Wednesday, May 18, 2022

May 18

Birthdays:

 

1970 ~ Tina Fey (née Elizabeth Stamatina Fey), American comedian and actress.  She was born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

 

1957 ~ Lionel Shriver (né Margaret Ann Shriver), American journalist and novelist.  She was born in Gastonia, North Carolina.

 

1953 ~ David Deutsch (né David Elieser Deutsch), Israeli-born British physicist.  He was born in Haifa, Israel.

 

1946 ~ Reggie Jackson (né Reginald Martinez Jackson), African-American professional baseball player.  He was born in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.

 

1944 ~ W. G. Sebald (né Winfried Georg Sebald; d. Dec. 14, 2001), German-born writer.  He is best known for his book Austerlitz.  He died in a car crash at age 57.

 

1931 ~ Robert Morse (né Robert Alan Morse; d. Apr. 20, 2022), American actor best known for his role as J. Pierrepont Finch in the musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and as Bertram Cooper on television’s Mad Men.  He was born in Newton, Massachusetts.  He died in Los Angeles, California about a month before his 91st birthday.

 

1930 ~ Warren Rudman (né Warren Bruce Rudman; d. Nov. 19, 2012), American Senator from New Hampshire who fought to curb deficits.  He is best known for his key role in bipartisan efforts to rein in federal deficits and the enactment of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Balanced Budget Act of 1985.  He served in the Senate from December 1980 until January 1992.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He died at age 82 in Washington, D.C.

 

1928 ~ Pernell Roberts (né Pernell Elven Roberts, Jr.; d. Jan. 24, 2010), American Bonanza actor who hated his signature role.  He was best known for his role as Adam Cartwright on Bonanza.  He was born in Waycross, Georgia.  He died of pancreatic cancer at age 81 in Malibu, California.

 

1920 ~ Pope Saint John Paul II (né Karol Józef Wojtyla; d. Apr. 2, 2005).  He was Pope from October 1978 until his death in 2005.  He was 84 at the time of his death.

 

1919 ~ Dame Margot Fonteyn (née Margaret Evelyn Hookham; d. Feb. 21, 1991), British ballerina.  She died of cancer at age 71.

 

1913 ~ Nicolás Gómez Dávila (d. May 17, 1994), Columbian philosopher.  He was born and died in Bogota, Columbia one day before his 81st birthday.

 

1912 ~ Perry Como (né Pierino Ronald Como; d. May 12, 2001), American singer.  He was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.  He died in Florida 6 days before his 89th birthday.

 

1904 ~ Jacob K. Javits (né Jacob Koppel Javits; d. Mar. 7, 1986), American United States Senator from New York State.  He served in the Senate from January 1957 until January 1981.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died of ALS at age 81 in West Palm Beach, Florida.

 

1902 ~ Meredith Willson (né Robert Reininger Meredith Willson; d. June 15, 1984), American playwright and composer.  He is best known for writing the music and lyrics of the Broadway musical The Music Man.  He was born in Mason City, Iowa.  He died less than a month after his 82nd birthday in Santa Monica, California.

 

1901 ~ Vincent du Vigneaud (d. Dec. 11, 1978), American chemist and recipient of the 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He was born in Chicago, Illinois.  He died at age 77 in Ithaca, New York.

 

1897 ~ Frank Capra (né Francesco Rosario Capra; d. Sept. 3, 1991), American movie director and producer, best known for his film, It’s a Wonderful Life.  He died at age 94.

 

1883 ~ Walter Gropius (né Walter Adolph Georg Gropius; d. July 5, 1969), German architect and founder of the Bauhaus school of architecture.  He died at age 86 in Boston, Massachusetts.

 

1872 ~ Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (né Bertrand Arthur William Russell; d. Feb. 2, 1970), British philosopher and mathematician.  He was also the recipient of the 1950 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born in Trelleck, Wales.  He died at age 97 in Penrhyndeudraeth, Wales.

 

1868 ~ Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia (d. July 17, 1918).  He was tsar from November 1894 until he was ousted in March 1917.  He was married to Alexandra Feodorovna (née Alix of Hesse).  He was of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov.  He was the son of Alexander III, Tsar of Russia and maria Feodorovna (née Dagmar of Denmark).  He and his family were executed during the Russian Revolution.  He was 50 years old.

