Monday, March 21, 2022

March 21

Birthdays:

 

1958 ~ Brad Hall (né William Bradford Hall), American comedian and screenwriter.  He is married to Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  He was born in Santa Barbara, California.

 

1958 ~ Gary Oldman (né Gary Leonard Oldman), British actor.  He was born in London, England.

 

1946 ~ Timothy Dalton (né Timothy Leonard Dalton Leggett), Welsh actor best known for his portrayal of James Bond.  He was born in Colwyn Bay, Wales.

 

1936 ~ Margaret Mahy (d. July 23, 2012), New Zealand author of children’s books.  She was born in Whakatane, New Zealand.  She died of jaw cancer at age 76 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

 

1932 ~ Walter Gilbert, American chemist, molecular biologist and recipient of the 1980 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1924 ~ Dov Shilansky (d. Dec. 9, 2010), Israeli politician.  He was born in Lithuania.  He died at age 86 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

 

1922 ~ Russ Meyer (né Russell Albion Meyer; d. Sept. 18, 2004), American movie director and screenwriter.  He is best known for campy sexploitation films.  He was born in San Leandro, California.  He died of complications from pneumonia at age 82 in Hollywood Hills, California.

 

1920 ~ Éric Rohmer (né Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer; d. Jan. 11, 2010), French film director who specialized in art-house fare.  He was born in Tulle, France.  He died at age 89 in Paris, France.

 

1913 ~ Guillermo Haro Barraza (d. Apr. 26, 1988), Mexican astronomer.  He was very influential in the development of astronomy in Mexico.  He was born and died in Mexico City, Mexico.  He died just a month after his 75th birthday.

 

1910 ~ Julio Gallo (d. May 2, 1993), American vintner who, along with his brother, Ernest Gallo (1909-2007), founded the E&J Gallo Winery.  He was born in Oakland, California.  Julio was killed from injuries sustained in a single car crash in Tracy, California.  He was 83 at the time of his death.

 

1906 ~ John D. Rockefeller, III (né John Davidson Rockefeller, III; d. July 10, 1978), American businessman and philanthropist.  He was the grandson of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died at age 72 in Mount Pleasant, New York.

 

1905 ~ Phyllis McGinley (d. Feb. 22, 1978), American author and poet.  She wrote many children’s books.  She was born in Ontario, Oregon.  She died a month before her 73rd birthday in New York, New York.

 

1904 ~ Forrest Mars, Sr. (né Forrest Edward Mars; d. July 1, 1999), American candy maker and creator of the Mars Bar and M&M’s.  He was born in Wadena, Minnesota.  He died at age 95 in Miami, Florida.

 

1896 ~ Friedrich Waismann (d. Nov. 4, 1959), Austrian mathematician.  He was born in Vienna, Austria.  He died at age 63 in Oxford, England.

 

1885 ~ Pierre Renoir (d. Mar. 11, 1952), French actor and movie director.  He was the son of the impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste Renoir.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He died 10 days before his 67th birthday.

 

1884 ~ George David Birkhoff (d. Nov. 12, 1944), American mathematician.  He was born in Overisel Township, Massachusetts.  He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 60.

 

1867 ~ Flo Ziegfeld, Jr. (né Florenz Edward Ziegfeld, Jr.; d. July 22, 1932), American theater producer.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died of pleurisy at age 65 in Hollywood, California.

 

1866 ~ Antonia Maury (née Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira Maury; d. Jan. 8, 1952), American astronomer and astrophysicist.  She was born in Cold Spring, New York.  She died at age 85 in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

 

1857 ~ Alice Henry (d. Feb. 14, 1943), Australian suffragist, journalist and trade unionist.  She was born in Melbourne, Australia.  She died at age 85 in Malvern, Australia.

 

1839 ~ Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (d. Mar. 28, 1881), Russian composer.  He is best known for his opera Boris Godunov.  He died 7 days after his 42nd birthday in St. Petersburg, Russia.

 

1806 ~ Benito Juárez (d. July 18, 1872), President of Mexico.  He served as President from January 1858 until his death of a heart attack in July 1872.  He died at age 66 in Mexico City, Mexico.

 

1768 ~ Joseph Fourier (né Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier; d. May 16, 1830), French mathematician and physicist.  He died at age 62 in Paris, France.

 

1752 ~ Mary Dixon Kies (d. 1837), American inventor.  She received a patent for a new technique of weaving straw and silk.  She was born in Killingly, Connecticut.  She died at age 85, but the date of her death is not known.

 

1474 ~ Angela Merici (d. Jan. 27, 1540), Italian saint.  She founded the Company of St. Ursula, which was dedicated to the education of girls.  She died at age 65.

 

927 ~ Emperor Taizu of Song (d. Nov. 14, 976), Chinese emperor who was the founder and first emperor of the Song Dynasty.  He was Emperor from February 960 until his death in November 16 years later.  He died at age 49.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2018 ~ The bomber who had been terrorizing the city of Austin, Texas since March 2, 2018, killed himself when trapped by law enforcement officers.  In the previous 3 weeks, five package bombs had exploded, killing 2 people and injuring 5 others.

 

2006 ~ The social media site Twitter began.

 

2000 ~ Pope John Paul II (1920 ~ 2005) made his first visit to Israel.

 

1980 ~ The season finale of the TV show, Dallas, ended with a cliffhanger, when the evil protagonist, J.R. Ewing, played by Larry Hagman (1931 ~ 2012), was shot by an unknown assailant.  Viewers had to wait until the fall season to learn the identity of the shooter.

