Tuesday, July 23, 2019

July 23

Birthdays:

1973~ Monica Lewinsky (née Monica Samille Lewinsky), American White House intern whose affair with President Bill Clinton nearly took down his administration.

1971~ Joel Stein, American journalist and columnist for Time magazine.

1967~ Philip Seymour Hoffman (d. Feb. 2, 2014), American Oscar-winning actor who found depth in every character.  He died of a drug overdose at age 46.

1962~ Eriq La Salle (né Erik Ki La Salle), American actor.

1961~ Woody Harrelson (né Woodrow Tracy Harrelson), American actor.  He was born on his father’s 23rd birthday.  His father was convicted murderer Charles Harrelson (1938 ~ 2007)

1957~ Theo van Gogh (né Theodoor van Gogh; d. Nov. 2, 2004), Dutch actor and director.  He was murdered at age 47 by a radical Muslim for his criticism of Islam.

1943~ Tony Joe White (d. Oct. 24, 2018), American songwriter who created swamp rock.  He is best known for his 1969 hit song Polk Salad Annie.  He was born in Goodwill, Louisiana.  He died of a heart attack at age 75.

1936~ Anthony Kennedy (né Anthony McLeod Kennedy), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was appointed to the High Court by President Ronald Reagan.  He took office in February 1988.  He replaced Lewis F. Powell, Jr., on the Court. Brett Kavanaugh succeeded him on the Court.  He retired from the Court in July 2018.

1933~ Bert Convy (né Bernard Whalen Convy; d. July 15, 1991), American game show host.  He died of a brain tumor 8 days before his 58th birthday.

1928~ Vera Rubin (née Vera Florence Cooper; d. Dec. 25, 2016), American astronomer.  She was a pioneer in galaxy rotation.  She died at age 88.

1921~ Betty Haas Pfister (née Elizabeth Haas; d. Nov. 17, 2011), American female World War II pilot who never lost her love of flying.  She joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) following college.  She died at age 90.

1918~ “Pee Wee” Reese (né Harold Peter Henry Reese; d. Aug. 14, 1999), American professional baseball player.  He died 22 days after his 81st birthday.

1913~ Michael Foot (né Michael Mackintosh Foot, d. Mar. 3, 2010), British fiery Laborite who challenged Margaret Thatcher.  He began his career as a journalist before entering politics.  He died at age 96.

1912~ Michael Wilding (né Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding; d. July 8, 1979), English actor and husband of Elizabeth Taylor.  He died 15 days before his 67th birthday from head injuries resulting from a fall down a flight of stairs.

1906~ Vladimir Prelog (d. Jan. 7, 1998), Croatian chemist and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born in Sarajevo, which at the time was under Austria-Hungary.  He died at age 91.

1892~ Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (d. Aug. 27, 1975).  He died at age 83.

1888~ Raymond Chandler (né Raymond Thornton Chandler; d. Mar. 26, 1959), American detective-fiction writer.  He is best known for such novels as The Big Sleep and The Long Goodbye.  He died at age 70.

1885~ Prince Georges V. Matchabelli (né George Vasili Matchabelli; d. Mar. 31, 1935), Georgian-American prince and businessman.  He created Prince Matchabelli perfume company.  He died of pneumonia at age 49.

1865~ Edward Terry Sanford (d. Mar. 8, 1930), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He served on the High Court from January 1923 until his death on this date 7 years later.  He was nominated to the Court by President Warren Harding.  He replaced Mahlon Pitney on the Court. He was succeeded by Owen Roberts.  He died of uremic poisoning following a tooth extraction.  He was 64 years old.

1816~ Charlotte Cushman (née Charlotte Saunders Cushman; d. Feb. 18, 1876), American stage actress.  She was born and died in Boston, Massachusetts.  She died of pneumonia at age 59.

1775~ Étienne-Louis Malus (d. Feb. 24, 1812), French physicist and mathematician.  He participated in Napoleon’s expedition into Egypt.  His name is one of 72 inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.  He died at age 36.

