Today CCXXXVI - RIP Peter Boyle

Birthdays:

• Alfred Werner, chemist, who was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and discovered hexol, a cobalt compound, December 12, 1866 - November 15, 1919


• Kurt Magnus Atterberg, composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and ballets, December 12, 1887 – February 15, 1974


• Emanuel Goldenberg, aka Edward Goldenberg [Edward G.] Robinson, stage and film actor; in 1923, he made his debut as Edward G. Robinson in The Bright Shawl; he appeared in over 90 films in a career spanning 50 years; his last scene was a suicide sequence in Soylent Green; in 1973, he was awarded an honorary Oscar, December 12, 1893 – January 26, 1973


• Sammy Davis, Sr., dancer, musician, and entertainer, December 12, 1900 - May 21, 1988


• Dagmar Nordstrom, composer, pianist, and singer, who performed with her sister Siggie as The Nordstrom Sisters, December 12, 1903 – April 9, 1976


• Yasujiro Ozu, film director, December 12, 1903 - December 12, 1963


• Roy Douglas, pianist, composer, orchestrator, and arranger, who started to play the piano when he was five, and at ten he was composing little piano pieces; he was Ralph Vaughan Williams' musical assistant from 1944 until the composer's death in 1958, helping him to prepare works for performance and publication, 1907


• Mildred Linton, aka Karen Morley, film actress, who came to prominence in Hollywood films in the early 1930's, in such films as Mata Hari, Scarface, The Phantom of Crestwood, Arsene Lupin, Dinner at Eight, and Pride and Prejudice; her career came to an end in 1947, when she testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and refused to answer questions about her alleged American Communist Party membership, December 12, 1909 - March 8, 2003


• Francis Albert Sinatra, singer, December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998


• Joseph Goreed, aka Joe Williams, jazz singer, who achieved fame in 1954 as the singer for Count Basie's Orchestra, remaining with Basie for several years; he appeared in the recurring of Bill Cosby's father-in-law on The Cosby Show, December 12, 1918 – March 29, 1999


• Robert William BOB Barker, game show host, who has won seventeen Emmy Awards, 1923


• Edward Irving Koch, politician, the Mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989, 1924


• Honor Blackman, actress, known for her roles as Dr. Cathy Gale in The Avengers and as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, 1927


• Robert Noyce, Ph.D., co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957, and Intel in 1968, December 12, 1927 – June 3, 1990


• Toshiko Akiyoshi, jazz pianist and composer/arranger, who was among the first successful female instrumentalists in jazz; she has received 14 Grammy nominations, and she was the first woman to win the Best Arranger and Composer awards in Down Beat magazine's Readers Poll, 1929


• Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero, aka Connie Francis, pop singer, known for such songs as Who's Sorry Now? and Where The Boys Are, 1938


• Marie DIONNE Warrick, singer, best known for her work with Hal David and Burt Bacharach, 1940


• Forrest Richard DICKEY Betts, guitarist, singer, and songwriter, known for his work as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, 1943


• Grover Washington, Jr., jazz-funk saxophonist, one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre, December 12, 1943 – December 17, 1999


• Cathleen Roxanne CATHY Rigby, gymnast, actress, and speaker, 1952


• Bruce Kulick, musician, lead guitarist for KISS from September, 1984, to February, 1996, 1953


• Sheila Escovedo, aka Sheila E., drummer and percussionist, who also plays violin and guitar; she is the daughter of percussionist Pete Escovedo, and niece of Alejandro Escovedo and Coke Escovedo; the late Tito Puente was her godfather, 1957


• Jennifer Lynn Connelly, film actress and former child model, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2001 for A Beautiful Mind, 1970


• Mädchen Amick, actress, whose first break came when David Lynch chose her to play Shelly Johnson on Twin Peaks, 1970


• Regina Hall, film and television actress, known for her roles in the Scary Movie films, 1970


• Shelton Hank Williams, musician, the grandson of Hank Williams, Sr. and the son of Hank Williams Jr, 1972


• Teena Renae Brandon, aka Brandon Teena, transgendered [female-to-male] man, who was raped and murdered, in a hate crime of the 1990's; he is the subject of the Academy Award-winning 1999 film Boys Don't Cry, based on the documentary film The Brandon Teena Story, December 12, 1972 - December 31, 1993


• Mayim Hoya Bialik, actress, known for her role in Beaches, and for her lead role as Blossom Russo on the sitcom Blossom; as of 2006, she is completing work on her Ph.D. thesis, 1975


• Orlando Thill Hudson, MLB second baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks, renowned for his fielding prowess; he won Gold Glove Awards in 2005 and 2006, 1977


• Evren Yigit Genis, classical music composer, who started to compose in 1995, and wrote his first symphony at the age of 17; he has composed over 300 pieces, including five symphonies, violin and piano concertos, and some chamber music, sonatas and suites, 1978


• Garrett Bernard Atkins, MLB third baseman for the Colorado Rockies since 2003, 1975


• Katrina Elam, country music singer, 1983

R.I.P.:

• John Pell, mathematician, March 1, 1611 – December 12, 1685


• Victor Yakovlevich Bunyakovsky, mathematician, who worked in theoretical mechanics and number theory, December 16, 1804 – December 12, 1889


• Julius Ullman, aka Douglas Fairbanks, actor, screenwriter, director, and producer, who became noted for his swashbuckling roles in silent movies, May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939


• Yasujiro Ozu, film director, December 12, 1903 - December 12, 1963


• Tallulah Brockman Bankhead, actress, talk-show host, and bonne vivant, January 31, 1902 - December 12, 1968


• Vinko Žganec, ethnomusicologist, January 22, 1890 - December 12, 1976


• Clementine Ogilvy Spencer-Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill, GBE, CStJ, the wife of Sir Winston Churchill, April 1, 1885 – December 12, 1977


• Anne Baxter, actress, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1946 for The Razor's Edge, May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985


• Ian AR Stewart, rock musician, who played piano in the original line-up of The Rolling Stones, predating both Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts as members of the band; he was inducted posthumously into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 with the band, July 18, 1938 – December 12, 1985


• Stuart Allen Roosa, NASA astronaut, who was the command module pilot for the Apollo 14 mission, August 16, 1933 – December 12, 1994


• Yevgeniy Mikhailovich [E. M.] Landis, mathematician, who worked mainly on partial differential equations, October 6, 1921 – December 12, 1997


• George Montgomery Letz, aka George Montgomery, actor, painter, sculptor, furniture craftsman, and stuntman, best known as an actor in Westerns, August 29, 1916 - December 12, 2000


• Veljko Šošo, aka Barry Mitchell, aka Brad Dexter, actor, known for his role as Harry Luck in The Magnificent Seven; his relationship with Frank Sinatra began in 1964 when he saved Sinatra from drowning - the two later had a falling out; Dexter died on what would have been Sinatra's 87th birthday, April 9, 1917 – December 12, 2002


• Peter Boyle, comedic and dramatic actor, known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and his film roles in Young Frankenstein and Taxi Driver; his first starring role was as the title character in the 1970 movie Joe; he won an Emmy Award in 1996 as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his appearance on The X-Files, October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006