 

1862 ~ Josephus Daniels (d. Jan. 15, 1948), 41st Secretary of the Navy.  He served under President Woodrow Wilson from March 1913 until March 1921.  Although he was not a member, he was a strong supporter of the KKK.  He died at age 85.

 

1855 ~ Francis Bellamy (né Francis Julius Bellamy; d. Aug. 28, 1931), American Christian socialist minister and author.  He is best known for creating the original version of the Pledge of Allegiance.  He died at age 76.

 

1852 ~ Gertrude Käsebier (née Gertrude Stanton; d. Oct. 12, 1934), American photographer known for her images of motherhood.  She also made many portraits of Native Americans.  She died at age 82.

 

1851 ~ James Budd (né James Herbert Budd; d. July 30, 1908), Governor of California.  He served as Governor from January 1895 until January 1899.  He died at age 57.

 

1850 ~ Oliver Heaviside (d. Feb. 3, 1925), English engineer and mathematician.  He died at age 74 following a fall from a ladder.

 

1822 ~ Mathew B. Brady (d. Jan. 15, 1896), American pioneer in photography.  He is best known for his photographs of the American Civil War.  He died at age 73.

 

1711 ~ Ruđer Josip Bošković (d. Feb. 13, 1787), Croatian physicist and mathematician.  He died at age 75.

 

1281 ~ Agnes of Austria (d. June 10, 1364), Queen consort of Hungary and second wife of Andrew III, King of Hungary.  She was of the House of Habsburg.  She was the daughter of Albert I, King of Germany and Elisabeth of Tirol.  She was died about a month after her 83rd birthday.

 

1048 ~ Omar Khayyám (d. Dec. 4, 1131), Persian mathematician and poet.  He died at age 83.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2012 ~ FaceBook raised $16 billion in its Initial Stock Offering when the company began selling and trading on the NASDAQ.

 

1994 ~ Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip, giving the area over to the Palestinians to govern.

 

1980 ~ The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington State erupted, devastating the surround area, and killing 57 people.

 

1965 ~ Israeli spy, Eli Cohen (1925 ~ 1965), was hanged in Damascus, Syria.

 

1953 ~ Test pilot Jackie Cochran (née Bessie Lee Pittman; 1906 ~ 1980) became the first woman to break the sound barrier.

 

1933 ~ President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 ~ 1945) signed the Act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.

 

1926 ~ Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (1890 ~ 1944) disappeared while visiting a beach in Venice, California.  Five weeks later she reappeared, claiming that she had been kidnapped.

 

1896 ~ The United States Supreme Court handed down its decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the “separate but equal” doctrine of racial segregation was constitutional.  The decision was written by Associate Justice Henry Brown (1836 ~ 1913).  Associate Justice John Harlan (1833 ~ 1911) was the lone dissent.  The State of Louisiana had passed a law that required separate accommodations for blacks and whites on railroad cars.  Homer Plessy agreed to test the validity of the law and purchased a first-class ticket.  He was arrested and tried, which lead to this lawsuit.

 

1863 ~ The Siege of Vicksburg began during the American Civil War.

 

1804 ~ Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.

 

1652 ~ Rhode Island passed the first law in English-speaking North America making slavery illegal.

 

1631 ~ John Winthrop (1580s ~ 1646) became the first governor of Massachusetts.

 

1291 ~ The Fall of Acre, which ended the Crusader presence in the Holy Land.  The Crusaders lost control of the city of Acre to the Mamluks.  This is considered to be one of the most important battles of the Crusades.

 

1152 ~ Henry II of England (1133 ~ 1189) married Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 ~ 1204).

 

1096 ~ During the First Crusade, about 800 Jews were murdered in a massacre in Worms, Germany.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2021 ~ Charles Grodin (né Charles Sidney Grodin; b. Apr. 21, 1935), American actor and comedian who specialized in the droll and deadpan.  He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He died of bone marrow cancer about a month after his 86th birthday in Wilton, Connecticut..

 

2020 ~ Ken Osmond (né Kenneth Charles Osmond; b. June 7, 1943), American actor.  He was the Leave It to Beaver bad boy who viewers loved to hate.  He is best known for his role as Eddie Haskell from the 1950s sit-com Leave It to Beaver.  He later became a Los Angeles police officer.  He was born in Glendale, California.  He died in Los Angeles, California 20 days before his 77th birthday.