1649~ Pope Clement XI (né Giovanni Frencesco Albani; d. Mar. 19, 1721).  He was Pope from November 1700 until his death 21 years later.  He died at age 71.

1503~ Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (d. Jan. 27, 1547), Queen consort of Germany and Queen consort of Bohemia and Hungary.  She was married to Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.  She died at age 43 shortly after giving birth to her 15th child.

1401~ Francesco Sforza (d. Mar. 8, 1466), Duke of Milan.  He was the Duke of Milan from March 1450 until his death 16 years later.  He died at age 64.

Events that Changed the World:

2015~ A gunman at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana began shooting, killing two people and injuring several more. The gunman then turned the gun on himself.

2005~ Three bombs exploded in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt killing 88 people.

1995~ The Hale-Bopp comet was discovered by Alan Hale (b. 1958) and Thomas Bopp (1949 ~ 2018).

1992~ A Vatican commission led by Joseph Ratzinger (b. 1927), later Pope Benedict XVI, established that limiting the rights of homosexuals and non-married couples was not discrimination on grounds of race or gender.

1986~ Britain’s Prince Andrew, Duke of York (b. 1960) married Sarah Ferguson (b. 1959) at Westminster Abbey.  They divorced in 1996.

1984~ Vanessa Williams (b. 1963) became the first Miss America to resign.  She was forced to resign after nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine.

1968~ The only successful hijacking of an El Al craft occurred when a plane carrying 38 passengers and 10 crew members was taken over by three terrorists.  The plane had been traveling from Rome to Lod, Israel when the hijacking occurred.  The plane was diverted to Dar El Beida in Algeria.  The non-Israeli passengers were released; the Israeli crew and passengers were held as hostages, but were ultimately released after 40 days.

1942~ The Nazi extermination camp of Treblinka opened.  Over 850,000 Jews were killed during the 15 months the camp was in operation.

1929~ The Fascist government in Italy banned the use of foreign words.

1903~ The Ford Motor Company sold its first car.

1881~ The Boundary Treaty of 1881 setting the boundary between Chile and Argentina was signed in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1862~ General Henry W. Halleck (1815 ~ 1872) took command of the Union Army during the American Civil War.

1829~ William Austin Burt (1792 ~ 1858), received a patent from the United States Patent Office for a typographer, the precursor to the typewriter.

Good-Byes:

2018~ Douglas Grindstaff (b. Apr. 6, 1931), American audio maestro who engineered Star Trek’s sounds.  He died at age 87.

2018~ Maryon Pittman Allen (née Maryon Pittman; b. Nov. 30, 1925), Alabama senator who foiled George Wallace.  She served as United States Senator for five months, from June 1978 until November 1978, following the death of her husband, Senator James Allen.  Governor George Wallace appointed her to fill her husband’s term, expecting that he would run for that position in a special election.  She refused to step aside, foiling Wallace’s plans.  She died at age 92.

2017~ John Kundla (né John Albert Kundla; b. July 3, 1916), American basketball coach who built pro basketball’s first dynasty, the Minnesota Lakers.  He died 20 days after his 101st birthday.

2012~ Sally Ride (née Sally Kristen Ride; b. May 26, 1951), American astronaut and first American woman in space.  She died of pancreatic cancer at age 61.

2011~ Amy Winehouse (née Amy Jade Winehouse; b. Sept. 14, 1983), British diva dogged by self-destruction.  She died at age 27 of alcohol poisoning.

2011~ General John Malchase David Shalikashvili (né John Malchase David Shalikashvili; b. June 27, 1936), Polish-born foreign head of the Pentagon.  He died of a stroke less than a month after his 75th birthday.

2011~ Fran Landesman (né Frances Deitsch; b. Oct. 21, 1927), American lyricist and poet of the Beat Generation.  She died at age 83.

2011~ Robert Ettinger (né Robert Chester Wilson Ettinger; b. Dec. 4, 1918), American cryonics pioneer who fought death with deep freezers.  He is known as the Father of Cryogenics.  He died at age 92.

