Friday, August 14, 2020

August 14

Birthdays:

1987 ~ Tim Tebow (né Timothy Richard Tibow), American football player.  He was born in Makati, Philippines.

1966 ~ Halle Berry (née Marie Halle Berry), African-American actress.  She was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

1959 ~ Marcia Gay Harden, American actress.  She was born in La Jolla, California.

1959 ~ Magic Johnson (né Earvin Johnson, Jr.), American basketball player.  He was born in Lansing, Michigan.

1956 ~ Erica Flapan, American mathematician.  She was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

1954 ~ Mark Fidrych (né Mark Steven Fidrych; d. Apr. 13, 2009), American baseball pitcher.  He was nicknamed “the Bird.”  He played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers.  He died at age 54 in a freak accident while working underneath his dump truck and his clothing became entangled with a spinning shaft, suffocating him.  He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and died in Northborough, Massachusetts.

1954 ~ Stanley McChrystal (né Stanley Allen McChrystal), American Army 4 Star General.  He was born in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

1953 ~ James Horner (né James Roy Horner; d. June 22, 2015), American composer who scored blockbuster soundtracks.  He died at age 61 when the turboprop aircraft he was flying crashed.

1951 ~ Carl Lumbly (né Carl Winston Lumbly), African-American actor.  He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1950 ~ Gary Larson, American cartoonist and creator of The Far Side.  He was born in Tacoma, Washington.

1947 ~ Danielle Steel (née Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuuelein-Steel), American writer of romance novels.  She was born in New York, New York.

1946 ~ Susan Saint James (née Susan Jane Miller), American actress.  She is best known for her role as Kate McArdle on the television sit-com Kate and Allie.  She was born in Los Angeles, California.

1945 ~ Steve Martin (né Stephen Glenn Martin), American actor and comedian.  He was born in Waco, Texas.

1945 ~ Wim Wenders (né Ernest Wilhelm Wenders), German-born film director.  He was born in Düsseldorf, Germany.

1933 ~ Richard Ernst (né Richard Robert Ernst), Swiss physical chemist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born in Winterthur, Switzerland.

1930 ~ Earl Weaver (né Earl Sidney Weaver; b. Jan. 19, 2013), longtime manager of the Baltimore Orioles.  He died at age 82.

1926 ~ Lina Wertmüller, Italian film director.  She was born in Rome, Italy.

1925 ~ Russell Baker (né Russell Wayne Baker; d. Jan. 21, 2019), American journalist and irreverent columnist who delighted readers.  He died at age 93.

1918 ~ Alice Provensen (née Alice Rose Twitchell; d. Apr. 23, 2018), American illustrator who, along with her husband, Martin Provensen (1916 ~ 1987) brought kids’ books to life.  She illustrated many books in the Golden Book Series.  She was born in Chicago, Illinois.  She died at age 99 in San Clemente, California.

1912 ~ Frank Oppenheimer (né Frank Friedman Oppenheimer; d. Feb. 3, 1985), American particle physicist.  He was involved in the Manhattan Project.  He died of cancer at age 72.

1881 ~ Francis Ford (né Francis Joseph Feeney; d. Sept. 5, 1953), American film director.  He was the older brother director of John Ford.  He was born in Portland, Maine.  He died of cancer 22 days after his 72nd birthday in Los Angeles, California.

1876 ~ Alexander I of Serbia (d. June 11, 1903), King of Serbia.  He, along with his wife, Draga Mašin (Sept. 11, 1864 ~ June 11, 1903), was assassinated.  He was 26 years old; his wife was 38.

1871 ~ Guangxu (d. Nov. 14, 1908), 11th Chinese Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.  He reigned from February 1875 until his death at age 37.

1867 ~ John Galsworthy (d. Jan. 31, 1933), British novelist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He is best known for The Forsyte Saga.  He died of a brain tumor at age 65.

1866 ~ Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin, Baron de la Vallée Poussin (d. Mar. 2, 1962), Belgian mathematician.  He is best known for proving the Prime Number Theory.  He died at age 95.

1865 ~ Guido Castelnuovo (d. Apr. 27, 1952), Italian mathematician.  He died at age 86.