 

1980 ~ President Jimmy Carter (b. 1924) announced that the United States would boycott the 1980 summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.

 

1970 ~ The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by the mayor of San Francisco.

 

1965 ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 ~ 1968) began his civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

 

1963 ~ Alcatraz, the federal penitentiary on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, closed.

 

1935 ~ Shah Reza Pahlavi (1878 ~ 1944) formally asked the international community to call his country Iran instead of Persia.  Iran means Land of the Aryans.

 

1925 ~ The Butler Act was passed, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in Tennessee.  The Act had been introduced by Tennessee House of Representatives member John Washington Butler (1875 ~ 1852), hence its name.

 

1913 ~ The Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio killed over 360 people and destroyed 20,000 homes.

 

1871 ~ Henry Morton Stanley (1841 ~ 1904) began his trek into Africa to find missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813 ~ 1873).

 

1871 ~ Otto von Bismarck (1815 ~ 1898) was appointed Chancellor of the German Empire.

 

1804 ~ The Code Napoléon was adopted as French Civil Law.

 

1788 ~ A fire in New Orleans left most of the city in ruins.

 

1413 ~ Henry V (1387 ~ 1422) became King of England.

 

1152 ~ The marriage of Louis VII, King of France (1120 ~ 1180) and Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 ~ 1204) was annulled on grounds of consanguinity within the fourth degree.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2017 ~ Chuck Barris (né Charles Hirsch Barris; b. June 3, 1929), American game show producer who embraced bad taste.  He is best remembered for hosting The Gong Show, and creating The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game.  He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  He died of natural causes at age 87 in Palisades, New York.

 

2015 ~ Chuck Bednarik (né Charles Philip Bednarik, b. May 1, 1925), American professional football player who epitomized football’s toughness.  He was known as the “60-Minute Man” because he played both offense and defense on a regular basis.  He was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 89 in Richland, Pennsylvania.

 

2013 ~ Chinua Achebe (né Albert Chinualumogu Achebe; b. Nov. 16, 1930), Nigerian novelist who gave post-colonial Africa a voice.  He is best known for his novel, Things Fall Apart.  He was born in Ogidi, British Nigeria.  He died at age 82 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

2005 ~ Bobby Short (né Robert Waltrip Short; b. Sept. 15, 1924), African-American musician.  He was born in Danville, Illinois.  He died at age 80 in New York, New York.

 

2005 ~ Barney Martin (b. Mar. 3, 1923), New York City Police detective and actor.  He is best known for playing Morty Seinfeld on the television sitcom, Seinfeld.  He was born in Queens, New York.  He died of bladder cancer 18 days after his 82nd birthday in Studio City, California.

 

1991 ~ Leo Fender (né Clarence Leonidas Fender; b. Aug. 10, 1909), American businessman and founder of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.  He was born in Anaheim, California.  He died at age 81 in Fullerton, California.

 

1987 ~ Robert Preston (né Robert Preston Meservey; b. June 8, 1918), American actor, best known for his role in The Music Man.  He was born in Newton, Massachusetts.  He died of lung cancer at age 68 in Montecito, California.

 

1985 ~ Sir Michael Redgrave (né Michael Scudamore Redgrave; b. Mar. 20, 1908), English actor.  He died of Parkinson’s disease 1 day after his 77th birthday.

 

1980 ~ Peter Stoner (b. June 16, 1888), American mathematician.  He was also a Christian writer.  He died at age 91 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1976 ~ Spider Sabich (né Vladimir Peter Sabich, Jr.; b. Jan. 10, 1945), American alpine ski racer.  He was shot and killed by Claudine Longet (b. 1941), his live-in girlfriend and former wife of Andy Williams, in what she claimed to have been an accident.  She was later convicted of misdemeanor criminal negligence in his death.  He was born in Sacramento, California.  He was killed in Aspen, Colorado.  He was 31 years old at the time of his death.

 

1960 ~ Sheila Macintyre (née Sheila Scott; b. Apr. 23, 1910), Scottish mathematician.  She is best known for her work on the Whittaker constant.  She was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.  She died of breast cancer about a month before her 50thbirthday in Cincinnati, Ohio.

 

1943 ~ Cornelia Clarke Fort (b. Feb. 5, 1919), 1st American female pilot to be killed during United States Military service.  She was born in Nashville, Tennessee.  She died in a mid-air crash near Merkel, Texas.  She was 24 years old at the time of her death.

 

1924 ~ Samuel Ullman (b. Apr. 13, 1840), German-born poet, businessman and humanitarian.  In 1851, his family immigrated to the United States and he became a naturalized American citizen.  He was born in Hechingen, Germany.  He died in Birmingham, Alabama just 23 days before his 84th birthday.

 

1843 ~ Guadalupe Victoria (né José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, b. Sept. 29, 1786), 1st President of the United Mexican States.  He was President from October 1824 through March 1829.  He died of epilepsy at age 56.

 

1843 ~ Robert Southey (b. Aug. 12, 1774), British poet and writer.  He was born in Bristol, England.  He died at age 68 in London, England.

 

1617 ~ Pocahontas (b. 1596), the date ascribed to the death of this Algonquain Indian.  She died in Gravesend, England.  The actual dates of her birth and death are unknown.  She is believed to have been about 20 or 21 at the time of her death.

 

1556 ~ Thomas Cranmer (b. July 2, 1489), Archbishop of Canterbury who was burned at the stake on grounds of treason against Henry VIII, King of England.  He died at age 66.


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