2010~ Daniel Schorr (né Daniel Louis Schorr; b. Aug. 31, 1916), American journalist.  He was 93 years old.

2009~ E. Lynn Harris (né Everette Lynn Harris, b. June 20, 1955), the African-American author who wrote about gay Black men.  He died of heart disease at age 54.

2007~ Ernest Otto Fischer (b. Nov. 10, 1918), German chemist and recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.  He died at age 88.

2002~ Chaim Potok (né Herman Harold Potok; b. Feb. 17, 1929), American-Jewish novelist and rabbi.  He died at age 73.

2001~ Eudora Welty (née Eudora Alice Welty; b. Apr. 13, 1909), American southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. She died at age 92.

1996~ Jean Muir (née Jean Muir Fullarton; b. Feb. 13, 1911), American stage actress.  She died at age 85.

1982~ Vic Morrow (né Victor Morozoff; b. Feb. 14, 1929), American actor.  He was killed at age 53 when the stunt helicopter he was in during the filming of The Twilight Zone crashed.

1973~ Eddie Rickenbacker (né Edward Vernon Rickenbacker; b. Oct. 8, 1890), American flying ace during World War I.  He died at age 82.

1968~ Sir Henry Dale (né Henry Hallett Dale; b. June 9, 1875), English pharmacologist and recipient of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work in the study of acetylcholine as an agent in the chemical transmission of nerve impulses.  He died at age 93.

1966~ Montgomery Clift (né Edward Montgomery Clift; b. Oct. 17, 1920), American actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 45.

1955~ Cordell Hull (b. Oct. 2, 1871), 47thUnited States Secretary of State.  He served under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  He held that position for 11 years, from 1933 until 1944.  He was also the recipient of the 1945 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in establishing the United Nations.  He died at age 83.  He was the subject of Erik Larson’s non-fiction book, In the Garden of Beasts, which is about Hitler’s Berlin in the years leading up to World War II.

1951~ Philippe Pétain (b. Apr. 24, 1856), Prime Minister of France.  He was considered a Nazi collaborator.  After World War II, he was tried and convicted of treason.  He died at age 95.

1948~ D.W. Griffith (né David Llewelyn Wark Griffith; b. Jan. 22, 1875), American film director, best known for his 1915 epic film, The Birth of a Nation.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 73.

1923~ Charles Dupuy (né Charles Alexandre Dupuy; b. Nov. 5, 1851), Prime Minister of France.  He served as Prime Minister from April 1893 to December 1893.  He died at age 71.

1916~ Sir William Ramsay (b. Oct. 2, 1852), Scottish chemist and recipient of the 1904 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work in identifying the inert gaseous elements.  He died at age 63 of nasal cancer.

1885~ Ulysses Simpson Grant (néHiram Ulysses Grant. b. Apr. 27, 1822), 18th President of the United States.  He was President from March 1969 through March 1877.  He has previously served as General in the Union Army during the American Civil War.  He died of throat cancer at age 63.

1875~ Isaac Singer (né Isaac Merrit Singer, b. Oct. 27, 1811), American inventor who made improvements to the sewing machine, and entrepreneur founder of the Singer Corporation.  He fathered at least 24 children through various wives and mistresses.  He died at age 63.

1800~ John Rutledge (b. Sept. 17, 1739), 2nd Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President George Washington.  He initially served as an Associate Justice from September 1789 until his resignation in March 1791.  Four years later he was nominated to be the Chief Justice by George Washington and served in that recess appointment until December 1795, when the Senate rejected his appointment.  He died 5 years later at age 60.

1757~ Domenico Scarlatti (né Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti; b. Oct. 26, 1685), Italian composer.  He died at age 71.

1645~ Tsar Michael I of Russia (b. July 22, 1596), first Russian Tsar of the House of Romanov.  He died the day after his 49th birthday.

1536~ Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset (b. June 15, 1519), illegitimate son of King Henry VIII of England.  He died at age 17.  He is believed to have died of tuberculosis.


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