1851 ~ Doc Holliday (né John Henry Holliday; d. Nov. 8, 1887), American gambler, gunfighter and dentist in the American Wild West.  He died at age 36 of tuberculosis.

1848 ~ Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Lady Huggins (née Margaret Lindsay Murray; d. Mar. 24, 1915), Irish astronomer and author.  She died at age 66.

1802 ~ Letitia Elizabeth Landon (d. Oct. 15, 1838), English poet and novelist.  She is better known by her initials L.E.L.  She was born in Chelsea, London, England.  She died in Cape Coast, Ghana, likely by suicide at age 36.

1742 ~ Pope Pius VII (né Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; d. Aug. 20, 1823).  He was Pope from March 14, 1800 until his death in 1823.  He died 6 days after his 81st birthday.

1642 ~ Cosimo III de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. Oct. 31, 1723).  He died at age 81.

1530 ~ Giambattista Benedetti (d. Jan. 20, 1590), Italian mathematician and physicist.  He died at age 59.

Events that Changed the World:

2015 ~ The United States Embassy in Havana, Cuba reopened after having been closed for 54 years.

2013 ~ Egypt declared a state of emergency after security forces killed hundreds of demonstrators supporting former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi (1951 ~ 2019).

1994 ~ Criminal Ilich Ramíerz Sánchez (b. 1949), also known as Carlos the Jackal, was captured.  He was ultimately tried, found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

1980 ~ Lech Wałęsa (b. 1943) led strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland shipyards.

1975 ~ The cult film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, opened in London.  The film of the would be released in the United States in September 1975.

1962 ~ Two gunmen hijacked a mail truck in Plymouth, Massachusetts and stole over $5.1M.  The money has never been recovered.

1947 ~ Pakistan gained independence from the British Indian Empire and joined the Commonwealth of Nations.

1935 ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) signed the Social Security Act into law, creating a government pension system for retirees.

1893 ~ France became the first country to introduce motor vehicle registration.

1880 ~ Construction of the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany was completed.  Construction had begun exactly 632 years earlier, in 1248, but was stopped in 1473.  Construction did not begin again until the 1800s.

1842 ~ The Second Seminole War ended with the Seminoles forced from their native lands of Florida to Oklahoma territory.

1592 ~ The first Europeans to see the Falkland Islands were a group of ships lead by British navigator John Davis (1550 ~ 1605).

1040 ~ King Duncan I (1001 ~ 1040) was killed in battle against Macbeth (1005 ~ 1057), his cousin, who then became the King of Scotland.

Good-Byes:

2016 ~ Fyuvsh Finkel (né Philip Finkel; b. Oct. 9, 1922), American actor best known as being a star of the Yiddish theater.  He played Tevye the milkman for many years in the musical Fiddler on the Roof.  He died of a heart attack at age 93.

2015 ~ Bob Johnson (né Donald William Johnson, b. May 14, 1932), American record producer who is best known for nurturing Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash.  He was 83 years old.

2014 ~ Leonard J. Fein (b. July 1, 1934), American journalist and co-founder of Moment Magazine.  He died at age 80.

2011 ~ Albert Brown (b. Oct. 26, 1905), American dentist.  He was the oldest survivor of the Bataan Death March.  He died at age 105.

2006 ~ Bruno Kirby (né Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu, Jr.; d. Apr. 28, 1949), American actor.  He died of leukemia at age 57.

2004 ~ Czesław Miłosz (b. June 30, 1911), Polish author and recipient of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He became an American citizen in 1970.  He died at age 93.

1999 ~ “Pee Wee” Reese (né Harold Peter Henry Reese; b. July 23, 1918), American professional baseball player.  He died 22 days after his 81st birthday.

1994 ~ Elias Canetti (b. July 25, 1905), Bulgarian-born novelist and playwright.  He was the recipient of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died 20 days after his 89th birthday.

1992 ~ John Sirica (né John Joseph Sirica; b. Mar. 19, 1904), American judge.  He was the Chief Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  He is best known for presiding over the Watergate hearings.  He died at age 88.

