Friday, December 01, 2006

Today CCXXV

Birthdays:

  • Tadeáš Hájek z Hájku, the personal physician of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II and astronomer, December 1, 1525 - September 1, 1600

  • Martin Heinrich Klaproth, chemist, who did much to improve and systematize the processes of analytical chemistry and mineralogy; he was the first to discover uranium, zirconium, and titanium, December 1, 1743 – January 1, 1817

  • Marie Grosholtz, aka Marie Tussaud, known for her wax sculptures and for the wax museum that she established in London, December 1, 1761 - April 16, 1850

  • Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, mathematician, who developed non-Euclidean geometry [independently of János Bolyai, who also developed it], December 1, 1792 - February 24, 1856

  • Rex Todhunter Stout, writer, best known as the creator of the fictional detective Nero Wolfe, December 1, 1886 - October 27, 1975

  • Ilona Feher, violinist and teacher, whose pupils include violinists such as Pinkas Zukerman and Shlomo Mintz, December 1, 1901 - January, 1988

  • Lilian Alice Marks, aka Dame Alicia Markova, DBE, prima ballerina, December 1, 1910 – December 2, 2004>/li>
  • Walter Emmons Alston, MLB player and manager; he was a first baseman with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936, playing in his only major league game on September 27, striking out in his only major league at bat; he was named manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers for the 1954 season; he won seven National League pennants in his 23 years tenure as Dodgers manager and, in 1955, he led Brooklyn to the pennant and its only World Series championship; he was named Manager of the Year six times; he managed winning NL All-Star teams a record seven times; he retired after the 1976 season with 2,063 wins - 2,040 in the regular season and 23 in the postseason; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983, December 1, 1911 - October 1, 1984

  • Calvin Robertson Griffith, owner of the Washington Senators, moved and renamed the Minnesota Twins in 1961, from 1955 to 1984, December 1, 1911 - October 20, 1999

  • 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

  • Martin Whiteford MARTY Marion, former MLB shortstop and manager, who was the 1944 NL Most Valuable Player, 1917

  • Maurice de Bevere, aka Morris, cartoonist, the creator of Lucky Luke, December 1, 1923 - July 16, 2001

  • Terence Parsons, aka Matt Monro, ballad singer, December 1, 1930 - February 7, 1985

  • Allan Stewart Konigsberg, aka Woody Allen, film director, writer, actor, musician, and comedian; at 19, he started writing scripts for The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, Caesar's Hour, and other television shows; in 1977, he won the Academy Award for Best Director and shared the Academy Award for Writing, Original Screenplay, both for Annie Hall; in 1986, he won the Academy Award for Writing, Original Screenplay for Hannah and Her Sisters; in 1996, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America, 1935

  • Louis Allen Rawls, soul music, jazz, and blues singer, December 1, 19331 – January 6, 2006

  • Sander L. SANDY Nelson, drummer, whose song Teen Beat rose to #4 on the 1959 Billboard Hot 100 chart, 1938

  • Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III, comedian, actor, and writer; he won an Emmy Award in 1973, and five Grammy Awards, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1982; in 1974 he won two American Academy of Humor awards and the Writers Guild of America Award, December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005

  • JOHN Paul Densmore, percussionist, drummer, and songwriter, the drummer for The Doors from 1965 to 1973, 1944

  • Bette Davis Midler, singer, actress, and comedian, known as The Divine Miss M; she has won four Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award, 1945

  • Raymond Edward GILBERT O'Sullivan, singer-songwriter, 1946

  • George Arthur Foster, former MLB left fielder; he was a five-time All-Star, 1976 to 1979 and 1981; in 1977, he hit 52 home runs; he was the 1976 All-Star Game
    MVP
    ; in his career, he hit for a .274 batting average, with 348 HRs, 1239 RBI, 1925 hits and 986 runs scored in 1977 games played, 1948

  • Keith Thibodeaux, former child actor, and musician, best known for playing Little Ricky on I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour; in both cases, he was credited as Richard Keith, 1950

  • John Francis JACO Pastorius III, jazz bassist and innovator, and composer, known for his virtuoso technique and fretless bass playing style, in a solo and seesion career, and with Weather Report, December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987

