Today CCXLIII

Birthdays:

• Thomas Andrews, chemist and physicist, who did important work on phase transitions between gases and liquids, December 19, 1813 – November 26, 1885


• Albert Abraham Michelson, physicist, known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light, and especially for the Michelson-Morley experiment; awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics, December 19, 1852 - May 9, 1931


• Marie Augusta Davey, aka Minnie Maddern Fiske, aka Mrs. Fiske, actress, December 19, 1865 – February 15, 1932


• Joe "King" Oliver, bandleader and jazz musician, who played cornet in the New Orleans brass bands and dance bands; the band that he co-led with trombonist Kid Ory was considered New Orleans' hottest and best in the 1910's, December 19, 1885 – April 8, 1938


• Frederick Martin FRITZ Reiner, conductor of opera and symphonic music; Chief Conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle from 1914 to 1921; Music Director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1922 to 1931, the Pittsburgh Symphony from 1938 to 1948, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1953 to 1963, December 19, 1888 - November 15, 1963


• Ford Christopher Frick, sportswriter and executive, who served as president of the National League from 1934 to 1951 and as Baseball Commissioner from 1951 to 1965, December 19, 1894 - April 8, 1978


• Rudolf Hell, electrical engineer and inventor; in 1925, he invented an apparatus called the Hellschreiber, an early forerunner to the fax, December 19, 1901 – March 11, 2002


• Sir Ralph David Richardsontor, December 19, 1902 – October 10, 1983


• George Davis Snell, mouse geneticist and basic transplant immunologist, who shared the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Baruj Benacerraf and Jean Dausset, December 19, 1903 – June 6, 1996


• Édith Piaf, singer and actress, December 19, 1915 – October 11, 1963


• Henry Roeland Byrd, aka Professor Longhair, New Orleans blues musician, known for his unique piano style, December 19, 1918 - January 30, 1980


• David Susskind, pioneering TV talk show host, December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987


• Gordon Cameron Jackson OBE, actor; in 1969, he appeared in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, December 19, 1923 – January 15, 1990


• Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom, actor and voice actor, 1924


• Douglas Paul Harvey, NHL defenseman, December 19, 1924 - December 26, 1989


• Robert B. Sherman, songwriter and painter, who writes film scores with his brother, Richard M. Sherman, 1925


• David Geeves, aka James Booth, film, stage, and television actor and screenwriter, December 19, 1927 - August 11, 2005


• Robert Brookmeyer, jazz valve trombonist, pianist, and arranger, 1929


• Howard Sackler, screenwriter and playwright, who wrote The Great White Hope, December 19, 1929 – October 12, 1982


• Cicely Tyson, actress, who won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie in 1994 for Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, 1933


• Albert William AL Kaline, former MLB outfielder, active from 1953 to 1974, spending his entire career with the Detroit Tigers; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1980, 1934


• Barbara Bostock, retired actress, 1935


• Robert Henry BOBBY Timmons, jazz pianist and composer, best known as sideman in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1958 to 1959, December 19, 1935 - March 1, 1974


• Philip David PHIL Ochs, protest ["topical"] singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist, who wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and released eight albums, December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976


• Maurice White, soul, funk, and R&B singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and bandleader, known for founding and fronting Earth, Wind & Fire 1941


• Mitchell Jay Feigenbaum Ph.D., mathematical physicist, whose pioneering studies in chaos theory led to the discovery of the Feigenbaum constant, 1944


• Graham Barnes, aka Alvin Lee, rock guitarist and singer, frontman for Ten Years After, 1944


• Zalman ZAL Yanovsky, musician, co-founder, guitarist, and singer for The Lovin' Spoonful, December 19, 1944 – December 13, 2002


• Elaine Joyce, actress, 1945


• Robert Urich, actor, known for playing private investigators on the television series Spenser: For Hire and Vega$, December 19, 1946 – April 16, 2002


• Thomas James TOM Lawless, former MLB outfielder, who played from 1982 to 1990, 1956


• John Thompson Gulager, actor, cinematographer, and film director, the son of Clu Gulager, 1957


• Cyril Collard, author, filmmaker, composer, and actor, December 19, 1957 - March 5, 1993


• Christopher Hamill, aka Limahl, lead singer for the 1980s pop band Kajagoogoo, and solo artist, 1958


• Mike Lookinland, actor, known for his role as Bobby Brady on The Brady Bunch, 1960


• Eric Allin Cornell, physicist, who shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physics with Carl E. Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle, 1961


• Matthew Waterhouse, actor, best known for his role as Adric on Doctor Who; after leaving the series, he began a stage career, 1961


• Jennifer Beals, actress and former teen model, known for her role as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in Flashdance, 1963


• Reyenaldo Ignacio CHITO Martínez, former MLB player, who played from 1991 to 1993, 1965


• Renee Kristen KRISTY Swanson, actress, who starred in the movie version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1969


• Tiffany Amarziano, aka Tiffany Towers, actress and model, 1971


• Amy Locane, actress, 1971


• Alyssa Jayne Milano, actress, known for her roles on Who's the Boss? and on Charmed, 1972


• Jacob Benjamin JAKE Gyllenhaal, actor, 1980


• Marla Lynne Sokoloff, actress, 1980

R.I.P.:

• Francesco Antonio Bonporti, priest and amateur composer, June 11, 1672 - December 19, 1749


• Aloysius ALOIS Alzheimer, psychiatrist and neuropathologist, first identified the characteristic neuropathology of what is now known as Alzheimer's Disease, June 14, 1864 - December 19, 1915


• Paul Langevin, physicist who developed Langevin dynamics and the Langevin equation, January 23, 1872 – December 19, 1946


• Robert Andrews Millikan, experimental physicist, awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physics for his measurement of the charge on the electron, and for his work on the photoelectric effect; he later studied cosmic rays, March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953


• Joe Cole, roadie for Black Flag and Rollins Band, April 4, 1961 - December 19, 1991


• Michael James Dick, aka Michael Clarke, musician, best known as the drummer for The Byrds, June 3, 1946 – December 19, 1993


• Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, film actor, September 28, 1924 – December 19, 1996


• Masaru Ibuka, electronics industrialist, who co-founded Sony, April 11, 1908 - December 19, 1997


• James A. Lane, aka Jimmy Rogers, blues guitarist, best known as a member of Muddy Waters' 1950's band, June 3, 1924 - December 19, 1997


• Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn, actor, famous for playing Q in the James Bond films, September 12, 1914 – December 19, 1999


• Milton John MILT Hilton, jazz double bass player, often referred to as "the dean of jazz bass players;" an accomplished photographer, he was one of Louis Armstrong's best friends, June 23, 1910 - December 19, 2000


• Roebuck "Pops" Staples, gospel and R&B musician, songwriter, guitarist, and singer, the patriarch and member of the singing group The Staple Singers, which included his son and daughters, December 28, 1915 – December 19, 2000


• Marcel Mule, classical saxophonist, June 24, 1901 - December 19, 2001


• Hope Elise Ross Lange, stage, film, and television actress, November 28, 1931 – December 19, 2003


• Herbert Brovarnik, aka Herbert Charles Brown, chemist who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Georg Wittig, May 22, 1912 – December 19, 2004


• Renata Ersilia Clotilde Tebaldi, lyric soprano, February 1, 1922 – December 19, 2004