1988 ~ Enzo Ferrari (né Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari; b. Feb. 18, 1898), Italian carmaker and founder of the Ferrari company.  He died at age 90.

1984 ~ J. B. Priestley (né John Boynton Priestley; b. Sept. 13, 1894), English playwright and novelist.  He died a month before his 90th birthday.

1980 ~ Dorothy Stratten (née Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten; b. Feb. 28, 1960), Canadian actress and model.  She was murdered by her estranged husband at age 20.  Her life and murder was depicted in the movie Star 80.

1972 ~ Oscar Levant (b. Dec. 27, 1906), American pianist, composer and actor.  He died of a heart attack at age 65.

1963 ~ Clifford Odets (b. July 18, 1906), American playwright.  He died of stomach cancer less than a month after his 57th birthday.

1958 ~ Frédéric-Joliot Curie (b. Mar. 19, 1900), French physicist and recipient of the 1935 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.  He was the husband of physicist Irène Joliet-Curie, daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie.  He died at age 58.

1958 ~ Mary Beard (née Mary Ritter; b. Aug. 5, 1876), American historian and social activists.  She was involved in the suffrage movement.  She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.  She died in Pheonix, Arizona 9 days after her 82ndbirthday.

1956 ~ Bertolt Brecht (né Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht; b. Feb. 10, 1898), German writer and playwright.  He is best known for his play, Three Penny Opera.  He died of a heart attack at age 58.

1955 ~ Herbert Putnam (né George Herbert Putnam, d. Sept. 20, 1861), 8th Librarian of Congress.  He held this Office from 1899 until 1939.  He died at age 93.

1951 ~ William Randolph Hearst, Sr. (b. Apr. 29, 1863), American newspaper publisher.  He was the founder of the Hearst Corporation.  He died at age 88.

1941 ~ Paul Sabatier (b. Nov. 5, 1854), French chemist and recipient of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 86.

1922 ~ Sophie Bryant (née Sophie Willock; b. Feb. 15, 1850), Irish mathematician and social activist.  She was born in Sandymount, Ireland.  She died at age 72 in Chamonix, France.

1922 ~ Rebecca J. Cole (b. Mar. 16, 1846), African-American doctor and social reformer.  She was the second African-American woman to become a doctor in the United States.  She was born and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She died at age 76.

1894 ~ Virginia Minor (née Virginia Louisa Minor, b. Mar. 27, 1824), American woman’s rights activist.  She is best remembered for being the plaintiff in the case of United States Supreme Court case of Minor v. Happersett, in which she argued, unsuccessfully that the 14th Amendment gave women the right to vote.  Chief Justice Morrison Waite wrote the decision for the Court.  She was born in Caroline County, Virginia.  She died at age 70 in St. Louis, Missouri.

1891 ~ Sarah Polk (née Sarah Childress; b. Sept. 4, 1803), First Lady of the United States and wife of President James Polk.  She was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  She died in Nashville, Tennessee 21 days before her 88thbirthday.

1870 ~ David Farragut (né David Glasgow Farragut; b. July 5, 1801), American naval commander.  He was a flag officer in the United States navy during the American Civil War.  He died in what is now Kittery, Maine at age 69.

1852 ~ Margaret Taylor (née Margaret Mackall Smith; b. Sept. 21, 1788), First Lady of the United States and wife of President Zachary Taylor.  She served as First Lady during her husband’s Presidency from March 1849 until her husband’s death July 9, 1850.  During her time in the White House, she was in ill health and the hostessing duties of being First Lady fell heavily upon her youngest daughter, Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Taylor (1824 ~ 1909).  She was born in Calvert County, Maryland.  Margaret Taylor died at age 63 in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

1464 ~ Pope Pius II (né Ebea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini; b. Oct. 18, 1405).  He was Pope from August 19, 1458 until his death on this date nearly 6 years later.  He was 58 at the time of his death.

1433 ~ King John I of Portugal (b. Apr. 11, 1357).  He was king from April 1385 until his death in 1433.  He died at age 76.

1040 ~ Duncan I of Scotland (b. 1001).  The exact date of his birth is not known.

No comments:

Post a Comment