  • Joseph JOE Quesada, comic book writer and artist, the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics since 2000, 1962

  • Larry Kenneth Robert Walker, former MLB right fielde, who played from 1989 to 2005; he won the Lou Marsh Trophy in 1998, was an All-Star in 1992, 1997 to 1999, and 2001; he won or shared the Tip O'Neill Award, in 1987, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, and 2002; he won an NL Gold Glove Award in 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2001, and 2002, and a Silver Slugger Award in 1992, 1997, and 1999; he was the 1997 National League MVP, 1966

  • Kirk Wesley Rueter, former MLB left-handed pitcher from 1993 to 2005, 1970

  • Emily Mortimer, actress, 1971

  • Kate Rusby, folk singer and songwriter, who plays the guitar, the fiddle, and the piano, 1973

  • Matthew Wayne Shepard, student, murdered, possibly because of his sexual orientation;
    shortly after the murder, president Bill Clinton urged Congress to add sexual orientation to the hate crimes law - the measure was defeated; the convicted murderers are currently serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole, December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998


R.I.P.:

  • Jeremiah Clarke, composer and organist, remembered for the popular keyboard piece attributed to him, the Prince of Denmark's March, commonly called the Trumpet Voluntary, c. 1674 - December 1, 1707

  • Giacomo Filippo Maraldi, astronomer and mathematician; from 1700 until 1718, he worked on a catalog of fixed stars, and from 1672 until 1719 he studied Mars extensively; he recognized that the corona visible during a solar eclipse belongs to the Sun not to the Moon, August 21, 1665 – December 1, 1729

  • Maurice Greene, composer and organist, August 12, 1696 - December 1, 1755

  • Edward Alexander Crowley, aka Aleister Crowley, occultist, writer, mystic, hedonist, chess player, mountain climber, poet, painter, astrologer, drug experimenter, and social critic, best known today for his occult writings, especially The Book of the Law, October 12, 1875 – December 1, 1947

  • Ernest John Moeran, composer, December 31, 1894 - December 1, 1950

  • Fred Rose, songwriter and music publishing executive, August 24, 1897 - December 1, 1954

  • David Arugete, aka Darío Moreno, singer, composer, lyricist, and guitarist, April 3, 1921 – December 1, 1968

  • Sam "Magic Sam" Maghett, blues guitarist and singer, February 14, 1937 – December 1, 1969

  • David Ben-Gurion, politician, the first [and third] Prime Minister of Israel, October 16, 1886 – December 1, 1973

  • Jacob Nelson NELLIE Fox, MLB second baseman, the AL MVP in 1959; he was a 12-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove Award winner; he had only 216 strikeouts in over 9,200 at-bats; the Veterans Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1997, December 25, 1927 – December 1, 1975

  • Irving LEE Dorsey, pop/R&B singer; much of his best work was produced by Allen Toussaint, with instrumental backing by The Meters; from 1965 to 1969, Dorsey put seven songs in the Hot 100, the most successful of which was 1966's Working In The Coal Mine, December 24, 1924 — December 1, 1986

  • James Baldwin, novelist, short story writer, and essayist, best known for his novel Go Tell it on the Mountain, August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987

  • George PUNCH Imlach, NHL coach and general manager, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, March 15, 1918 - December 1, 1987

  • Alvin Ailey, Jr., modern dancer and choreographer, founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989

  • George Joseph Stigler, economist, awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize in Economics, January 17, 1911 – December 1, 1991

  • Audree Neva Korthof Wilson, the mother of Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, September 28, 1917 - December 1, 1997

  • Stéphane Grappelli, jazz violinist, who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Django Reinhardt, January 26, 1908 – December 1, 1997

  • David Arthur DAVE McNally, MLB left-handed starting pitcher from 1962 until 1975; he is famous as the only pitcher to have hit a grand slam home run, and thereby win his own game in a world series; he is also known for his role in the historic 1975 Seitz decision which led to the downfall of major league baseball's reserve clause, and ushered in the current era of free agency; McNally and Andy Messersmith were the only two players in 1975 playing on the one year reserve clause in effect at the time - neither had signed a contract at the time, but both were held with their team under the rule; the two challenged the rule, and won their free agency, October 31, 1942 – December 1, 2002

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