 

2017 ~ Chris Cornell (né Christopher John Boyle; b. July 20, 1964), American Soundgarden frontman who pioneered the grunge sound.  He was born in Seattle, Washington.  He died suicide at age 52 in Detroit, Michigan.

 

2017 ~ Roger Ailes (né Roger Eugene Ailes; b. May 15, 1940), American TV news guru who transformed American politics.  He was the founder and one-time CEO of Fox News.  In 2016, he resigned following allegations that he sexually harassed female employees.  He died 3 days after his 77th birthday.

 

2015 ~ T.J. Moran (né Thomas J. Moran; b. Sept. 30, 1930), American businessman and restauranteur.  He bought the first franchise of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  He owned and ran TJ Ribs, where LSU sports memorabilia was on display.  He died in Baton Rouge at age 84.

 

2014 ~ Gordon Willis (né Gordon Hugh Willis, Jr.; b. May 28, 1931), American cinematographer who painted with shadow.  He is best known for his work on The Godfather.  He was born in New York, New York.  He died of cancer in North Falmouth, Massachusetts 10 days before his 83rd birthday.

 

2007 ~ Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (b. Oct. 24, 1932), French physicist and recipient of the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 74.

 

1995 ~ Alexander Godunov (b. Nov. 28, 1949), Russian-born ballet dancer.  He died at age 45.

 

1995 ~ Elizabeth Montgomery (née Elizabeth Victoria Montgomery; b. Apr. 15, 1933), American actress, best known for her role as Samantha in Bewitched.  She was born in Los Angeles, California.  She died of cancer just a month after her 62nd birthday in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1990 ~ Jill Ireland (née Jill Dorothy Ireland; b. Apr. 24, 1936), British actress.  She died of breast cancer 24 days after her 54th birthday.

 

1981 ~ William Saroyan (b. Aug. 31, 1908), American writer.  He died of prostate cancer at age 72.

 

1980 ~ Harry R. Truman (né Harry Randall Truman; b. Oct. 30, 1896), American soldier.  He was best known for being a resident of Washington State.  He lived on Mount St. Helens and refused to leave his home despite evacuation orders when the volcano began to erupt in 1980.  He was killed as a result of the eruptions.  He was 83 at the time of his death.

 

1973 ~ Jeannette Rankin (née Jeannette Pickering Rankin; b. June 11, 1880), American politician and feminist.  She was the first woman to be elected into Congress, when in 1916, she was voted as a Representative from Montana.  She died 24 days before her 93rd birthday

 

1971 ~ Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh (b. Jan. 19, 1908), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 63.

 

1955 ~ Mary McLeod Bethune (née Mary Jane McLeod; b. July 10, 1875), African-American educator and civil rights activist.  She was born in Mayesville, South Carolina.  She died at age 79 in Daytona Beach, Florida.

 

1922 ~ Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (b. June 18, 1845), French physician and recipient of the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries of parasitic protozoans as causative agents of infectious diseases such as malaria.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He died a month before his 77th birthday.

 

1911 ~ Gustav Mahler (b. July 7, 1860), Bohemian-born composer.  He was born in Kaliště, Bohemia, which is now the Czech Republic.  He died of bacterial endocarditis at age 50.

 

1829 ~ Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony (b. Dec. 6, 1803), Queen consort of Spain and 3rd wife of Ferdinand VII, King of Spain.  She was of the House of Witten.  She was the daughter of Maximilian, Crown Prince of Saxony and Caroline of Parma.  She died at age 25 as a result of a fever.

 

1818 ~ Maddalena Laura Sirmen (b. Dec. 9, 1745), Italian composer and violinist.  She was born in Venice, Italy.  She died at age 72.

 

1808 ~ Elijah Craig (b. 1738), American Baptist minister who invented Bourbon whiskey.  The exact date of his birth is unknown.

 

1675 ~ Jacques Marquette (b. June 1, 1637), French explorer and Roman Catholic missionary who, along with Louis Jolliet, explored the Mississippi River.  He died of dysentery 14 days before his 38th birthday.

 

947 ~ Emperor Taizong (Nov. 25, 902), 2nd Chinese emperor of the Liao Dynasty.  He ruled from December 927 until his death 20 years later.  He died at age 44.

 

526 ~ Pope John I (b. 470).  He was Pope from August 523 until his death less than 3 years later.  The date of his birth is unknown.

 

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