to 1909, 1911 to 1915, and 1917 to 1919, AL Triple Crown winner in 1909, and AL MVP in 1911; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961


• Dame Gladys Constance Cooper DBE, actress, December 18, 1888 – November 17, 1971


• Edwin Howard Armstrong, electrical engineer and inventor, who invented the FM radio, December 18, 1890 – January 31, 1954


• Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr., pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music, December 18, 1897 – December 28, 1952


• George Stevens, motion picture director, producer, writer, who started in the movie business as a cameraman, working on Laurel and Hardy shorts, December 18, 1904 - March 8, 1975


• Julius JULES Dassin, film director, 1911


• Alfred Bester, science fiction author, the winner of the first Hugo Award in 1953 for his novel The Demolished Man; he is the author of The Stars My Destination, one of my favourite novels; he was awarded the 1987 SFWA Grand Master Award, and posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2001, December 18, 1913 - September 30, 1987


• Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm, aka Willy Brandt, politician, Chancellor of West Germany from 1969 to 1974, received the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize, December 18, 1913 - October 8, 1992


• Ruth Elizabeth BETTY Grable, actress, singer, dancer, and pin-up girl, December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973


• Raiford Chatman OSSIE Davis, film actor, director, playwright, and social activist,
  who delivered the eulogy for Martin Luther King, Jr., he and his wife Ruby Dee were recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, and were named to the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame in 1989, December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005


• Gino Nicholas Cimoli, former MLB outfielder, 1929


• William Joseph MOOSE Skowron, Jr, former MLB player, who played in a total of 1478 games, all but 15 as a first baseman, 1930


• Boris Valentinovich Volynov, cosmonaut who flew in two missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 5 and Soyuz 21, 1934


• Roger Earl Mosley, actor, known for his role as Theodore "T.C." Calvin on Magnum, P.I., 1938


• Joel Hirschhorn, songwriter, who won the Academy Award for Best Song twice, and wrote songs for a number of prominent musicians, including Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison, December 18, 1938 – September 18, 2005


• Bryan CHAS Chandler, musician, record producer, and manager, played bass guitar for The Animals, managed Jimi Hendrix, and recruited musicians to form the Jimi Hendrix Experience, whose first two albums he produced, December 18, 1938 – July 17, 1996


• Michael John Moorcock, science fiction and fantasy writer, who has also published a number of literary novels; his most popular works have been the Elric novels, 1939


• Harold Elliot Varmus, scientist, who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with J. Michael Bishop for the discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes, 1939


• Bramwell BRAM Morrison, entertainer, member of the children's musical trio Sharon, Lois & Bram, 1940


• Keith Richards, guitarist, songwriter, singer, and founding member of The Rolling Stones, 1943


• Steven Allan Spielberg, film director and producer, 1946


• Stephen Bantu Biko, nonviolent anti-apartheid activist in South Africa; on August 18, 1977, he was arrested at a police roadblock, and died shortly after his arrival in the Pretoria prison; police claimed his death was the result of an extended hunger strike, but he was found to have massive injuries to the head which many saw as strong evidence that he had been heavily and brutally clubbed; on February 2, 1978, the Attorney-General of the Eastern Cape stated that he would not prosecute any police involved in the arrest and detention of Biko; on October 7, 2003, the South African Justice Ministry officials announced that the five policemen who were accused of killing Biko would not be prosecuted because of insufficient evidence, December 18, 1946 – September 12, 1977


• William BILL Nelson, guitarist, songwriter, painter, and experimental musician, 1948


• Lucien LAURENT Voulzy, singer and composer, 1948


• Gillian Armstrong, film director, 1950


• Leonard Maltin, film critic and film historian, 1950


• Randolph Frank RANDY Castillo, drummer, who palyed with Ozzy Osbourne in the 1980's and early 1990's, December 18, 1950 – March 26, 2002


• Elliot Steinberg, aka Elliot Easton, musician, who played lead guitar and sang background vocals for The Cars, 1953


• Raymond Julian Vicimarli, aka Ray Liotta, actor, 1954


• Ron White, stand-up comedian, 1956


• Casper Van Dien, actor, 1968


• Patricia Anne Stratigias, aka Trish Stratus, fitness model and former professional wrestler, 1975


• José Omar Acevedo, MLB right-handed pitcher, currently playing for the Baltimore Orioles, 1977


• Kate Noelle KATIE Holmes, actress, 1978


• Christina Maria Aguilera, pop singer and songwriter, 1980

R.I.P.:

• Antonio Stradivari, luthier, the most prominent member of that profession; the Latin form of his surname, Stradivarius - sometimes shortened to Strad - is often used to refer to his instruments, 644 – December 18, 1737


• Jean-Étienne Montucla, mathematician, wrote the first comprehensive history of mathematics, September 5, 1725 – December 18, 1799


• Bernard Placidus Johann Nepomuk Bolzano, mathematician, theologian, philosopher, and logician, October 5, 1781 – December 18, 1848


• Louis Moreau Gottschalk, composer and pianist, May 8, 1829 – December 18, 1869


• Michel Chasles, mathematician, November 15, 1793 – December 18, 1880


• Dolores Loehr, aka Diana Lynn, actress and pianist, October 7, 1926 – December 18, 1971


• Harry Bartholomew Hooper, MLB right fielder, played from 1909 to 1925; a career .281 hitter with 75 home runs, 817 RBI, 1429 runs, 2466 hits, 389 doubles, 160 triples, and 375 stolen bases in 2309 games; on May 30, 1913, became the first player to hit a home run to leadoff both games of a doubleheader, a mark only matched by Rickey Henderson 80 years later; inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971, August 24, 1887 – December 18, 1974


• Alexey Nikolayevich Kosygin, politician and administrator, who served as Premier of the Soviet Union from 1964 to 1980, February 20, 1904 - December 18, 1980


• Paul Tortelier, cellist and composer, March 21, 1914 - December 18, 1990


• Anne Revere, film actress, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1945 for National Velvet, June 25, 1903 – December 18, 1990


• Mark Goodson, television producer, specializing in game shows, January 14, 1915 – December 18, 1992


• Samuel Watenmaker, aka Samuel SAM Wanamaker, actor and director, June 14, 1919 – December 18, 1993


• Roger Apéry, mathematician, remembered for Apéry's theorem, November 14, 1916 – December 18, 1994


• Konrad Zuse, engineer and computer pioneer, who developed the first functional tape-stored-program-controlled computer, the Z3, in 1941; in 1998 the Z3 was proven to be Turing-complete, June 22, 1910 – December 18, 1995


• Yulii Borisovich Khariton, physicist working in the field of atomic energy, who studied under Ernest Rutherford; he was the chief designer of the Soviet atomic bomb, and stayed with the Soviet nuclear program for many years, February 27, 1904 - December 18, 1996


• Christopher Crosby CHRIS Farley, actor and comedian, February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997


• Lev Stepanovich Dyomin, cosmonaut, who flew on the Soyuz 15 mission, January 11, 1926 - December 18, 1998


• Robert Bresson, film director, September 25, 1901 – December 18, 1999


• Kirsty Anna MacColl, singer-songwriter, October 10, 1959 – December 18, 2000


• Ramon John RAY Hnatyshyn, PC, CC, CMM, CD, BA, LL.B, QC FRHSC (hon), Canada's twenty-fourth governor general, serving from 1990 to 1995, March 16, 1934 – December 18, 2002